Chapter 138: Not Wanting to Get Involved

Chapter 138: Chapter 138: Not Wanting to Get Involved

"Once upon a time, there was a young man named Liu Bei. He had very big ears. How big, you ask? His earlobes hung all the way down to his shoulders! Isn’t that big? And besides his big ears, his eyes were strange too. He could actually see his own big ears! Can you all try to see your own ears? You can’t, can you? Well, Liu Bei could. Pretty amazing, right? Also, his arms were really long. How long? He could touch his own knees while standing up! Liu Bei’s family was very poor when he was little, but his mother still sent him to school. He read lots of books and traveled to many places..."

’I’d stumbled upon this children’s version of *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* while browsing a Q&A site back in the day. I thought it was pretty interesting, so I memorized it.’

’I never expected it would be so popular with the children. It’s easy for them to understand, and it doesn’t bore them.’

She deliberately slowed her pace as she spoke, using exaggerated expressions and tones along with lively gestures to help the children visualize the details. She also asked questions as she went to help them understand.

Dacheng was here today, too. He was a little question machine, firing off a dozen questions after every segment. Ji Huan was practically breathless just from answering him.

Dabao, by contrast, was much quieter.

He listened very attentively but rarely asked questions. Even when he had one, he wouldn’t ask it right away.

He usually waited until everyone had left, or until it was dark and they were lying on the kang about to fall asleep. Only then would he whisper his question.

Of course, he still had a bit of a stutter.

But Ji Huan had gotten used to it, and he was slowly getting used to it himself.

"Sister Wan, why is that kid named Guan Yu’s face red? I’ve never seen a little red person before."

The children sat in a row, and Dacheng raised his hand again.

Ji Huan sighed and called on him, just as she was about to answer.

Suddenly, Widow Xie pushed the door open and burst in, exclaiming, "There’s trouble at the Ji Family’s house!"

A huge scandal had erupted in Dafeng Village over the past two days. The Ji Family’s eldest granddaughter, who had married into another family, had been sent back after being repudiated by her husband.

Ji Xuelan was the eldest daughter of the family’s first branch and the oldest among the younger generation of the Ji family.

Ji Huan didn’t have many memories of this older cousin. All she recalled was that, like Yang, Ji Xuelan was gentle and submissive, quiet and reserved, and barely noticeable in the household.

By now, she’d been married for six or seven years. A married daughter rarely returned to her parents’ home except for holidays, and with a difficult mother-in-law, Ji Xuelan visited even less frequently.

She never thought this return would be because she’d been repudiated.

"The Sun family are real pieces of work! That girl, Xuelan, is so sensible and capable. Whenever I run into people from her husband’s village in town, they have nothing but praise for her. How could they just repudiate her like that? She just had a baby, too..."

Just had a baby? Ji Huan’s brow furrowed.

’A divorce while she’s still nursing? Are they complete animals?’

"But there has to be a reason for the repudiation, right?"

"Her mother-in-law and husband brought her back yesterday. They declared that the Sun family no longer wanted her as a daughter-in-law before they even stepped inside. The Ji Family, afraid of becoming a laughingstock, quickly ushered them into the courtyard. Who knows what was said after the gates closed, but the argument got incredibly fierce. The mother and son left without even staying for lunch, leaving Xuelan and her baby behind at the Ji residence."

The more Widow Xie spoke, the more indignant she became. She’d never seen a family behave like the Sun family!

"Early this morning, your eldest uncle and the third son of the Ji family hitched up a cart to take her and the children back personally. I heard they groveled and apologized, saying everything they could, before the Sun family finally agreed to let her stay. But they had barely gotten home when the Sun family went back on their word and hauled her back here on an oxcart. I mean, what is that all about!"

"The newborn—is it a boy or a girl?"

Ji Huan remembered that Ji Xuelan’s first two children were both girls. If this third child was also a girl, then the Sun family’s behavior was easy to explain.

Sure enough, Widow Xie said the third was another girl.

’Favoring sons over daughters was still common in rural areas in later eras, let alone in a time like this.’

’When a woman married into her husband’s family, being dutiful and capable was secondary. To prove her worth, she had to bear many children—and they had to be sons. Bearing daughters didn’t count.’

’You could have any number of daughters, and they still wouldn’t count as people. If you didn’t produce a son, you were just a useless hen that couldn’t lay eggs.’

