In the east wing room, Ji An was lying on the kang bed, thinking about the plot in the book, when she suddenly heard her mother's powerful and furious cursing. Startled, she sat up abruptly and was about to get off the kang to see what was happening, but then she paused. This didn’t sound like her mother scolding her father for never hiding his business dealings from her. Heartless and ungrateful, eating shit? In all her years, this was the first time she had heard her mother use such foul language.
Who was she cursing?
Ji An recalled something and had a guess. In the book, not long after Ji Xinran was reborn, Ji Yan went to Yangan Shengfu to take the Xiangshi. This time, he made it onto the Fubangming. Later, he sold the Fubangming for three hundred taels of silver.
In Ji Xinran’s original life, two hundred and fifty taels of that silver were taken by Ji Mengshi.
After being reborn, Ji Xinran first set her sights on this sum of money. Under her intentional and unintentional display of hardship, Ji Yan was filled with guilt and, for the first time, wavered in his "blind filial piety." He took out fifty taels and went to the main room to find his mother.
As for the remaining two hundred and fifty taels, Ji Xinran also had plans. During a trip to town, she took Huang Shi to Xianke Shusi to find her maternal grandfather, Shopkeeper Huang. Not long after, Huang Shi’s brother sought out Ji Yan, harshly criticizing him for still relying on his parents for food and shelter at the age of thirty, unable to support his family, and so on.
In the end, Ji Yan fulfilled Ji Xinran’s wish and bought a shop in the county. To avoid being schemed against by the main room, the eldest branch, and the second branch, he registered the shop under Huang Shi’s dowry and entrusted it to Huang Shi’s brother to manage. Only after everything was settled did he go to the old master to confess.
In the book Chongsheng Xinran Jinxiu, her father, Ji Zhongming, was a biased but face-conscious man. Although he was dissatisfied with the third branch privately buying a shop to run a business, after his son’s righteous speech, he had no choice but to reluctantly agree to the third branch’s actions.
The cursing in the main room continued. Ji An was puzzled—how did her mother know about it now? Did her father tell her?
It must have been.
At this moment, besides her father, the only ones in the family who knew about Ji Yan privately buying a shop were the mother and daughter of the third branch. But why would her father tell her mother about it now? Given her father’s cautious nature, it definitely wouldn’t have been a slip of the tongue.
In the book, Ji Yan’s private purchase of the shop was a major explosive point. During the family division, it was exposed by his second brother. Her mother nearly tore Huang Shi apart in the chaos and accidentally injured Ji Yan, who was protecting his wife and daughter.
For a Juren to be disfigured by his own mother would severely damage the Ji family’s reputation if word got out. Her eldest uncle even turned red-faced with anger at her father, pointing at her mother and cursing her as a wicked woman.
"I need to think this through carefully," Ji An muttered as she lay back on the kang, her eyes fixed on the canopy above, lost in thought. In the east wing, Zhushi pressed her ear against the door, listening to the cursing from the main room. Ji Cheng stood in the inner room with his hands behind his back, his brows tightly furrowed.
His mother was cursing the third son. He knew a little about the third son’s affairs outside—the second brother had told him. Huang Shi’s family was now walking with a spring in their step. Who in town didn’t say they had a good son-in-law?
"Husband, should we go to the main room and take a look?" Zhushi’s heart felt as restless as if grass were growing inside it. "Mother is furious. In all the years since I married into this family, this is the first time I’ve seen her curse like Yang Er’s wife from the back of the village."
Her mother-in-law had always prided herself on her status, maintaining dignity both inside and outside the home. Someone like Huang Shi, who shed tears at the drop of a hat, would have been considered a jinx in any other family—how could she be allowed to live standing up? Her mother-in-law might appear harsh on the surface, but she had never insulted Huang Shi, let alone laid a finger on her.
Ji Cheng glanced at his wife. She really enjoyed stirring up trouble. "Pack up and go to sleep. You’re everywhere, aren’t you?"
"What do you mean I'm everywhere? I'm just concerned about Mother." Zhushi stopped clinging to the doorframe and turned to glare at her husband. "Tell me, what business is Third Brother involved in outside?"
Ji Cheng, who was heading toward the kang, was somewhat surprised. He turned his head and asked, "How did you know it's Third Brother?"
"If not him, then who else could it be?" Zhushi snorted coldly, then entered the inner room, her tone laced with disdain. "He's the only one full of devious schemes." Among the three sisters-in-law, the one with the most substantial family background wasn't Huang Shi, as the village assumed, but the usually low-key and unassuming Second Sister-in-law.
Huang Shi's father was merely a shop manager, while Second Sister-in-law's family had three meat stalls in town and butcher shops on both the east and west streets of the county. Her father, Hong Dafang, had hunted tigers in the mountains in his youth and slaughtered pigs without batting an eye. All four of his sons took after him.
As for his only daughter, she was doted on at home. When it came time to marry her off, Old Master Hong didn't bother with matchmakers—he took a liking to the Ji family and personally approached the old master to propose the marriage alliance.
When Second Sister-in-law first married into the family, the Hong family would send half a side of pork at a time to the Ji household. It wasn't until the old master personally visited the Hong family that they stopped sending gifts.
When Second Brother went to teach at the town's Sishu, Old Master Hong was so delighted he told everyone he met. If Second Brother dared to have any ulterior motives, he wouldn't need Mother-in-law to scold him—Old Master Hong would have nipped it in the bud long ago.
"Don't interfere, and don't meddle in Third Brother's affairs. Just live your life as usual." Ji Cheng sat down on the kang, his face stern.
Zhushi was displeased. "Third Brother has already done what he did. Can't I, as the eldest sister-in-law, even ask a question?"
