An hour later, Jiang Yunniang and Jiang Cheng returned from the county government office.
Jiang Yunniang sat in the shop and cried for a long time. Finally, accompanied by Jiang Quan and Yingbao, she went to Zhang Jia to pack up her things.
Since they were divorced, the aunt and the children would not be able to live in their original place, so Yingbao suggested that she and her two children move to the empty house in the backyard of the shop and cook for Jiang Cheng and Jiang Quan at the same time.
After all, the new sister-in-law is pregnant and needs an elder to look after her.
It won’t be too late to move out when my aunt has saved enough money and is able to buy a house.
When we arrived at Zhang Jia's house, we saw that it was just an ordinary three-room blue-tiled house and two low thatched huts. The small yard was full of miscellaneous items, and it was indeed a bit cramped for a few people to walk in.
Jiang Yunniang lived in the east room, the west room was where the concubine and Zhang Jia lived, and Zhang Yukun and his younger brother Zhang Yuying should have lived in that low thatched cottage.
Yingbao followed her aunt into the east room and started packing.
In fact, there was nothing to pack. There was not much furniture in the room and the bed was extremely old. All I could do was pack up my clothes, bedding and makeup box, stuff them into a wooden box and take them away.
As they were packing, the concubine came to the door holding her daughter and said with a smile, "Sister, where are you going? Yu Kun is getting married soon, how can it be without you as a mother? The newlyweds have to kneel down and pay respect to their parents."
Jiang Yunniang did not answer her, but sneered: "Don't be so proud. With your status as a lowly concubine, you will never be Zhang Jia's legal wife, and you will never be Cheng Yukun's mother."
The imperial court has a law that a concubine cannot be promoted to the main wife, otherwise Zhang Jia will be in big trouble.
The concubine also sneered: "I can't be your legal wife, but my niece can. Yu Kun still has to kowtow to me as her aunt."
Jiang Yunniang said as she packed her things: "Then let her be the boss. A grown-up son is no longer under the control of his mother. I wish you and your family a happy and harmonious life, and that you will get promoted and become rich."
Yu Kun has been close to his father since he was a child, and now he is going to marry the niece of his father's concubine. It doesn't matter if he doesn't want this son, just let the father and son love each other and be a family.
Jiang Yunniang stuffed all of her and her daughter Hongxiao's clothes and belongings into a wooden box, and packed up the bedding and other items, and asked Jiang Quan to move them to the ox cart.
At this time, Zhang Yukun walked into the room, frowned and said to Jiang Yunniang: "Mother, what are you doing? Why are you divorcing Dad for no reason?"
Jiang Yunniang ignored him completely, packed up her own things and went to pack up Yuying's.
Zhang Yukun continued, "Mother, are you trying to embarrass your son on purpose? He is about to get married, but you want to divorce him at this time. How can he hold his head up in front of outsiders?"
Jiang Yunniang threw down her clothes and said angrily, "I embarrassed you? Then who did you want to embarrass by marrying a woman from that kind of family? Yukun, you are grown up now, and I can't control you anymore, but your brothers and sisters still have face, and I will never allow them to repeat the mistakes of you and your son."
Yu Kun's face flushed, and he stiffened his neck and said, "What happened to my father and me? Qiu Ling is also an innocent girl. She doesn't mind our poverty and is willing to marry my son. Why does she make my brothers and sisters lose face? Mother, you can beat and scold your son, but you can't treat Qiu Ling like this! After she marries, she will always be your daughter-in-law."
"I can't afford it." Jiang Yunniang was so angry that she picked up Yuying's things and was about to go out.
Yu Kun stopped Jiang Yunniang from leaving: "Mother, where are you going?"
Jiang Yunniang pushed her son away, pulled Yingbao and Hongxiao away.
"Mother!" Yu Kun rushed to the gate a few steps ahead, fell to his knees, and kowtowed to Jiang Yunniang repeatedly: "My son, please don't leave. How can you leave me alone?"
Jiang Yunniang couldn't stop crying, but she still walked around her son and left the Zhang family's yard.
