Chapter 72

Early on the first day of the lunar New Year, Shen Cui took Mu Er Pang and Mrs. Zhou to the city to pay New Year’s greetings.

In fact, logically speaking, after Mrs. Zhou married into the Mu family last year, there were no relatives on the Mu family’s side, only relatives from the Shen family, so they should have been closer to the Shen family.

However, the original owner of the body looked down on her and wouldn’t bring her out in public. Later, Shen Cui came over, and their relationship last year at this time wasn’t considered good either.

So, this was Mrs. Zhou’s first time going to the city to pay New Year’s greetings to the Shen family.

She was a little nervous. Although Zheng Shi occasionally came to the academy and they had met a few times, she still felt nervous. Zheng Shi’s shrewd and strong reputation was very popular in the village.

And like Shen Cui, Mrs. Zhou was not very familiar with handling relationships with relatives due to their shallow kinship.

“Don’t be nervous, my mother…” At this time last year, Shen Cui still had a preconceived notion that Zheng Shi was not easy to get along with and thought it would be better to have less connection with her family.

After a year of getting along, although Zheng Shi was not considered a particularly upright person, her love for her descendants was impeccable.

People are not plants. Shen Cui had also developed feelings for her in the course of their interactions, and sincerely respected her.

However, Zheng Shi’s temperament was indeed a bit strict… Earlier, she had told the original owner more than once that Mrs. Zhou’s parents had died so early, she might be a bad omen that would bring bad luck to her family, and she didn’t like girls like her!

The original owner also felt that Mrs. Zhou was unlucky, which was why she had never taken Mrs. Zhou to visit her family. Even before Mrs. Zhou married Mu Yunchuan, she deliberately made things difficult for her, hoping to make her give up.

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Zhou, this silly girl, persisted.

“In any case, she won’t make things difficult for you.” Shen Cui said confidently. Among other things, Zheng Shi was protective. While she might be unhappy with Shen Cui for bringing Mrs. Zhou over without permission, in public, Mrs. Zhou was brought by her. Anyone who didn’t give face to Mrs. Zhou wouldn’t be giving face to Shen Cui, and Zheng Shi wouldn’t just stand by.

However, seeing that Mrs. Zhou was still a little nervous even after entering the city, Shen Cui tentatively asked, “If you really don’t want to go, why not just forget it?”

She didn’t want to force Mrs. Zhou to get close to the Shen family. She just felt that by not bringing her daughter-in-law to formal occasions, it seemed as if she really disliked her, just like the original owner.

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And if Mrs. Zhou really wanted to establish herself, she couldn’t be timid and hesitant in such occasions like before. How could she handle various customers in the future?

Starting with her own relatives was a good choice. After all, Zheng Shi’s seniority was there to suppress any unfavorable opinions, and with her presence, no one would really mistreat Mrs. Zhou.

But if going to such occasions really made Mrs. Zhou uncomfortable, then there was no need.

Mrs. Zhou hurriedly said, “I want to go. I know you are kind to me, that’s why you brought me along to pay New Year’s greetings. I’m just a little nervous, but I can handle it myself!”

Mrs. Zhou was aware of Zheng Shi’s opinion of her, which could also be said to be the opinion of the other villagers.

Like before, she was two years older than Mu Yunchuan and hadn’t gotten married yet. On the one hand, it was because she wanted to take care of her younger brother and didn’t want to marry herself off so early. But on the other hand, it was also because the villagers all thought she was unlucky and not good for family ties. When it came to marrying her off, most of the proposals were for a concubine rather than a main wife.

Later, when Mu Yunchuan passed the imperial examination, she became the wife of a scholar, and the villagers’ attitude towards her became more friendly.

Her mother-in-law was willing to bring her out to socialize, which was naturally a kind of affirmation of her! She couldn’t show any weakness!

As they were talking, the three of them had already arrived near Teapot Alley.

Shen Cui knocked on the door of the Shen family’s house, and Li Shi quickly came to open it. She greeted Shen Cui with a “Happy New Year” and smiled, “Come in quickly, Mother has been waiting for you.”

As she spoke, Li Shi’s gaze fell on Mrs. Zhou.

