The sky was about to rest, the twilight slanting down.
In the courtyard were boxes that had already been made, not painted, but the craftsmanship was fine and sturdy. There was also a walking stick not yet completed—likely Wei Shouzhong was in a hurry to go out at that time.
Yu Tingwan leaned against the door and sat on the ground for who knows how long; Wei Zhao stood at the side watching for just as long.
Maybe he got tired of watching, Wei Zhao slowly: “You…”
She couldn’t bear it, fiercely glared at him: “Speak quickly!”
“You’re blocking my path.”
He wanted to go out?
Originally thinking that Wei Zhao had come out upon hearing the movement to take a look, Yu Tingwan had even felt a bit comforted because of it. Her lips flattened.
Sure enough, this Wei Shen just isn’t considerate!
She questioned suspiciously: “It’s freezing cold outside, what are you going out for?”
Wei Zhao was listless, and didn’t respond to her.
Yu Tingwan frowned: “If you catch a chill, the one suffering will be you. Go back.”
She originally thought she’d have to persuade him a few times, even prepared to forcibly drag Wei Zhao back into the house. But the man, after hearing her words, paused for a moment, turned around and went back without emotion.
A trace of surprise flashed across her face, but she also felt glad that Wei Zhao was rare in being easy to talk to.
The ground was after all cold. Yu Tingwan softly and limply stood up, and went to pick up the mushrooms on the ground.
She had dropped quite a few on the way back, but estimating, it should still make a full plate.
Her heart was uneasy. From time to time, she walked to the gate to look out, but no figure was in sight on the road.
When Hui Niang came back, the sky had completely turned dark. Her usually gentle face was now tightly furrowed. She hurried into the courtyard, the snow on her body not even dusted off yet, when she saw the kitchen room’s lamp was lit, and inside came the young lady’s voice.
“My cooking isn’t as tasty as Auntie’s, but you should at least move your chopsticks.”
“You barely ate anything for breakfast. How can you not be hungry now?”
Wei Zhao felt it was noisy and was about to get up and leave, but Yu Tingwan pressed him back down.
Pressed him down with one hand.
Wei Zhao: …
The spoon was forcefully stuffed into his hand.
Yu Tingwan looked at him, particularly troubled: “You’re making things difficult for me like this.”
Wei Zhao: …
The one troubled is him, alright.
Yu Tingwan got up helplessly, hugged the sugar jar from the kitchen cupboard and came out, scooped a spoon of brown sugar into Wei Zhao’s bowl.
“Alright, now you can eat this, right?”
Wei Zhao frowned, even more unwilling to eat: “I don’t like sweet things.”
The young lady said in a low voice: “Already such a grown person, how can you still be picky with food? Before long, maybe you’ll even become a father, and eating still makes others worry.”
Hui Niang didn’t rush to enter, leaned at the doorway watching the little couple, a gentle look appearing in her eyes.
It was also at this moment that Yu Tingwan noticed her. Just now, the person circling around Wei Zhao nonstop suddenly left him behind in the blink of an eye.
“Auntie must be hungry, I cooked some porridge.”
As soon as the words fell, her expression changed.
Following her line of sight, Hui Niang looked down at her hem. There were mottled bloodstains there. She quickly said, “It’s not mine.”
Hui Niang let out a deep sigh: “The one who had trouble at the foot of the mountain was the Fool Girl.”
She said in a low voice: “Had a miscarriage.”
But that Fool Girl wasn’t betrothed to anyone.
Hui Niang was full of lingering fear: “When we rushed over, the loafer who bullied her hadn’t even left yet.”
She didn’t even dare to imagine—if Wan-niang had gone over to check out the noise and been targeted by that loafer, what would have happened!
There was blood all under Fool Girl’s body.
“That beast wasn’t from Xilin Village. When he saw something was off, he even tried to run. If not for the fact that the village head’s sons were all there, we probably wouldn’t have caught him.”
