"That's enough!" Old man Song felt a pang of pain when he saw Mrs. Zhao crying sadly, but he didn't want to turn against his clan members now, so he just said softly: "Go back and rest, I'll take care of these things."
The clan leader snorted coldly: "What? Are you here to support others?"
Old man Song bowed to the clan leader: "Brother, these are all my family affairs, sorry to trouble you, I will take care of them later."
The clan leader sneered: "How to deal with it? Beat Wu and Chang'an again? Or not give them food?"
Old man Song looked embarrassed and defended: "No way, our family has no shortage of food, how could we not give them food?"
The clan leader looked at the extremely strong Mrs. Zhao and Song Jizu with contempt, and his eyes swept over the skinny Wu and Chang'an, and said earnestly:
"Song Baqi, Song Baqi, you have eaten lard and your heart is blinded! Who are your legitimate descendants, don't you know?"
Song Baqi lowered his eyes and said nothing.
"Oh, it's all in vain." The clan leader walked up to Wu and asked, "Sanshun's wife, what do you want to say?"
Wu burst into tears, knelt down and kowtowed to the clan leader, choking with sobs:
"Today, Yufeng pushed me into the ditch and hurt my foot. For some reason, my mother-in-law dragged me and Chang'an back to the house and locked us up.
In the afternoon, my sister-in-law brought food, and little Chang'an was playing around and accidentally broke Song Xiyue's forehead. My mother-in-law then beat Chang'an with a clothes stick.
Wuuuuuu, Chang'an is the only child in my second brother's family. What if he gets hurt? I beg the clan leader to make the decision and ask my mother-in-law and uncle to spare Chang'an..."
"You damn rotten woman! I shouldn't have let Sanshun marry you! You've had too many good days, right? You're actually doing things to stir up discord in the family!"
After scolding, Mrs. Zhao knelt down at Song Baqi's feet and cried:
"Master, please divorce me. I can't live like this anymore.
I've been with you for more than ten years. I've worked so hard for this family. I finally raised your two sons and married them off. But now I'm a sinner. Even my daughter-in-law can bully me at will. Woohoo... Please let me die."
Song Baqi immediately hugged his wife, tears streaming down his face: "Yinzhi, get up quickly. I know you've worked hard. If it weren't for you supporting this family, we wouldn't be where we are today."
Several villagers immediately empathized with him and whispered: "Mrs. Zhao is indeed a capable woman. Since she married in, she has cleaned up the house and married Erxiao and Sanshun..."
"That's right. Alas, it's hard to be a stepmother..."
The clan leader frowned and glanced at the people who were talking.
This Mrs. Zhao was really amazing. She acted out a sad drama and immediately turned the situation around, diverting everyone's thinking.
But they didn't think about what kind of life Song Erxiao and Song Sanshun had lived since this woman married into the Song family.
Before dawn, the two brothers went out to collect firewood and carry water. They were only given one meal a day. When they grew up, they looked like skinny monkeys.
The son brought by Zhao was strong and plump. It was obvious that he had never been hungry since he was a child.
That was fine. The most hateful thing was that the two brothers did not use their original good names, but suddenly changed them to something like Erxiao Sanshun, which was placed behind a name like Jizu. Is this something that people can come up with?
If you say that Zhao did not have any hand in this, no one would believe it.
"Wow wow wow wow"
Chang'an suddenly burst into tears, calling daddy and aunt all the time.
Because she heard Song Xiyue cursing again:
[Song Chang'an! You are an unlucky ghost and a jinx! Your father has been killed by you, and your uncle and aunt will be killed by you in the future! If you dare to destroy my appearance today, I will never let you off easily! ]
Chang'an did not curse back, she cried out of frustration, and her crying was miserable, attracting everyone's attention.
Wu was very distressed. She stood up and took her niece from her neighbor. She patted her and said meaningfully:
"Don't cry, dear Chang'an. Your mother brought you a bag today. When the weather gets warmer, Third Aunt will take you to see your mother."
When Mrs. Zhao heard this, her face changed and she immediately said: "What nonsense are you talking about? Who brought a bag?"
The square-faced woman who was watching the excitement with a bowl of vegetable porridge sneered: "Oh, who in our village didn't see it? Today, Jiang asked someone to bring something to Chang'an again."
Someone echoed: "That's right, we saw it with our own eyes. The person came riding a big red horse with two big bags on the horse's buttocks. He had dinner at your house before leaving."
"Nonsense! It's just my distant relative who came to visit. How did it become someone asked by Jiang?" Mrs. Zhao insisted that she would never admit it. No one could go to her house to search.