Li Shi and Mrs. Zhou had not met many times, but she could tell that Mrs. Zhou was a diligent and good girl, and she had no ill feelings towards her. So, she didn’t show any displeasure and smiled, “This child looks three times more beautiful than before, come in quickly.”

As she spoke, Li Shi took out a handful of peanuts from her pocket, gave half to Mu Er Pang, and half to Mrs. Zhou, telling them to enjoy.

Her equal and affectionate attitude immediately calmed Mrs. Zhou’s nervousness. She and Mu Er Pang both called out, “Aunt-in-law.”

Just like last year, by this time, there were already many relatives in the main hall of the Shen family’s house who had come to pay New Year’s greetings.

Thanks to Zheng Shi and Old Man Shen’s seniority, most of the relatives were of the same generation as Shen Cui, and only a few were older, requiring her to specially address them. She had met them once last year, so she mostly remembered.

But when it came to Mrs. Zhou’s turn, everyone in the room was older than her, and she had to address them one by one. Shen Cui couldn’t help her— the original owner was that kind of person, she didn’t care about relatives and didn’t bother to remember who was who. And she had only met these people once, so she was even more confused.

But fortunately, Mu Er Pang started calling people before Mrs. Zhou. His memory was far superior to other children his age now, so it was easy for him to recognize and address the uncles, aunts, and other relatives he had seen before.

Mrs. Zhou and Mu Er Pang were of the same generation, so she just followed his lead in addressing them.

Mrs. Zhou breathed a sigh of relief and began to call everyone one by one.

Although those relatives were still smiling, they only talked to Mu Er Pang, saying he looked taller and thinner than before, asking if studying was hard. They didn’t pay much attention to Mrs. Zhou.

They didn’t think Mrs. Zhou was unworthy of their attention. After all, Mrs. Zhou had been married into the Mu family for some time now. Although Mu Cheng had disappeared, that was before the marriage. There hadn’t been any bad incidents afterward, and Mu Yunchuan had even passed the imperial examination. Moreover, Mrs. Zhou and they were separated by several rooms, so they couldn’t really affect her.

However, they had dealt with Mu Yunchuan in his youth, and at that time, the young Mu Yunchuan was not as diplomatic as he is now and couldn’t hide his emotions well. He treated them all indifferently.

Now that Mrs. Zhou was the wife of a scholar, she probably looked down on them, so no one started a conversation with her to avoid awkwardness during the New Year.

On the other hand, Zheng Shi, who was sitting at the head of the table, was already shooting daggers at Shen Cui! How could Shen Cui bring Mrs. Zhou to the door without informing her?

Shen Cui continued to drink tea, and seeing no one paying attention to Mrs. Zhou, she called her over to peel peanuts for her.

Mrs. Zhou peeled one, ate one, and Zheng Shi stared at her for a while. Seeing that Mrs. Zhou pretended not to notice, she turned to Mrs. Zhou, took her hand affectionately, and said with a smile, “Your mother-in-law has spoiled you since you were young. You’re already a mother and mother-in-law yourself, but you still don’t understand anything. The family relies on you to manage it, and you’ve worked hard this past year…”

As she touched Mrs. Zhou’s hand, Zheng Shi noticed something was wrong. Although Mrs. Zhou’s hands were soft, characteristic of a young person, they were also rough and had many chapped and cracked spots. These hands were not even as good as the hands of an old woman like her!

Feeling a pang of compassion, Zheng Shi’s expression softened, and she said with genuine pity, “Your hands… What do you usually do at home?”

While she did instigate her daughter to make things difficult for Mrs. Zhou before she was married, wanting her to give up. But since Mrs. Zhou had already married into the family and become family, it was natural for the mother-in-law to discipline the daughter-in-law.

But she also couldn’t treat the daughter-in-law as if she were not a person! Just like in recent years, she had become increasingly dissatisfied with her eldest daughter-in-law, Chen Shi, but she hadn’t treated Chen Shi like this.

Mrs. Zhou was about to say she didn’t do much, but Shen Cui had already put down her teacup and replied, “She does everything, not to mention washing and cooking, she also takes on tasks like washing, sewing, and mending from outside. Even in the coldest days of winter, she has to soak her hands in cold water for a whole day.”

Zheng Shi glanced disapprovingly at Shen Cui, feeling that she shouldn’t have said such things in public. While this was indeed praising Mrs. Zhou’s hard work, it also seemed to reveal Shen Cui’s laziness?