Mrs. Wei only gave birth to a son five years after Ji Huan was born. During those five years, Aunt Kang had made her life miserable over it.

Every time Ji Huan thought about it, she couldn’t help but mentally give them the middle finger.

’Do these people have an imperial throne to pass down or something?’

’They toil in the fields from dawn till dusk, barely knowing where their next meal is coming from, yet all they care about is continuing the family line for their ancestors. Do their ancestors even know who they are?’

’Even if their ancestors’ spirits were really watching from heaven, seeing their descendants starve and suffer, what family line is even worth continuing? It would be better if it just died out. The sooner it ends, the cleaner the break.’

"Sigh... That poor girl, Xuelan, she’s just so ill-fated. Why couldn’t she manage to have a boy..."

Widow Xie had probably guessed the reason too.

But her view was the same as most people’s here: if a woman couldn’t produce a son, it was her own bad luck. Even if she was beaten, cursed, and repudiated by her in-laws, there was nothing to be done.

Ji Huan didn’t know what to say. Such a deeply ingrained way of thinking couldn’t be changed with just a few words.

"They’re making a scene at the Ji Family’s gate right now. A lot of people from our village have gone to watch the spectacle. Are you going?" Widow Xie asked Ji Huan.

Ji Huan thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I think I’ll pass."

It was true she owed the first branch a favor, but a favor could be repaid in other ways. She really didn’t want to get involved in the Ji Family’s business.

If she showed up at the Ji Family’s gate now, Aunt Kang and the others would assume she was there to gloat. The trouble might even find a way to land on her doorstep.

’How would I explain myself then? Say I wasn’t there to gloat? Should I stand up for Ji Xuelan instead?’

’In what capacity? And how would I even help?’

Ji Huan’s curiosity didn’t extend to looking for trouble.

’Besides, in her heart of hearts, she felt it was a good thing for Ji Xuelan to be free of the Sun family.’

’Going back would just mean continuing to slave away for them like an animal, being nothing more than a baby-making machine.’

’If a person is hardworking and willing to endure hardship, they can always find a way to feed themselves. Why throw yourself into a bottomless pit?’

’Of course, she also knew that this kind of thinking was just her modern self judging the affairs of ancient people.’

’If Ji Xuelan were truly cast out, the hardships she would face would be unimaginable.’

’Leaving aside how she’d ever overcome the gossip and slander, the biggest hurdle would be whether her own family would even take her in.’

But that wasn’t something outsiders could interfere in.

If they wouldn’t stand up for themselves, no one could help them.

"CRASH!"

Ever since the difficult members of the Sun family had been sent away, the sound of pots being thrown and bowls being smashed had not ceased in the Ji family courtyard.

In the east wing, even with the door closed, Yang was so frightened she hardly dared to breathe.

Ji Liansong and Ji Mingfang sat in silence, their faces grim.

On the edge of the kang sat a young woman in her twenties. Lying next to her were two little girls, three and five years old. Both had tear-streaked faces and twitched fitfully in their sleep.

One of Ji Xuelan’s hands soothed her frightened eldest and second daughters while the other held her swaddled newborn. She lowered her head, weeping silently.

"Nothing like this has happened in the Ji Family for generations! How dare you show your face here again, huh? You’ve brought shame to our ancestors! If I were you, I would’ve killed myself by now!"

When Aunt Kang got tired of smashing things, she stood in the courtyard with her hands on her hips and started cursing again.

"And you call yourself a woman! Can’t even hold on to your man’s heart, and your womb is a disappointment! Married for years and you can’t even produce a proper heir, just popping out one money-draining girl after another!"

"Wife..." It was Ji Qingshan’s voice, trying to stop Aunt Kang.

But Aunt Kang was so furious she was about to burst; no one’s words could get through to her.

"Let me tell you, a married daughter is like spilled water! You get yourself back to the Sun family, and do it now! The Ji family doesn’t raise outsiders. Take those money-draining girls with you, too! We’ll just pretend we never had such a worthless, shameful, disgraceful granddaughter!"

Aunt Kang’s voice grew louder and louder, as if she was about to break down the door in the next second.

Yang quickly walked over to her daughter and pleaded, "Xuelan, why don’t you listen to your grandma? Go back to the Sun family and beg them again..."

Ji Xuelan turned her head and stared blankly at her own mother.