Chapter 73: Sixth Auntie is Here Again
Winter days grow dark early.
Father and Elder Brother returned together.
It was cold outside, but there was a sense of warmth as soon as they entered the house.
Dinner was made by Sister Yu; it was a large pot of soup, and today was a day for having dry rice.
The family would have a meal of dry rice every two or three days. Jiang Yu remembered these days very clearly, and she would always take the initiative to cook.
She wanted to soak the rice a little longer so that there would be more once it was cooked.
Jiang Changtian waited until he had warmed up a bit before coming over to hold his daughter.
Jiang Mianmian also loved it best when Father held her.
Seeing Father reach out, she couldn’t wait to pounce on him.
Because she was dressed warmly and ate well, Jiang Mianmian had quite a bit of weight to her, like a little iron weight.
She bumped into Father.
Jiang Changtian found it a bit difficult to hold his little daughter.
He couldn’t help but cough.
This frightened Qin Luoxia; her husband hadn’t coughed in half a year, and she worried if he might catch a cold this winter.
Last month, Old Man Liu in the village had just passed away from a cold.
Jiang Feng took Mianmian into his arms.
Jiang Mianmian felt that everyone was too nervous about Father; she felt that Father’s health was quite good and not that bad—the spiritual spring water hadn’t been drunk in vain.
Father just had a naturally lean constitution.
However, she also liked Elder Brother’s embrace very much.
Elder Brother would lift her up and make her fly—truly fly.
Jiang Mianmian flew up on Elder Brother’s hands, came down, flew up, and came down again.
It felt very fun.
She couldn’t help but giggle.
Jiang Feng said proudly, “Mianmian can call for Elder Brother now, how amazing.”
Jiang Mianmian’s drool even flew onto Elder Brother’s face.
She landed steadily back in Elder Brother’s arms.
After playing around for a while.
The family began to eat dinner.
Although it was portioned out, Mother, Sister Yu, and Elder Brother still ate very quickly, always having a sense of crisis that if they ate too slowly, there wouldn’t be any left.
Father ate a bit slower, and Jiang Mianmian ate even slower.
She was able to eat at the table because she could sit up; she had a small bamboo chair that Mother had made.
She had her own sense of autonomy and firmly refused to eat food that Mother had chewed up…
Chopped up was fine, but chewed up was not.
This was why Qin Luoxia felt that her youngest child was rightfully her husband’s daughter; that determination to eat cleanly was exactly the same as her husband’s.
At this moment, only the Father and daughter were left at the table who hadn’t finished eating.
Jiang Changtian ate elegantly, while Jiang Mianmian was trying hard to eat cleanly. After all, she wasn’t a real baby, and she would feel very ashamed if she got vegetable soup and rice all over herself.
But after all, she was still a baby, and her hand control wasn’t that flexible, so she ate very slowly.
She looked extremely well-behaved, a little baby slowly using a spoon to feed herself.
It wasn’t easy to accurately aim the spoon at her mouth either.
Jiang Yu was anxious watching: “If my little sister eats like this, she’ll starve to death if she doesn’t marry into a wealthy family in the future.”
She received a flick on the forehead from Elder Brother: “Don’t talk nonsense, you’re always so noisy.”
Just as Mianmian was working hard on her meal, a knock sounded at the door.
“Bang, bang, bang!”
Those who come at mealtime are always uninvited guests.
Jiang Changtian finished his soup, and Jiang Mianmian vigilantly looked at the food in front of her; there was minced meat, should she hide it?
As it turned out, she was an exception.
Sister Yu quickly cleared the table, leaving only her meal behind.
Letting her continue to eat.
Jiang Mianmian sat at the dining table and saw the person who had arrived.
A woman wearing silk cloth came in; she had applied a lot of things to her face, which was very frightening.
Her way of walking was extremely comical; one leg was fine, but she dragged the other lame leg, limping, limping, limping into the room.
It was none other than Sixth Auntie, who had broken her leg half a year ago.
She could walk on the ground, but one leg was lame and wouldn’t heal.
