A crowd of people came, men and women, old and young.

The small main room was instantly packed, making movement difficult. Several children were running around the table and bumped into them as soon as they turned around.

Surrounded by a crowd of people staring at her, Su Qingyi felt dizzy and called out to this one and that one. Despite her efforts, she could remember a few of them but not all.

Lu Bocheng’s yéyé ^[1]paternal grandfather seemed to be a reasonable man. The old man smiled at Su Qingyu and told her to be diligent and frugal in running the house and to cultivate her moral character.

Su Qingyu listened respectfully.

Grandpa Lu’s status in the family should not be low. The children and grandchildren below seemed to be afraid of him. When his sūnzi made trouble, he scolded him with a straight face. The children immediately behaved like mice frightened by cats.

Lu Bocheng’s nǎinǎi seemed to be kind-hearted.

Several children gathered around her clamoring for food, so she grabbed the pastries on the table and put them into the arms of her grandchildren. Finally, she stopped after being scolded by Grandpa Lu.

These two old couples are completely different from Su Qingyu’s yénǎi. Their statuses have been completely reversed.

As for Lu Bocheng’s two shūbó and two gū ^[2]paternal aunt, sister of father, at that moment, it was hard to tell their personalities. The whole family came over, including xí fù ^[3]daughters-in-law, nǚxù ^[4]daughter’s husband, son-in-law, sons, sūnzi & wàisūn ^[5]son of son and son of daughter, sūnnǚ & wàisūnnǚ ^[6]daughter of son and daughter of daughter, and so on.

Su Qingyu’s face stiffened as she laughed.

After the introductions were done, Grandpa Lv looked at the bustling room full of people and then spoke to Lv’s father, ‘Shengcai, I’ll take them back soon. Bo Shou will also be heading to the battlefield in a few days. We need to prepare at home.”

Su Qingyu took a look at the tánggē ^[7]paternal cousin older than you named Lu Boshou and couldn’t help but feel a little sad when she saw that he looked like an honest farmer.

When it came to working in the fields, he may be able to compete with others, but he may not have seen a knife or a gun, not to mention touching it.

“Ah, I just hope to come back alive.”

Seeing that dàbó ^[8] husband’ older brother and his wife both had sad faces, Su Qingyu couldn’t help but sigh again. Fortunately, he got married last year, and now his wife is pregnant. She didn’t know whether it was a boy or a girl, but it was somewhat of a comfort.

The dà bómǔ ^[9]wife of the eldest uncle of the Lu family was a thin woman. She sadly pulled Lu Bocheng and asked him to take more care of his tánggē and take care of him on the battlefield.

Lu Bocheng nodded in agreement. If they were placed in the same regiment, they could naturally take care of each other. At the very least, life and death depend on the person who is alive to bring news to the house.

Su Qingyu watched him getting along with his family silently. Although his eyes were not his eyes and his nose was not his nose towards Father Lu, his attitude towards his relatives in his hometown was okay. He didn’t have any resentment towards his yénǎi.

“Mom and Dad, don’t you want to stay one more night? Otherwise, let my dàbó and jiějiě go back first, and you two elders will stay for a few more days. Let us be filial to you for a few days. This new daughter-in-law has just been married, so let her take care of you.”

Wu Shi spoke up.

Su Qingyu glanced at her, lowered her head, and said nothing.

Lu Bocheng said: “Yé nǎi, please stay here. You have been living at my dàbó’s house and you have to go to the fields every day without rest. It’s more relaxed here with my dad. My second mother told my dad this morning that her cooking is delicious. So yénǎi stay and let her take care of you both.”

The whole family looked at Wu Shi.

Wu Shi was stunned for a moment, then quickly put a smile on her face and nodded in agreement with Lu Bocheng’s words.

Lu Bozu glanced at Lu Bocheng with a sullen face, and Lu Bocheng looked back at him sideways. Lu Bozu quickly looked away again. The corners of Lu Bocheng’s mouth curled up in disdain.

