Li Shi paid special attention to what happened in the morning, wandering around the door from time to time. When she saw Zhang Datie and Zhu Shi entering Wang Ru’s yard, she began to lean against the wall of her house and eavesdrop.

Zhulan was basking in the sun, and from the corner of her eye, she watched Li Shi stick out her butt and eavesdrop. Her already chubby figure became even rounder from behind, and she looked a little dazzled.

Xuehan saw her mother looking disgusted from time to time, and from time to time she suppressed a smile. She found that her dasao, who used to be particularly annoying, was becoming more and more cute.

Zhao Shi smiled, suppressed her laughter, and continued embroidering her handkerchief. Even though the family was well-off, the money was still under her parents’ control and hadn’t been distributed to the various branches. Although her mother-in-law occasionally gave her and her eldest dàsǎo some pocket money, she still couldn’t compare to her eldest dàsǎo, who had money on hand. In her free time, she would embroider handkerchiefs, drawing inspiration from the patterns brought back by her father-in-law from Jiangnan. Now, one of her handkerchiefs was worth twenty wen!

In the past six months, even if taking care of the children took up time, she could embroider five handkerchiefs a month and earn one hundred wen a month, which was a lot of money.

Zhao Shi was wearing the thread and raised her head to look at her dàsǎo, who was eavesdropping with her feet. She was a little envious of her dàsǎo. Look at how comfortable she was living. She still had the recipe she created in her hand. As long as her father-in-law became a civil servant, the dàsǎo would sell the recipe for money. She never thought that one day she would envy her dàsǎo!

Zhulan was leaning on a special chair with a fan on her head. The sun was shining brightly today, and it was just after lunch. She was drowsy. She no longer envied the pregnancy, dressing up like a lady, etc. It’s better to be at the top of the food chain. It’s such a comfortable life!

“Mother, mother!”

Zhulan said, “.”

Just when she felt good, she suddenly felt bad again. Li Shi’s blathering problem happened again.

Seeing her mother’s face fall, Xuehan couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Zhao Shi also smiled with her lips lowered, while Li Shi was confused, “Why are you all laughing?”

Zhulan touched her heart and looked dumbfounded from time to time. Li Shi was angry, and she was angry at herself, “What’s wrong?”

Li Shi was about to speak, but then she thought about the eavesdropping she had just done and realized that she couldn’t speak loudly, otherwise, the next door could hear her, “Mom, I overheard the conversation next door.”

Zhulan leaned forward, with a dark face, “Speak louder, I didn’t hear you clearly.”

If it weren’t for the fact that her daughter and second daughter-in-law couldn’t hear clearly, she would have thought that she had a hearing problem!

Li Shi’s voice became louder, “Mom if I speak loudly so that the neighbor next door will know that I’m eavesdropping.”

Zhulan said with a dull face, “Who shouted the loudest just now?”

Li Shi realized it and blushed. Already knowing that she was eavesdropping, she smiled dryly and held on to her fantasy, “Maybe the neighbor thought that I called Mother for something else, and they didn’t see me under the wall.”

Xuehan wanted to cover her face, dasao, could you not? The response was so slow, “Dasao, you were shouting under the wall just now, you shouted very loudly!”

Even a fool knew that you were under the wall the whole time.

Li Shi, “.”

Oops, you just held it back!

Zhulan fanned herself to calm down her anger, “Tell me, what did you hear?”

Li Shi’s voice remained low. “Mother, Wang Ru is utterly foolish. She actually gave Zhang Datie twenty taels of silver and took Zhang Sanni. She even told Zhang Sanni that there was no need for a deed, just a simple employment contract. In the future, Zhang Sanni will live next door and work as a maid. Mother, is Wang Ru stupid? Without an official deed, who would recognize just a contract? Zhang Datie can still sell Sanni in the future. Mother, what is a contract?”

Zhulan how to explain, vaguely said: “I don’t know, I only know the living contract and the death contract of buying a girl.”

Li Shi was someone willing to chat with the village’s young wives. To prevent Li Shi from showing off everywhere, it would be safer if Zhulan pretended not to know anything.

Li Shi was slightly disappointed, “It turns out that my mother didn’t know something too!”

