Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 83 - 81: Loss-making Goods

Mr. Shen felt that splitting the family was really not a good thing. Under his leadership, the whole family used to work together to support the education of the main family, brothers showing respect for one another. Now after the split, everyone is out for themselves, not considering the big picture! No one has any long-term planning in mind! They don’t understand that when one person prospers, the whole family benefits!

Only his eldest son was decent, worrying about burdening the other brothers, he proposed to split the family early on. If the other sons showed this kind of understanding, he would be at ease.

As soon as Shen Chengyao stepped through the courtyard gates, he heard his mother’s angry rebukes. He quickly unhitched the bullock cart, tied up the ox, and hurried to the family room.

"How dare you bring back a worthless girl after searching for so many years, not only bringing her back home but also a pair!"

"Mother, my daughters are not worthless! They are the apples of my eye!" Shen Chengyao felt heartbroken looking at Yun’er clutching tightly to Mrs. Liu’s shoulder.

Mrs. Liu regretted bringing Yun’er and Brother Ri to the main room. Her hardworking daughter had just come home only to face rejection and harsh words. It must be so hard for them!

"So now, just a few words make you unhappy, this is how you treat your mother once you’re back! It’s true what they say, once a son gets a wife, he forgets his mother!"

Xiao’er could see that Mrs. Zhuang Lin was steering the conversation away, opening up a flow of tirades. She didn’t want to listen to these pointless conversations anymore.

"Mother, I didn’t... it’s just that Yun’er just came back home, you..." Shen Chengyao felt it was best not to finish his sentence, to avoid provoking more of his mother’s anger.

"Father, about Yun’er being taken away, we should wait until Uncle and his family are back before discussing it. Just now, Second Uncle said..." Xiao’er, seizing a gap in the conversation, tugged at Shen Chengyao’s sleeve, attempting to steer the conversation back.

"Enough! Didn’t we agree to wait until your Uncle returns to discuss this? Why bring it up again!" Typical of her to bring up what they’d agreed not to discuss! Mr. Shen was so annoyed his teeth were grinding. He was beginning to dislike Xiao’er more and more!

"I was just reminding father that we agreed to wait until Uncle returns to talk about it!" Xiao’er’s wide eyes stared innocently at Mr. Shen.

"Then why did you bring up what your Second Uncle said!" Mr. Shen’s pent-up frustration was building!

"I just wanted to say Second Uncle claimed this matter had nothing to do with him," Xiao’er lowered her head.

Mr. Shen was left speechless, his chest heaving with pent-up anger.

"Father, Mother, did you or did you not know anything about what happened to Yun’er back then?"

"I know nothing, I knew nothing about it, I don’t understand why you are still here! I need to sleep, I’m tired, all of you should leave!" Mrs. Zhuang Lin was avoiding the issue and trying to drive them out.

"We shouldn’t jump to conclusions about Yun’er’s incident based on someone else’s one-sided story. We’re a family and we should trust each other." Mr. Shen avoided a direct answer.

Shen Chengyao was only asking out of curiosity. He knew he wouldn’t get a real answer, but at least now he also understood. He nodded, "Father, Mother, you should rest well. We’ll leave now."

"Chengyao, about disowning..." Mr. Shen felt some regret.

"Once disowned, it’s done. After all, no one can predict the changes of fortune. I wouldn’t want to burden my parents and brothers."

"Don’t worry, Grandfather, Grandmother, the contribution we’ll be making to your support won’t diminish, consider it as a gesture of our filial duty. Also, don’t worry about the money we owe the family. My father has paid off all the outstanding silver." Jingrui added.

"Paid it off entirely?" Mrs. Zhuang Lin cried out like a pig being slaughtered!

"Nonsense, those colored glaze windows are so valuable, where would you get that much silver!" Mrs. Li was full of disbelief!

"Those colored glass windows were gifts from Young Master Shangguan and Young Master Di, we had no idea how much silver they would be worth!" Xiao’er was eagerly looking forward to their reactions. These people were putting on a drama every day, and she was addicted to watching the show! She had already sent word for Shen Chengguang to come home, he should be arriving soon.

Hearing this, everyone in the main room was in an uproar!

"Gifts, why didn’t you say so before!" Mrs. Zhuang Lin was livid! She had been worrying about this for so long! It had even been affecting her sleep!

