The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 462 - 460: Feeling Uncomfortable

Chapter 462: Chapter 460: Feeling Uncomfortable

Old Granny Zhang took two steps and then turned back to spit at Song Chunhua, "Heartless, rotten-hearted woman, all these are your retribution! You deserve it!"

Song Chunhua foolishly knelt on the ground, speechless for a long time, as if she had lost her soul and wit.

Wang Yongzhu parted ways with Old Granny Zhang halfway through the journey, and because of the delay, she arrived at the cave after noon.

After checking the condition of the mycelium and seeing that everything was normal, she watered it once more before hurriedly descending the mountain.

Upon returning home, she overheard Lady Lin discussing the affairs of the Song Family with Lady Jiang.

"I went there later and just saw the Zhao Family’s procession to welcome the bride. Even though it was for taking a concubine, they hired a horse carriage adorned with red silk. They even hired an old woman who brought a bundle, saying it was new clothes for Song Chunhua to change into, and I heard it was even silk. That Zhao fellow looks quite old, but he did give that woman Song Chunhua some dignity," Lady Lin’s voice said.

Lady Jiang, in a soft and delicate tone, "But it’s to become a concubine, what dignity is there?" Ever since Sun Ahfu’s incident, Lady Jiang couldn’t stand the thought of concubinage.

Caught by Lady Jiang’s neither too light nor too heavy retort, Lady Lin’s face darkened immediately.

Then, noticing Wang Yongzhu’s return, she quickly stood up, "Little sister, you’re back! Are you tired from walking the mountain paths? Let me get you some water."

Extremely attentive.

Wang Yongzhu took the water, thanked Lady Lin, and after taking a sip, asked, "What happened with the Song Family afterwards?"

Lady Lin’s interest was piqued again and she animatedly began to describe what happened.

It turned out that after Wang Yongzhu and Old Granny Zhang left, Song Chunhua became like an idiot, not responding to questions and no longer crying when pinched, just like a block of wood.

This scared the Song family, so they hurriedly dragged her back to the house. They vaguely spoke of something, wondering whether she had lost her soul.

Not long after, people from the Zhao Family arrived in a rented horse carriage, accompanied by an old woman carrying a bundle of clothes, changing Song Chunhua into them, reportedly silk ones.

The Sister-in-law of the Song Family along with the Second Sister-in-law could barely take their eyes off the silk new clothes, watching the old woman dress Song Chunhua, almost wishing to peel them off her body.

Fortunately for them, Song Chunhua was foolishly compliant at the time, doing whatever she was told. Although she did not speak, the old woman thought she might just be shy.

Once she was dressed, they discovered her face was swollen after redoing her hair.

The old woman couldn’t believe how ignorant the country folk were of proper conduct, thinking to herself that no matter what, today was a day for celebration and that slapping her face was unacceptable.

Looking at Song Chunhua’s stupefied expression, she guessed that probably Song Chunhua was unwilling and her family was forcing her to marry.

With a sigh, the old woman, employed by the Zhao Family, combed Song Chunhua’s hair and used the rouge and powder she had brought to cover her face, inserted a few silver hairpins she had brought with her, and, in addition to the pink silk clothes she wore,

It brought out Song Chunhua’s beauty.

Once she was all dressed up, the old woman called out at the door, and Old Master Zhao, unable to wait any longer, hurried in. Looking at Song Chunhua, his eyes nearly fell out.

Without caring about propriety, he grabbed Song Chunhua’s hand and fondled it several times, greedily, before leading her to the carriage.

Song Chunhua followed behind Old Master Zhao, her beauty attracting the whistles of a few idlers.

Old Master Zhao glared at the idlers and hurriedly pushed Song Chunhua into the carriage before climbing in himself.

The Eldest of the Song family came chasing out, standing by the carriage and not allowing it to leave.

Impatiently, Old Master Zhao lifted the carriage curtain and tossed over a heavy purse.

