Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!
Chapter 233: Showing Off_1

Chapter 233: Chapter 233: Showing Off_1

Zhou Shuren saw his in-law’s face turn pale, "In-law."

Li Cong snapped back to reality and wanted to ask his in-law if hiring someone to watch over the house meant he didn’t trust the Li family, and also, he had said he would help watch over the house, but it hadn’t been guarded well and someone had sneaked in, would his in-law be dissatisfied with the Li family now.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren exchanged glances, the thoughts of the Li family were too easy to guess. Seeing the in-law’s face change and his hesitation to speak, they knew the in-law was overthinking. Zhulan thought to herself, overthinking must be hereditary in the Li family, they hadn’t even started speaking yet, and the in-law had already scared himself with all kinds of possibilities.

Zhou Shuren fought the twitch at the corner of his mouth, he couldn’t blame the Zheng family, so he could only let the Yang family take the fall, "The Zheng family has many people leaving, our family has fewer, and my father-in-law was also afraid he couldn’t keep small thieves and rascals at bay, that’s why he hired someone to watch. My father-in-law wanted to make an example, s o that no one would dare to steal in the future. We didn’t tell you in advance because we didn’t want to leak any information. When we move to Pingzhou later, we’ll rely on you even more to look after things, that’s when we will feel at ease."

Li Cong smiled naively, his in-law wasn’t guarding against them, and didn’t blame them, that was good, "Okay then, it’s getting late, I should head back too. The Lizheng is waiting for news!"

The guards spoke up, they wouldn’t release anyone without the in-law’s word. The four lads had been beaten miserably, not a single spot on their faces was intact, their arms drooping, who knew if they were broken or what, this is why you don’t mess with the in-law. Had it been someone else’s family, they would have already come to make trouble.

Zhou Shuren stood up, "I’ll see the in-law out."

Li Cong hurriedly waved his hands, "No need, no need, please stay."

As he said this, he quickly walked out the door, not even acknowledging Lady Li, and hurried back on the ox cart.

The incident in Li Family Village spread to the surrounding villages the next day. The warning was thorough, and even without the guards showing themselves, no one dared to linger near the Zheng family’s house anymore, fearing they might be mistaken for thieves and caught. Getting beaten was the least of their worries; being thrown into prison was another level of trouble, and everyone knew Scholar Zhou was the county magistrate’s in-law.

Zhou Shuren’s background was scrutinized once again. Sure enough, he was the future in-law of the county magistrate, a well-established scholar himself, and a son-in-law of the Yang family. The Yang family had deep ties with the Armed Escort Agency, and many from the agency had seen blood. After counting the reasons, the Zhou family wasn’t to be provoked or trifled with, and those with ulterior motives completely abandoned any ideas they had.

Ever since no one dared to approach the Li family’s house, Zhulan’s family slowly moved into the house, starting with the grain, then clothes they didn’t wear anymore. These took two days to move, mainly because the food was abundant. It wasn’t until moving that Zhulan realized how much dried vegetables she had stored, and Lady Li had pickled a whole cartload of vegetables.

When Zhulan’s family officially moved, there wasn’t much left in the house. They bor rowed two ox carts and moved everything over in one trip.

Zhulan handed the keys to the house over to Xue Mei. Xue Mei and her husband had few belongings and had moved over the day before. All they needed to do was tidy up.

Today, they had to stay the night at the Li family’s house in the village, helping prepare the food ingredients for the banquet the next day.

It was Xue Mei and Jiang Sheng’s first time at the house, and Lady Li didn’t even bother to unpack her luggage. She dragged Xue Mei all over the place. Though Lady Li wasn’t clever, she never lost her way; in the end, Zhulan concluded that people with a simple mind could see everything more clearly and wouldn’t be confused by external distractions.

The main house had many rooms, and Zhulan cleaned up two rooms in the main house, hoping her parents would live with them. But her parents were reluctant, after all, they weren’t Zhou Shuren’s parents, and it wasn’t proper for in-laws to live in the main house. In the end, they got the neighboring courtyard ready.

The Yang family asked their neighbors to look after their house, and all the Yangs came today, planning to return home after the banquet tomorrow.

With two sisters-in-law’s help, Zhulan quickly arranged and categorized everything.

Yang eldest and Yang second weren’t idle either; they drove the ox cart to the mountain to collect firewood. Zhou Shuren felt embarrassed to have his uncles busy about, so he went along as well.

Zhulan’s family didn’t move the firewood; they left it for their daughter. As they wouldn’t live in the same village in the future, it would be difficult for her son-in-law and daughter to gather firewood without an ox cart. Their family had already collected enough firewood for the whole winter. Their daughter’s family of four would only burn wood in the main house, and they could keep burning until next spring.

The Li family’s village house already had ready-made furniture, so Zhulan didn’t move theirs. They also left behind some unused jars and pots. The old house left plenty of things, meaning her daughter wouldn’t have to purchase any household items.

The meat and vegetables needed for tomorrow were sent by Lady Li’s maternal family as a congratulatory gift for the move—a whole fat pig that had been butchered, and vegetables that were grown in Lady Li’s maternal family’s courtyard.

Zhulan felt somewhat embarrassed; a whole pig was not a small sum of silver. The Li family wasn’t well-off, she tapped Lady Li’s forehead, "Your eldest brother sent it, and you dare to accept?"

Lady Li’s forehead hurt a little as her mother-in-law put some force into it, "Mom, my mom wants to express her thanks for your and dad’s support. If I were to stop her, I’d definitely get a beating when I return to my maternal home."

