Chapter 325 - 321: Watching a Bath_1

Jiang Cheng nodded, “That is indeed true.”

He turned his head towards his younger female cousin and said, “Not only am I talking about the shop, but also about that Chen Guanglu. I saw him a while ago.”

Yingbao fluttered her eyes, “Did he come to our shop to cause trouble?”

“He dares not,” Jiang Cheng said, “After all, I do know a few constables and government officials here. Jin Wu was appointed as the arrest officer, and his grandson even acknowledged your sister-in-law as his godmother.”

Yingbao was somewhat surprised.

Her elder brother’s wife was only just over twenty years old, and she’s already someone’s godmother?

Chou Rong laughed and said, “Jin Wu’s daughter-in-law lost several children over the years, but last year she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who insisted on acknowledging me as his godmother. They said it was calculated by a monk from the temple, and told them to find a godmother for the baby with the surname Zhao, and another one with the surname Chou. Zhao means to shield the baby, and Chou is interpreted as captive, to keep the baby from leaving.”

It was the first time that Yingbao heard such an explanation, and she found it really amusing.

Hong Xiao laughed and said, “My second brother also has a godmother, she has the surname Leng, which the monk has approved of. It was said that my second brother’s birth characters have too much fire element, and so he needs to find a godparent with a water element, or a surname that means coldness, that’s why his godmother has the surname Leng.”

The moment Erni heard this, she giggled non-stop, which made Zhang Yuying blush.

“Don’t meddle!” Yuying glared at her sister, picked up a piece of chicken liver for Zhang Xiaolang, and said, “Hurry up and eat. Once you’re done, I’ll teach you to write.”

Zhang Xiaolang nodded, his smile reaching his eyes.

He wished he could stay here with his second brother forever and never go back to that home of his.

After dinner, Jiang Cheng went home with his wife and son.

Jiang Yunniang locked the door of the courtyard, walked around the courtyard, fed Xiaohei, then washed up and went back to her room to rest.

Yingbao and Erni were lying on the same bed, looking at the moon through the mosquito net and window lattice, while listening to Erni’s endless chatter about their home.

“Yingbao, you don’t know. A seamstress almost provoked my third aunt to vomit blood.”

Yingbao, “?”

“Why was my mother so angry?”

“Hey! I’ll tell you, but when you go back, pretend you don’t know anything. Never admit that I was the one who told you.”

“What happened?” Yingbao nudged Erni.

Erni lazily fanned herself with a cattail leaf fan, her leg casually propped on the other. “That seamstress, she’s good-looking, but she’s mischievous. Despite having a husband and kids, she bothers my uncle with this and that all day. Third aunt drove her home.”

Yingbao’s face twitched, she asked, “What do you mean, this and that?” Did her father cheat on her mother?

Erni swatted her with the fan, “You’re just a child, don’t ask so many questions.”

“Wasn’t it you who told me?” She just wanted to know whether her father made a mistake.

Erni was speechless, but quickly recovered, saying: “Alright then, I’ll show you.”

Then she chocked her voice and mimicked a woman’s voice, her tone was coquettish: “Master Jiang, I’ve hurt my hand. Master Jiang, do you like my dress?”

Erni couldn’t help laughing as she imitated the woman.’

Yingbao didn’t find it funny, kept nudging Erni: “Just tell me how my father reacted.”

After laughing for a while, Erni replied: “Your father told her, ‘you have a piece of leek stuck on your teeth’, and then the seamstress ran away.”

Yingbao: ‘······’

Her father really knew how to handle people, he could shame someone without even using foul language.

The next day, Yingbao got up early to wash up, then took Xiaohei for a walk, letting him frolic around.

Her aunt woke up even earlier than her, and had already set up her food stall under the bamboo shed next to the shop.

Xiaolang was also helping at the stall, serving porridge and handing out chopsticks to the customers.

Once the customers finished their breakfast, he would take the bowls and chopsticks to a wooden basin and wash them clean.

