The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 162: Chapter 162: The Young Lad

Every time they returned from their stall, Widow Xie and the others would be stopped and asked all sorts of questions.

They’d hear sour remarks like, "How was business today? You must have made a lot of money, right?" and "The Hu Family’s invited the God of Wealth over—they’re about to strike it rich."

Widow Xie and Hu Liang grew so weary of the annoyance that they gradually stopped taking the main road through the village. Upon entering the village, they would take a side path, preferring a long detour to dealing with those gossips.

Passing by the West River Gully, Widow Xie pointed to a few mud-brick houses not far from the riverbank.

"That’s the old Ji Family residence. You probably don’t remember it. By the time you were born, the Ji family had already moved into their new house. You probably don’t know this yet, but your eldest uncle’s family moved in a few days ago."

Ji Huan was quite surprised. "So suddenly? The house is that old and rundown. How can anyone live there without fixing it up first?"

"Tell me about it! But with a battle-ax like Aunt Kang controlling the purse strings, that branch of the family probably hasn’t saved any money over the years. It’s strange, though. If they don’t have money right now, they could just keep living with the Ji Family and move out once they have enough to repair the house. Why be in such a rush? It can’t be that Old Man Ji and Aunt Kang drove them out, can it? No matter what, he’s their firstborn son. They couldn’t be that heartless. Besides, I heard that when the family property was split, Old Man Ji promised the eldest son’s family could live in the east wing for as long as they wanted, whether they chose to move out or not..."

Widow Xie mulled it over but couldn’t make sense of it. "Just because of a granddaughter who was sent back by her husband’s family, the whole family falls apart like this? It’s like they intend to never see each other again until they die."

Ji Huan, however, had her own suspicions.

Right after the Ji Family split the household, she had felt something was off. The division of assets hadn’t been excessively biased, which was completely out of character for Aunt Kang.

Combined with the eldest son’s family’s resolute attitude about moving out now, it definitely wasn’t just because of Ji Xuelan. There had to be some other fishy business going on.

When Ji Qingshan said the eldest son’s family could stay in the east wing, it was a veiled peace offering. But that branch of the family slapped him in the face with their actions.

In any normal family, whether the household was split or not, if the children and grandchildren dared to treat their elders like that, they’d be drowned in scolding. And wouldn’t the elders, having every reason to be angry, raise absolute hell over it?

For Ji Qingshan and Aunt Kang to be so quiet was truly abnormal.

If the last time the family split, she had sensed an attempt to make amends, then this time, it was the reek of a guilty conscience.

Ji Huan was also very curious about what on earth could have happened to suddenly turn a nest of pushovers into a bunch of hedgehogs...

Just as she was thinking this, she rounded a bend and saw Ji Mingfang.

He had a basket full of firewood slung over his arm. His free right hand was holding that of a little girl, and next to her was a slightly older girl, also holding a few sticks of firewood in her arms.

Ji Huan remembered that these were Ji Xuelan’s daughters.

Widow Xie asked with a cheerful smile, "Ming Fang, were you out gathering firewood on the mountain?"

The path was narrow, and Ji Mingfang had already led the two children to the side of the road to let their flatcart pass. He hadn’t expected Widow Xie to go out of her way to greet him.

He paused for a moment, pursed his lips, and said, "We were running low on firewood at home, so I went for a walk on the mountain. The wind was strong and broke a lot of branches, so I gathered some to bring back."

"Our firewood stock is running low too. The weather’s been nice the last couple of days, so I was just thinking of sending my two boys up the mountain to get some." Widow Xie’s gaze fell on the children to his right. "These must be Xuelan’s two kids, right? They’re so big already. What are their names?"

"The older one is called Daya, and the younger one is Erya. They don’t have formal names yet."

Ji Mingfang was clearly a little uncomfortable. He had rarely interacted with people before, and others found him withdrawn and didn’t like talking to him.

But Ji Huan could see that he was trying his best to adapt. Widow Xie was just making small talk, but he answered every single thing she said with great seriousness.

"Daya, Erya, those names are easy to remember. The little girls are so pretty, just like Xuelan." They were just too thin, like little sticks.

Ji Mingfang gave Erya’s hand a little shake and glanced at Daya, probably wanting them to greet Widow Xie.

But Daya and Erya, having been worn down by their time at the Sun family’s home, were introverted and timid. That, combined with their shyness around strangers, made them shake their heads and hide behind him.

Seeing this, Ji Huan rummaged in a small bag on the flatcart and took out two sesame crisps. She walked over to them, bent down, and held one out in each hand. "Here."

The two of them clearly didn’t remember Ji Huan, but the temptation of the sesame crisps stopped them from backing away further, though they didn’t step forward either.

Daya clutched her firewood, her eyes glued to the sesame crisps. Erya hid her right hand forcefully behind her back, as if that would stop her from reaching out.

Ji Huan gave the crisps a little wiggle. "Go on, eat them. We have plenty more on the cart."

’It wasn’t that she was being stingy and unwilling to give more, but she knew that if she offered too many, Ji Mingfang probably wouldn’t accept.’

Even with just these two pieces, Ji Mingfang clearly wanted to refuse. But the words were on the tip of his tongue when he saw the longing in his two nieces’ eyes, and he couldn’t bring himself to say them.

Daya and Erya looked at Ji Huan, then turned in unison to look at Ji Mingfang.

Ji Mingfang was silent for a moment, then nodded.

The two little girls smiled shyly, timidly reaching out to take the sesame crisps from Ji Huan’s hands.

Erya immediately brought one to her lips and took a bite. With a satisfying CRUNCH, her eyes curved into little crescents.

Daya, however, just clutched hers tightly and didn’t eat.

Noticing Ji Mingfang looking at her, she swallowed and said in a small voice, "Mom and Sanyang haven’t eaten yet..."

Ji Mingfang patted her head. "Your mom... doesn’t like sweets. Sanyang is still too little to eat this. You go ahead and eat."

Daya’s eyes widened in surprise, and only then did she take a careful bite.

You could tell she really liked it, yet she refused to eat the remaining half no matter what.

Obviously, even though Ji Mingfang had told her that Ji Xuelan didn’t like sweets and Sanyang couldn’t eat them, she still wanted to save it for them to try.

’She would probably only be six after the New Year. "The children of the poor manage the household early." The very thought of that saying is heartbreaking.’

Ji Huan straightened up, originally wanting to say something to Ji Mingfang.

But when she met his gaze, she suddenly didn’t know where to start.

’Should I ask why they split from the family, or how they’re settling into their new home?’

’Neither felt appropriate.’

While she was hesitating, Ji Mingfang gave her a small smile.

Although the smile was faint, it was enough to surprise Ji Huan.

In her memory, she couldn’t recall this cousin ever smiling.

He always wore a gloomy expression and was aloof with everyone.

The original owner of her body had been very afraid of him. Even though Mrs. Wei had taught her to understand her cousin’s suffering, she was still scared.

But now, with that one smile, Ji Mingfang seemed to have shed the gloom of the past, becoming a young man who finally looked his age.

’If the eldest son’s family had been able to separate earlier,’ Ji Huan sighed to herself, ’what would a humble hut have mattered? As long as a family is together and living with dignity, they can find some sweetness even in bitter days. You just have to look at the Ji Mingfang of today to know that.’

It seemed Ji Mingfang didn’t know what to say to her either. After the smile, he fell silent again, but it was no longer a dead, lifeless silence. Instead, it was tinged with a bit of awkwardness.

In the end, the two of them just nodded to each other and went their separate ways.

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