"Since you know you're the eldest sister-in-law, just remember one thing: no matter what happens, Father and Mother will always live with us."
These words stunned Zhushi. What did he mean? She stared at Ji Cheng, taking a long time to grasp his implication. Her eyes widened in shock, and she hurried forward, lowering her voice to ask, "Are Father and Mother planning to divide the family?"
Ji Cheng didn't answer her. Instead, he lay down on the bed, turning to face the wall. Zhushi grew anxious, sitting beside him and pushing him. "Tell me, then." Why would they divide the family now? It wasn't that she was unwilling, but she didn't want it to happen at this moment.
"At the latest, after next autumn." In his heart, Ji Cheng agreed with Second Brother—it was better to divide the family early so the three brothers could each go their own way. In the future, if anyone was willing to help, they could lend a hand to their brothers. If not, they wouldn't bother each other.
Zhushi breathed a sigh of relief. "After autumn is fine."
In the west wing, where the third branch lived, Huang Shi wore a worried expression, exchanging silent glances with her daughter. Her two sons stood awkwardly by the door of the inner room, watching their mother and eldest sister.
Ji Xinran had long known this day would come, but the situation was far better than she had anticipated—at least Grandma hadn't rushed to the west wing to beat or scold them. Turning to her two younger brothers, she smiled gently. "You two should go back to your room and sleep soon. You have to leave for the Sishu before dawn tomorrow."
"Eldest Sister," Ji Xinmin, already eleven years old, understood everything he needed to. "Grandma, she—"
"As long as you and Xin Jia study hard, all the suffering Mother and I endure will be worth it." Ji Xinran stood up and escorted them back to their room.
When only Huang Shi remained in the inner room, the worry vanished from her face. Her eyes were calm, devoid of any trace of fear or fragility. Listening to the scolding, the corners of her lips curled slightly, filled with mockery.
Ji Mengshi scolded for a full two quarters of an hour, and Ji Zhongming, sleeping inside, made no move to stop her.
When she finally grew tired, Ji Mengshi still felt deeply wronged. She climbed off the kang, drank half a cup of cold tea, and turned to the old man. "Why should we give him a hundred taels of silver? He sold the Fubangming before and gave me fifty taels. I'll just give him back those fifty taels."
She had had enough of supporting the third branch, and this was how the third son treated her and the old man? Her heart was so cold that her entire body trembled. The family's food, drink, and expenses all came from the common fund, yet he dared to hide money and secretly buy a shop outside. Was he trampling the eldest and second sons underfoot, as if only he were the biological child?
Ji Zhongming opened his eyes: "That hundred taels will be given in two installments. Next July, when he sets off for Yangan Shengfu, give him fifty taels, and another fifty taels when the family divides."
Ji Mengshi was unwilling: "Are you so certain he will pass next year?" She understood the old man's meaning—giving those fifty taels before the Xiangshi. If the third son truly passed, then his status as a Juren would have been supported by the entire Ji family's collective efforts.
With this foundation, even after the family division, the third son could not prosper alone. He would have to look after the eldest, second son, and Ya'er; otherwise, he would be ungrateful and lacking in virtue.
"Nothing is ever absolute. But since we've reached this point, we're not short of those fifty taels." Ji Zhongming turned to his wife: "It's late, let's rest. Tomorrow, don't target the third son's wife either. Even if she has intentions regarding the third branch's affairs, the one who decides is still the third son."
"That scoundrel," Ji Mengshi couldn't calm her anger.
Just like her, someone a hundred miles away was also seething with anger. In the main hall of the guest courtyard at Yunxiang Kezhan in Tanyi Xian, Fanzhou Fu, shattered teacup fragments littered the floor. Standing in the center of the hall was a beautiful woman with deer-like eyes, one hand holding a handkerchief propped on a hexagonal table, while a square-faced old woman knelt at her side.
"How many servants does he need? Aren't the Chi family boy and the Chen family's second son enough? He's deliberately opposing me, his mother."
The square-faced old woman was sweating on her forehead: "My lady, the Chi family boy and the Chen family's second son are not our family's servants. And you—you cannot let Tian Laoniu investigate the master's affairs. If the young master finds out, neither you nor my family will survive." What background did Old Master Chu have? A horse bandit from Liaobian, who killed without blinking!
Although when Dajing was founded, the old master washed his hands of that life, led his group of companions away from Liaobian, bought land for farming, married, and had children, his fierce nature was hard to erase!
Back then, when his only grandson died away from home, if not for the young master still being alive and the old master having reservations, did the lady really think he refrained from investigating his grandson's death out of fear of someone? That was the grandson he had raised with his own hands, the only seedling left after the eldest master died young.
Chu Hanshi's eyes filled with tears: "But… but cousin…"
"There is no cousin. Your visit to Qizhou Fu this time is only to fulfill a vow." The square-faced old woman straightened up, grabbed the woman with both hands, widened her eyes, and warned in a low voice: "Lady, you must be clear-headed. We cannot get involved in the matter of the master's disappearance." Luo Binyun's main wife was not someone to be trifled with either.
Chu Hanshi slumped onto the embroidered stool, tears streaming down her face. When would this ever end? Had she known it would come to this, she should have severed her thoughts and not agreed to his coming to Qizhou Fu.
In the dead of night, a faint smoky scent drifted from the main room of the guest courtyard. The room gradually brightened but remained silent. The old woman guarding the door still leaned against it, sound asleep.
On the old camphor tree behind the house, a young man with auspicious phoenix eyes leaned against a branch, playing with a small wooden pendant hanging at his waist. His slender, clean fingers were so pale they seemed to glow.