Chapter 10: Returning to Maiden Home on the Third Day

"Okay." Du Ruo didn't stand on ceremony with him, reached out and took it, "I'll return it to you after I sell the recipes and earn money."

After eating, Jiang Sheng rushed to wash the bowls.

Jiang Wan felt sorry for the dog and spent the whole afternoon in the courtyard playing games of throwing and fetching with it.

Du Ruo asked Jiang Zhan to bring pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. One spoke and the other wrote, writing down all the recipes for future use.

Of course, she could write, but she wouldn't write traditional characters. The original owner knew some, taught by the child next door when she was small. At that time, Du Mingzhu hadn't grown up and wasn't that perverted.

Later, because Du Mingzhu caused various troubles, that child's family was afraid of being implicated and stopped letting them associate...

Early the next morning, Du Ruo went out with two strings of copper coins.

Longquan Cun was backed by mountains and faced water, the scenery was beautiful, but unfortunately, it was in a remote location, more than ten miles away from Xiushan Town, and it was all mountain roads, very difficult to walk.

Fortunately, there was an ox cart at the entrance of the village. The fare was not expensive, three wen per person, saving two feet from walking, which was quite convenient.

At this time, there were already several people sitting on the ox cart, all looking like village wives, some young and some old, making a fuss together.

Seeing Du Ruo coming, they all stopped talking in unison and looked at her curiously.

Du Ruo smiled at them.

Under the morning light, the pustules on her face were even more red and translucent, and inside seemed to be wrapped in little snakes that were about to break out of the ground.

The women's hearts trembled, and they all looked away in unison, not daring to look closely.

It was the old man driving the cart who smiled very kindly: "Is it Jiang Li's wife? Come, come, come, get on, we're leaving."

Du Ruo thanked him and climbed onto the ox cart with her hands and feet.

She was heavy, and as soon as she got on, the carriage shook. The few wives started screaming, grabbing the wood under their buttocks in a panic, which saved them from falling.

"Sorry, I'm a bit heavy." Du Ruo was embarrassed.

Several people were quite easy to talk to, all smiling and saying it was okay, only a middle-aged woman who was slightly plump looked displeased.

"It's not that I'm saying, Jiang Li's wife, you are really too fat. I guess you must have eaten mountain delicacies in your maiden home on weekdays, right?"

She smiled, but her smile carried a trace of sarcasm, "This is a remote place in Longquan Cun, and your husband Jiang Li is just a hunter, not earning much money, and there are a bunch of burdens at home. How can you afford to support this Buddha in the future?"

The young wife sitting next to her poked her and whispered: "Aunt, say less..."

Others remained silent, obviously not wanting to get involved in this muddy water.

Du Ruo felt strange.

This aunt clearly had hostility toward her, but she didn't remember where she had offended her. It couldn't be that she was too ugly, so she couldn't stand her, right?

"Who are you..." She asked.

The woman turned her face and ignored her. The young wife hurriedly smoothed things over and smiled: "You just married over so you don't recognize her, this is Lin family aunt... oh, that is the wife of the village head of our Longquan Cun. Her house is not far in front of yours, it's the second house counting from the east, separated from yours by a pond."

So it was a neighbor.

Du Ruo understood. Perhaps the two families had some conflict before, so she was being sarcastic.

She said oh indifferently and stopped answering.

The ox cart swayed and finally entered Xiushan Town half an hour later.

Du Ruo paid the fare, asked the old man clearly about the time the ox cart would return to the village, and then walked away.

Looking at her clumsy back, Aunt Lin sneered: "Jiang Li is self-righteous, has high standards, and looks down on everyone. How come he ended up marrying such an ugly monster?"

The accompanying woman hurriedly went to cover her mouth, "Oh, don't say it again, be careful of disaster coming from the mouth! She is ugly, but she has a good father, that's an official in the county!"

"Bah." Aunt Lin spat on the ground, disdainfully, "As if I don't know. Du Shi's biological mother was divorced by Master Du long ago, and he doesn't even want this daughter, keeping her in the countryside, not asking about her as if she didn't exist. You guys think about it, if Master Du really loved this daughter, how could he be willing to marry her to Jiang Li?"

Everyone knew that the Jiang family's second branch was a bottomless pit, not only poor but also having a basket of troublesome things.

