The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

Jiang Yunniang sat in her room and cried for a long time. Eventually, with the company of Jiang Quan and Yingbao, she went to collect her belongings from Zhang Jia’s house.

Since she had decided to divorce, Aunty and her children would inevitably have to move from their original home. Yingbao suggested that she and her two children move into an empty house in the back yard of his shop. They could also cook for Jiang Cheng and Jiang Quan.

After all, the new sister-in-law was already pregnant and needed an elder to take care of her.

Once Aunty had saved enough money and could afford to buy a house, she could then move out.

Reaching Zhang Jia’s house, it was just an ordinary three-room house with green tiles, plus two low thatched huts. The small yard was full of clutter and felt cramped as the few of them walked 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 be living in the low thatched hut.

Yingbao followed Aunty into the east room to start packing things.

There was actually not much to pack. The room lacked furniture, and the bed was ancient and decrepit. The only thing they could do was pack their clothes, bedding, and vanity case into a wooden box to take away.

As they were packing, the concubine came to the door with her daughter, smiling, “Sister, where are you heading to? Yukun is about to get married soon. How can this happen without you here? The newlyweds are expected to bow to their parents.”

Jiang Yunniang didn’t answer her, but sneered, “Don’t gloat. With your status as a lowly concubine, you will never be Zhang Jia’s head wife or Yukun’s mother.”

The Imperial Court had laws forbidding concubines from becoming principal wives. Otherwise, Zhang Jia would be in trouble.

The concubine also sneered back, “I may not be able to become the principal wife, but my niece can. Yukun will still have to bow to me, his aunt.”

As Jiang Yunniang packed her things, she said, “Let her be, then. Children can’t be controlled by their mother when they are grown. I wish your family prosperity and wealth.”

Since Yukun had always been close to his father and was about to marry the niece of his father’s concubine, she didn’t want such a son, she would let him enjoy his fatherly love.

Jiang Yunniang packed her and her daughter Hong Xiao’s clothes and belongings into the wooden box, had the bedding tied into a bundle, and asked Jiang Quan to carry them to the ox-cart.

At that moment, Zhang Yukun walked into the room, frowning at Jiang Yunniang, “Mother, what are you doing? Why do you have to divorce Father all of a sudden?”

Jiang Yunniang ignored him and went to pack Yuying’s belongings after finishing hers.

Zhang Yukun implored again, “Mother, are you deliberately making things difficult for me? I’m about to get married, but you choose to divorce at this moment. How could your son face others?”

Jiang Yunniang threw down the clothes, angrily, “Am I making things difficult for you? And who are you marrying to embarrass whom? Yukun, you are grown up now, and I can’t control you. But your brother and sister still need their reputation, I will not allow them to make the same mistakes as you and your father.”

Yukun’s face flushed, defensively saying, “What’s wrong with my father and I? Qiu Ling is a pure maiden who doesn’t care about our family’s poverty and is willing to marry me. How does that cause any shame to my brother and sister? Mother, you can hit or scold me, but you cannot treat Qiu Ling this way! She will always be your daughter-in-law when she marries into our family.”

“I cannot bear the responsibility of acknowledging her.” Jiang Yunniang was almost driven crazy by her rage. She picked up Yuying’s belongings and was about to leave.

Yukun blocked Jiang Yunniang from leaving, “Mother, where are you going?”

Jiang Yunniang pushed her son aside, grabbed Yingbao and Hong Xiao, and left.

“Mother!” Yukun rushed to block the gate, fell on his knees, and kept kowtowing to Jiang Yunniang, “Son is begging you not to leave. How can you abandon your son?”

Tears streamed down Jiang Yunniang’s face, but she still walked past her son and left the Zhang Family compound.

Seated in the ox-cart, Jiang Yunniang could no longer hold her tears and sobbed.

Hong Xiao held her mother tightly without saying a word, glanced at their home in secret, and also started crying.

Yingbao sighed internally, unable to comfort Aunty, and could only exchange looks with her younger cousin.

