TIPS – Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Later, somehow, her mother found out that her younger sister’s family had become wealthy. At the same time, something shameful had happened at home, so they came out to hide for a while.

Who would have thought that her mother’s younger sister had such a bad temper, refusing even to let her own elder sister into the house?

“Who was that just now? He didn’t look like Yang Shuangqiao’s son,” Yang Shuangjiao said with a sullen face. “Maybe a hired worker? A servant?” It wasn’t impossible for them to hire help now that they had money. The thought of Yang Shuangqiao enjoying such a good life made Yang Shuangjiao feel uncomfortable. “Tsk! Just wait, I’ll teach him a lesson.”

Wang Chunxing said, “Mother, you don’t even know who he is, and you already want to scold him? What if he’s not a servant?” Her mother was getting dumber and dumber—no wonder she couldn’t compete with her aunt.

“I was just saying. Of course, I’ll find out first,” Yang Shuangjiao retorted, unwilling to admit fault.

Wang Chunxing crossed her arms and ignored her. If her mother wasn’t so foolish, she wouldn’t have to be hiding in the countryside now.

Not long after, Yang Shi and Song Jingwei came out. When Yang Shi opened the door and saw the woman standing outside, her face looked both familiar and unfamiliar. It was indeed Yang Shuangjiao. She stared blankly at her, and Yang Shuangjiao stared blankly back.

“Sister, it’s me, your elder sister. Do you still remember me?” Yang Shuangjiao’s eyes turned red instantly as she choked up. “My dear sister! It’s been more than twenty years!”

Yang Shi couldn’t hold back either and burst into tears. “Elder sister…” The two of them hugged each other and cried at the door. After twenty years apart, past grudges no longer mattered. Nothing was more important than family.

“My dear sister, I’ve missed you all these years, but I just never had the chance to come find you,” Yang Shuangjiao said tearfully. “How have you been all these years?”

Yang Shi wiped her tears and sobbed, “Everything’s fine, everything’s fine. I’ve wanted to visit you too, but I never got the chance…” Things had been so strained with her family back then that, for the first seven or eight years, she was still holding a grudge. Later, she got caught up in one family crisis after another. In the blink of an eye, more than twenty years had passed.

“Foolish sister, do you still resent Mother and me?” Yang Shuangjiao said sadly. “I thought you would have forgotten by now. Mother and I were never truly mad at you—we just wanted you to live a good life.”

“Elder sister, don’t say that. I’m not angry anymore; I’ve already let it go,” Yang Shi quickly reassured her, holding onto her elder sister’s arm. “Come inside, let’s talk inside.”

“Alright!” Yang Shuangjiao quickly pulled her daughter along and introduced her to Yang Shi. “This is my daughter, Wang Chunxing. She’s eighteen this year.”

Yang Shi looked at Wang Chunxing affectionately and said, “Good, good. She’s a beautiful girl—looks just like you, elder sister.” She rummaged through her pockets and pulled out a small pouch of copper coins, handing it to Wang Chunxing. “This is my first time meeting you, and I don’t have anything special to give. Take this and buy yourself some treats.”

Wang Chunxing noticed that the pouch was old and worn, and there probably wasn’t much money inside. Her expression turned cold as she accepted it and said, “Thank you, little aunt.”

Yang Shi smiled. “No need to be polite.” Then she introduced Song Jingwei to them. “This is my son Xi’er’s wife. He joined our family in May. I had wanted to send an invitation to Mother, but…”

“Oh, so he’s your daughter-in-law?” Yang Shuangjiao’s expression changed when she realized that Song Jingwei was Yang Shi’s daughter-in-law. She laughed and said, “Sister, your daughter-in-law is fine in every way, except he’s not very good at dealing with people.”

In Yang Shuangjiao’s eyes, mother-in-laws and daughters-in-law never got along, let alone when the daughter-in-law was a man. It was a recipe for constant trouble.

However, Yang Shi’s face darkened, and she asked doubtfully, “What do you mean by that, elder sister?” If her sister had a reasonable complaint, that was one thing. But if she was just being difficult, Yang Shi wouldn’t let her wrong her daughter-in-law.

“He saw the two of us earlier, asked who we were, and then shut the door in our faces. Is that how you treat elders?” Yang Shuangjiao said with a chuckle. “I’m not here to scold your daughter-in-law, just making a casual comment. If he treats others the same way, people might talk. We don’t mind, but still…”

Yang Shi replied, “Jingwei didn’t know who you were, so it wasn’t wrong of him to ask you to wait outside for a bit. It wasn’t intentional.” Their home now contained many valuable things, and there weren’t any men at home. Being cautious was only natural.

“Listen to you! We’re just two women—what, did he think we’d rob you?” Yang Shuangjiao blurted out. But her daughter tugged at her sleeve urgently, and she suddenly realized she had said the wrong thing. She quickly laughed it off. “Oh, just kidding! Don’t take it to heart. I just think your daughter-in-law isn’t very tactful, that’s all. It’s not a big deal.”

Wang Chunxing tugged at her mother harder, trying to get her to say less.

Hearing her sister go on and on about her daughter-in-law, Yang Shi started to feel irritated. The emotional reunion between the sisters was losing its warmth. Maybe, after all these years, her elder sister hadn’t changed—still as selfish as ever.