“When I came back, Fool Girl was still unconscious. Her old mother fainted from crying several times. An orphaned widow already has it hard enough, now this kind of thing happened. If not for me and your Auntie Li Lian trying to persuade her, she probably would’ve grabbed a kitchen knife and hacked that beast.”
Yu Tingwan only found her voice after a long time, slightly hoarse: “The child’s father…”
Knowing what she wanted to ask, Hui Niang shook her head: “Shouldn’t be him.”
“Don’t even talk about outsiders—our own village has quite a few beasts too. Taking advantage of her being simple-minded, using candy, using steamed buns, they tricked her into the rice-hulling field.”
To the point Fool Girl grew even more foolish.
She sighed long and short: “How would we know whose child it is? What could Fool Girl know? Her mother even less so. In the end, just a bastard child. It’s better to have discovered it early and be done with it.”
At the time, when they saw something wasn’t right, she and Li Lian both felt their hearts sink. The group of them made cover and sent the person over to Old Qian.
Not many people knew that Fool Girl had a miscarriage, and the village head deliberately helped keep it quiet.
After all, the village had plenty of long-tongued gossips. What good words would they speak in private? With each person’s spit, they could drown someone.
She looked at Yu Tingwan—this young lady had a tight mouth.
Then she looked at Wei Zhao—mm, this one doesn’t have a mouth.
At this moment, Wei Zhao was slowly taking advantage of Yu Tingwan’s inattention, ladling spoonfuls of porridge into the young lady’s bowl.
Just as Hui Niang looked over at him, Wei Zhao sensed it and lifted his head.
Their gazes met.
Wei Zhao really feared being nagged. Yu Tingwan was already considered not bad; Hui Niang was the type to mutter at the bedside all night long. He paused for a moment, then one spoon at a time, ladled it back into his own bowl.
Just then, a chilly voice rang out overhead.
The food-guarding Yu Tingwan was deeply hurt.
“Why did you snatch my food?”
Wei Zhao: …so annoying, seriously.
———
After Yu Tingwan finished her meal, she didn’t stay long and returned next door.
She had just left not long when Wei Shouzhong came back from outside, his expression full of exhaustion.
Before Hui Niang could ask much, he explained.
“The person’s not in serious condition, just needs to lie in bed and rest for a few days.”
He was talking about the fallen Old Lady Wei.
If a son doesn’t go have a look, it really doesn’t look good.
It’s just that Wei Shouzhong didn’t expect—he had just arrived, and though Old Lady Wei was clearly lying on the bed unable to move, her mouth wasn’t idle. While cursing him for being unfilial and heartless like a wolf, she also ordered him to chop the firewood outside and fill the water vat full.
These things had always been done by him before. The main house had so many people, each one lazier than the last.
Wei Shouzhong didn’t do it.
Old Lady Wei cursed even louder.
Even the one beside her, Wei Shoucai, was speaking in a sarcastic, passive-aggressive tone.
【“Amazing—now that the families are split, you’re no longer to be ordered around? Second brother, how come you’re so petty now? What, the water and firewood are only for us to use, not for mother too?”】
After hearing him finish, Hui Niang quickly asked: “Since the head of the house went over there, he was doing chores all afternoon?”
“That not quite.”
He just sat by the bed, listening to Old Lady Wei scolding all afternoon.
Wei Shouzhong’s face slightly darkened: “Being scolded a few times is no big deal—just ignore it, that’s all. It’s just that this medicine money, both households have to split evenly.”
Hui Niang’s eyes dimmed. The household money was kept by her, but what ought to be given still had to be given: “How much?”
Wei Shouzhong gave a number.
“I’ll go get it now.”
Wei Shouzhong called her back: “Actually, this is a good thing.”
“On the way back, I was thinking—these past years, big brother and sister-in-law respected mother, most likely because of A’Lang’s pension silver and the grain from the yamen given each month.”
But now those are gone, and they’re forced to cough it up.
“Now that mother can’t get out of bed, how filial can that couple truly be? How much care can they give?”
Wei Shouzhong said: “Mother ought to suffer some hardship.”