To be honest, she didn't even need to go to Li's house. Just looking at the house, she could imagine how much her second aunt and cousins had suffered over the years.
If I hadn't come here to pay my respects to my aunt, she would never be here.
It was fine that it was sunny now, but if it rained, she could not imagine how she would walk on this mud road.
As the carriage moved forward, it didn't take long for Zhou Caijing to finally see a decent house.
She saw that the carriage seemed to be heading in the direction of the house, so she asked Li Yuan, who was sitting next to her.
"Sister, whose house is that? It's okay in this village! But it looks like it was newly built not long ago?"
Li Yuan followed the direction of her finger and said, "Well, in the winter of last year, your cousin-in-law found someone to build it."
Zhou Caijing heard this and didn't ask any more questions.
As smart as she is, she knows that this is Lijia'ao, and Xie Yanzhi has houses in the county and prefectures, so he will definitely not build another house in Lijia'ao.
He was like this, probably because he saw that his brother-in-law was having a hard time, so he specially built it for him.
On the other hand, Wang Can, who was also sitting in the carriage, covered his mouth and smiled: "Cousin, I'm afraid you don't know that my brother-in-law built this house with ulterior motives."
Zhou Caijing knew very little about Li Yuan and Xie Yanzhi. She only knew that she divorced and remarried.
When he heard this, he was full of curiosity: "Oh? How do you say this?"
"Brother-in-law and Brother Junzi are brothers! When the brother-in-law was interested in my sister, he was afraid that my sister would reject him not long after the separation. Then at that time, Brother Junzi was out on escort, and he always used the excuse that Brother Junzi asked him to do this. For example, digging water wells, making beds, etc., we would come here and walk around. At that time, my sister and I were setting up a stall selling noodles in the county town, so we just let him do whatever he wanted at home. We don’t even know when he built it here. House.”
"Later, when it got cold, Brother Junzi came back from being an escort. We wanted to get engaged, so we went back to our old house. What happened was that we discovered this house. Brother Junzi said that when he came back from being an escort, his brother-in-law told him that he built a house. He asked if he could come and live in the house when the time came. Brother Junzi told me that my brother-in-law had already paid for the house, so could he say no? Then we came back and took a look, do you think this is a one-room house?"
Zhou Caijing looked at the house carefully and said: "Well, it depends on how you define it. If you want to talk about a room, then it is called a house. But in terms of rooms, with that height, there must be quite a few, right?"
"Well, the two floors combined have several more rooms than the old house next to it. The lighting on the second floor is okay, and no one has lived there. Can my cousin stay here tonight?"
"OK!"
Although Zhou Caijing disliked the poverty here, seeing that the house was newly built and Wang Can said no one had lived there, she readily agreed.
Her original plan was to come over today to pay her respects and go back before the city gate closed in the evening.
But since she has a place to stay, she doesn't mind staying here for two more days and getting to know where her second aunt and cousin live.
In this way, she could talk to her aunt in detail after returning to the capital.
My mother has been bedridden with illness for the past few years, and her aunt has to take care of the housework and cannot leave even if she wants to.
But it will be nice to wait for the eldest brother to get married next spring and have a sister-in-law.
When the time comes, the general affairs of the Hou Mansion will be handed over to my sister-in-law. Whether my aunt wants to come here or go back to see the place where she grew up, she will be able to do so!
*
Although Zhou Caijing wanted to pay homage to her second aunt, since she came to this place, she had to pay homage to the elders of the Li family.
Even though there are two elders in Xinyang Mansion, and two of them were seen in the county seat yesterday, the rest are here in Lijia'ao.
Therefore, after she and Li Yuan drove the two carriages back to the Li family, they took the girl and the carriage driver, who were holding a bunch of things in their hands, to the Li family's old house.
Because her two daughters-in-law had not yet given birth, Mrs. Ling was busy working in the fields with everyone during this period.
When she heard that there were guests at home, she was a little puzzled.
When she got home, she saw her two daughters-in-law holding bright pieces of cloth in their hands with flattered expressions on their faces.
Her eyes soon fell on the face in the courtyard that was very similar to Li Yuan.
She didn't even need Li Yuan and Wang Can to introduce her, she just said: "Yuan Niang, is this the third lady of the Hou Mansion, the daughter of your mother's twin sister? She really looks like you. You two, One dresses younger, the other dresses more mature, and when they go out and say they are twin sisters, some people believe them."
Zhou Caijing nodded with a smile on her face and asked the girl to hand the cloth and cakes in her hand to Mrs. Ling: "Mother-in-law, I didn't know what to give when I came here, so I just bought some cloth and cakes. I hope you don't dislike it. .My sister and brother lost their parents when they were young. Thanks to your care these years."
Mrs. Ling looked at the thing in her hand, and her face burned when she heard Zhou Caijing's last words.
How can she take care of her?
Except for the years when the second sibling was still alive and Yuan Niang got married, she, the third sibling and her mother-in-law took turns helping her with laundry, cooking, making medicine, turning her over and scrubbing her body, and did nothing.
She had many children of her own, and in those years, her children were getting married, grandchildren were being born one after another, and she was busy working in the fields, so she didn't have any extra time to take care of either Junzi or Yuanniang.
By the time the second sibling was gone, Junzi had grown up. He had been working outside all year round to make money and pay off his debts, while Yuanniang was far away in Shuiyun Village.
As time went by without contact, she stopped thinking about them.
If Junzi hadn't come to her door earlier and said that Yuanyang was being tortured by her husband's family, she would have almost forgotten about her niece.
Therefore, she felt guilty after hearing this.
She took the thing and it was hot to her hands!
Li Yuan saw Ling's embarrassment and said, "Uncle, we have to take Cai Jing to pay homage to my parents, so we have to go up the mountain right now, so we won't delay here."
Mrs. Ling reacted and nodded repeatedly: "Okay, the dew has dried up at this hour, so it's just right to go up the mountain. You go back quickly, I'll cook, and we'll eat here at noon!"
Li Yuan was not polite to her, "Okay, then I'll ask Caiwei to bring some rice, noodles and meat."
Zhou Caijing saw that the eldest uncle's reaction was uncomfortable after she said something, so after leaving the Li family's old house, she asked: "Sister, is the relationship between you and your aunt not so good?"
At least she saw yesterday that the relationship between Li Yuan and Ma, the third aunt, was okay.
It's okay with that grandpa.
It's okay with my grandma who is now in Fucheng.
So, the entire Lao Li family has the worst relationship with this aunt?
Could it be that in the past, this aunt took advantage of her cousin's parents to be bullied when they were still young?
Just when Zhou Caijing's face became darker and darker, Li Yuan, who was afraid that she would misunderstand, said directly: "No, no, Caijing, you misunderstood!"
