The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 163: Chapter 163: Mrs. Wang’s Calculations

Widow Xie couldn’t help but shake her head, but only after they had walked a good distance away.

"Did you see those two girls? They’re so skinny they don’t even dare to look people in the eye... The Sun family are real pieces of work, just as bad as Aunt Kang. They’re vicious even to their own granddaughters. I can’t imagine what state Xuelan must be in. It makes me sick with worry. Tell me, if Ximei marries into a family and can’t give them a son, and they abuse her like that, wouldn’t I just go mad?"

"Then what would you do?" Ji Huan asked.

"What would I do? I’d take a knife to their door! No matter what, she’s the daughter I worked so hard to raise. Did I send her to her husband’s family to be a beast of burden? Even... even if she couldn’t have a son, as long as they sent her back to me in one piece, I wouldn’t say a thing... And if you can’t have a son, you can’t just blame the woman. Why not say their ancestors didn’t build up enough good karma..."

Ji Huan couldn’t help but smile. "Aunt Xie, Ximei is lucky to have a mother like you."

But not everyone had that kind of luck.

More often, it took a body full of scars and a heart full of tears to finally learn that you could only rely on yourself to survive.

Widow Xie heaved a long sigh.

"All I can think about now is this: when another family’s daughter marries into mine, I’ll treat her like my own. A heart for a heart. That way, when Ximei marries into another family, I can only hope she gets a reasonable mother-in-law who will treat her well and not try to control her too much. If that happens, I’ll be content."

This reminded Ji Huan of Cao Yunyun.

The Cao Family’s character was nothing to write home about. She had originally thought that as long as Cao Yunyun could think for herself and not listen to her family’s instigations, there wouldn’t be any major problems.

But from what she had seen today, while Cao Yunyun didn’t seem to be a bad person, she had a fatal flaw—she was a pushover.

’A few nice words from me and she was so flustered she couldn’t tell which way was up. Anyone else could do the same. If someone with malicious intent came along, and Cao Yunyun couldn’t tell right from wrong...’

"Aunt Xie, Sister-in-law Yunyun... she seems very agreeable?" Ji Huan asked tentatively.

"Isn’t she just? She listens to whatever you say and never talks back." This was precisely what Widow Xie was most pleased about.

"To be honest, I was afraid we’d end up with a troublemaker. Look at that family in the south of our village—their daughter-in-law is so fierce and wild, the household never has a moment’s peace. Someone like Yunyun is much better. Obedient and well-behaved."

Of course, that was just one part of it. There was another reason.

"Look at our family’s situation. Life won’t be easy for her after she marries in. I don’t expect her to be overly good to Dacheng and Ximei, since they’ll be starting their own families in a few years anyway. But she’ll definitely have to look after Xiao’an and Hua more; those two are still little. And then there’s my own old mother... We’re lucky to have someone as good-natured as Yunyun. Just imagine if it were someone else. There’d be endless drama."

Every word from Widow Xie was full of satisfaction with Cao Yunyun, so Ji Huan found it difficult to say what was on her mind.

’Should I really, just because of a short conversation with Cao Yunyun and some baseless speculation, rashly tell Widow Xie that she isn’t a suitable daughter-in-law?’

’Honestly, even I felt it was something only the village gossips who backbite would do. The implication of sowing discord was just too strong.’

First, she had no proof that Cao Yunyun would definitely be swayed by her family after marrying in.

Besides, Cao Yunyun was now Hu Liang’s proper fiancée. In these times, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say what’s done is done. Even if Widow Xie and Hu Liang believed her, what could they do? Could they really break off the engagement?

Not to mention, Cao Yunyun hadn’t done anything out of line yet. Even if she had, given Hu Liang’s current love-struck state, they would never break off the engagement unless it was for an extremely outrageous reason.

After thinking it over and over, she decided it really wasn’t her place to interfere.

’And since I’ve already taught the Hu Family how to make the hot and spicy soup, it’s their business and their affair. It’s not my place to meddle anymore.’

Still, she felt an obligation to give a word of caution.

