Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 295 - 294: Uneven Distribution of Suffering

Chapter 295: Chapter 294: Uneven Distribution of Suffering

Hearing that Chu Lingxuan had returned, Ms. Chu excitedly jumped off the table and ran outside with Dabao following closely behind. They were stopped by Mrs. Song and Qiu Yue at the doorway, "Oh my, it’s too cold outside."

Chu Lingxuan entered the dining room, carrying one child and leading the other. His mannerisms were just like those of a doting father blessed with both a son and a daughter.

Chen Afu laughed, "My lord, now that you’re back, we’re conveniently having a warming mutton soup tonight." She then placed the chopsticks and bowl that Xia Yue had handed her on the table and ordered someone to bring some wine.

Chu Lingxuan laughed and replied, "That’s exactly what I was craving."

After the family of four enjoyed their lively meal, their attendants draped cloaks over everyone, and they all retired to their quarters. With the Lunar New Year holidays here, Dabao didn’t have to attend to his studies, so he and Ms. Chu spent their time looking at cartoon strips drawn by Chen Afu. Meanwhile, Chu Lingxuan and Chen Afu sat off to the side and talked.

Chu Lingxuan had been away for quite a while. Aside from being busy with his official duties, he also found time to go back to the Capital City to see how things were progressing at the Marquis’ mansion, and even gave suggestions for necessary improvements....

As the two of them chatted quietly, Chu Lingxuan would occasionally, when the children weren’t paying attention, sneak a gentle squeeze of Chen Afu’s hand. Of course, the person they primarily had to watch out for was Dabao since unlike Chu Hanyan, he did not spend all his time with his head down studying. He would occasionally look up at them.

Ms. Chu, with her precise biological clock, started looking groggy once night fell. Chu Lingxuan had no choice but to get up and say, "Little girl, it’s time to go home and rest."

Chu Hanyan pouted and playfully said, "Daddy, you go home and rest. After all, you sleep alone. Sister likes to sleep with auntie. Auntie smells nice."

Ms. Chu didn’t mean anything by her words, but they made Chu Lingxuan think. Especially when he heard the words, "Auntie smells nice", his heart started pounding. In just over two months, he wouldn’t be sleeping alone anymore. That person whose smell his daughter loved, would be sleeping next to him....

He smiled good-naturedly and said, "Alright, if daughter wants to sleep with auntie, then she shall."

Chen Afu felt somewhat disgruntled. She had been eagerly waiting for his return, thinking that this would mean a break for her as the full-time babysitter. However, that break never came. This father and daughter pair still demanded her assistance relentlessly.

The following day, Chu Lingxuan had his breakfast at Fu Garden. On this day, New Year’s Eve, Chen Afu and Dabao were going to eat reunion dinner in the main room. Around noon, Chu Lingxuan and his daughter went back to Tang Garden. They agreed to have their New Year’s Eve dinner at Lu Garden in the late afternoon.

Chen Ming and his family of three had already gone to the village since they needed to pay respects to their ancestors.

Chen Afu, her son, Xue Dagui carrying gifts, and Qiu Yue went together to the main house.

While Dabao, Dahu, and Daya were playing in the courtyard, Chen Afu went into the room to chat with Chen Aman. Ever since Chen Aman had gotten engaged to Yang Mingyuan, Chen Shi and his wife hadn’t let her do any housework. They even bought her a little maidservant.

Mrs. Hu sarcastically commented, "Oh, both of you ladies are so pampered, not having to work at all. Poor Aju, she’s also a girl from the Chen family but she has to labour so hard. Sigh, our house leader started supporting her brothers from a very young age, she couldn’t even complete her education and has to toil in fields. Not only is she held back, but our son and daughter have been disadvantaged as well..."

Though her physical illness was cured, her old habit had reared its ugly head again. The saying, ’It’s easier to change a country’s geography than a man’s nature’, was undoubtedly true.

Mrs. Chen and Chen Ye were already in a bad mood, and those words made them even more upset. There was a clear implication in her words that their two brothers were striking it rich, and their offspring were successful, making them feel left behind by their brothers.

