After entering the courtyard, Hua Zhi paused for a moment before taking a few steps inside and bowed in front of her mother, "Mom, I'm back."
Zhu helped her up and looked her up and down. "You've lost weight, and your complexion is not as good as before."
"It's naturally not as good outside as at home." Hua Zhi bowed slightly to the two women behind Zhu, "Madam He, Madam Qin."
How could the two men dare to accept her full greeting? They only turned aside to accept half of the greeting and hurriedly helped her up. The shorter concubine Qin kept saying "you've become thinner" and pulled her daughter behind her forward to greet her.
Hua Zhi had a mediocre impression of this half-sister. It should be said that except for Berlin and her fourth uncle's son Bai Jun, she did not have a deep impression of other brothers and sisters in the family. Seeing that she smiled obediently, she also smiled at her.
My father only had these two concubines. Aunt He was my father's concubine and had a son. She didn't talk much in normal times, and after her son was exiled, she barely said a few words a day.
Aunt Qin was my grandmother's distant niece. After my mother gave birth to her, her belly stopped moving, so my grandmother decided to bring her into the family as a concubine in the eldest son's house. She was also very hardworking. She gave birth to a son a year after she got married, and a daughter the following year. She thought that their family would be lively again, but she didn't expect my father to give her a straight punch. Except for visiting his children, he didn't stay in Aunt Qin's room for more than half a year. No matter how arrogant she was, she lost her temper during that period. Later, when my mother gave birth to Berlin, she was completely quieted down.
It wasn't a very powerful method but it was very effective in calming down the impending dispute. It was then that she realized that her father was not a person who only read books of sages and knew nothing about worldly affairs. That's right, if a man is upright, there won't be so many secret things in his backyard.
Her hands were held by a pair of soft hands. Hua Zhi heard her mother say, "I want to talk to Zhi'er. You all should go back and don't wait here for me."
"yes."
The mother and daughter returned to the house. Hua Zhi personally filled a bowl of peach syrup and placed it next to her mother, "Try something from the farm."
"Is that the one you made?" Zhu took a bite and her eyes lit up immediately. "It's delicious."
"That's it. I brought some back with me. I'll have someone bring a few jars over later."
"My daughter is really capable." Zhu put down the bowl and stirred it occasionally, then sighed and said, "You don't know how worried I was when you said you wanted to be the head of the family. I don't know how well I know you, but I know you are lazy and only care about your own little piece of land. You don't want to take care of anything else. Being the head of the family is not an easy job. You never got involved in these things before, and the Hua family is in such a situation. I was afraid that you would be in a thankless position."
Zhu smiled and shook her head, "I didn't expect you to do better than any of us expected."
This was the first time since the incident in the Hua family that the mother and daughter had spoken to each other from the bottom of their hearts. Hua Zhi was surprised again. She thought she would see her mother crying...
"It's my daughter who made you worried."
"I only have a pair of children like this. If I don't worry about you, who should I worry about?" Thinking of her husband who was far away, Zhu couldn't help but tears welled up in her eyes. "Your father never looked down on me for being useless. Now that I think about it, it would be fine if he did. If he did, I would naturally change. As the eldest daughter-in-law of the Hua family, I am so useless, and I have to rely on a girl like you to run the family. It's a joke if anyone tells others about it."
"What's so funny? Am I not well-educated by you?"
"Don't flatter me. It's so annoying." Zhu chuckled, wiped her eyes and said, "Don't cry, mother. Save your tears and wait for your father to come back and drown them. Don't worry about me. With you in front to protect me from the wind and rain, mother won't dare to be bad."
"Mother..."
Zhu held her hand and patted it, "Binlin always listens to you. Teach him well. Mother won't interfere. The eldest son of the eldest house cannot be raised to waste in my hands."
Hua Zhi knew very well that her mother had seen and heard what happened before. It was good this way, as Berlin was not always in the backyard, so she could not see or hear anything. She would not have to keep it in her heart and naturally would not think about it in her mind.
Zhu suddenly smiled, "I was scared by you when Berlin lied. You usually love him more than anyone else, but you had the heart to punish him. Berlin was still close to you and would get close to you whenever he had the chance. I was worried that he would become estranged from you."
Hua Zhi blinked. She thought her parents had kept the matter a secret.
"Your father doesn't know, I covered it up." Thinking about the situation at that time and then thinking about the present situation, Zhu's heart sank and her smile gradually faded.
"Mom, it will be fine. Everything will be fine."
"What about you? Will you be okay?" Zhu held her daughter's hand tightly and whispered in a trembling voice: "The Shen family's marriage has been cancelled. What are you going to do in the future?"
"Mom, you have to believe in your daughter's ability. I can even support such a big Hua family. Are you afraid that I won't be able to live a good life?"
"You know that's not what I'm talking about."
Hua Zhi certainly knew, but she knew even more clearly that was definitely not the answer her mother wanted to hear. "When the time comes, things will work out. No one knows what will happen in the future, right?"
"To be honest, I know what you are thinking."
"Mother..."
"Tell Mom!"
Zhu rarely insisted. Hua Zhi looked at her and really told the truth, "I don't have to serve my husband and parents-in-law, and I don't have to face the competition for favors from wives and concubines. In fact, I am very happy."
"Women all hope not to have to face these things, but have you ever thought about what kind of rumors women will face if they don't get married?"
Zhu was trembling with tears streaming down her face, but she held back and didn't cry out loud.
Hua Zhi wiped away her tears, which seemed to be increasing forever. Her tone was gentle but firm. "You also said that I was lazy. You can see how many times I have been out in these years. Even if they talked about it, I would not hear it. When the time comes, I will buy a small and exquisite house, live the way I want behind closed doors, and no one dares to climb over the wall with a ladder to scold me."
Hua Zhi smiled quietly and continued, "If I wasn't afraid that you and I would cry, and that it would be difficult for the girls of the Hua family to be betrothed in the future, I would have wanted to refuse when my grandmother arranged a marriage for me. Now it's what I wanted."
"A lifetime is so long, how are you going to live it alone? Your father and I will always be ahead of you, and by then you won't even have anyone to back you up."
"It's only been a few decades, and it's gone in the blink of an eye. You say I'm lazy, but have you seen me live a bad life these years? I'm afraid no one can live as well as I do. Berlin grew up with me. Even if the man of the Hua family hasn't come back by that time, how can he let me suffer any loss if the Hua family is handed over to him? It would be better if the man of the Hua family came back. After all, I am a hero who protects the family. I even delayed my marriage for the Hua family. When the time comes, I will obediently hand over the power of the family. If anyone makes things difficult for me again, I'm not afraid of being criticized. Mom, I have thought it through clearly. No one will suffer any loss, so don't worry."
It's not that she can just stop worrying. A mother will worry about her daughter as long as she is alive. But Zhu held back her tears until she had lunch with her daughter and sent her daughter back to rest. Then she covered herself with the quilt and cried bitterly.
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket.