Chapter 25
Picking Bones Out of Eggs
Lady Zhao instantly smiled, “Okay.”
She placed the rabbit back into the kitchen and took the basket to pick out some vegetables from her backyard.
By the front door, Xie Fugui asked about Xie Yunjin’s conditions caringly, “Though Yunjin’s going through a major crisis, it doesn’t mean he won’t do well in the future. Talk to the doctors from Baohe Tang about his legs and see if they can perform surgery. You should treat him well so that once he succeeds, you can enjoy life with him.”
Lu Jiao’s lips twitched at those words. She did not intend to enjoy life with him. She would be happy if he would leave her alone and not hurt her.
“I got it, Leader.”
Inside the garden, Xie Fugui’s two grandsons, Datou and Maomao, stared at the three children’s bamboo copters.
Lu Jiao ordered her children, “Second, Third and Fourth Borns, let the older brothers play with the copters.”
The three children frowned at once. This was the first time they’d ever received toys and they didn’t want to share.
However, due to Lu Jiao’s powerful tone, they didn’t dare to say no, but their faces were full of unwillingness.
Lu Jiao’s voice softened as she explained, “You should share your toys with friends. Only then will Datou and Maomao share what they have with you in the future.”
The three children finally agreed. The group of kids soon started to have fun together and the garden filled with laughter.
Xie Fugui watched all this happen and turned back to stare at Lu Jiao. Yujin’s wife seemed to have changed. Before, she truly acted like an unreasonable shrew. These days, she turned into a different person.
Could it be that she changed after Yunjin’s calamity?
That was the only thing that made sense to Xie Fugui. On the inside though, he felt grateful. He heard that Yunjin’s wife could read and knew how to educate her children. That meant the two families could arrange playdates.
Just then, Lady Zhao walked back with the basket full of vegetables.
“Yunjin’s wife, once you’re done eating these, come back and get more. I planted a lot of vegetables and they need to be harvested before they get over-ripe.”
She handed the basket back to Lu Jiao and suggested, “I saw that your garden was rather empty. You could plant some vegetables.”
Lu Jiao nodded right away, “That’s what I was thinking. This afternoon, I plan on heading into town and getting some pickaxes. I will plow the land and plant accordingly. It’ll be easier for us to get vegetables that way.”
Lady Zhao agreed, “That’s exactly right.”
Lady Zhao remembered that the bullock cart was going to town this afternoon and offered, “Our bullock cart is going to town this afternoon. Come back then.”
Xie Fugui owned a bullock. When farming was busy, the bullock would help with the plantation. Other times, the family would give rides to the villagers. Of course, they normally charged a small fee of two tokens. If five to six people ask to go into town, they would make the trip.
Xie Fugui also said to Lu Jiao, “Then come this afternoon and get a ride from Tieniu. It’ll save you a lot of time.”
Xie Tieniu was Xie Fugui’s son. He was normally the person who steered the bullock to and from town.
“Alright. Thank you both. I am going to head back first and prepare some food to eat.”
“Go back now.”
The mother and the three children got ready to leave. Datou and Maomao, however, continued to stare at the bamboo copters.
Lu Jiao took a look at the children and found they had held tightly onto their bamboo copters. Obviously, they were terrified she’d asked them to give the copters to Daotou and Maomao.
Lu Jiao understood them. It was the first time they received toys and they didn’t want to just give them away. Even if she made new ones, they wouldn’t mean the same thing to the children. So she didn’t ask them to give the bamboo copters away.
“Datou, Maomao, how about I make you two new ones this afternoon?”
Lu Jiao calculated in her head and realized that technically, Datou and Maomao should refer to her as “grandma”.
That thought made her depressed. How could she be a grandma at such a young age? She quickly shut up.
Datou and Maomao, on the other hand, were very happy. They nodded violently and continued to call out to her.
“Third grandma, don’t forget to bring those this afternoon!”
“Third grandma, don’t forget!”
Lu Jiao then left with the three children, who were very happy.
On the way back, a lot of people greeted Lu Jiao and Lu Jiao responded to them politely.
Of course, there were also a lot of people who didn’t like the sight of her and continued to speak poorly.
“Wow, the scholar’s wife just gifted presents to the Village Leader. Hehe, so she doesn’t give anything to her parents but gives out things to outsiders.”
Lu Jiao looked over and saw that the person who spoke was neighbor Luo Guihua. She never got along with the original host.
The reason why they didn’t get along was because Luo Guihua and the original host’s mother never got along.
When they were younger, Luo Guihua had her eyes on the original host’s father. However, the mother of the host got to him first, which resulted in Luo Guihua and the host’s mother hating each other. Afterward, Luo Guihua married into the Xie Village.
That should’ve been the end of it. Except, the original host also ended up marrying into the Xie Village – the only scholar from the Village at that. Luo Guihua was angry then. Every time she ran into the original host, she would mock and taunt her. Of course, the original host never treated her kindly either.
Every time Luo Guihua said anything, the original host would curse back, which resulted in a very vile relationship between them.
Lu Jiao recalled this woman from her memories and sarcastically commented, “It’s not news that sons are not filial to unkind fathers. As the parent, you need to act like a guardian if you want the next generation to respect you. Growing up, I’ve never run into an instance where the parents would force their injured son to move out of their home. Of course, Aunty Guihua is that kind of person so you naturally don’t know what it feels like to be on the receiving end.”
Lu Jiao then walked away with her children. Behind her, Luo Guihua cursed loudly, “You dumb fat b!tch! You think you’re in heaven just because you married a scholar?! Don’t play coy with me! You’re a skank who stole another woman’s man!”
After she finished cursing, she walked to Xie Laogen’s home.