Chapter 401: Old Lady Jiang Gets Snubbed Repeatedly

This time, Li Xuan did not bring Shen Yuan along; her eldest brother was becoming increasingly extravagant in his ways and disliked the noise children made.

After she left, Shen Mu walked to her son's side, wanting to speak but hesitating.

"With the way her mother's family favors sons over daughters, do you really believe that money was borrowed from her maiden home?"

"Son, I've heard some gossip lately."

She was worried that her son might, without his knowledge, inexplicably become a cuckold.

Shen Lan lay on his side, his weary phoenix eyes watching the faint light filtering through the gaps in the window lattice.

"Mom, you don't need to say anything; Li Xuan does it all for this family."

He did not place much importance on that aspect.

As long as the man Li Xuan loved most in her heart was always him, everything else was of no consequence.

Shen Mu then said nothing more.

Li Xuan busied herself for several days, leaving early and returning late, and finally earned over three hundred yuan, all of which she gave to Shen Lan.

Shen Lan pondered starting by selling some small items.

The sweaters were all sold out, and with the New Year approaching, Si Rong and Ming Zi planned to wait until after the holiday to go to Guangzhou.

With five thousand yuan in capital, they sold a total of nearly seven thousand yuan worth of goods.

This meant that in just a few short days, they had earned nearly two thousand yuan.

Ming Zi did not take a single cent of this money, giving it all to Si Rong.

Si Rong planned to use these two thousand yuan as their business capital.

At the same time, she took advantage of the New Year period to renovate the house where Ming Zi lived.

It consisted of two large rooms; she moved the kitchen, the toilet, and the bedroom all into the inner room, had someone paint the outer room white, and installed rows of clothes racks on the walls to facilitate displaying the clothing.

Then, she used curtains to partition off two small fitting rooms in the corner.

Additionally, she moved over the sewing machine from her own dowry to make it easier to alter clothes.

Besides that, she made a sign for the clothing store, naming it Rongzi Clothing Store.

It was the same two characters as the dance studio they had opened in their past life.

The New Year arrived quietly, and this time the house was even livelier; after Jiang Yu married Xu Yan, Old Lady Jiang temporarily shifted her attention away from Si Rong and set her sights on Xu Yan.

She was especially dissatisfied when she saw her frail figure; she really couldn't compare to the plump Cui Hua, and her two eldest grandsons' brains were each less useful than the other.

Seeing that Xu Yan was quiet, she especially hoped to be able to manipulate her.

One moment she would order Xu Yan to knead her shoulders, the next she would have Xu Yan wash her clothes.

However, it was all done secretly, when the others in the house were not paying attention.

"Yanyan, go and wash this set of long johns for Nainai; Nainai is old and her legs and feet aren't nimble, I can't compare to you young people."

Xu Yan had just married into the family, so of course, she silently took them and went to wash them.

"Legs and feet aren't nimble? I think your mouth is quite nimble," Jiang Yu said as he walked in from outside, stuffing the clothes back to Old Lady Jiang.

"What? Bullying my wife while I'm not home?"

Old Lady Jiang was so angry her face turned black, "How can this be called bullying? She's a junior, what's wrong with her washing two pieces of clothing for me when she has nothing else to do all day?"

"It's not 'what's wrong,' I don't want to," Jiang Yu said coldly, "The wife I married came here to enjoy life, not to be married for you; if you want someone to serve you, go marry Cui Hua yourself!"

"You, you..." Old Lady Jiang sat down on the floor and began to cry.

Xu Yan was a bit flustered, "A-Yu, maybe I should..."

"No need, let Nainai cry," Jiang Yu comforted her, "She has a large lung capacity, it's fine if she cries for a while; come on, I'll take you out to eat."

Old Lady Jiang:...

She continued to increase her lung capacity and wailed.

On the sofa, Si Rong covered Juzi's little ears and signaled for Jiang Cheng to cover Si Nian's as well.

At this moment, Jiang Yu turned back, and Old Lady Jiang thought this grandson was finally going to compromise with her.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yu asked, "Brother, Sister-in-law, want to go out and grab a bite?"

Si Rong stood up, "Okay."

She didn't want to keep listening to this soprano in the house.

Just like that, seeing that no one was home, Old Lady Jiang stopped wailing.

She truly had a bitter life, to have given birth to such a bunch of unfilial things.

During the New Year, whenever a relative came to the house, Old Lady Jiang would pour out her grievances.

"I'm old and useless, I'm an eyesore," she complained while holding her eldest son's hand, "I cried for a long time yesterday and no one in this house cared enough to say a word."

The eldest son knew his mother's character well and had no desire to bring her home early, so he advised, "Then cry for less time next time; you're getting on in years, you need to take care of your throat."

Old Lady Jiang:...

Is this about her throat?

Her throat was perfectly fine!

Then she grabbed her daughter's hand, "You don't know, the two daughters-in-law married into your third brother's house, neither of them has me in their eyes at all; unfilial, truly unfilial."

Jiang Aihua pursed her lips; just a moment ago, Jiang Cheng's wife had even given her a sweater. In her view, this junior was still very good; it must be her mother's problem.

"If they don't have you in their eyes, just sleep more in your room and don't hover around them so much. Young people nowadays are busy, especially Jiang Cheng's wife; what a good child she is, she even gave birth to a pair of twins for our Jiang Family, you mustn't anger her!"

Old Lady Jiang:...

These were all her own children, how come they were all speaking up for Si Rong?

In short, Old Lady Jiang did not have a pleasant New Year.

The rest of the Jiang Family, however, were all quite happy.

Jiang Qi also returned, and she even brought back a man named Han Tengfei.

The man had handsome features, but for some reason, Si Rong always felt he gave off a rather unreliable vibe.

She also didn't know if this man was Jiang Zhi's father from the previous life.

But Jiang Qi seemed to like him quite a bit.

Hu Qian grumbled as she arranged a place for the two of them to stay, clearing out the storage room.

This incident provoked Nainai once again, who paced around the room with her cane for a long time, scolding her granddaughter.

"This is truly turning the world upside down! A girl actually bringing a wild man home!"

"I'm telling you, you absolutely cannot sleep in the same room; it's bad for your two younger brothers!"

Jiang Qi retorted, "Nainai, isn't this my home?"

She had brought her partner back precisely because she didn't want to live in someone else's house.

Why should a woman have to marry out?

"It is not!" Nainai retorted, "You are a girl; in the future, you will be a person of your husband's family, not one of our Jiang Family!"

Jiang Qi was moved to tears by her anger.

"Wuwu, why should I have to marry into another family? My surname is Jiang, and this is my home."

She had expected her mom and dad to stand on her side, but for the first time ever, Hu Qian spoke up, "Your Nainai makes sense. Today, let Xiao Han sleep in that room, and you will sleep in the same room as your father and me."

Although many traditions were feudal, some things were very mysterious.

One could neither believe them entirely nor ignore them completely.

In one's maiden home, a daughter and her boyfriend simply could not sleep in the same room.

Jiang Qi was somewhat disappointed by her mother's words, and she looked toward her two younger brothers.

"Do you think so too?"

Talk of gender equality—how could it possibly be equal?

Jiang Cheng lowered his head and remained silent.

After his Rebirth memories returned, he hoped his sister would not end up like she did in the previous life.

"Sister, have you decided to marry him?"

When adults break up and get back together, it is the children who are hurt the most.

He felt heartache for Xiao Zhi; this man had never fulfilled his duties as a father for a single day.

He still remembered the question Xiao Zhi asked him during her adolescence, "If Mom doesn't love me, why did she give birth to me?"

His heart had ached for a long time.