Aunty Jiang Yunniang had aged significantly over the past two years, and half of her hair had turned gray.

Although she was only a few years older than his own mother, she seemed like she was from a different generation.

Compared with Zhang Jia’s youthful concubine, they indeed seemed like people from two different generations.

Alas, once a woman ages and loses her charm, men start to act out, just like Zhang Jia.

Yingbao pondered whether she should make some face cream for her mother, first aunt, and second aunt, to help them maintain their youthfulness?

Upon returning to the store, Yingbao allocated two side rooms for her aunt’s family to live in.

Jiang Yunniang and Hong Xiao shared a room, while Zhang Yuying occupied another on her own.

Since her eldest cousin was not living here, her second cousin also had a room to himself.

Of course, Yingbao had a room in the main house all to herself and even installed a double door which she always locked when she was out.

In the evening, Jiang Quan went to the produce market and bought a lot of groceries, even bringing back a bamboo tube full of rice wine.

“Yingbao, I bought a roasted lamb leg today, I hope it’s enough for you.” Jiang Quan tore off a large piece from the freshly grilled, savory lamb leg and placed it in his little cousin’s bowl, then distributed a portion to his aunt and Zhang Yuying and Hong Xiao.

He not only bought a roasted lamb leg but also pork head meat and a braised goose, as well as a stack of wheat pancakes.

“Let’s have a good drink today to celebrate Aunt’s casting off her unjust yoke.” Jiang Quan said this subtly, taking into consideration the presence of Zhang Yuying and Hong Xiao.

Jiang Yunniang nodded, picked up her bowl of wine, took a big sip, and then said to Yingbao: “I’m also grateful to Yingbao for taking us in.”

It was thanks to the help of her nephew and niece today that she had had the courage to part with Zhang Jia.

Otherwise, she might have wanted to just end her life.

When she heard that her eldest son was going to take a concubine’s daughter as his wife, only God knows how desperate and infuriated she was.

At that moment, she even thought about killing Zhang Jia.

But she couldn’t, because she didn’t only have Yukan as her child. She also had Yuying and Hong Xiao, and she absolutely could not allow Zhang Jia to ruin their lives.

“Aunt, don’t mention it. Just make yourself at home.” Yingbao said while eating lamb meat: “In the future when Second Brother goes out to procure goods, you can help Eldest Brother look after the store.”

There was no immediate need for a shopkeeper at the store, but it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra hand.

Her elder cousin had to return home every night, leaving only her second cousin at the store. Soon, fruits at home would start to ripen, and her second cousin would have to go back to the village frequently to transport the goods.

At that time, having her aunt and Yuying oversee the store would relieve some burden off her eldest cousin; otherwise, even a trip to the restroom would be inconvenient.

“Of course.” Jiang Yunniang was eager to do anything to help her nephews.

No matter what, her nephews were her own blood relatives. She was happy to lend a helping hand to them here.

After dinner, Jiang Yunniang and her daughter Hong Xiao began to clean up and wash the dishes, while Zhang Yuying and Jiang Quan chatted.

After washing up, Yingbao returned to her room and lay in bed, concentrating on entering her mountain haven.

By the pool in her haven, several pottery jars held golden jew’s-ear and crystal clear snow funguses, all ready to be harvested.

But she hadn’t yet collected the dried mushrooms she had left out on the bamboo tray last time.

Yingbao fetched several large baskets made of rattan and collected them one by one into the baskets, eventually filling several baskets.

Then she weighed them on the scale, recorded their respective weights in the ledger, and then checked the condition of the fruit trees.

Now, the newly planted fruit trees next to the Pupil Spring were gradually blossoming, including litchi, longan, and papaya, among others.

She estimated that in less than a month, she would be able to eat litchis.

Yingbao picked a basket of apples and planned to bring them to Wu Daozi at the County Government the next day.

She hadn’t seen him for quite some time, so this would be a good opportunity to visit him and her younger brother, Jiang Jie.