After a while, his wife Qian rushed out of the kitchen holding a rolling pin, pointed at Chen Changsheng and cursed: "You old coffin! Who offended you? Why are you going home to vent your anger?"
As he said this, he swung the rolling pin and was about to hit him.
Chen Changsheng was startled, and quickly jumped up and ran out of the yard. Seeing his wife standing at the gate without chasing him, he jumped up and shouted, "You are a rebellious man! You dare to hit your husband? I will teach you a lesson when I get home!"
Before he could finish his words, he saw his wife chasing him with a rolling pin in her hand, and he was so scared that he ran to Dongchen Village.
The people in Dongcun all went to the river to fish, and even the children mostly went to watch the fun.
Chen Changsheng staggered to the edge of the pond and sat down on a rock to rest.
I thought about how I had worked so hard for the villagers, but in return I received so much complaints from those ungrateful people.
Not only his own sons are not doing well, but he also cannot educate his grandchildren well.
Now no one can understand him, and no one appreciates his kindness. No matter what he does, it is wrong and he is not as good as others.
The more Chen Changsheng thought about it, the angrier and sadder he became, and he couldn't help but choke up.
"Grandpa Chen, what are you doing?" A child's voice sounded behind him.
Chen Changsheng was startled and quickly wiped his eyes. He turned around and saw a few children standing not far away, looking at him curiously.
Each of them was carrying a small bamboo basket filled with red dates. It seemed that they were picking dates from the nearby orchard.
Yingbao saw that Chen Changsheng's eyes were red, as if he had been crying, and she couldn't help but feel curious.
Why is old man Chen sitting by the pond and crying? Is he planning to jump into the water and commit suicide
Oh, that won’t do. The pond is an important source of our family’s life. It would be so scary if someone died in it.
Villagers nearby all wash rice, vegetables and clothes in this pond, so it must not be polluted.
"Grandpa Chen, this is for you." Yingbao walked forward and stuffed a basket of red dates into Chen Changsheng's hands: "It's so sweet, take it back and eat it with Yaya and the others."
Chen Changsheng’s little granddaughter is called Yaya, who is about the same age as her and often comes to play here recently.
Chen Changsheng grabbed the bamboo basket, his eyes became even redder, and he quickly turned around, avoiding Yingbao's sight, grabbed a jujube, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it with a crunch, and swallowed it into his stomach along with his tears.
Even his own grandchildren were not so considerate, but Xiaoyingbao used a basket of dates to make him happy.
Old man Jiang was so lucky to have such a little granddaughter.
Seeing Chen Changsheng start to wipe his tears again, Yingbao became more and more worried that he would commit suicide, so she advised him again: "Grandpa Chen, you should go home quickly. I saw Chen Laoshuan from your village go to your house."
Chen Laoshuan not only went to Chen Changsheng's house, but also came to find his grandfather Jiang Laohan to thank Chunniang for his granddaughter Chen Zhao. Thank you Chunniang for bringing his granddaughter back from such a far place.
When Chen Changsheng heard that Chen Laoshuan came to find him, he knew that something must have happened, so he hurriedly thanked Yingbao and went home carrying the bamboo basket.
After watching Chen Changsheng walk away, Yingbao finally breathed a sigh of relief and led the children back to the orchard to pick apples and pears from the trees.
Tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival, we must pick more fruits to offer to the moon.
Fortunately, there is everything in my own orchard, such as persimmons, chestnuts, dates, hawthorns, apples and pears. Although most of them have been picked and sent to shops, there are still many left on the trees.
She will go to the vineyard later to look around, maybe she can find some late-ripening grapes.
Wei Zhan spotted an apple tree, lifted the corner of his robe and tucked it around his waist, then hugged the tree with both hands and climbed up quickly.
Five-year-old Xiao Chengyu also wanted to crawl, but was held tightly by the guards.
Xiao Chengyu twisted left and right to break free, and couldn't help but get angry. He kicked the guard with his feet and screamed, "Sister Yingbao! Come and beat him!"
Yingbao glanced at the little brat and said, "You will fall if you climb up, so just pick it up below."
