Chapter 379: Chapter 379: Don’t Tell Me He’s an Unwitting Father
No one answered Aunt Kang.
Ji Qingshan was first disappointed that his fourth son was incorrigible, going to Chunyi Building to fool around with prostitutes.
Then he was struck by the news about the Du Family.
He had painstakingly schemed, only to find he had miscalculated completely.
If Du Caizhu couldn’t inherit the Du Family’s fortune, what would she use to support his fourth son’s pursuit of higher examinations? All his efforts had gone down the drain.
Ji Qingshan’s lips trembled, and he couldn’t utter a word for a long time. Finally, he shut his eyes tightly, suddenly looking every bit his age.
Aunt Kang scrambled to her feet and rushed out of the main hall, wailing.
"You heartless little harlot, tricking my family into a marriage! Du Caizhu, you get out here! Get out here for me!"
As dusk fell, the Ji Family dragged Du Caizhu to West Village.
The villagers all thought it was because Du Caizhu had beaten Ji Liantang, and that Aunt Kang was going to the Du Family to demand an explanation.
Some busybodies followed along to watch the commotion, only to have their jaws drop in shock.
In the end, the Ji Family failed to divorce the wife as they had wished.
Just as Ji Liantang had learned the truth about the Du Family from Linghua, Old Du had also learned all of Ji Liantang’s secrets from Cuizhi.
Frequenting prostitutes, carousing at brothels, and even the dirty business of threatening his own teacher—if these things were reported to the county, Ji Liantang’s official career would be utterly ruined. It would be more than just a ban from the examinations; he might not even be able to keep his title as a child student.
The Ji Family lost their nerve. They returned to Dafeng Village with Du Caizhu, tails tucked between their legs.
Their pipe dream was shattered, and pent-up emotions had to be released.
Besides, Aunt Kang wasn’t the only one who was furious. Mrs. Zhu was even angrier.
This time, on their trip to West Village, she had finally seen that Cuizhi, decked out in gold and silver, giving orders like she was the mistress of the house.
Meanwhile, Du Caizhu’s own mother was shut away, recuperating from an illness. It was said she hadn’t left her courtyard since Du Caizhu’s wedding, and Old Du hadn’t visited her even once.
What did this mean? It meant that in the future, every needle and thread of the Du Family would belong to that plump baby and have absolutely nothing to do with Du Caizhu.
’Didn’t that mean all her efforts to suck up to Du Caizhu were for nothing?’
’I have to get something tangible out of this.’
So Mrs. Zhu reminded Aunt Kang that while the twenty mu of land was a lost cause, Du Caizhu still had nine chests of dowry...
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law took advantage of Du Caizhu returning to her room, grabbed an axe, and hacked off the lock on the door to the room where the dowry chests were stored.
Looking at the neatly stacked chests, Aunt Kang’s disappointed heart finally found some solace.
She still remembered the day the bride’s dowry was carried over, how the villagers had clamored to open the chests and have a look.
Aunt Kang had wanted to show it off, but the people from the Du Family had locked them up tight and absolutely refused to let anyone see.
This led to all sorts of speculation, with people saying the chests were filled with fine things like clothes, jewelry, and silks, and maybe even real gold and silver...
While Aunt Kang was lost in her beautiful daydream, Mrs. Zhu was already growing impatient.
She rushed forward and opened the nearest chest.
The ecstatic joy on her face turned to a blank stare.
She opened the second one, her expression unchanged.
She went down the line like this, and when the last chest was opened, the cleaver in Mrs. Zhu’s hand fell with a CLANG.
"Oh, Mother..."
Aunt Kang suddenly lunged toward the chests, her trembling hands scooping up a handful of old cotton.
Not daring to believe her eyes, she dug frantically toward the bottom.
She found neither gold nor silver, only half a chest of mud bricks.
Like a madwoman, Aunt Kang went through them one by one; they were all the same.
’No wonder,’ she thought. ’No wonder every chest was so heavy. No wonder they stopped us from looking...’
