Chapter 117: Daughter and Mother
The plump auntie looked at Xue Old Third. “Have you thought this through? Standing by me means splitting the family.”
Xue Old Third remained dense and muffled as always. “Mm.”
Suddenly, the weight in the plump auntie’s heart didn’t feel as heavy anymore. At the very least, all the insults she had endured for his sake over the years hadn’t been in vain.
With Xue Old Third choosing the plump auntie, the elderly couple was so angry that smoke practically billowed from their noses.
Seeing the smile that emerged on the plump auntie’s face, the old couple invited the village clan elders over on the spot and drew up the document for splitting the family.
“The fields will go to the eldest. The house will go to the second. As for the third… he gets ten chickens.”
A clan elder frowned. “This won’t do.”
Their favoritism was simply too extreme.
But the old Xue couple was full of their own justifications. “The eldest brother’s son is about to pass the imperial examinations and become a scholar lord. Having the fields under his name means we won’t have to pay agricultural taxes. The house goes to the second brother since he’s in business, which will make it easier for him to store goods.”
That left only the third son.
However, the clan elder was a reasonably fair man. “Change the ten chickens to twenty. The family ox has always been tended to by the third son’s wife anyway, so allocate it to the third.”
“How can we do that!” the old couple objected immediately.
The clan elder set down his brush. “Then we won’t split the family!”
The old couple immediately looked at the plump auntie, who proudly refused to bow her head, and at Xue Old Third, who had just “betrayed” them. They were utterly furious—they absolutely could not let the third son’s family ride on the coattails of the eldest and second brothers!
It was just an ox…
“Fine, give it to them!”
“We’ll split it exactly like that!”
“From this day forward, we have nothing to do with each other! The third son’s family is no longer part of the Xue family. There’s no need to even greet each other if we cross paths in the future!”
What a joke! They were about to become the grandparents of a scholar lord, or the parents of a wealthy merchant. A useless, donkey-dung-like son like Old Third was of no use to them anyway!
Thus, by the time noon had passed, the plump auntie and Xue Old Third had become displaced vagrants, owning nothing but twenty chickens and an ox—no fields, no land.
Fortunately, the clan elder took charge. “The dilapidated hut at the edge of the village costs eighty copper coins a month. You two can stay there for now. Once you’ve scraped together some savings, you can build a house.”
Xue Old Third and the plump auntie agreed.
Yet, deep down, they felt entirely uncertain.
As the saying goes, ‘Even with a vast fortune, things with feathers and fur don’t count.’ Although they had been allocated twenty chickens and an ox, a single bout of chicken plague or a sprained leg on the ox would leave them with absolutely nothing. And such occurrences were all too common in the countryside.
Nevertheless, the plump auntie led the ox, herded the chickens, and moved into the dilapidated hut.
The pots, pans, bedding, and curtains from their old home had absolutely nothing to do with them. The old couple refused to give them even a single chopstick. Even her empty dowry chest was only retrieved after the plump auntie threw a massive row.
Xue Old Third went into the village to borrow tools and repair the chicken coop.
Having received no eggs from the family split, the plump auntie took two chickens to go visit her daughter.
It was only when she was walking alone on the narrow path through the desolate wilds that she began to weep aloud.
“Mother! Why did you leave so early? Now that your daughter is being bullied, there isn’t even a mother to back her up!”
The more the plump auntie thought about it, the more wronged she felt. “Mother, I listened to you. I worked diligently and never slacked off. But how is it that after working to the very end, I still have nothing? This world is unjust; diligence can’t earn a good life at all! Mother, why did you lie to me… Woohoo, Mother, I miss you so much…”
The plump auntie wept as she walked, crying exactly like a teenage girl. Out of nowhere, she suddenly caught the sound of a sigh.
“Haa…”
“Who’s there?” The plump auntie’s tears clung to her plump face as her eyes widened, scanning the surroundings. “What kind of creature is playing tricks! I’m not afraid of you! If one comes, I’ll thrash one; if two come, I’ll thrash a pair!”
The plump auntie waved her powerful arms, her fists as large as stone bowls, looking completely fierce.
But in the very next second, she suddenly felt a gentle stroke on the top of her head—exactly the way her mother used to soothe and dote on her when she was still a young girl.