Su Qingyu saw Grandpa Lu sighing almost invisibly.

Seeing that Grandma Lu was a little moved, he scolded: “Don’t you have much to do at home? You are taking a break in the town!”

Grandma Lu muttered: “Bo Cheng will also leave soon. It’s just right for me to take a few children to stay in town, to be close to him, and who knows when we’ll see each other again next time…”

Grandpa Lu felt as if a big piece was missing in his heart when he thought about his two sūnzis being drafted away.

Especially the grandson Lu Bocheng, whom he felt sorry for.

His son brought Wu Shi back, and for the sake of Wu Shi’s two children, he did not stop her from entering. After Liu Shi passed away, they failed to take care of the motherless child, allowing him to live under the stepmother’s nose for so many years.

Wu Shi did a good job on the surface, but just looking at Bo Cheng’s attitude towards her, they knew that she was not nice to Bo Cheng normally. Otherwise, it would be impossible for a child as good as Bo Cheng to be ungrateful.

Old Man Lu sighed deeply in his heart and did not let go. He said to his old wife: “Go back first and come back in a few days.”

“Dad, why don’t you both stay a few more days? It’ll save us the trouble of bringing Bo Shou over in a few days and going through it all again,” Father Lu suggested.

“No. The children are still young and have no one to take care of them. We can’t live here because it’s small. It costs money to rent a house. We’ll come back in a few days. It’s convenient as we have an ox cart at home.”

Old Man Lu refused and insisted on leaving.

Wu Shi quickly stood up to send them off.

Lu Bocheng glanced at her and suddenly said to Father Lu: “Dad, why don’t you give dàbó some money? My tánggē is about to leave. Give him some money so that dàbó can take care of things or buy some clothes for my tánggē.”

Father Lu was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, “Yes, that’s a good idea.”

He turned around and told Wu Shi to get the money.

Wu Shi glanced at Lu Bocheng quickly and said to Father Lu: “How much?”

Old Man Lu and Uncle Lu were already refusing: “No, no, I still have it at home. I still have the money you gave me a few days ago. There are some left.”

Lu Bocheng walked over and took Old Lu’s hand, saying, “Grandpa, let’s be clear about this. The money he gave you the other day was for your expenses when you came to attend my wedding. What’s left is naturally a filial gift for you and Grandma. When you leave later, buy some candies and snacks in town for our dìmèi ^[10]younger sibling and wàishēng ^[11]sister’s son to enjoy.”

One sentence stopped Old Man Lu’s words.

Dà bómǔ took Huang Shi, who was holding her belly, to Lu Bocheng and Father Lu to thank them. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went to Su Qingyu to talk. Neither of them had a smile on their face.

Huang Shi probably felt that Su Qingyu was in the same boat as her. She had not spoken since she had just entered the room, but now she spoke a few words.

Su Qingyu looked at the young Huang Shi, sixteen or seventeen years old, with a bulging belly, sighed in her heart, and comforted her with a few words.

Over there, Wu Shi and Father Lu looked at each other and then went back to the room to get the money.

Lu Yuzhu had a lot of relatives coming from the countryside, and her face was already full of impatience. Now when she heard that Lu Bocheng asked her mother to get the money, she glared at Lu Bocheng fiercely.

Su Qingyu happened to see it and shook her head. This child didn’t even learn half of what her mother knew.

Soon Wu Shi came over with a purse and stuffed it into Grandma Lu’s arms. Dà bómǔ thanked her repeatedly.

When the family left, Grandma Lu stuffed an old silver bracelet into Su Qingyu’s hand, which surprised Su Qingnao.

She couldn’t ask, so she watched Old Man Lu lead the whole family away.

Father Lu and Lu Bocheng went to see them off together.

It wasn’t until Lu Bocheng came back that he mentioned the origin of this old silver bracelet.

Author’s Note: I received a reminder that the heroine’s name collided with the heroine of a certain legend, so I changed the heroine’s name from Su Qingying to Su Qingyu. Changing the name makes me almost blind

(end of chapter)