Wasn’t it obvious? Cuizhi was now in charge of the Du Family. Her only goal was to get rid of Du Caizhu, so how could she possibly have allowed a proper dowry to be prepared for her?
Aunt Kang plopped onto the ground, muttering, "It’s over... It’s all over..."
Mrs. Zhu counted them and found there were only eight chests. The last one must be in Du Caizhu’s room.
’She was favored for all those years, after all,’ Mrs. Zhu thought. ’There’s no way she didn’t save up some private money. Otherwise, where did she get the money for their fourth son?’
’It must all be in that chest!’
Feeling they were in the right, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law burst into the newlyweds’ room together.
They had expected that Du Caizhu, her lies exposed, would be consumed with guilt and hand over all her private silver, trying her best to please them.
Who would have thought that no sooner had they stepped into the room, they were both thrown out.
Aunt Kang nearly broke her old back. Lying on the ground, she shrieked at the top of her lungs, "Heavens, open your eyes! Is there no justice left in this world? A daughter-in-law is beating her mother-in-law! This is lawlessness!"
Mrs. Zhu was dizzy from being thrown, but she didn’t forget to seize the opportunity to angle for her own benefit.
"Mother, those two rooms from Second Brother’s part of the house were originally for our sister-in-law’s dowry. Now you see it, her dowry is just a sham! We can’t let her have the rooms for free..."
At the mention of the fake dowry, a pang of pain shot through Aunt Kang’s heart, and her fake sobs turned into real tears.
"Heavens! Frauds! The whole Du Family is a nest of frauds! Aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning? You’ll all get what’s coming to you!"
In the middle of her cursing, Du Caizhu suddenly stepped out of the room.
Aunt Kang was so frightened she instantly fell silent and huddled together with Mrs. Zhu.
Du Caizhu’s face was wooden, and the sight of it made one’s hair stand on end. "Go find whoever promised you a dowry. I never said a single word about it from start to finish. Even if lightning strikes, it won’t hit me."
"You... you..." Aunt Kang clutched her chest, her eyes rolling back in her head with rage.
’How could there be such a thick-skinned person in this world!’
"And another thing," she continued, "If you have the guts, go ahead and have Ji Liantang divorce me. As long as he hasn’t, he’s still my man, and he has to come back to our room and sleep with me."
After dropping this line, Du Caizhu went straight to the main hall. A moment later, a panicked, high-pitched cry from Ji Liantang rang out from the eastern room.
Aunt Kang could only watch, wide-eyed, as Du Caizhu carried the struggling Ji Liantang all the way back to their bridal chamber.
She wanted to stop her, but she didn’t dare.
After a long while, she came to her senses, slapped her thigh, and let out a great, mournful wail.
"My son! My poor, ill-fated son! You’re suffering so much..."
It was said that Aunt Kang cried late into the night, and by the next day, the story had spread throughout the entire village.
When Ji Huan heard about it, she didn’t know what expression to make.
After thinking for a long time, she asked in all sincerity, "Is that son really his?"
’I hope he’s not an unwitting cuckold.’
Ji Xuelan shot her an amused glare. "He has a family and a business. You think he’d take her in without finding out for sure?"
"Not necessarily. A man thinking with his dick can go blind and lose all reason. You expect him to have basic judgment? A thousand taels of affection can’t compete with four taels of flesh on the chest..."
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Widow Xie gave her a light rap, then glanced toward the window of the eastern room.
They had just finished their noon meal, and she and Ji Xuelan had come to talk to Ji Huan about something. There was no one else in the courtyard besides the three of them, but Dabao and Ji Mingfang were in the western room. And then there was Guan Shan. Guan Shan was in the eastern room, copying books. It wouldn’t be good for him to hear Ji Huan say such things.
Still, Widow Xie also felt that Old Du was a real piece of work.
She lowered her voice and said, "An old couple together for most of their lives, how could he suddenly be so bewitched by a hussy? I heard that prostitute is the same age as Du Caizhu. It’s really..."
It really left one speechless. The hussy deserved to be cursed, of course, but that old bastard was also a real piece of scum.
But Ji Huan didn’t find it strange at all.