Chapter 52: Chapter 45, Making a Fuss l
Having her daughter by her side for the New Year for the first time, Madam Li naturally wanted to make every effort to make her daughter happy.
Linyi County was somewhat remote, and the quality of goods sold in the county town was not very good.
When her daughter had come before, since she could not find good fabrics, she could only make do with ordinary cloth to make a few outfits for her daughter.
Now that the New Year was approaching, she naturally hoped her daughter could dress a little better.
In the family school, among the girls who were studying, it was her Daohua who wore the poorest quality fabric. She could guess that those little girls must have talked behind Daohua’s back.
It was just that her daughter was sensible and never let these things trouble her.
Every time she thought about her daughter not having worn silk or satin even once by the age of nine, her heart ached unbearably.
In the family, whether it was Yihuan or Yile, or the twins, every time they received gifts of etiquette in the past, if there were tender-colored fabrics, they were all shared among the three girls.
This time, it wasn’t that she was stingy, but those few pieces of brocade were specially selected by the eldest brother for Daohua, and had been set aside early. After receiving the family letter, she had already planned what style of dress to make for her daughter.
Now, without a word, Yan Zhigao had divided the brocade among others, and the always gentle and compliant Madam Li felt angry with him for the first time.
“My lord, you divided the New Year’s gift without asking me, and that is fine. But when you were allocating those few pieces of brocade, did you not consider leaving one for our Daohua?”
Yan Zhigao looked somewhat awkward. At the time, he thought those fabrics were quite attractive and figured that the women of the house would look good in them if they were made into clothes, so he distributed them happily without giving it further thought.
As for his eldest daughter, weren’t there still many fabrics left? It wouldn’t have wronged her either way.
“It’s not a big deal. Why are you so anxious? It’s just a few pieces of fabric, and they have been distributed. What else do you want?”
Hearing this, Madam Li could no longer contain her anger: “My lord, those pieces of fabric were sent by Daohua’s uncle especially for her. We have not been there for her these years, and we already haven’t provided enough care. Are you now going to give her things away to others as well?”
Yan Zhigao felt somewhat remorseful, but when he heard this, his expression darkened: “Other people? The twins are all Daohua’s sisters. As the eldest, what’s wrong with her yielding a few pieces of fabric to her sisters?”
Madam Li was so furious she blurted out without much thought, “My lord, if you want to give fabrics to the twins, you should go buy them yourself. The fabric sent by my brother was specifically for Daohua, and it must be returned.”
At those words, Yan Zhigao stood up immediately, looking at Madam Li with an extremely ugly expression.
All along, Yan Zhigao was very clear that the Yan family’s finances were meager. The expenses for maintaining connections in the officialdom and the household were largely supported by his wife’s dowry.
With this in mind, Yan Zhigao felt self-reproach, guilt, but also embarrassment.
A man who had to rely on his wife’s dowry to live, especially one who was the County Magistrate, it was particularly offensive to Yan Zhigao that his wife would use wealth to hold him to account.
Yan Zhigao looked at Madam Li with cold eyes, thinking to himself.
Over a few pieces of fabric, his wife was making a huge fuss, completely disregarding propriety. Now, she even wanted to take back the things he had given out, which was a severe slap in his face.
Merchants really can’t stand on the stage—an eye only for money and valuables, utterly lacking in proper conduct and dignity.
Having said this, Madam Li also realized she may have gone too far.
But at that moment, she was too angry to be as careful as usual to safeguard Yan Zhigao’s pride.
Thus, the husband and wife faced off against each other, swords drawn, neither willing to back down.
“What are you doing? Are you trying to turn the world upside down? Do you not have any regard for me as your wife anymore?”
Supported by Nanny Sun, the old Madam Yan hastened into the main room, her anger palpable as she looked at the two of them in a standoff.
The quarrel between the head couple quickly spread to the ears of every courtyard.
The third courtyard.
Today, having followed Madam Li to the market, Daohua saw someone selling pottery pots. Thinking of how her grandparents, whom she had never met, had sent her quite a few nice things this time, she felt she should send a gift in return. She bought more than ten pottery pots to take back.
She didn’t have much of value to offer but planting some potted plants to send back would be feasible.