Pointing at the little demon, he said, "Look how well behaved he is. He picked up so many fruits. Let's compete to see who has the most fruits in their basket. I'll perform a magic trick for that person."
She has developed a new way of tricking children. She would hold something in her palm and ask them to guess whether it was in the left hand or the right hand, but none of them guessed correctly.
Of course, if they were obedient, she would be merciful and let them guess correctly once, and give them palm candies or other small things.
This trick always works, and no child can resist the toys she takes out.
These toys were all bought in Beijing, such as cowhide slingshots, bamboo dragonflies, colorful clay dogs, peach wood painted halberds, bamboo snakes, etc.
But Xiao Chengyu turned a deaf ear to Yingbao's words. He only wanted to climb the tree and started crying if he was not allowed to.
The guards were so annoyed by him that they had no choice but to carry him up a short tree branch.
Yingbao ignored them and took Xiaoyao and her two younger brothers to pick fruits under the tree.
Wei Zhan and Hu Zi Yuanbao climbed up the tree, picked a fruit and threw it down. The children under the tree would catch it with their bare hands and put it in the basket.
Jiang Wu likes this job the most. He is the one who takes the most jobs, running around from one place to another.
In the evening, Jiang Cheng also rushed back home from the county town.
A few more people got off the carriage, and they turned out to be Aunt Jiang Yunniang and her son and daughter.
Then, she picked up a baby boy from the car. He was about two or three years old and was the child of her husband's concubine.
The little boy looked at everyone in the Jiang family timidly, pouted his lips and wanted to cry but didn't dare to. His little hands tightly grasped his brother Zhang Yuying's sleeves.
"Yun Niang, this is..." Jiang Liu looked at the little baby, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself.
Jiang Yunniang said calmly, "This is the concubine's child, named Zhang Xiaolang, and I am raising him now."
Then she waved at the child and said, "Come here, little boy, kowtow to grandma."
Under the guidance of his brother Zhang Yuying, Zhang Xiaolang knelt down and kowtowed to Jiang Liu: "Grandma."
Jiang Liu felt a little uncomfortable and didn't understand why her daughter wanted to bring the child born to her concubine back to her parents' home.
But he still pulled the child up and gave him a piece of chestnut cake, "Be good, eat it."
Jiang Yunniang asked the child to kowtow to Old Man Jiang again, "This is grandpa."
Zhang Xiaolang kowtowed to Old Man Jiang again in a daze.
Afterwards, Jiang Yunniang asked her son Zhang Yuying to take the children out to play, and then she sat down and talked to her mother:
"I am Zhang Jia's legal wife. If I give birth to a child, either he calls me mother or stays with that concubine as a slave! You bastard, you have no choice but to agree to raise the child under my lap."
Jiang Liu sighed and said to her daughter, "That's true, but you should take good care of her and not do anything sinister like that."
"What evil things could my daughter do?" Jiang Yunniang didn't care. "I feed her well and take good care of her."
From then on, this child became a blade in Jiang Yunniang's hand, specifically stabbing the hearts of that adulterous couple.
Old man Jiang was smoking a pipe and asked his daughter, "Erquan said you set up a small food stand next to their shop. How is the business?"
Jiang Yunniang picked up a piece of chestnut cake and ate it. "It's not bad. Most of them are scholars from the county school across the street who come to buy it. I can earn two or three hundred coins a day, which is enough for the whole family to eat and drink."
Old Man Jiang: "What about Yu Kun? He's already 17 years old, right? Are you planning to let him set up a stall with you for the rest of his life?"
"What else can I do if I don't set up a stall? My shop was sold to my concubine's eldest brother by that bastard. The case has been filed in the county government. If I don't return it..."
Jiang Yunniang wiped her eyes, sniffed and said, "Yu Kun knew about this a long time ago, but he and his father kept it from me."
He sneered and said, "If that's the case, he'll just set up a stall for the rest of his life. As a woman, I'm already lucky enough to have my nephew agree to let us set up a stall next to the specialty store. There's nothing else I can do."