"My goodness, Young Master Shangguan is really wealthy!" Shen Yuzhu looked dreamy. If she ended up marrying him, she could have anything she desired, even being given such valuable items so casually!

"Xiao’er, our family wants to build a house too. Do you think you could ask Young Master Shangguan to give some to us?" Mrs. Li thought about how there ought to be a hundred taels of silver for just one window, and the more windows she had, the wealthier she would be!

Xiao’er felt that these people’s thinking needed some modification.

Mrs. Shen Zhuang seemed to find something amiss. Even if those colored-glazed windows were gifts, it still would have taken a considerable amount of silver to build that house in the first place. The long walls of the courtyard would also require a lot of silver. Where could Shen Chengyao get so much money? Had he been hiding private funds all the while?

"Fine, I had been wondering where you got the money to build such a grand house. So, you’ve been hiding private funds! Hand over those hidden funds now!"

Xiao’er once again had to admire Mrs. Shen Zhuang’s imaginative prowess. She really felt the need to communicate her admiration! This person was truly living her life with complete self-centeredness!

"Mother, I never hid any private funds. Every time I made money from work, I gave it all to you. Every time I went out to work, you would also ask around about how much I made in a single day from people in our village. You even knew exactly whether or not the host family had given me any rewards," Shen Chengyao said, torn between laughing and crying. His mother really had the knack for seeing east while looking west.

"Then where did you get the money to build a house!" That house could not possibly have been built without several hundreds of taels!

"The silver we used to build our house was all obtained by Xiao’er!"

"Who would believe that you could earn so much silver from selling those broken toys of hers!" Mrs. Shen Zhuang scornfully responded.

Shen Chengzong and Mrs. Li were all ears; they wanted to know how Shen Chengyao had made his money.

"Xiao’er found some large river clams in the river, and they contained some large pearls. We sold them and got the silver to build such a large house." This was the truth; their sudden wealth was indeed due to Xiao’er.

"There have always been people fishing in the river, and just you folks could find big river clams, but others couldn’t? Who would believe that!" Mrs. Shen Zhuang did not believe it.

Xiao’er sneaked out a white pearl from her space, "Grandma, it’s true, look, this is the last one left by my parents. They said it was for my dowry."

Xiao’er held the smooth pearl between her fingers, the pearl glistening and radiating an iridescent light as she turned it around.

Shen Yuzhu’s eyes lit up, "Mother~" Her long, drawn-out call clearly showed her desire to have the pearl.

"Oh my, the quality of this pearl is so great, and it’s so big!" Mrs. Li’s heart was being twisted like it was scratched by a cat, "Third sister-in-law, how many of these type of pearls did your family find? Are there any more? My Bei’er is almost of marriageable age, and until now she doesn’t even have a decent dowry. Third sister-in-law, could you give this pearl to Bei’er as a part of her dowry?"

"Nonsense, it’s mine! If I’m going to give it to anybody, it would be to Yuzhu. Haven’t you heard of seniority?" Mrs. Shen Zhuang had never seen such a large pearl before. She thought the third family was quite sensible. She deliberately ignored Xiao’er’s mention of the pearl being left for her dowry by her parents.

Shen Chengyao’s face was filled with embarrassment for his mother’s behaviors.

"But didn’t we already sever our relationship? Why do we have to contribute to Bei’er’s dowry?" Jinghao was indignant. That pearl was his sister’s!

"Oh, we didn’t know before, did we? Third-brother-in-law has always been particularly kind-hearted. Even in such situations, he would definitely understand and wouldn’t hold grudges. We all share the same blood, how could such affinity be severed!" said Mrs. Li affectionately.

"We only have this one pearl left at home, and both my second sister and eldest sister need it. I’ll give this pearl to you guys. You can divide it amongst yourselves," Xiao’er handed the pearl over to Mrs. Shen Zhuang.

"If they want it, they can continue searching in the river. I’m already half buried in the ground, I don’t want to be half buried in the water!" Xiao’er retorted.

"Mother, it’s not that easy to find river clams in the river!" Mrs. Li felt dissatisfied. She had searched for river clams before, but why hadn’t she ever found any pearls!

"You’re always idle, so take your time to look for them. Maybe you’ll find even more than the third family."

"Father, mother, did you call us back for something?" Shen Chengguang strode in, followed by Mrs. Lan, Shen Bao’er, and Shen Chengwen.