Moreover, the little bitch Jiang had already gone to the capital with the master's family, and would move from the capital to the capital soon. As long as her family didn't tell her, even the clan leader would not know her exact address.
This is where Mrs. Zhao's cleverness lies. Hold on to Chang'an, and you won't have to worry about Jiang not sending money back.
Half a year ago, Jiang asked someone to pick up Chang'an, saying that she hadn't seen him for several years and missed him very much, so she wanted to take the child to reunite.
Of course, Mrs. Zhao would not let the person go. She only told the person that the child was sick and it was not suitable to move, and sent the person away.
Seeing that Mrs. Zhao was so rude, the clan leader was helpless. He looked at Song Baqi and said, "Wait for Sanshun to come back and see what he says." After
all, he was an outsider and couldn't interfere in the distribution of money in Song Baqi's family.
Even if Jiang brought a bag, as long as Mrs. Zhao didn't let go, Sanshun couldn't ask for it for Chang'an, otherwise Mrs. Zhao would say that he was greedy for his niece's money.
Song Baqi bowed to the clan leader, helped his wife up and walked towards the new house.
When he passed by the third daughter-in-law, his eyes were cold.
Back to the new house, he asked the little girl Yuzhu to close the doors and windows, and the family sat in the inner room to discuss things.
"How much money did Jiang bring back this time?" Song Baqi asked.
Mrs. Zhao tidied up the hair covering her face and said, "Not much, just twenty taels." The rest were shoes, socks and clothes for the little kid for all four seasons.
Song Baqi picked up the copper pot pipe and slowly put tobacco into it, "Anything else?"
Mrs. Zhao pulled two large bundles over, "Look, it's all here."
Song Baqi lit the pipe with the candle handed over by Song Jizu, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke: "Pick a few inconspicuous ones and send them to the old house, just don't let people talk about it."
Little Zhao looked at her mother-in-law and aunt, and responded reluctantly.
This time the clothes were all brand new, better than the previous ones. Some of them could be changed into a new style and worn by Chengye. It would be a waste to give them to that little beast.
But since his father-in-law had spoken, it was difficult for him to refuse.
"Also, have you really decided to let Xiyue go to the capital instead of Chang'an?" Song Baqi turned his head to look at Song Xiyue who was sitting next to him.
"Sure, sure!" Song Jizu said with a smile, "Hasn't Xiyue always shown her face in front of the visitors? Look, these clothes are made according to Xiyue's size, there's no mistake."
Mrs. Zhao observed her husband's expression and gently patted his back, "Chang'an is not close to us. If she really leaves with her mother and disappears without a trace, who will our family rely on in the future? But if our Xiyue goes, maybe she will take our whole family to settle in the capital, don't you think so?" Old man Song
frowned, puffed on his pipe, and remained silent for a long time. The
twelve-year-old Song Yufeng was anxious, pulling his sleeve and acting coquettishly: "Dad, why don't you say anything? I want to go to the capital. I heard that the capital is full of dignitaries. As long as our family marries a wealthy family, we will be rich and prosperous in the future?" After that, he
winked at his eldest brother Song Jizu.
Song Jizu immediately knelt down and rubbed the old man's legs. "Dad, your old cold legs can only be cured in the capital. I heard that the imperial doctors in the capital are very powerful. They are all old immortals who have lived for more than a hundred years."
The old man Song enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention of his children and grandchildren. He stretched his legs slowly and sighed deeply: "In this case, let Xiyue replace Chang'an. However, change Xiyue's name first, so that you don't call her the wrong name when you arrive in the capital."
Xiao Zhao smiled happily, "Let's call her An'er from now on, and we'll talk about the real name later."
The little grandson is not dead yet, so we can't let outsiders find out anything. It's
amazing. Since my daughter fell ill a month ago, she woke up like a little fortune-teller and could predict everything.
This morning, she said that Jiang would bring something back, but before noon, she really arrived and brought a letter. The letter said that Jiang would go to the capital with her master, and after settling down there, she would send someone to pick up Chang'an to the capital.
But the exact time was not specified. The letter only said that someone would be sent by the end of the year at the latest.
So they still had more than half a year to prepare.
The girl also said that if they wanted to prevent Jiang from noticing anything, they had to get rid of Song Sanshun and his wife, who were most familiar with Chang'an.
The second was that brat.
As for the villagers,
once their whole family went to Beijing, who would be able to travel thousands of miles to identify Jiang's daughter?
(End of this chapter)