Chapter 65: Old Madam Chen, Unwelcome by the Whole Family
Bai You’s wife glanced at her shivering children beside her, her heart aching but helpless. She could only whisper to her husband to discuss borrowing a pot.
Bai You was once a prefect of a province but ended up being exiled along with his family for corruption and bribery. Only he and the emperor who ordered the exile knew the full story.
Bai You had once met Yu Zhengqing briefly, but given Yu Zhengqing’s status at the time, Bai You naturally never had a chance to talk to him.
Now that they were all in the same predicament, Bai You, like everyone else, couldn’t help but wonder: why did the Yu family, despite being exiled, still have so many supplies?
From the start of their exile, Bai You’s family had been surviving on black bread. The aroma of white porridge wafting from the Yu family’s pot made all the once-privileged “nobles” swallow their saliva uncontrollably.
“Prince An Rong, how come you still have so much stuff?”
“We got it along the way.”
“Huh? You can do that?”
Yu Zhengqing wasn’t interested in chatting, so he casually nodded.
Seeing that Yu Zhengqing didn’t want to engage, Bai You’s face burned with embarrassment. No matter what, he was once a scholar and scholars naturally have thin skin.
Turning to look at his wife, who still watched him expectantly from a distance, Bai You thickened his face and moved a bit closer to Yu Zhengqing.
“Prince An Rong, I… I would like to borrow your pot for a bit to make some hot food…”
“No!”
Before Bai You could finish, Old Madam Chen snapped coldly with a stern face, rejecting him outright!
Her sharp tone startled Bai You, and even Yu Zhengqing, who was sitting cross-legged and resting, was taken aback. He turned around with a displeased look at his mother.
Under Yu Zhengqing’s gaze, Old Madam Chen’s expression softened a bit.
“It’s not that we’re being heartless. We only have two pots. What if you break one? When we get to the wilderness, we won’t be able to buy anything!”
Hearing this, Bai You could only retreat awkwardly, his face flushed, and walked away with his head down.
“Hey, we’re done with ours. If you need it, just take it.”
A sudden voice came from behind him. Bai You froze, then turned around with surprise and joy lighting up his face.
Yu Qiang stood up, poured the black bread soup he had just made into an earthen pot, and handed the iron pot to Bai You.
Seeing the iron pot being offered to him, Bai You’s eyes welled up with gratitude. He quickly took it with both hands and bowed deeply to Yu Qiang.
“Thank you, thank you! We’ll take good care of your pot and return it right after we use it.”
Yu Qiang waved it off indifferently.
“We’re all in a bad spot. No one knows if we’ll see tomorrow. On such a cold day, eat something warm if you can. Go back to your family and make some hot water; it’ll help.”
“Okay, thank you so much, uncle!”
Holding the iron pot, Bai You hurried back to his family. Seeing their delighted expressions, Yu Qiang couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.
“Oh, so you think that makes you more generous than me?”
Old Madam Chen’s sarcastic voice shattered the rare moment of warmth and silence. Yu Qiang’s smile faded. He glanced coldly at the bitter Old Madam Chen, took the wooden bowl handed by his daughters-in-law, and started eating.
Feeling ignored, Old Madam Chen snorted unhappily. She turned to look at Lady Lan and Yu Meiyao, who were cooking, her tone immediately turning harsh.
“Are you two pigs? They’ve already started eating, and you’re still at it? Are you trying to starve me to death?”
“Yes, Mother, almost done, almost done!”
Lady Lan’s eyes were red from the smoke, and hearing Old Madam Chen’s scolding, she quickly responded obediently, her hands moving even faster.
“And you two! Don’t just sit there. Go gather more firewood! Who knows what tonight will bring? With this little firewood, we’ll freeze to death by midnight!”
After scolding Lady Lan, Old Madam Chen turned to look at Chang Huilan and Yu Yingying, who were resting. Her voice was stern and demanding.
Hearing this, Yu Yingying’s face twisted into a bitter expression. Today’s journey was more exhausting than any other day. She just wanted to close her eyes and sleep without even eating, yet her grandmother started nagging again.
“I’m not going! I just want to rest! Grandma, let me take a break!”
“Rest? What rest? Your brothers and father are the ones who are really exhausted! You and your mother haven’t even carried a basket on this journey. What’s there to rest for? If you don’t gather firewood now, we’ll freeze to death tonight when the others have taken it all!”
“Then freeze to death! I can’t move anymore!”
Yu Yingying snapped back irritably. After these days, she had realized that her grandmother was even more annoying than she was back at the marquis’ estate!
Every day, all she did was bark orders and make everyone run around, even knowing that they weren’t used to this kind of hardship.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became! Finally fed up, Yu Yingying stopped pretending to be obedient and directly ignored Old Madam Chen’s scolding.
“Oh, look at this! Look at this! Chang, this is the good daughter you raised! The marquis’ estate falls, and now she doesn’t even respect her grandmother anymore!”
Hearing her name called out, Chang Huilan was speechless.
Her daughter wasn’t just hers, right? Why was she the only one getting scolded? What about her son, who was sitting right next to Old Madam Chen? Why didn’t she dare say a word to him?
Ha! Old Madam Chen really had no self-awareness. At a time like this, she still wanted to flaunt her authority as the elder. Truly shameless.
Though she was seething inside and silently cursing Old Madam Chen a thousand times over, Chang Huilan’s face remained as calm and gentle as ever.
“Mother, it’s my fault. It’s all because I didn’t teach her well…”
“Enough! What’s the big deal here? Grandma, you should cut Yingying some slack. She took more lashes than anyone else today. You should pity her a bit, too.
“Honestly, I think you’re the most free out of all of us, Grandma. If you’ve got the time, why don’t you go gather some firewood yourself? It’ll help lighten everyone’s load!”
Already irritated, Yu Xiaoran, Yu Zhengqing’s eldest son, couldn’t hold back anymore. His reprimanding tone immediately cut off his mother’s apology.
Hearing his words, Lady Lan and her daughter continued cooking silently, but inside, they were laughing with glee!
They had long been fed up with Old Madam Chen’s bossy attitude. Now even her precious eldest grandson was telling her to go gather firewood herself. It was pure delight!