*Pfft*.

The young wife laughed, half-teasing and half-sarcastic: "That's not necessarily true, Aunt Lin, you care so much about Qingshuang sister, didn't you also think about marrying her to Jiang Li before?"

It was just rejected.

Aunt Lin's face turned red and white, and she reached out to tear her mouth.

"What are you talking about, you little bitch, why are you pulling our Qingshuang into this for no reason, your mouth is so lacking in discipline..."

Seeing that the two were about to fight on the street, others hurriedly pulled them apart and persuaded them for a long time before it was over.

Du Ruo didn't know that she had inadvertently triggered a war of words. She was currently buying return gifts along the street.

After bargaining for a long time, she finally bought two chickens, two jin of meat, and twenty eggs, costing a total of 120 wen.

All were even numbers, representing pairs.

The original owner's maiden home was in Xinglin Village. Although it was also in the countryside, the location was much better than Longquan Village, and it was only a road away from the town, walking distance.

Of course, that was for ordinary people.

For Du Ruo, it wasn't that simple.

She was wide and fat, and she could faint from walking empty-handed, let alone carrying a basket of eggs and meat, and two lively chickens.

Du Ruo sighed. She had to walk even if she didn't want to. She had spent so much money, she couldn't take the cart again, saving a little was a little.

Walking two steps and resting one step, the original half-hour journey, she walked until the sun was high before arriving.

Fortunately, she finally arrived.

Du Ruo sat on the big stone at the entrance of the village and panted, holding her waist.

She was tired to death. She had to detoxify quickly, otherwise, dragging this body of fat, it was inconvenient to go anywhere...

"Aman!" A man jumped out from some corner and suddenly appeared in front of her.

Du Ruo was startled and almost rolled off the stone.

Looking closely, it was a handsome young man of eighteen or nineteen with a baby face—if she wasn't mistaken, it was the original owner's third cousin, Zheng Qinghe.

Zheng Qinghe was the youngest son of the original owner's uncle, and the two grew up together, so the relationship was naturally closer than others.

Unfortunately, it was this closeness that harmed him.

Two years ago, Zheng Qinghe was a clerk in a embroidery shop in town. He was clever, quick-handed, and literate, and was favored by the accountant, who planned to train him well to take over his position in the future.

As a result, just because the original owner refused to drink the "tonic" sent by Du Mingzhu, such a young man with a bright future was framed for stealing the embroidery shop's collection. Not only did he lose his job, but he was also severely beaten, and no other merchant in Xiushan Town dared to hire him again.

Since then, he could only do some coolie work at the pier.

Since then, the original owner completely collapsed, never thinking of resisting again. Even if Du Mingzhu asked her to die, she would close her eyes and jump into the water...

"What are you dazing for? Don't recognize your third brother anymore?" Zheng Qinghe waved his hand in front of Du Ruo.

Du Ruo came back to her senses and smiled: "How could I? Third brother treated me so well, even if I forgot to eat or drink, I wouldn't forget you, third brother."

"Oh, your mouth is sweeter than before after getting married." Zheng Qinghe laughed loudly. He looked around and was a bit puzzled, "Why are you alone, where is the son-in-law? Why didn't he come back with you?"

Du Ruo's eyes flickered: "He... went to the county to serve corvée labor, and will be back in a while."

Returning to the maiden home on the third day without the son-in-law, no matter the reason, the maiden family would definitely not be happy.

Sure enough, Zheng Qinghe immediately pulled his baby face, "Is it true? Don't lie to your third brother. If that kid is deliberately not giving you face, tell third brother, third brother will vent your anger! Third brother carries sacks at the pier every day, I have great strength!"

As he spoke, he bent his arms to show his muscles.

Du Ruo felt both sour and funny.

"Really, I'm a puppy if I lie!" She stuffed the chickens and the basket into Zheng Qinghe's arms, "Strong man, I really can't hold it anymore, you take it."

Seeing her expression was normal, Zheng Qinghe barely believed it.

The two talked and walked toward the house.

Turning around the big locust tree at the entrance of the village, they saw a group of people standing outside the old Zheng family courtyard from afar. Men and women, old and young, all waiting expectantly like penguins.

"Aman, my bitter daughter!" A haggard woman rushed over, hugged her, and started crying loudly. ===== CHAPTER 11 =====