Chapter 741 - 382: Hated by Man and Beast (2)

Chapter 741: Chapter 382: Hated by Man and Beast (2)

As it turned out, Aunt Liu and Pu Pao looked just as awkward to see them. In the kitchen, only a single pot of water was boiling—just in case the two babies needed their bottoms washed.

The truth was, Aunt Liu was furious with the visitors for ordering her around. She had noticed that the Lady of the house had no intention of asking them to stay for a meal but was too concerned with appearances to outright send them away. So, Aunt Liu went to the kitchen but deliberately didn’t start cooking, planning to stall with an excuse. Then, just after the Young Madam returned, Pu Pao asked her father to ready the cart to take the guests home. This gave Aunt Liu the perfect excuse. If they refused to leave, she could simply claim she’d heard the madams were leaving and therefore hadn’t cooked, making it impossible for them to linger.

Aunt Liu’s family had lived in the courtyard for several months and had seen the Zhang family’s elder relatives visit many times. They always caused a scene, clearly bullying their employers, and Aunt Liu had long since grown tired of it. So today, when so many of them showed up, she didn’t dare speak up but correctly guessed He’s feelings and decided to help her fend them off.

"I’ll start the fire right now. With Pu Pao to help, it’ll be quick. Lady, Mother-in-law, please go chat in the main hall. The meal will be ready in no time," Aunt Liu said, her face flushing.

Yang Family and He burst into laughter. It seemed those people had made themselves so unwelcome that even the dogs in the courtyard couldn’t stand them.

He didn’t reprimand Aunt Liu. She sent Pu Pao over to Juhua, and then the women chatted idly as they started preparing the meal.

Back in the main hall, after He and Yang Family had left, Huai Zi looked at Juhua with a wide grin. "You’re way more formidable than I am," he said. "You got rid of them with just a few sentences. The other day, I had to make small talk with Great-grandfather for ages, and he just kept tying me in knots."

Juhua ignored him. Cradling Cong, she sat down and laid the baby face-down across her lap. She pulled open her cloth diaper to check and saw that she had soiled it. "Hand me a fresh diaper," she said, quickly looking up at Huai Zi. She used the soiled cloth to wipe her daughter’s bottom clean before swapping it for a dry one.

Zhang Yang sidled over with a grin. "I guess I’m just lucky. I was about to pick her up, but then I decided to go find a snack first and missed my chance. Otherwise, I might’ve ended up with a handful of poop."

Huai Zi’s expression hardened. "She’s wearing a diaper, how would you get any on your hands? You’re such a thoughtless uncle. Changing a diaper isn’t that difficult—certainly not as difficult as composing one of your essays. Couldn’t you have just helped change her for once?"

Juhua let out a laugh. She shot a look at the embarrassed Zhang Yang and exposed him without mercy. "It’s not about it being difficult; it’s about his pride. Have you ever seen a Scholar change a baby’s diaper? If word of that got out, he’d probably be too ashamed to ever show his face again. Cong, your Second Uncle is a very bad man. He definitely smelled that you were stinky just now, and that’s why he didn’t rush over to hold you. Normally, he’s cuddling you the moment he sees you."

Sure enough, Zhang Yang gave a sheepish laugh. "You smelled it too, didn’t you? Why else would you check her diaper when it wasn’t even wet? I was just waiting for you to change it for her. And it’s not that I’m afraid of losing face—I just don’t know how! I’d probably just make my niece uncomfortable and upset."

With that, he took the freshly diapered Cong into his arms, gave her a kiss, and declared, "There, not stinky anymore! You smell lovely now!"

Juhua just shook her head at him. She checked on Banli next; thankfully, he was clean. After holding him out so he could pee, she handed him over to his father. Then she relaxed into her chair to rest, listening as Huai Zi and Zhang Yang discussed which relatives to visit for the New Year tomorrow. ’Once the Lantern Festival is over,’ she thought to herself, ’I’ll have the hired hands plant bamboo and trees. I also need to get a few more acres of land to grow some oak saplings.’

She mused for a moment, her eyes on Huai Zi, who was speaking in low tones with Zhang Yang. ’Thinking back on what just happened, it seems almost funny,’ she reflected. ’But if things had actually escalated, no one would be laughing. I need to stay sharp and not let those people cause any more trouble.’

The room was growing dark when Pu Pao came in to light a lamp. "Young Madam," she asked softly, "would you like to use the foot warmer? I just added some fresh coals to the brazier."

Juhua, startled from her thoughts, quickly replied, "No, I’m fine. Just drape Banli’s and Cong’s clothes over it to dry. Prop them up with the small bamboo sticks, and don’t get them too close, or they’ll get scorched."

"I’ve already set them up to dry," Pu Pao said.

Juhua nodded and smiled at her. "Since there’s not much to do right now, why don’t I teach you how to read?"

Pu Pao chirped a happy "yes!" and ran to Juhua’s room to fetch the sand tray. She placed it on a low stool, brought another small stool for herself to sit on right in front of Juhua, and then looked up at her with an eager, expectant face.

Juhua smiled as she looked at the sand tray. It was what she used to practice her calligraphy.

’In this world, she’d really been sent back to square one.’ She could recognize a good number of the traditional characters through guesswork and context, but actually writing them was another story entirely. She had to practice stroke by stroke, just like a child learning for the very first time.

’She remembered practicing with Qingmu, and even Little Shitou had taught her quite a bit when he came over to play. But she was so used to writing simplified characters that learning the traditional forms felt exceptionally difficult. If she wasn’t paying close attention, she would unconsciously revert to the familiar shapes. That’s why she couldn’t afford to be complacent, practicing with a stick in the sand tray whenever she had a spare moment. She rarely picked up an actual brush. In the future, she planned on using a quill pen and ink for a more familiar hard-tipped writing style. As for proper brush calligraphy... she’d just forget about it. It wasn’t like anyone else needed to read her ledgers anyway.’

She taught Pu Pao a few simple, common characters and then had the girl practice writing them over and over on her own.

The days of the New Year’s celebrations were relaxed and joyful, and they flew by. With people constantly visiting, eating, and drinking, each day passed in a pleasant blur. Zhang Yang and Zhang Huai did end up visiting Great-grandfather’s home, as planned. It was unclear what was said, but whatever it was, the Zhang family’s elder relatives were much better behaved afterward and stopped trying to cause new problems.

Juhua, tied down with the babies, didn’t leave the house at all. Just when she thought the entire New Year’s season would pass without incident, something happened on the afternoon of the eighth day. A man carrying a black umbrella suddenly appeared at the Zheng Family’s gate. He entered, propped the umbrella against the doorframe, and didn’t emerge until a long while later.

’It wasn’t raining. To bring a black umbrella to someone’s door... that was a message of death!’

Shortly after, Liu Yunlan rushed to the Zhang family’s home to fetch Juhua and Huai Zi, saying their father needed to see them about something urgent.