Sitting on the ox cart, Jiang Yunniang could no longer hold back her tears.
Hong Xiao hugged her mother tightly and dared not speak. She secretly glanced in the direction of home and started crying.
Yingbao sighed inwardly, unable to comfort her aunt, and could only stare at her second cousin.
My aunt Jiang Yunniang has aged a lot in the past two years, and even half of her hair has turned white.
She is only a few years older than my mother, but it seems like they are a generation apart.
Compared with Zhang Jia's delicate concubine, they look like two generations apart.
Alas, once a woman grows old and loses her beauty, the man will start to act like a demon, just like Zhang Jia.
Yingbao was thinking, should she make some facial cream for her aunt, eldest aunt, and second aunt, so that they can stay young
After returning to the shop, Yingbao allocated two side rooms for her aunt's family to live in.
Jiang Yunniang and Hongxiao lived in one room, and Zhang Yuying lived in one room by herself.
My eldest cousin doesn’t live here now, so my second cousin also lives in a room by himself.
Of course, Yingbao lived alone in a room in the main house and installed a double door in the room. When she was not at home, she locked the door.
In the evening, Jiang Quan went to the vegetable market and bought a lot of vegetables and also bought a bamboo tube of rice wine.
"Yingbao, I bought a roasted lamb leg today, you can eat as much as you want." Jiang Quan tore off a large piece of meat from a roasted lamb leg, put it in his little cousin's bowl, and gave a piece each to his aunt and Zhang Yuying Hongxiao.
He not only bought roasted lamb legs, but also pork heads, a braised goose, and a stack of wheat cakes.
"Let's have a good drink today to celebrate for Aunt getting rid of the injustice." Jiang Quan said this implicitly, considering that Zhang Yuying and Hong Xiao were present.
Jiang Yunniang nodded, picked up the wine bowl and took a big sip, then said to Yingbao, "Auntie has to thank Yingbao for taking me in."
Today, with the help of her nephews and nieces, she has the confidence to divorce Zhang Jia.
Otherwise, I really want to die.
God knows how desperate and angry she was when she learned that her eldest son was going to marry a girl from his concubine's family.
At that moment, she even wanted to kill Zhang Jia.
But she couldn't, because she had more than one child, Yu Kun. She also had Yu Ying and Hong Xiao. She couldn't let those siblings be destroyed by Zhang Jia.
"You don't have to be polite, Auntie. Just stay here and enjoy your stay." Ying Bao said as she ate the mutton, "When my second brother goes to buy goods, you can help my eldest cousin look after the shop."
The shop doesn't need to hire a clerk for the time being, but it would be okay if someone could lend a hand.
The eldest cousin has to go back to his home every night, leaving the second cousin alone in the shop. The fruits at home will soon be ripe, so the second cousin will have to go back home frequently to buy goods.
By then, my aunt and Yuying will look after the shop, and my cousin will have more ease, otherwise it will be inconvenient even to go to the toilet.
"Of course." Jiang Yunniang was more than happy to be able to help her nephews with something.
No matter what, her nephews are her blood relatives, and she is very happy that she can be of some help to them here.
After dinner, Jiang Yunniang took her daughter Hongxiao to wash the dishes, while Zhang Yuying talked with Jiang Quan.
After washing up, Yingbao went back to her room alone, lying on the bed and concentrating on entering the cave.
Beside the cave pool, rows of pottery jars are filled with golden fungus and crystal clear snow fungus, which are ready to be harvested.
But the dried mushrooms that were hung on the bamboo plate last time have not been put away yet.
Yingbao brought a few large rattan baskets and put them into them one by one, filling up several baskets.
Then put them on the scale to weigh them, record the numbers in the account book, and then go to check the condition of the fruit trees.
Now, the newly planted fruit trees next to the Pupil Spring are blooming one after another, including lychees, longans and papayas.
I guess she will be able to eat lychees in less than a month.
Yingbao picked a basket of apples and planned to take them to the county government office to give to Wu Daozi tomorrow.
I haven't visited him for a long time, so I'd like to take this opportunity during the day off to visit him and his younger brother Jiang Jie.