About half of the breakfast customers were students from the school across the street. They just finished their farming break and had returned to school. Presumably, they had some money to spare, so most of them came out for breakfast.

There are plenty of vendors selling breakfast along the road, just like Aunty Jiang Yunniang. Some people were eating at the stands.

Yingbao spotted a handsome man eating at another dumpling stand, who was none other than her biological father, Chen Changping.

She saw him wearing the special square scarf for scholars, dressed in a green long robe. Although he was in his thirties, he looked a lot younger.

There was someone next to him who seemed to be his classmate, talking to him while eating dumplings.

Yingbao quietly passed by them, overhearing their conversation about the provincial examination in Prefecture City this autumn.

Once home, upon seeing her sister-in-law making breakfast, Yingbao helped to light the fire.

“Will you come back with me?” she asked.

As her sister-in-law was kneading dough for steamed buns, she replied, “I won’t be going back. Once I’m back, they’ll start bringing up my marriage again. It’s a whole different level of annoyance.”

Yingbao: ······

Alright then, she would go back home on her own when her younger cousin returned.

However, her master might be going to Chuanhe Town as well, saying he just passed by last time and planned on staying there for a while to understand the villagers’ living conditions.

After kneading the dough for two steamer baskets of buns, her sister-in-law let them rise before steaming them.

The dough was fermented by Aunty Jiang Yunniang before dawn. Some was used to make meat pies while the rest was left in the kitchen for making buns for their own consumption.

After breakfast, Yingbao went to the medical institution accompanied by her sister-in-law.

Her master and eldest senior brother seemed to be very busy and were not at the institution. Only her second senior brother was guarding the courtyard alone.

Yingbao noticed that all the seedlings she planted have grown quite a bit. The grapes had even started to spread their vines, growing rather lush but had yet to flower or bear fruit.

“Junior sister, what brings you back today?” Sitting on the edge of the water drain and aimlessly poking at the water surface with a twig, Zhang Min said, “Master and our eldest senior brother went to Golden Peak Mountain. They won’t be back until tomorrow.”

Yingbao: “I just wanted to ask, are you all still going to Chuanhe Town? If not, I’m leaving on my own.”

“Of course we’re going! Why wouldn’t we?” Zhang Min immediately jumped up, grinning flatteringly, “I still want to see your family’s Litchi Forest, and that Deer Garden.”

His junior sister always bragged about how great her hometown was, which she claimed to be a thousand times better than the bitter and cold Jingzhou.

He wanted to see whether that remote mountain village was as good as she had described.

Yingbao knew what her second senior brother was up to with a glimpse, but she didn’t expose him. Pointing at her sister-in-law, she said, “This is my elder cousin. She also studied medicine before. Do you think she can enter the medical institution to study?”

Zhang Min scratched his head, “You’ll have to ask master about that. As long as he agrees, you can enter either department of the institution.”

“Alright, I’ll ask him when he gets back.”

Yingbao turned to her sister-in-law, “Let’s not go back to the shop today so we don’t have to wear ourselves out running back and forth.”

It was sweltering heat, and there were chunks of ice stored in her cave which she couldn’t take out. It annoyed her.

But it would be different when they got back to the institution.

Nobody dared to visit the Yin Yang Department. She just needed to make the fruit iced drinks in her cave and could sneak them out quietly.

Her sister-in-law nodded in agreement.

In fact, she admired that her junior sister was able to study medicine in such a place. If she could also become a student here, she would definitely study hard, not wanting to be as confused as before.

Afterwards, Yingbao took her sister-in-law to rest in the pavilion beside the water drain, watching their second senior brother taking a dip in the water.

Zhang Min splashed them, “What are you two doing? You two do know men and women are different, right? I am bathing here…”

Yingbao: “We were here first.”

Her sister-in-law kept silent but showed support to her younger cousin through action.

Zhang Min was about to say something while pointing at them when he saw a group of people walking in.

The one leading the group was none other than Xiao Chengjun.