Chapter 1303: Chapter 1310: Jiujin Gets Married (5)
Behind her, the trumpet and suona were still blaring wuliwawa, and Cai Wei, having nowhere else to go, decided to buy so snacks and sweets, along with rice, vegetables, and other provisions, hire a carriage, and visit the Nursing Hos.
While she was selecting items on the street, she suddenly heard a tentative cry, “Sister Wei, is that you?”
Cai Wei turned around and saw a middle-aged woman wearing a green pure cotton thin cotton jacket, carrying a basket, and looking at her puzzledly.
Cai Wei laughed and said, “Eldest Auntie Zhou, what are you doing here?”
This woman was once the most prestigious woman in Mu Family Village, Lady Zhou, the wife of the patriarch of Mu Family Village. According to seniority, Cai Wei should call her Eldest Auntie.
Mu Family Village was poor. For more than ten years, only Lady Zhou could afford a cotton jacket that did not need patching. But now the situation was completely different. Not to ntion the family of Scholar Mu who was out of the village, nor the family of Third Elder Mu, even the family of Mu Zhongli could now afford silk and satin garnts. Unfortunately, that family had suffered a misfortune a few days ago; otherwise, they would have co to the town to show off by now!
While examining Cai Wei from top to bottom, Eldest Auntie Zhou clicked her tongue and said, “My, my, no wonder your grandparents said you have beco wealthy in the capital—it seems to be true! Look at these clothes, these designs, we don’t have them here. Really, they must cost at least ten or twenty taels.”
Cai Wei was wearing a gilded hundred butterfly-through blue Shu brocade thin jacket, overlaid with a colorful silk pogranate green silver rat coat, underneath a jade sprinkled flower smoke skirt, and on her feet, a pair of soft-soled embroidered shoes adorned with purple pearls, brilliantly embroidered as if she were an imperial concubine, all of which together were worth a total of one thousand taels.
Cai Wei smiled modestly and said, “It’s not worth much silver, Eldest Auntie Zhou, you flatter . Oh, by the way, are you in good health lately? How is the clan leader? How are all the uncles, aunties, and sisters in the village?”
“All good, all good!”
The clan leader’s wife grinned, her eyes glancing over Cai Wei’s gorgeously embroidered clothes and settling on her pale, delicate cheeks.
Seeing her gaze fixed on herself, Cai Wei laughed and said, “Eldest Auntie Zhou, why keep staring at ? Do I have dirt on my face?”
“No, no!”
Eldest Auntie Zhou repeatedly waved her hands to deny it.
“Eldest Auntie thinks that you are just too beautiful— even more so than your mother used to be. No wonder your grandfather and uncle ca back saying that you are going to be a queen!”
Once again ntioning her old ho, Cai Wei’s heart stirred, and she asked, “Eldest Auntie Zhou, how is my family’s big house getting on recently?”
Eldest Auntie Zhou slapped her thigh and sighed, “Oh, how could it be good? Your grandparents ca back from the capital, bringing with them quite a bit of wealth, as well as two good-looking girls, and everyone was so envious. But who knew that this would bring such a calamity; now your grandfather has passed away, and your grandmother is barely hanging on, not likely to live much longer. A once healthy family is now one of death, sickness, and imprisonnt. They are nearly finished.”
Cai Wei, surprised, asked, “What do you an?”
Eldest Auntie Zhou said, “Your uncle’s family loved showing off too much. Since they ca back from the capital, they would boast every day in the east and west villages that your sisters were going to enter the palace and beco imperial concubines, boasting that their family was related to the imperial family.”
As a result, this attracted the envy of thieves. One night, a group of masked thieves burst into your big house, wielding knives and demanding their treasures. After robbing your big house of their wealth, they also took turns violating those two won.
Later, your big house ran out of silver, having been used to a good life and unwilling to work to earn money, ca up with a shaful idea—letting their two stolen won sleep with single rascals from the nearby villages, using the proceeds from prostitution to survive.
Those two won were extrely beautiful and, having co from the capital, knew how to please n, so they were very popular. 오Even several prominent n from the town would specifically co to our village under cover of darkness to visit those two won.
Who knew that a month or two later, the n who had visited those two won contracted venereal diseases. It’s said that Butcher Zhang was the most frequent visitor and got the worst of the disease—his parts were rotting.
The gang of rascals, none of them tender, harbored resentnt after catching the disease. They banded together, stord into your big house, and beat nearly everyone in the family half to death. The house was smashed to pieces, and the two won were both beaten and stripped naked, tied to a tree in the village for everyone to see.
After those two won were released, seeing there was no way to survive here, they ran away together one night.
Your grandfather, being old and having been beaten half to death, plus not having anyone to care for him and his dicine, passed away after a few days. Your grandmother also fell ill in that accident and has never gotten up from the kang, getting progressively worse and probably passing away in a couple of days. Your uncle originally said he would go to the capital to find you, handing over your grandmother to his wife and taking your two cousins alone. To earn their keep, they went to He Yiwai’s house in Yushu County to do odd jobs, but they ended up stealing from their host and got caught. They were sent to the county jail, and it’s said that your two cousins caught the disease as well. They made such a fuss in the jail that no one wanted to stay in the sa cell with them…
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