Chapter 117: Jiang Erlang Gets Married_l
Chapter 117: Jiang Erlang Gets Married_l
Quite a few people had sneaked over to the area near Jiang Sanlang’s house in East Village, peeking at how they were selling golden mushrooms.
They saw the residents of East Village bringing bucket after bucket of golden mushrooms, then grabbed handfuls of copper coins and returned with smiles stretching across their faces.
Some were even comparing the size of their silver ingots as they walked, their complacency causing the people of West Village to grind their teeth in envy.
As they were staring wide-eyed in surprise, the villagers of East Village noticed them. They immediately came over to confront: “What are you doing here? Acting so sneaky, are you planning something bad again?”
The people of West Village awkwardly replied: “We were just passing by.”
“Passing by? Where are you headed that you happened to pass by Sanlang’s house? Don’t tell me you have some malicious scheme in mind?” The people of East Village clearly didn’t believe them.
“We’re just passing by! The road is public property, you can’t control where we go.” The villagers of West Village began to rebel.
“Public property?” The East Village people were fuming at their words: “You dare to claim that when you’re on our East Village’s territory? Why don’t you take to the sky instead?”
“Beat them up! Anyone who dares to stalk around our third brother’s house is definitely up to no good. Are you here to steal children again?” The people of East Village threatened to fight, clenching their fists.
“Right! They’re definitely up to something.” The rest of the group was eager to join in.
Seeing the situation deteriorating, the people of West Village turned and ran, making it over the Shigong Bridge before they stopped.
They were infuriated. Even just looking from afar was problematic, how irritating.
The real irritation wasn’t the people of East Village, but Chen Laochuan’s household.
Instead of living their peaceful lives, they had to go steal kids from East Village. Now, everyone in West Village becomes a suspect when they set foot in East Village, suspected of child stealing. What a mess.
If it wasn’t for that ill-fated family of Chen Laochuan, their villagers wouldn’t have been looked down upon by the Jiang Sanlang.
If it weren’t for all those troubles, they might’ve been able to buy some golden mushrooms from the Jiang family and be sleeping with their silver ingots, just like East Villagers.
As the West Village people grew angrier, when the moon had risen high, they each scooped a spoonful of manure and splashed it on Chen Laochuan’s front door.
“Who’s there?”
Chen Feng’s wife had been sleeping restlessly, constantly worrying about her husband and second son encountering trouble.
It had already been more than a month and her husband still hadn’t returned. The summer harvest season was coming to an end and it was time to plant beans, but with no men in the house, what could they do?
Just as she was worrying, she heard a noise outside. Chen Feng’s wife draped on a robe and went out to investigate, only to smell a strong odor from the doorway.
When she opened the door to check, she was maddened to find the front door and the ground soaked in urine and faeces. The odour almost made her tumble.
“Who’s the damn swine that dumped manure at our door?” Chen Feng’s wife cursed out loud, fuming.
But under the shadowy moonlight, no one responded.
After cursing a few more times, Chen Feng’s wife didn’t dare to linger outside. She rushed to close the door tightly.
Once inside, she found her hand covered in faeces. She had to suppress her nausea as she washed her hands.
By the time she got back to bed, the rooster had started to crow.
Early next morning, as Chen Wan was preparing breakfast and saw her grandmother still asleep, she went and scooped out a ladle of wheat flour from the cabinet, then thought for a while and scooped half more.
She went to the stove and began kneading the dough, preparing to make dough gobs.
By the time she had finished making the dough gobs, all her sisters had woken up. Chen Zhao, upon opening the courtyard door, screamed in surprise: “Why is there excrement on the door?”
Chen Wan knew what had happened, but she didn’t care and said, “Just go to the river and bring water to wash it off.”
Chen Zhao was unhappy, “Why don’t you go and fetch water? Why make us do all the dirty work?”
Chen Wan ignored her and carried a big bowl of dough gobs into her grandmother’s room.
“Granny, it’s time for breakfast.”
She called out a few times, but Chen Feng’s wife remained still. She quickly went over to check, and found that Chen Feng’s wife’s face was bright red. She seemed to have developed a fever.
Chen Wan became anxious at once, quickly went out to find her elder uncle and his wife.
The busy farming period was over and soon it was the twenty-eighth of May.
The Jiang Family started preparing for a happy event again, this time to marry off Jiang Erlang.
For the bride fetching, sedan chairs were not used. Jiang Erlang took two matchmakers and betrothal gifts. He along with some close brothers drove three mule carts to fetch the bride.
No one from the bride’s family came to send her off. The dowry was two red lacquerwood boxes, no one knew what was inside them.
After crossing the threshold over a brazier, they went to the main hall for the wedding ceremony. Jiang Erlang, ignoring the teases from brothers, held the bride’s hand throughout the whole process.
After paying homage to Heaven and Earth and then to the high hall, the ceremony ended as announced by the master of ceremonies. Jiang Erlang then escorted his bride into the bridal chamber.
Yingbao and Sisters Dani were quite curious about the bride’s looks and sneaked into the new room.
They saw a bride sitting on the big carved bed, wearing a red embroidered wedding dress and a veil over her head.
The bride’s body was slender, sitting straight and motionless, like a person made of brocade silk.
Yingbao ran over and peeked at the bride’s face from under the veil.
Wow, it really was Sister Yanru.
Yanru also saw the child peeking at her. She smiled, pulled out two silver rattles from her sleeve and handed them to her, “Little Baobao, go and play with these.”
Upon receiving the rattles, Yingbao grinned and said, “Thank you, Auntie
Yanru.”
Yanru gently pinched her little face and gave her a gentle smile: “You’re welcome.”
Yingbao, having nothing to do, sat on the footrest of the big bed and started chatting with her, “Auntie Yanru, why did you marry my Uncle Erlang?”
Yanru paused, at a loss for how to answer. After a while, she finally said,
“Because your Uncle Erlang is a good person.”
“You have good taste.” Yingbao praised, “Not only is my Uncle Erlang a good person, he also looks good, right?”
Yanru’s face turned slightly red. She reached out and gently touched Yingbao’s head, humming softly.
Just as Yingbao was about to say something else, she was suddenly lifted up in the air and carried out of the bridal chamber.
“Baobao, be good, go play with Sister Dani,” Jiang Erlang put down his niece and patted her head, “Come back tomorrow morning to talk to your aunt.”
Yingbao opened her eyes wide in disbelief, looking at this man who now preferred his wife over his niece.
He actually shoved her out!
Then she saw Uncle Erlang strolling back into the bridal chamber, closing the door behind him.
Humph! As they say, a man who has a wife forgets his mother… no, forgets his niece! And to think she was the one to introduce him to Sister Yanru.
Pouting, Yingbao went to find Sister Dani.
Earlier, she was so focused on talking with Auntie Yanru that she didn’t notice when Sisters Dani had left the room.
Sister Dani was standing outside the courtyard at this time, looking a bit distracted.
Yingbao tiptoed over to her, tilting her head to look at her, “Sister Dani, why are you crying?”
Sister Dani quickly wiped away her tears and whispered, “I’m not crying.”
After a while, she sniffed and softly asked, “Yingbao, do you think Dad will stop liking Huzi and me in the future?”
Yingbao patted her hand, assuring her: “How could he, you are his children, how could he not like you.”
Sister Dani sighed, “But he’s married now, there will be other kids in the future. I hear people say, when there’s a new mother, there might be a different father, so …
Yingbao blinked, at a loss tor what to say. All she could do was hold her hand and say, “Sleep with me tonight.”
Sister Dani nodded, following her little cousin to their Uncle’s house..