"Aunt Xie, it’s a good thing that Sister-in-law Yunyun listens to you, as long as she doesn’t *only* listen to her own family, there shouldn’t be a problem. Think about it. If they give her good advice, that’s fine. But what if they say bad things, or get some crooked ideas... Won’t that affect her relationship with Brother Liangzi in the end?"

Widow Xie just laughed. "Don’t you worry about that. I can see Yunyun is already on our side. She hasn’t even married in yet, but she already knows to come help at the stall. Her mother told her to bring her two nephews over, but she didn’t. She knows what’s what. Besides, once she’s married, how many times a year can she go back to her parents’ home? What mother doesn’t want the best for her daughter? For her daughter’s sake, Granny Cao wouldn’t dare cause trouble, would she?"

’I hope so,’ Ji Huan thought.

She had wanted to use this as a lead-in to suggest they temporarily keep Cao Yunyun away from the process of making the hot and spicy soup and fried dough sticks. But Widow Xie’s words, in every way, painted Cao Yunyun as one of the Hu Family, and she could see that both she and Hu Liang no longer considered her an outsider at all.

’Telling someone to be wary of their own family... It felt awkward no matter how she thought about it.’

’Forget it. I’ll talk to Hu Liang about it later.’

At the Cao Family’s home, Hu Liang dropped Cao Yunyun off and left after only a brief stay.

The moment he was out the door, her two nephews crowded around, begging for a treat.

Cao Yunyun divided the fried dough sticks she had brought back between them.

The two looked disappointed, pouting. "Fried dough sticks again? Auntie, can’t you bring something else back?"

Cao Yunyun looked troubled. "But the hot and spicy soup is hard to carry."

"If the hot and spicy soup is hard to carry, then just take us to the stall to eat!"

"Yeah, all you ever give us are other people’s leftovers..."

The two nephews went back and forth, their words making Cao Yunyun’s face flush red.

"They’re not leftovers! We don’t even have enough fried dough sticks to sell in the morning. Brother Liangzi specially saved these..."

"Go on, get out of here... Can’t a snack shut you two up?! Go play somewhere else!"

After shooing her two sons away, Mrs. Wang put on a smiling face.

"You must be tired, Yunyun. Don’t listen to those two little rascals. The fried dough sticks are delicious. We all love them."

Mrs. Wang had been unusually reasonable lately.

Given her usual habits, if a relative was running a stall in town, she would definitely be there every other day, dragging her whole family along. And it wouldn’t just be eating and drinking for free; she’d have to take some to go, too.

The reason she stopped her sons from going this time wasn’t because she’d had a change of heart, but because she had a better plan in mind.

In truth, Mrs. Wang was just like Granny Cao—someone who couldn’t walk away from the sight of money.

But she was more farsighted than Granny Cao.

Granny Cao only knew how to stare at the betrothal gifts. But no matter how large the gifts were, big Silver coins don’t just shit out little ones. There would be a day when it was all spent. How could that compare to...

Her eyes darted about, and she pulled Cao Yunyun into the inner room of the side chamber.

"Tell me, did you see that Ji Huan today?"

In the past, Cao Yunyun hadn’t been close with her sister-in-law. Because she had remained unmarried for so long, Mrs. Wang had often criticized her with snide remarks.

But ever since the engagement, Mrs. Wang’s attitude toward her had changed completely. Not only did she constantly ask after her well-being, but she also seemed to be looking out for her in every way.

There were many things Cao Yunyun didn’t feel comfortable telling Granny Cao, but she found she could talk about them with Mrs. Wang.

"I saw her. Ji Huan... she’s... she’s quite nice."

Mrs. Wang carefully studied her sister-in-law’s expression. Seeing that she didn’t seem to be lying, she was a bit puzzled.

’She was clearly unhappy the last time Ji Huan was mentioned.’

"How is she nice? Tell me about it."

Cao Yunyun didn’t hide anything, recounting her entire conversation with Ji Huan to Mrs. Wang in full detail.

After hearing the story, Mrs. Wang slapped her thigh in excitement.

"Oh, for heaven’s sake, my dear girl! You think she was praising you? She was feeding you a bewitching potion! Yunyun, trust me on this, that girl is anything but simple!"

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