At the dining table, a tearful Chen Ye, who was drunk, sparked Mrs. Chen to start wiping her own eyes with her sleeve. Following that, Mrs. Hu and Aju also started crying.

Indeed, as the saying goes, ’It’s not poverty but disparity which breeds discontent’. This was thoroughly demonstrated amongst the three Chen brothers.

Seeing their resilient older brother crying publicly, Chen Ming and Chen Shi also felt upset. They quickly acknowledged Chen Ye’s kindness to them in the past and promised they would never forget their elder brother’s favor.

Chen Agu also tried to comfort them, "Mother, father, don’t feel sad. Sister Afu has given us good seeds. I’ll take good care of the crops and once we have more money, we’ll buy more land and become a big landlord. This way, we hopefully could marry sister off to a wealthy family and let our parents live comfortably."

Mrs. Hu cried out, "By the time you become a big landlord, your sister will be an old maid and it’ll be too late for her."

Chen Ming and Chen Shi promised to each provide fifty taels of silver from their respective houses for the main house to buy land. Combining these with the main house’s share of the profit — ninety taels of silver — as well as the forty taels that were given to the main house a few days ago, they could purchase around forty acres of land.

The main house originally had twenty-five acres of land but had bought twenty more acres with the money they earned from growing watermelons. If they were to add the forty or more acres they plan to buy now, the main house would be considered a small landowner, ranking second in Xiangluo Village only after Junior Officer Gao, and even richer than Hu Laowu’s family....

After everyone had tried to console him, Chen Ye felt slightly better.

While they had failed to evenly distribute the shares of the wine-shop and didn’t manage to get any silver from Chen Afu, Mrs. Hu was still a bit resentful. However, seeing that her husband had stopped crying, she wisely refrained from creating any further commotion.

Mrs. Zhang was so angry that she was grinding her teeth, but she dared not make a scene. She left the table and returned to her room to cry.

Mrs. Wang followed her to console her while she sobbed, "We dare not compare with your family. We just took the ninety taels of silver. Including my husband’s monthly salary, what the skewers shop made, and our share from the business, this year we’ll have more than five hundred taels of silver income. This doesn’t sound like it’s not enough, but we have to pay the debt we borrowed from my father to invest in the business, and repay the money for buying the courtyard. After these, we’ll only have a little over two hundred taels left. We also need to live, my Aman is getting married in August and I was thinking about buying her some decent dowry. Ayu is also not young anymore, we need to save for his betrothal gifts...."

Mrs. Wang had no choice but to suggest, "If you don’t have enough silver, our family could lend you some...."

Mrs. Zhang Sobbed, "At first, we borrowed money to repair their houses and now, we’re borrowing to buy their fields. At first, it was Mrs. Hu crying and now, it’s their whole family...."

Chen Afu remained silent throughout, merely focusing on her meal. She had given all that she should to the main house; she had done her duty to them. As for Chen Ming and Chen Shi’s willingness to be bullied, she could do nothing about it.

To teach a man to fish is better than to give him a fish. She gave the main house seeds, and food formulas to the third house, hoping that they could make money through these, and stand on their own feet. The only time she gave without expecting anything in return was when she gave one percent of the wine-shop shares to the main house. Now thinking about it, she shouldn’t have even given them that.

After the meal, the people from the second house returned to Lu Garden. On their way, Dabao and Alu began to brag about the number of firecrackers they’d bought, enticing Shitou and the other children to play outside Fu Garden.

When they came close to Lu Garden, they saw Mrs. Song and Chu Hanyan waiting by the front gate of Tang Garden. Seeing them return, the little girl ran over joyfully.

Thinking that Wang Laowu, who was alone during new year, must be very lonely, Chen Ming invited him over too.

There was just one table set in the hall. Now, Chu Lingxuan’s relationship with them was extraordinary, so he ate with the members of Chen’s family. However, there were two tables set in the room where all the attendants from Tang Garden, Fu Garden, and Lu Garden, as well as Zeng Shuang and Wang Laowu who returned in time were eating.