Her mother was not one to spoil her, she had been spanked many times as a child.

Zhulan knew what Lady Li said was true, but the gift was indeed not light, "Now we have the meat for tomorrow. You should also help; you’re familiar with Li Family Village. Buy the chickens and fish we need for tomorrow, and have them slaughtered and ready to use."

Twelve tables were prepared for tomorrow’s banquet. Two tables were enough for the Zhou clan, three tables for the Li family, and two tables for the Yang family. The remaining three tables were reserved for Zhou Shuren’s friends from the county, with an extra two tables in case there were unexpected guests.

The tables, chairs, dishes, and the like did not need to be borrowed, as what the Zheng family left behind was sufficient.

Lady Li had become especially familiar with Li Family Village and quickly bought enough hens, rabbits, fish, and so on.

On the first day of the move, Zhou Shuren and his sons spent the day gathering firewood, while Zhulan and a few sisters-in-law cleaned dishes and bowls, and Lady Li’s daughters-in-law cut and stewed meat. Even the children bravely did what they could. Everyone was busy all day, and after a hasty dinner, they all rested.

The next morning, Zhulan woke up still a bit dazed, surveyed the room, and then came back to her senses that they had moved. The room was bright, which she was still unaccustomed to. She stirred, and Zhou Shuren groaned in pain as he woke up.

Zhulan reached out to rub Zhou Shuren’s back, "Look at you showing off. Don’t you know how long it’s been since you did manual labor?"

Zhou Shuren lay down, gesturing for Zhulan to press on his back, "Big brother and second brother were helping with the firewood. As the head of the family, I would have been embarrassed to idle around, wouldn’t I?"

Zhulan said, "Do you think you can compare to big brother and second brother in terms of strength? They practice martial arts all year round, gathering firewood is nothing to them, you can’t compete. You don’t know your own limits."

Zhou Shuren shut up, indeed he had been showing off yesterday. Something had possessed him; seeing the disdain in his uncle’s eyes, he wanted to prove his mettle to his uncle, and he stubbornly persevered till the end. Suddenly laughing, he realized he truly considered the Yang family as Zhulan’s maternal family, which was why he was so eager to prove himself!

After Zhulan helped rub for a while, she patted Zhou Shuren’s back, "I’m going to the kitchen. You rest a bit longer."

Zhou Shuren didn’t feel like moving at all, feeling uncomfortable all over, "Mhm."

At mealtime, Zhulan looked at Zhou Shuren, who was expressionless and kept a straight face. This man also loved to pretend—he was obviously in pain but acted as if nothing was wrong.

Yang eldest brother felt wronged. Dad had scolded him yesterday, insisting that he had exhausted his brother-in-law, but look at his brother-in-law, he’s perfectly fine. He was scolded for nothing!

Zhou second brother was observant, and with just one glance he could tell dad was showing off. He silently lowered his head, not wanting to let dad notice!

After the meal, Zhou Shuren couldn’t hold on anymore. He needed to go back and lie down for a while. Soon the guests would arrive, and he would be busy then. This time, he really did put himself in a tough spot.

Zhou Shuren had just lain down when he heard the door open and saw Zhulan, "Why have you come back?"

Zhulan shook the medicinal wine in her hand, "Dad gave me this medicine to rub on you, so that you don’t wear yourself out today and struggle to get out of bed tomorrow."

Zhou Shuren was someone who cared about his reputation, "Everyone knows now?"

Zhulan didn’t know if Zhou Shuren had been acting as the head of the household for too long or if he had been influenced by the thoughts of the ancient times, but he was exceptionally vain, especially in front of the children. "Don’t worry, dad gave it to me secretly."

Zhou Shuren let out a sigh of relief. As long as his reputation was not affected, that was fine, "Quick, help me with it, the guests will be here any moment."

Zhulan’s massage skills, combined with the medicinal wine, made Zhou Shuren feel a lot better with a warm and comfortable body. Zhulan rolled down her sleeves, "You rest for a while, I’m going out now."

Zhou Shuren pulled Zhulan to him, propped himself up, and kissed her, "Thanks, wife."

In their old house, kissing inside the room had a certain ambiance. Now, with the room being much brighter, Zhulan was still not quite accustomed to it. She snorted and quickly left, closing the door behind her. Lady Lixu was due to visit soon, and she needed to go out to meet her.

The Li family was the first to visit, followed by relatives from the Zhou clan, and only then did Zhou Shuren’s friends from the county arrive.

That day, Zhulan finally got to meet all of Zhou Shuren’s friends from the county, including the chief government official, scholars from the county, and importantly, the county magistrate’s family. The Dong family also had someone come, as well as some officials of the eighth or ninth rank from the county who followed the county magistrate. Of course, some uninvited guests were curious about the Zheng family mansion and wanted to explore.

Zhou Shuren wasn’t foolish enough to let people wander freely. He didn’t mention it, and the county magistrate, as a future in-law, had some unspoken understanding. He stayed seated, drinking tea, and those who were interested didn’t dare to bring it up.

The important guest for Zhulan was Lady Donglin, and Xue Han had already taken Dong Chuchu to the backyard.

Zhulan kept Lady Donglin company. Today, welcoming the female guests was left to Lady Li, as the kitchen did not need her assistance. Zhulan’s nieces-in-law were also good cooks, and they were in charge of cooking today.

Right after Lady Donglin expressed a desire to look around, Lady Li came in, "Mother, please come here. I have something to tell you."