Chapter 37: Three Sisters
Su Yaoguang saw that the woman didn’t even pick any vegetables, grabbed the basket and trotted away, then said to Zhou Wangshu, “Wangshu, let’s go home.”
Although she had just warned that family, she didn’t trust their character. Rather than waiting for them to make a move, it was better to strike first and break their plan.
The ox cart passed through the village, and Su Yaoguang saw Zhang Pandi standing in the doorway looking outside. When she saw their ox cart, she showed a relaxed expression.
Su Yaoguang waved her hand.
Zhang Pandi nodded and waved her hand in imitation.
“Mom, it’s Second Aunt.” Su Yaoguang said to Zhang Zhaodi.
Zhang Zhaodi looked up toward Zhang Pandi, her eyes turning red.
“Mom, Second Aunt came to find me. If it weren’t for Second Aunt, I wouldn’t have known where you were or what happened to you.”
“The first day I arrived, I ran into her. I wanted to talk to her, but her man urged her to work and wouldn’t let her pay attention to me. I’m a widow who does midwifery for others, and everyone thinks I’m unlucky. I didn’t want to put her in a difficult position, so I didn’t look for her again. It’s been three years since we last saw each other. This time, she looks even thinner than three years ago.”
“Second Aunt still cares about you a lot. When you got into trouble this time, she was extremely anxious. But she’s not having an easy time either.”
“I understand. All three sisters in our family are people with bitter fates. Your dad was a good man. If he were here, our mother and daughter wouldn’t be bullied like this. But my bitter fate overcame him, and he died young on the battlefield. The man Second Aunt married is no good. Just because she couldn’t give birth to a son, he beats and scolds her and Chunni every day. Third Aunt married a sickly man. He’s a good person, but he’s sickly, so Third Aunt is essentially a widow while he’s alive.”
“Mom, your fate isn’t bitter. Don’t say such things anymore.” Su Yaoguang hugged her. “You still have me. We’ll get better and better.”
“Yes, Mom has you. When you were just born, you were tiny, only four and a half pounds, skinny like a little monkey. That scene feels like it happened yesterday. In the blink of an eye, you’ve grown so big and can already protect Mom.”
As Zhang Zhaodi spoke, she fell asleep.
“Wangshu, go slower.”
“Okay.”
Su Yaoguang took off her outer garment and covered Zhang Zhaodi with it.
“Mom, I’ll always protect you. You’re not without support—I am your support.”
This time, they would all live to a ripe old age.
They would earn a lot of money and have a brilliant future.
The ox cart returned to the village and passed by Grandpa Su and Grandma Su’s home door just as Grandma Su opened the courtyard gate and came out, spotting Su Yaoguang and Zhang Zhaodi’s figures.
She turned back and said to Second Aunt Su, “Where the hell did that dead girl Guilan go? Have your man go look for her.”
Second Aunt Su was gnawing on sugarcane and spat out the sugarcane peel, saying, “How would I know where my sister-in-law went? You don’t even know.”
“If you don’t know, go find her.”
“Oh…”
Second Aunt Su went out reluctantly.
She wasn’t going to look.
It was now time to make dinner. She would go out for a stroll, pretend to look, and come back after dinner was ready, so she could slack off again.
Su Guilan had turned into a mouse; if she wanted to hide from them, how could they possibly find her? She would come out when she wanted to—what was the point of looking for her?
Second Aunt Su was about to go find her little sisters to gnaw on sugarcane when she saw Su Guilan trotting up. She stood still waiting for Su Guilan to come over, but saw her acting sneaky, glancing around from time to time, looking like a thief with a guilty conscience.
Second Aunt Su wasn’t going to indulge her. Seeing her like this, she thought she was still embarrassed about the previous incident, which was why she was afraid to face people.
“Oh, look who it is! Am I seeing this right? It’s my super busy sister-in-law!”
Su Guilan made a shushing gesture, pulled Second Aunt Su inside, and said in a low voice, “Why are you shouting so loud?”
“Did you do something bad and are afraid of being seen?” Second Aunt Su was still angry about the past few days and gave Su Guilan a sour face, speaking sarcastically.
“Where’s Mom?”
“At home! She told me to go find you, and I was just about to when you showed up yourself. You mother and daughter really have a tacit understanding.”
Su Guilan pushed open the door and called out in a low voice, “Mom, I’m here.”
Grandma Su saw Su Guilan and was about to curse her out when she heard Su Guilan say, “Hey, it’s this late—don’t scold me.”
“I was just about to ask you: earlier I saw that disaster star Zhang Zhaodi come back, and she doesn’t look like anything’s wrong. That’s not what you said. Didn’t you say the Feng Family is not to be trifled with? You bribed them to give that mother and daughter a lesson, then extort her for a big sum. Then you’d step in to plead for them, using Su Yaoguang marrying Mutou as the condition to solve their problem. Now the mother and daughter are back, and I haven’t seen you step up.”
“I heard the mother and daughter came back, so I came specifically to check. I haven’t gone to the Feng Family yet. I’ll go tomorrow and ask what’s going on. The Feng Family took my money—how can they not keep their word?” Su Guilan said angrily.
“Are you capable or not? Why do I feel like Su Yaoguang is especially hard to deal with now? Last time you suffered a loss at her hands, and this time she brought her mom back. Does that money-losing goods know something? How did she break your arrangement so easily?”
“What can a little girl like that do? She must have just been lucky. Mom, don’t worry—I don’t believe their mother and daughter’s luck can stay this good forever.”
Su Yaoguang returned the ox cart and saw Zhang Zhaodi busy in the kitchen, so she quickly stopped her.
She turned back and snapped at Zhou Wangshu, “Why didn’t you stop her?”
Zhou Wangshu admitted his mistake: “Sorry…”
“Why are you snapping at him?” Zhang Zhaodi said distressedly. “He tried to persuade me earlier. I’ve slept so long on the ox cart—I’m fine now. You can’t take advantage of Wangshu’s good temper and honesty to bully him like this.”
Su Yaoguang: “…Mom, why are you taking his side so much today?”
“Wangshu told me you’re planning to write a marriage certificate and establish a marriage contract. Since Wangshu is willing to be your son-in-law who lives with the wife’s family, he’ll be family from now on, so of course I have to protect him. You’re so formidable, and he’s so honest—if I don’t watch you, how much grievance will poor Wangshu suffer?”
Su Yaoguang looked at Zhou Wangshu.
Zhou Wangshu said sincerely, “Yaoguang won’t bully me. Yaoguang is so smart and capable—I’ll listen to Yaoguang from now on.”
“When are you going to establish the marriage contract?” Zhang Zhaodi looked at them expectantly.
Su Yaoguang said, “We’ll write the marriage certificate after you rest well. But we won’t announce it publicly yet— we’ll wait until the timing is right.”
“What timing?” Zhang Zhaodi didn’t understand.
“Mom will know later.” Su Yaoguang looked mysterious and confident.