The red plum blossoms I bought last time are doing quite well now, and I can graft a section over to continue growing.
Also, when I was previously in Yan Family Village, I ran all over the mountains and fields and collected quite a variety of flowers and plants. Now they are all growing well in the space, and if transplanted, they definitely won’t be inferior to the potted plants sold by others.
Among the Yan Family’s younger generation, it was the third brother, Yan Wentao, who was most interested in planting things.
So, as soon as she returned home, she took a clay pot and headed to the third residence.
When news from the main courtyard reached her, she was helping Yan Wentao fill the clay pot with soil.
Upon hearing that Madam Li and Yan Zhigao had started quarreling, Daohua dropped the clay pot, didn’t even have time to wash her hands, and ran toward the main courtyard at top speed.
As for the Wu Family, after learning the whole story, they immediately found the brocade they had received earlier and hurriedly walked toward the main courtyard with it.
The second residence.
Seeing the Sun Family wanting to return the brocade divided down by Yan Zhigao, Yan Yile had an unhappy expression, “Mother, that brocade was allocated to us by Uncle, why should we have to send it back?”
Sun Family tapped Yan Yile’s forehead, “A commotion has already started in the main residence, if we don’t return it now, shall we wait for others to come and demand it?”
Yan Yile replied gloomily, “Asking for things back after giving them away, how can Auntie do this?”
Yan Yihuan said, “Auntie is not a stingy person. I heard that this fabric was specifically sent by Big Sister’s maternal uncle, and it was Uncle who made a mistake.”
Yan Yile retorted, “Even if it was a mistake, it’s just a few pieces of fabric, why can’t the mistake be left uncorrected?”
Neither Yan Yihuan nor the Sun Family responded to this.
This was not just a few ordinary pieces of fabric. Born into a landlord’s family, the Sun Family considered themselves knowledgeable. The moment they touched the brocade, they knew its quality was much better than the ones they had received before.
Seeing the Sun Family silent, Yan Yile shook her arm, “Mother, I really like this fabric, can’t we keep it? Big Sister is just one person, Auntie has already made so many clothes for her, even if she doesn’t make new ones for the New Year, she will still have new clothes to wear.”
The Sun Family rolled her eyes, “It’s not the same. The fabric that your Big Sister is wearing now isn’t even as good as what you have on. Your Auntie would definitely not treat her own daughter unfairly. Come on, let’s go with Mother to return the fabric.”
Yan Yile pouted highly, “Ever since Big Sister came, Auntie doesn’t care about us anymore.”
Without saying a word, the Sun Family followed, but Yan Yihuan thought to herself that a niece could naturally not compare to one’s own daughter.
Shuangxin Courtyard.
Aunt Lin received the news, and her eyes lit up instantly.
Then, looking somewhat reluctantly at the brocade that had not yet been put away and ignoring her daughter’s unwillingness, she instructed the maid to pick up the brocade and quickly walk toward the main courtyard.
The main courtyard.
Daohua ran into the courtyard as fast as she could, breaking out into a light sweat on her forehead from the haste.
Although she heard only a gist of the matter, thinking of her mother’s compliant and gentle demeanor, and her reluctance to argue with others, she instinctively felt that it must have been her stepfather who was bullying her mother.
Her mother was so fragile; she needed to go and help, otherwise who knew what kind of bullying she would have to endure.
However, no sooner had she stepped into the courtyard than she was pulled aside by Yan Wenxiu and Yan Wenkai.
“Big Brother, Fourth Brother, let go of me, I need to go see Mother!” Daohua struggled, trying to shake off the arms that were holding her.
Yan Wenxiu said, “Big Sister, Grandmother is inside.”
“Then I need to go in as well!”
Seeing her Big Brother hesitating to speak, and her normally outspoken Fourth Brother looking troubled, Daohua had no choice but to ask, “Big Brother, Fourth Brother, what exactly are you trying to tell me by holding on to me?”
Yan Wenxiu looked at Daohua and measured his words, “Big Sister, the reason why Father and Mother had a quarrel is that the fabric sent by your maternal uncle was given out to every residence by Father. I was thinking… if you voluntarily give it up, maybe this issue could be settled down..”