The fierce look on the plump auntie’s face instantly collapsed into pure grievance as she looked up at the willow tree. “Mother, is that you?”
“Are you blaming me for resenting you just now?”
The willow tree remained silent, its branches merely swaying gently. The movement was so slight that for a moment, the plump auntie couldn’t tell whether it was just the wind blowing or if it truly was her late mother manifesting her spirit.
But in the next instant, the branches of the willow tree nudged her toward a nearby hollow in the trunk.
“Go, child. Go work over there. That place won’t let a diligent person suffer…”
The voice seemed like the rustling sound of wind blowing through leaves, yet the plump auntie also felt as if she could hear her mother’s voice within it.
“Mother…”
Before the plump auntie could press for answers, she was forcefully pushed into the hollow by the willow branches.
In the next second, she came tumbling out of a hole with a loud roll.
However, this time it wasn’t a tree hollow, but a mountain cave.
The moment she emerged from the cave, she saw a black, bear-like figure right in front of her, raising a fist—a fist that was even larger than hers!
The plump auntie let out a sharp shriek, nearly fainting on the spot.
She had lived for over forty years and had never encountered such a thing; her courage was thoroughly shattered.
Yearning for her mother was one thing, but what was the meaning of being snatched into the mountains by a tree demon?
The plump auntie wanted to run. Although she had just split from her family and could be said to have absolutely nothing, she still had a daughter! Her daughter had only just given birth!
She couldn’t let her daughter grow up without a mother!
The plump auntie scooped up a rock from the ground, preparing to hurl it at Da Hei.
Da Hei didn’t know the plump auntie, but the moment he saw her scooping up a rock with every intention to bash someone, a deeply familiar sensation returned.
Da Hei also let out a sharp “yowl” and took off at a frantic sprint.
Hearing the screams, Jian Xingxia hurried out, only to see a short, plump auntie chasing Da Hei with every intention to strike him.
“Auntie! Don’t hit him! Da Hei is a good person!”
Another one?
The plump auntie skidded to a sharp halt and spun around, nearly throwing the rock at Jian Xingxia.
But since Jian Xingxia at least looked human, the plump auntie hurriedly stayed her hand. Yet she was still deeply afraid in her heart—things that looked human weren’t necessarily human; they could very well be tree demons or spirits taking human form.
Jian Xingxia hadn’t expected that A-Feng’s 99-point score yesterday would grant her an extra recruitment opportunity.
Today, Lin Sanniang needed a one-day interval to facilitate her making the sheets and pillowcases back in the Great Liang Dynasty, so she didn’t need to come. Therefore, after summoning Da Hei, Jian Xingxia left one slot open for A-Feng to deliver the bamboo ware, and with the remaining slot, she decided to hire a cook first to test out some dishes.
With Lin Sanniang serving as the manager, she naturally couldn’t be cooped up by the stove at all times. Thus, they needed someone who could cook, which was why Jian Xingxia chose to recruit a chef.
Seeing that the plump auntie looked fierce but was trembling all over, Jian Xingxia spoke in a gentle tone, “Auntie, don’t be afraid. This is Xingxia Manor, and I am the owner here. I summoned you simply because I wanted to hire you as a laborer.”
Jian Xingxia smiled warmly. “Don’t be afraid. If you work for me, I will give you wages and absolutely won’t let you suffer a loss.”
The plump auntie stared at Jian Xingxia, a loud buzzing echoing in her brain.
These words were identical to what she had just heard—what her mother had said.
So, her mother had sent her here? Was this place truly just like what her mother described, a place where one could work and a diligent person wouldn’t be shortchanged?
The plump auntie’s nose tickled with a sudden ache. Her mother had been dead for over a decade, yet she was still looking out for her. The moment she wept, her mother appeared.
If it weren’t for the fact that Jian Xingxia truly didn’t look anything like her mother, the plump auntie would have wanted to throw herself into Jian Xingxia’s arms and have a good cry.
The plump auntie pinched her nose and took another deep breath. “You’re the manor owner? What do you want me to do? Washing clothes, cooking, farming, raising chickens, herding oxen, turning the millstone… I can do all of it!”