Sixth Auntie came in and saw a fair, chubby baby eating, with meat in the bowl.
The baby was extremely beautiful; being fed with meat, she surely looked good. This Jiang the Second was truly generous.
Jiang Mianmian thought to herself, this old woman had previously said that if she could survive, she would eat three catties of excrement.
She hadn’t eaten it yet.
Thinking of this, she looked at the minced meat and rice in front of her, dark and mushy, and suddenly couldn’t eat it anymore…
Sixth Auntie turned her head to look at Jiang Yu, who was becoming increasingly beautiful.
She used to hear A-Cuis Mother say that her A-Cui was pretty, but looking at it now, A-Cui’s face was sharp and thin, which clearly meant she lacked fortune.
Jiang Yu was the pretty one.
After all, she was Jiang the Second’s seed.
Thinking of the tall white horse she saw upon entering, the greed in Sixth Auntie’s eyes couldn’t be hidden.
She dragged her lame leg and laughed before speaking.
She opened her mouth wide and said, “Good news, great news, Sixth Auntie has come to bring you happy tidings!”
Jiang Mianmian thought, here it comes; last time this old woman came to talk about great news, it was to sell off Sister Yu.
What good news could there be this time?
Seeing that the Jiang Family didn’t respond, Sixth Auntie didn’t feel uncomfortable at all and continued: “It’s a great joy for Sister Yu; Master Liu has taken a liking to your Sister Yu and wants to take her as a concubine. She can give birth as soon as she enters the door and can be a favored concubine; it’s just that you need to include a horse as part of the dowry, that’s all.”
“Hiccup.” Jiang Mianmian was so shocked she hiccuped.
Father stroked her back.
Qin Luoxia felt that breaking only one of Sixth Auntie’s legs last time was letting her off too easily; both legs should have been broken.
Jiang Yu spoke up first: “I won’t be a concubine. Master Liu is extremely stingy; in their house, even the wiping sticks used for the toilet have to be washed and reused after being used. He wants to take me as a concubine and also wants my family’s horse? In his dreams!”
Jiang Mianmian:…Ugh, can’t eat, really can’t eat; this dinner is ruined.
Jiang Feng also spoke up: “My little sister won’t be a concubine. Master Liu is even older than my Father. Sixth Auntie, save some virtue for yourself, go back.”
Jiang Changtian did not speak, only looking at the woman in front of him, even with a polite smile on his face.
Qin Luoxia’s chest heaved, and her hand itched to reach for an axe.
Seeing the attitude of Jiang the Second’s family, Sixth Auntie sneered.
Dragging her lame leg, she found a chair and sat down herself.
“It’s just that Master Liu heard that your Sister Yu is good at bearing children, which is why he’s giving you this opportunity. You are destined to be poor your whole lives. Do you believe that if I go to the village and shout that Master Liu wants to take a concubine, there will be plenty of people sending their daughters over?”
“My daughter doesn’t want this kind of ‘fortune,’ Sixth Auntie, go back.” Qin Luoxia said stubbornly.
Sixth Auntie flicked her handkerchief and said slowly: “The whole village is Master Liu’s territory. If you don’t marry, you’d better get out early. The mountains and waters here are all Master Liu’s. The wild vegetables you dig are Master Liu’s wild vegetables, and the wild animals you hunt are all Master Liu’s. Master Liu doesn’t mind, so you treat them as your own? To put it bluntly, even the breath you take is granted to you by the Master.”
“If Master Liu wants to drive you out of the village, going out means death. It’s chaotic outside now, and the corpses of the starving on the roadside are fresh. It’s chaotic outside, the times have changed, and the nobles in the capital won’t care about you. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll comply obediently, and there will be a way to survive. Three days from now is an auspicious day; Master Liu will send a small sedan chair to pick up Sister Yu and the horse. Sister Yu’s good days are yet to come!”
After Sixth Auntie finished speaking, regardless of everyone’s expressions, she stood up, dragged her lame leg, and moved step by step towards the outside.
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