Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 120 - 119: Complete Separation

Chapter 120: Chapter 119: Complete Separation

Upon returning to the West Room, Mrs. Wang clutched Chen Afu in her arms and burst into unrestrained tears. "Afu, my Afu, it is all my fault. I lost face for you all, and you nearly got beaten up..."

Seeing Mrs. Wang weeping in distress, Alu and Dabao embraced and wept with her. Chen Afu shed tears and said, "Mother, you didn’t lose our face, because you have done nothing wrong at all. You should not bear the disgrace, so it was right to teach those two gossipy women a lesson. Don’t worry, mother. Before I had my fight with them, I had asked my sister-in-law to call for Junior Officer Gao and Manager Luo. I’ll be fine. Oh, and Zhui Feng, it’s amazing. It will protect me..."

Zhui Feng was sitting at their feet, and upon hearing its mistress’s mention of its name, it immediately got up and whined, nuzzling against her feet.

Chen Ming walked in and said, "Lady Juan, Afu is right in what she said and how she acted. You didn’t lose our face, because you have done nothing wrong at all. It’s those two evil women who have been spreading rumors and tarnishing reputations. Afu did well to take a stand against those two spiteful women. Who clearly deserved what they got." He then said to Chen Afu, "Go and change your clothes, don’t catch a chill."

It seemed as if Mrs. Wang had finally come to her senses. She wiped away her tears and hurriedly said, "Go change your wet clothes quickly and then get under the covers. I’ll heat up the water for a bath right away. If you get sick, the sin I bear will be even greater."

It was then that Chen Afu felt a chill in her body, and a slight stuffiness in her nose. In the heat of the confrontation, she hadn’t felt cold. She stopped Mrs. Wang and asked Dabao to heat up the water with her.

Mrs. Wang followed them and set a pot of ginger tea to boil before returning to the old courtyard.

Chen Afu had a hot bath and a head wash, then consumed the ginger tea, which made her feel invigorated. Thanks to her regular high-nutrition diet and the agarwood, her physical condition was excellent.

She then went back to the old courtyard. As soon as she passed through the side door, she saw Mrs. Gao and Chen Alan coming over, with Chen Alan carrying the clothing and basin that Chen Afu had left by the creek.

Seeing that the clothes were already cleaned, Chen Afu thanked them.

Mrs. Gao said, "Your clothes are quite nice, check if any are missing."

After flipping through the clothes, Chen Afu realized that she had lost three pieces. She then said, "Well, if they’re gone, they’re gone. Surely there’re clothes missing from big sister’s home as well. check and see how many are missing. I apologize for inconveniencing you and causing you to lose things due to me, as well as for the fright. Thank you both, thank you uncle and brother, and thanks to Granny. She’s such an old age, still worrying about us."

Chen Alan, who had been crying until her eyes were red, blushed, feeling useless.

Mrs. Gao replied, "We’re all relatives, we’re supposed to help each other in times of trouble. Your brother and Granny each lost a piece of clothing, no big deal. You have already gave them silk to make new clothes." After comforting Chen Afu further, she set off with Chen Alan.

Chen Afu hung up the laundry, and then prepared a pot of egg drop soup. Everyone ate and subsequently went to sleep.

Manager Luo had informed Chen Ming in the morning to tell Chen Afu that she did not need to go to the Tang Garden today and to rest well at home. Feeling physically and mentally drained, Chen Afu who hadn’t slept well the night before, overslept until the late afternoon.

When she woke up, she found that Dabao had already woken up. He was sitting on the bed, hugging Zhui Feng and watching her. Both her mother and youngest brother had gone to the old courtyard.

Mrs. Wang seemed better and was sitting on the bed, making clothes for Alu. Despite her swollen and teary eyes, she looked serene and gentle.

Such a strong woman, it was no wonder she managed to shoulder so many hardships and protect her family.

Alu was reading at the table, with Chen Ming guiding him. Seeing this, Dabao quickly went over to join them.

Chen Ming said to Chen Afu, "Today, your Granny suffered a shock, and your uncle scraped a large piece of skin off his arm. We wanted to invite them over for a meal, but with things being like this at home, we struggled to prepare it. I’ll bring something over to them tonight. Afu, come with Father."

Chen Afu nodded. Now Mrs. Wang was not in a mood to leave home, and Alu using a crutch, so she had to accompany Chen Ming. This time, the main rooms had helped them considerably, and they should indeed express their gratitude.

She took a wallet from her bosom and took out six silver ingots, saying, "This is from Marquis Chu to Dabao, it comes from a rich family. Father, give two to Granny and Uncle, and Brother. Though it’s not worth much, it’s something novel."

Chen Ming took the silver ingots, and added, "This time, Mr. Luo, the people from the Tang Garden, your Uncle’s family, several clansmen, Junior Officer Gao, Carpenter Wu, some others, and Hu Laowu, gave us tremendous help. We should host them for a meal. But our house is too small to accommodate so many people. I’m thinking of giving some money to have it held at your uncle’s house. How does that sound?"

This was indeed a brilliant idea. With so many people, they’d need several tables. Winter had already set in, making it impossible to set up outside. Having it at the main house was ideal. If they gave more money, Mrs. Hu would certainly be willing. The key was that with these respectable individuals, the face-conscious Chen Ye would definitely be pleased.

Chen Afu agreed, and proposed the matter of building a house. She mentioned that she still had some money and would earn more in the future, so she wanted to build a bigger house and purchase some servants to help with work.

Alu quickly piped up, "If we’re building a bigger house, we should create more rooms to store our grains. Otherwise, we’ll have nowhere to store all the grain we have."

Chen Ming thought about it and said, "Father knows that Afu has a bright future, and it’s okay to build a house and buy servants. Oh, Father is useless, all the work that a man should be doing is being done by you two women."

Chen Afu added, "Let’s buy two larger pieces of land, separate the two courtyards just like they are now, divide them by a wall and have a side door for easy access."

Chen Ming shook his head and said, "Father previously thought that we could wait a few more years before considering building our own house. But now, our family already has so much land, I’d like your mother and Alu to enjoy more comfort too. However, we could build a house, but Father feels that if you build another courtyard, it should not be as connected as it is now. It would feel like we haven’t separated households." He quickly added, "Afu, don’t overthink it. Father says this, not because he wants to alienate you, but for your and Dabao’s benefit... uh, if you subsequently find a son-in-law, he might not want to live that close to his father-in-law."

Chen Ming did not want to get everything mixed up with Chen Afu again, but he couldn’t say it out loud. The previous day, Chen Ye and Mrs. Chen hinted towards getting Chen Afu back into the Chen household and to have Chen Ming request the County Government to cancel Afu’s female household registration. They accounted her impressive capability by speculating, what if she finds out that Chen Ming isn’t her biological father? Would she then take all assets under her name and go acknowledge her biological father, leaving Chen Ming having raised her for so many years in vain? If their households remained merged, then even if she did leave, at least their properties would still remain.

Chen Ming did not agree, arguing that Chen Afu was always raised by Mrs. Wang, and they had already received so many things from her in return. He didn’t feel right to claim everything under their name. Besides, Afu isn’t heartless, she wouldn’t deny him as her father...

However, both Chen Ye and Mrs. Chen felt that, who would be a fool to know they have such an influential biological father and not acknowledge him. They were somewhat disheartened by Chen Ming’s ’stubbornness’...