Chapter 218: Dodging
Wang Huanzhi’s injury was not serious, but he still needed to take care these few days, avoid lifting heavy objects, and not move around too much.
Although Jiang Jing said this, Wang Huanzhi still kept crying out in pain nonstop.
His reaction was too exaggerated, making Zhang Yingdi suspect if he had other ailments. Seeing Wang Huanzhi acting like this, Jiang Jing directly told him he needed to rest quietly and had Zhang Yingdi take him back to recuperate.
Meng Xiaoya brought her daughter to Peach Blossom Workshop under the pretext of seeking medical treatment, while Wang Huanzhi brought Zhang Yingdi to avoid her, also meaning to dodge the trouble and stay away from this source of disaster.
“He seems pretty honest usually, but when it comes to scheming, he’s sly as a fox too. Your maternal aunt is too concerned and confused to see anything else. She even wants a divorce—pure dreaming.”
Su Yaoguang knew that though Zhaodi talked tough, she was actually quite satisfied with Wang Huanzhi’s performance.
Wang Huanzhi keenly perceived what Zhang Yingdi cared about, directly nipped it in the bud by taking her away from here and avoiding that landmine. Then he cleared away all the surrounding mess, simplifying their husband-and-wife relationship, controlled the pace next, gradually dissipating the resentment in Zhang Yingdi’s heart, and only then talked it over properly with her, so she could truly listen—this was the only way the matter had room to turn around.
“That the maternal uncle-in-law understood the reason so quickly and salvaged it shows he still cares a lot about your maternal aunt. Mother saw it too—your maternal aunt can’t let go of him at all. Now as long as the maternal uncle-in-law performs well, she’ll forgive him soon.” Su Yaoguang said, “This is their husband-and-wife matter, so we shouldn’t interfere. No matter what decision your maternal aunt makes, we just need to support her well.”
Meng Xiaoya brought her daughter Qiao’er in and out of Peach Blossom Workshop, but no matter how many times she came to the door, Wang Huanzhi and Zhang Yingdi never appeared again. Qiao’er’s illness improved quickly, and she had no other reason to come to Peach Blossom Workshop. Thus, Meng Xiaoya stopped coming with Qiao’er.
They originally thought the matter was over, but a few days later, Meng Xiaoya’s maternal family came to the door, saying they wanted Wang Huanzhi to take responsibility for Meng Xiaoya.
“Take responsibility?” Zhang Yingdi looked at the men, women, and children from the Meng family, dressed in ragged clothes with eyes full of greed. “What did my brother-in-law do to her that requires him to take responsibility?”
“Yesterday he came home to visit his parents, and we kindly hosted him. Xiaoya happened to return to her maternal home to visit relatives too, so everyone gathered together for once and had some drinks. But after drinking, he actually bullied our Xiaoya.”
Meng Xiaoya’s brother Meng Lei shouted loudly, and seeing more and more passersby, he showed no intention of holding back.
“Evidence?”
“As long as you call out Wang Huanzhi, we’re willing to confront him face-to-face.”
Zhang Yingdi was in a verbal battle with the Meng family, and Su Yaoguang was about to step forward to help when she saw Feng Chaoyang stride in.
“Older sister…” Feng Chaoyang had grown much taller and was dressed very nicely, like a completely different person. “This is the letter Young Master Wang asked us to deliver.”
“Young Master Wang… my maternal uncle-in-law?” Su Yaoguang said as she opened the letter, skimming it quickly and soon reading the whole thing, while also feeling somewhat amused. “Stop arguing, everyone—the main person left here long ago, so what’s there to argue about?”
Hearing Su Yaoguang say this, Zhang Yingdi took the letter from her hand, and upon reading its contents, her confidence grew even stronger as she threw the letter in Meng Lei’s face.
“Fine, so you tried to force yourself on him by drugging his wine. But my brother-in-law noticed something wrong and left immediately. You want to make a fuss? Go ahead—the drugging or slandering a xiucai scholar is enough to throw your whole family in jail. Plus, my brother-in-law said he’s taking my younger sister traveling everywhere and won’t be back for a year or so. If you want to make trouble, wait a year or so until he’s free to deal with you. As for now, with the main person gone, if you dare cause chaos in Peach Blossom Workshop, I’ll go straight to the county office to report to the officials and have the County Magistrate settle this.”
Zhang Yingdi pointed toward the plaque: “See that clearly? That plaque was bestowed by the official yamen—do you dare cause trouble in Peach Blossom Workshop and treat the plaque sent by the County Magistrate as mere decoration?”
“He ran away?” Meng Lei said in disbelief.
He picked up the letter and looked at it again and again, but since he was illiterate, looking was pointless. In his eyes, those characters were just squiggly insects.
Unwilling to accept it, he handed the letter to the person beside him to read and asked if it really said he wouldn’t return for a year or so.
“That’s exactly what it says, and it also says they’ve been stuck at home all these years, his wife never had a single good day after marrying him, and now thanks to big sister and the niece, they’ve earned enough silver to spend, so he wants to take his wife traveling everywhere.”
The Meng family members’ expressions were like they’d swallowed flies.
They’d made all sorts of preparations, planning not to let Wang Huanzhi off without marrying their widowed sister, ready to stalemate with him, but the other side didn’t even engage.
Not only did he not engage, he vanished entirely—how could they keep clinging to him while chasing after someone whose whereabouts were unknown?
“Wah wah…” Meng Xiaoya plopped down on the ground and wailed loudly, like a deranged lunatic on the verge of collapse.
“Get out, get out, don’t go crazy in my shop.” Zhang Yingdi shouted, “Men, beat them out for me. They’re causing trouble in our shop—beat them dead or crippled, it’s on me.”
The shop assistants swung the tools in their hands, beating the Meng family crowd.
Unable to find Wang Huanzhi, the Meng family crowd could only slink away dejectedly.
“This boy is really cunning.” Zhang Yingdi said, “He must have foreseen this family coming to make trouble at Peach Blossom Workshop, so he wrote the letter ahead and had someone deliver it, even having it read aloud on the spot.”
“I always thought the maternal uncle-in-law was a bit indecisive, but now I see I underestimated him. The key to the whole matter is him—as long as he’s not here, that family doesn’t dare make real trouble. Though he said he’s taking the maternal aunt traveling, I think that’s just an excuse. He should have taken her back to the provincial capital by now, waiting for the provincial list to come out. If he’s on the list, he’ll have to rush to the capital right away to prepare for the metropolitan exam.”
“If his name isn’t on the list, he’ll still go to the capital and find a famous academy there to continue his studies. Having lain low for so long, the maternal uncle-in-law won’t just give up like this. His main focus next is still the imperial examination.” Zhou Wangshu added for Su Yaoguang beside him.
“Anyway, he ran off and took my little sister with him.” Zhang Yingdi said angrily, “That idiot little sister of mine couldn’t escape his grasp—by now she’s probably coaxed back into total submission.”