Mrs. Zhou quickly added, “Mother-in-law, you’re exaggerating. There really aren’t many chores at home, it’s quite simple, just cooking and simple cleaning, at most half a day. The rest of the time, I took on those tasks myself to earn some money. Mother-in-law didn’t take a single penny from me, I kept it all for myself.”

Afraid that others would misunderstand Shen Cui, Mrs. Zhou continued, “Mother-in-law also taught me to read and write, taught me how to do small business… So I won’t have to work so hard in the future like I did before.”

“It’s great that you can read now. With that skill, everything becomes easier. What kind of business did she teach you?” Zheng Shi asked following her words.

“It’s just needlework, like helping people cut and make clothes, nothing special,” Mrs. Zhou replied softly.

Shen Cui chimed in, “Don’t listen to her saying it’s ‘nothing special.’ in twenty days, she made ten padded jackets and sold them.”

As she spoke, Shen Cui stood up and showed everyone the large padded jacket she was wearing. “Like this one, each of us in the family has one, all made by her, fast and well-made.”

Mu Er Pang, understanding her intention, also spoke up, “My sister-in-law earned money but didn’t forget us. She bought a lot of things for the family for the New Year.”

This really caught everyone’s attention. After all, simple needlework was something everyone could do, but Mrs. Zhou, who was about eighteen or nineteen, had no skill in tailoring clothes, let alone making money from it.

“The workmanship and stitching are better than what I do at my age.”

“Cuihua is really blessed. Both her sons are so successful, and her daughter-in-law is so capable.”

“I was just wondering, where did you buy the same padded jackets for the three of you? Turns out, it was made by your daughter-in-law.”

“We didn’t make new clothes for the family this year. Your style is unique; I haven’t seen it elsewhere. Can you tell me more about it?”

“It’s not easy to run a small business. Last time, my husband was cheated by someone using a promissory note, and we lost money!”

Everyone started discussing animatedly. Shen Cui said she didn’t understand these things and gave Mrs. Zhou a look before sitting back to drink her tea.

Mrs. Zhou took a deep breath and began to answer everyone’s questions gently and patiently.

Her character was very likable, even someone like the original owner, a real piece of work, couldn’t find fault with her.

The relatives were originally worried that Mrs. Zhou would act superior, but as they chatted, they naturally discovered that Mrs. Zhou was rare in her gentle and kind temperament, without a trace of the airs of a scholar’s wife.

They were all seasoned people who had lived for half a lifetime, and they had some skill in reading people. They could tell that Mrs. Zhou was not pretending.

In fact, she was even easier to get along with than Zheng Shi or Shen Cui.

Afterwards, seeing an old lady pulling Mrs. Zhou’s hand and starting to inquire whether she had any unmarried cousins or sisters, Shen Cui stepped forward and ‘rescued’ Mrs. Zhou.

After lunch, the relatives dispersed and went to the next house for New Year greetings.

Zheng Shi went to the kitchen to put out the fire in the stove, and Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Li conscientiously began to clean up the melon seeds and peanut shells on the floor. Naturally, Mrs. Zhou also wanted to help.

Shen Cui stepped forward and pulled her back, then pulled Mu Er Pang along with them, shouting in the direction of the kitchen, “Mother, it’s getting late, we should go back.”

Before Zheng Shi could react, Shen Cui grabbed their hands and ran out of the house.

Although Mrs. Zhou had behaved very well today, showing no disrespect in front of others, Zheng Shi wouldn’t really blame her for taking the initiative without permission.

But Shen Cui was already a mother and a mother-in-law, and she didn’t want to be lectured by Zheng Shi on New Year’s Day, which would make her feel embarrassed in front of the younger generation.

When Zheng Shi came out of the kitchen with the fire tongs, Shen Cui and the others had already disappeared.

“This girl…” Zheng Shi scolded with a smile, hands on hips.

Mrs. Li, who was cleaning in the house, hurriedly came out. “Mother, just now Cuihua gave me something to give to you.”

It wasn’t anything else in Mrs. Li’s hand, but a red envelope. Opening it, inside was a silver coin worth about one or two taels, naturally a New Year gift for Zheng Shi.