Yang Shi invited them inside, poured tea for them, and then heard Song Jingwei say, “You take care of them; I’m going out for a bit.”

“Aye, go ahead,” Yang Shi nodded, afraid that if Song Jingwei stayed any longer, he might get angered by her elder sister. She also wasn’t sure if her daughter-in-law had taken those earlier words to heart.

“Why did my nephew-in-law just leave?” Yang Shuangjiao asked, feeling displeased. She had traveled such a long way, yet this nephew-in-law had the audacity to give her attitude. After everything she had said, he remained cold and indifferent, clearly not taking her seriously at all.

“Oh, Jingwei just went out for a walk. He hasn’t been in great spirits lately,” Yang Shi explained, making no attempt to call him back.

So, Yang Shuangjiao could only watch helplessly as Song Jingwei walked away.

The two sisters sat down. Although there were still some lingering tensions, they found plenty to talk about, reminiscing about their childhood all the way to the present. There was no shortage of topics.

Wang Chunxing, growing impatient, suddenly spoke up, “Mother, Aunt, I’d like to go out for a walk.”

Yang Shi assumed the young girl was getting restless and quickly said, “Sure, go ahead and take a stroll. But there’s a school over that way where children are reading, so try not to disturb them. You can explore the other direction instead.”

“Mm, I understand,” Wang Chunxing responded, then got up and left the house.

“This girl looks just like you—exactly how you looked when you were young,” Yang Shi commented again. Strictly speaking, Wang Chunxing was even more beautiful than Yang Shuangjiao had been in her youth.

“Of course! She takes after me,” Yang Shuangjiao said proudly. Having a daughter like Wang Chunxing had brought her much honor.

“She’s eighteen now. Have you arranged a marriage for her yet?” Yang Shi asked casually. Usually, by eighteen, a girl would at least be engaged, if not already married.

“Not yet,” Yang Shuangjiao replied, suddenly looking awkward and unwilling to continue the topic. Instead, she changed the subject, “By the way, where is your daughter-in-law from? He doesn’t seem like a countryside boy.” His delicate features and smooth skin were telling.

“Oh, Jingwei? He’s from Lihua Town,” Yang Shi replied with a smile. However, she deliberately left out the fact that Song Jingwei was the young master of the wealthiest family in Lihua Town. She knew her elder sister all too well—she was someone who had eyes only for money.

“I see,” Yang Shuangjiao said, looking around the room. Every piece of furniture and decoration was either elegant or extravagant. Something felt off—how did the Shen family’s main branch suddenly become rich? This grand house, these valuable furnishings—they didn’t match the old Shen family at all. How could they be living in such a luxurious home, owning so many exquisite and valuable things?

With a casual yet scrutinizing gaze, she remarked, “This house must have cost quite a bit, huh?” Her tone carried a hint of appraisal and judgment.

“Yes, it did. Around two thousand taels,” Yang Shi replied. Even she had been shocked when she first heard the figure.

“Two thousand taels…” Yang Shuangjiao tried to look unimpressed and indifferent. “Oh, that’s not bad. About the same as our house.”

Yang Shi then asked, “By the way, I haven’t asked yet—where did you marry? What does your husband do?”

Yang Shuangjiao smiled. “I married in Taiping Town. My husband is in the lumber business —earns tens of thousands of taels a year.”

“That rich?” Yang Shi pretended to be surprised. Tens of thousands of taels was indeed a lot of money. Even her daughter-in-law’s dowry had only been thirty thousand taels.

“It’s not that much, just average,” Yang Shuangjiao said, not wanting to sound too boastful. As she glanced around the house, her eyes landed on an ornament. “That one—is it real? If it is, it’s worth quite a bit. We have one just like it at home.”

Following her sister’s gaze, Yang Shi couldn’t help but chuckle. That ornament was just a simple wooden decoration. Her daughter-in-law had found it by the river and thought it looked nice, so she brought it back and carved it a bit.

“You don’t know, do you?” Yang Shuangjiao raised her chin slightly and explained, “My husband is in the lumber business. He says some types of wood are more valuable than gold—a small piece can be worth a fortune. So don’t be fooled by its plain appearance; it might actually be a rare and expensive piece.” She looked at Yang Shi with a gaze full of condescension, as if schooling a country bumpkin.

Yang Shi simply smiled and said, “Maybe so, but this one is just ordinary wood. My daughter-in-law picked it up by the river.”

“…” Yang Shuangjiao stared at her sister in silence. After a long pause, she finally muttered, “You actually put out an ordinary piece of wood as decoration? You have no taste at all—how could you do that?” She felt utterly embarrassed—after all, she had just boasted that they had the same piece at home.

Yang Shi chuckled, unconcerned. “We don’t know much about these things. My daughter-in-law liked how it looked, so we kept it. It’s for our own enjoyment, not for impressing outsiders.”

After a while, Yang Shuangjiao finally asked again, “So, our brother-in-law is wealthy now too. Your life seems quite comfortable. What does he do these days?”

Yang Shi answered honestly, “He’s farming. We have ten acres of tea fields. The autumn harvest is coming up soon.”

“What?” Yang Shuangjiao’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Don’t tell me… you got rich just from ten acres of tea fields?” Did they think she had never farmed before? Did they think she didn’t know how much land ten acres was? What were they growing—golden tea leaves?

“Who said we got rich just from ten acres of tea fields?”