Zhulan chuckled, “I will have to disappoint you, I don’t know a lot.”

Li Shi shut up, she felt that if she spoke again, she would definitely lose her mother-in-law’s love, and she would never have her mother-in-law pinch her again!

Zhulan didn’t care about the commotion next door. After all, it was Wang Ru causing the commotion herself. However, considering that Wang Ru must have borrowed money from her two sisters-in-law after receiving twenty taels, Zhulan thought more carefully. Wang Ru wasn’t just trying to confront the Zhou family and highlight their heartlessness; she was also using the opportunity of borrowing money to find a way for herself to compromise with Shi Qing.

Zhulan was tired from the sun. The warm summer sunshine was really suitable for sleeping, so she got up and went back to the house to sleep.

After school in the afternoon, Zhulan talked to Rong Chuan about Zhang Sanni’s situation. “Auntie has her own standards and boundaries. Even if you plead for her help today, she won’t assist. Chuan, Auntie hopes you can also have your own boundaries and standards.”

Zhu Lan wanted to make her stance clear, telling Rong Chuan that she didn’t associate with certain types of people. Some things were better off clarified early for everyone’s benefit.

Even when Rong Chuan hadn’t left the Zhang family, he had already given up on everyone there. He had never told anyone that he was precocious, retaining memories from the age of two or three. After his younger brother came along, his third sister intentionally troubled him numerous times, lifting his blanket in the middle of the night, and making him wear wet clothes. Later on, his parents cared even less about him, and his third sister treated him worse and worse. She even denied him food multiple times, and despite his parents knowing, they did nothing. That was when he completely gave up on his family. Everyone in the Zhang family was coldly waiting for his death!

Rong Chuan lowered his head. “Auntie, even if I were at home today, I wouldn’t plead for her. It’s not just because Sanni would bring endless troubles to the family, but also because I don’t want to plead. I can’t falsely claim to still have affection for the Zhang family. Ever since I separated from the Zhang family, we no longer have any connection. That home hasn’t been mine for a long time. They are not my family.”

Even if Auntie thought he was heartless, he had to say it. He hoped Auntie wouldn’t worry about him and didn’t want to hide his true self. He had learned from Uncle to always wear a facade!

Zhulan felt pity for this child and patted Rong Chuan’s head. “Auntie doesn’t think Rong Chuan is heartless. Instead, I think it’s good this way. You already have your own principles.”

Rong Chuan’s inner turmoil disappeared. He liked the Zhou family. Not only did Uncle and Auntie save his life, but they also gave him the warmth of a family. Uncle and Auntie were the parents he had fantasized about – strict but caring. In this family was where he truly felt at home. The Zhou family was the warmest place in his heart.

Zhou Shuren returned after having his meal and called Chang Zhi and Chang Lian, who were studying. After examining their progress in their studies, Zhou Shuren instructed Rong Chuan, “Tomorrow, Chang Lian and Chang Zhi won’t go to the clan school. You ask for a leave, just say that I am taking them out for a visit.”

Rong Chuan said: “Yes.”

Chang Lian felt alive, his father had been going to the county government these days, and he was excited, “Dad, are you taking us to the county government tomorrow?”

Chang Zhi’s focus was, “Dad, the county magistrate is a civil servant, will he test us in literature?”

When Zhou Shuren heard this, he didn’t need to be pretentious. He also thought about telling the two of them when he arrived tomorrow, to test the adaptability of the two boys. He touched his beard and realized that the child was too smart to be fooled. He paused his hand and found that he was becoming more and more accustomed to smoothing his beard!

Chang Lian didn’t dare to think about why the wife of the County Magistrate suddenly came to the house to sit as a guest yesterday. Today’s father’s words made him bolder. As soon as he was bolder, his blood was hot, and his excited eyes widened. It can be seen that his father’s expression was faint, and he calmed down in an instant. It is estimated that he and Changzhi will sit for the tóngshēng test next year, and they will be investigated because of their father’s relationship.

Zhou Shuren had been observing Chang Lian and was somewhat satisfied. Chang Lian had changed a lot. When he first came here, this kid was shrewd and impulsive. Now he could calm down quickly and his guidance was not in vain. Suddenly he discovered that he was quite suitable for teaching children!

(End of chapter)

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