The Eldest of the Song family quickly caught the purse and stepped aside.

The coachman cracked his whip, and the carriage slowly started to move. Seeing there was no more spectacle to watch, the villagers also dispersed.

Only the children, running after the carriage. A gust of wind lifted the curtain, and they saw inside the carriage, Old Master Zhao with his head full of white hair, hugging Song Chunhua, recklessly nibbling on her face.

When the children went back and imitated what they saw, the whole village knew about it.

Aside from a few men who muttered phrases like ’a fresh flower stuck in cow dung’ and ’a pear blossom suppressed by a begonia,’ expressing their sour disdain, very few people sympathized with Song Chunhua.

The reputation of the Song Family only became more tainted. No matter which family it was, they would shake their heads when talking about the Song Family, and the household heads had even excluded them from the range of suitable families to consider for marriage, not wanting such disgraceful in-laws.

Even Lady Lin couldn’t help but sigh, "The Song Family has no rules; they are shameless for the sake of money, and a family like this will probably have a hard time arranging marriages for generations to come. For the sake of silver, they’ve lost the face of their ancestors; it’s good that we broke off the engagement with Song Chunhua. Otherwise, our family would have been embarrassed too..."

Old Granny Zhang happened to overhear this as she came out and flipped her eyelid, slamming down the basket in her hand onto the ground, "A lampstand that can illuminate others but not oneself, do you still have the face to talk about others? Do you think I have forgotten all the things you did before? If it weren’t for our Old Wang Family covering for you, do you believe anyone would willingly marry their daughter to you with your behavior, always skimming silver to spend?"

"Talking idly with your hands tied before it’s even dark, have you finished all the work at home? If you keep on being sly and lazy without doing your duties, thinking it’s prestigious to sell daughters as concubines, I might just sell you off tomorrow!"

Upon hearing this, Lady Lin turned pale, remembered her past hardships at the Lin Family, and compared them with her good days at the Wang Family. She shuddered, quickly squeezed out an appeasing smile, "Mother, I’ll go now, right now..."

Old Granny Zhang snorted coldly. Wearing her daughter’s clothes and eating her food, yet still wanting to gossip. Did she think of herself as an oblivious deity?

Lady Jiang, seeing Old Granny Zhang’s displeased face, quickly slipped away submissively.

In the yard, only Old Granny Zhang and her daughter remained. Old Granny Zhang then smiled and slapped her thigh, "At last, that bunch of bastards from the Song Family did something resembling human decency. Mother has already found out everything. That Zhao Family is from out of town. Once they take Song Chunhua away, far from the north to the south, she may never come back in this lifetime. I’m not worried about Song Chunhua causing any more trouble."

Seeing Wang Yongzhu remaining silent, Old Granny Zhang, fearing her daughter might feel sympathetic, hurriedly said, "My girl, you mustn’t feel soft-hearted. We have no place in this. The first marriage is arranged by the father, and the next one is up to her. Although Song Chunhua has given birth, she hasn’t officially married anyone and has to listen to her family’s arrangements. Even if the Song Family did something despicable by selling their daughter, no one else can criticize them. Haven’t you seen that the Song Family Patriarch himself didn’t make an appearance?"

Wang Yongzhu was not concerned about other things. The pitiable often bring their misfortunes upon themselves, and Song Chunhua’s current plight was of her own making; no one else was to blame.

She just felt uncomfortable, and there was also a sense of not fitting in.

In this era, women were of low status and subject to forces beyond their control. Most women have become accustomed to this, even acknowledged and acted as accomplices.

Only now did she deeply understand this disparity. She could be so comfortable and authoritative in the Wang Family, thanks to her mother, Old Granny Zhang. If it weren’t for her mother, even with her own abilities, as a lone individual, it would be difficult to stand against the ways of this time!

At that thought, Wang Yongzhu walked closer to Old Granny Zhang, leaned into her embrace, and closed her eyes...