Chapter 303: The Day when Everyone Sought me out
Zhu Pozi, standing outside the courtyard gate, spat harshly at Bai Ruozhu. If Bai Ruozhu hadn’t dodged quickly, she would have been hit by Zhu Pozi’s disgusting thick spit.
"Talking about the Memorandum, your uncle is not a good person, your second brother can’t escape either. I was wondering how you could top the exam at such a young age, but I see it turns out to be cheating! Your Bai family scholars are competent enough to do such decent things!" Zhu Pozi stood with her hands on her hips, shouting out her words like she wanted her neighbors to hear every word.
Clearly, she was holding her breath. In the morning, she had barely spoken two sentences before almost being cut down by Lin Ping’er. Now, with knife-wielding Lin Ping’er gone, she had no fear and started to curse at Bai Ruozhu.
"Aunt Zhu, we should have a conscience when we do things. Do you have any evidence that my brother Erlang cheated? If everyone were like you, returning kindness with hatred, then no one would dare to save anyone." Bai Yihong was beside himself with anger, Zhu Pozi’s words were simply too unpleasant to the ears.
Someone rushed out from within the courtyard, grabbing Zhu Pozi as she was urging, "Mother, the Bai family has helped us. You should let the matter go."
The woman speaking was Xi Dandan’s mother, Bai Ruozhu hadn’t seen her in a long time. She only felt that the woman was thinner, hunched over, and seeming to be very afraid of Zhu Pozi.
Zhu Pozi turned around and slapped Xi Dandan’s mother hard, causing her to stumble backwards and fall to the ground. She cried out while clutching her face, tears streaming down.
Bai Ruozhu saw blood coming from her mouth and thought to herself, ’What a heavy hand Zhu Pozi has.’
"What are you crying about, you home-wrecker? Can’t help but seduce some men. Or are you suggesting you have something going on? You always make it sound like it’s my fault," as she spoke, Zhu Pozi cast her eyes suggestively onto Bai Yihong, a provocative look in her eyes.
Bai Yihong was a straightforward and virtuous man, who was never spoken to like this before. He was so furious that he pointed at Zhu Pozi, unable to speak.
"Shut up, you old hag," Bai Ruozhu retorted, "you’re so high and mighty, so make sure you pray that you never need my help in your life!" Bai Ruozhu sneered sardonically, giving Zhu Pozi an inexplicable shiver of fear.
She had already noticed Zhu Pozi had an eye condition, which in modern times would be called glaucoma. In this time it’s called blindness. Of course, Zhu Pozi’s symptoms weren’t severe at the moment, so she probably thought it was just normal age-related vision loss. But if left untreated, she will not only experience decreased vision, but would suffer from headaches and vomiting, and even could become blind in both eyes.
If Zhu Pozi hadn’t made trouble, even though Bai Ruozhu didn’t like her, she wouldn’t treat Zhu Pozi herself, but would give her a reminder to take a look at the Fushou Hall in town. But Zhu Pozi’s words were too disturbing, it would be unacceptable for Bai Ruozhu to help her again.
"Father, elder brother, it seems that Uncle Zhu is not at home, let’s go. Every household has the head of the house sign this, Zhu Pozi does not have this authority," Bai Ruozhu said lightly, and after saying that, she led her father and older brother to leave.
Zhu Pozi’s face turned red from Bai Ruozhu’s words of "not having this authority", she pointed at Bai Ruozhu and cursed, "You little |s|l|u|t|, no wonder your husband doesn’t want you. You’re always out there seducing other men, serves you right to be abandoned by a man after you have a child!"
At this point, both Bai Yihong and Bai Zehao couldn’t bear it any longer. The two of them turned around to confront Zhu Pozi, but Bai Ruozhu stopped them. At this critical juncture, they couldn’t afford to fight, once they hit Zhu Pozi, regardless who was in the wrong, the villagers would sympathize with Zhu Pozi, and their pursuit of signatures would be affected.
Basically, the Bai family’s reputation in Back Mountain Village had deteriorated. Even though the villagers knew the second family had separated and was not the same as the old mansion of Bai family, in ancient times, there was a perception that blood was thicker than water, regardless of disagreement, they were still one family. Naturally, they would also look down upon Bai Yihong’s family a few points.
"You old hag, be careful or you’ll die without anyone burying you," Bai Zehao waved his fist at Zhu Pozi. Still, Bai Zehao listened to Bai Ruozhu’s plea and did not impulsively take action.
"Ruozhu, don’t take to heart the words of such a person, she will get her Karma sooner or later." After walking a distance away, Bai Yihong finally suppressing his anger, urgently starting to comfort his daughter.
Bai Ruozhu smiled, "I’m not angry, she’ll be kneeling and begging me sooner or later."
Neither Bai Yihong nor Bai Zehao understood, they took it as Bai Ruozhu remembering a grudge and planning to retaliate against Zhu Pozi in the future.
Bai Ruozhu didn’t want to explain more. She pulled on the two men’s sleeves and said, "Let’s go to the Zhu family’s field. If Uncle Zhu isn’t home, he must be in the fields. We can just go directly to him there and get his signature, that’ll really annoy that old hag."
When Bai Yihong heard this, he was not angry anymore. He laughed and said, "Yes, by the time she realizes her son has signed, it’ll be too late and she can only be angry."
The three of them quickly found the Zhu family’s fields. As expected, Zhu Shu Chai was working in the field. When Bai Yihong called out to him, Zhu Shu Chai immediately ran to the edge of the field and greeted them enthusiastically.
Bai Ruozhu explained their purpose to Zhu Shu Chai. Of course, she also mentioned the incident of them being chased away by Zhu Pozi. Zhu Shu Chai’s face turned red from the embarrassment as he listened, he kept apologizing, "I’m sorry for my mother’s behavior, she’s old and her temper is worse. Please don’t take her seriously. I am fine with signing this. Don’t worry about her opinion."
Zhu Shu Chai didn’t go to school, but he can write his own name, although it is crooked and ugly. He then put his fingerprint below it.
The three of them thanked Zhu Shu Chai and went to the other houses in the village. Luckily with Bai Yihong present, everyone agreed readily. However, they couldn’t let people sign without understanding the content of the Memorandum, Bai Ruozhu had to show them and even read it out loud to them who couldn’t read. By the end of the afternoon, her voice was hoarse.
Seeing that it was getting late, her mind turned to Dengdeng back home. So, she proposed going home first and continuing with the other houses the next day. Looking at it this way, they had already gotten almost half of the village to sign, and they should be done if they tried for another day.
The three of them arrived back in the West Courtyard, Bai Ruozhu eagerly went to Yu Hongxiu to fetch Dengdeng. Poor Dengdeng had red nose from crying. Yu Hongxiu replied apologetically, "Dengdeng must be hungry. I’ve had some rice soup prepared for him, but he kept crying after a few sips. He didn’t seem to like the taste."
Bai Ruozhu kissed Dengdeng and whispered, "Tomorrow I’ll take him with me when I go out again, so he doesn’t starve."
Yu Hongxiu nodded, "You should feed him here, I don’t think he can wait."
Bai Ruozhu nodded. Without standing on ceremony, she held Dengdeng as she breastfed him on the side. Dengdeng latched onto the familiar breast milk with fervor. After he had his fill, he fell asleep.
"He must be tired from crying," Bai Ruozhu expressed remorse. From now on, as long as it was safe, she would not leave Dengdeng alone for so long.
Bai Ruozhu said goodbye to Yu Hongxiu and went back to the West Courtyard. None of the family had any appetite for dinner. They rushed through their meal and went back to their rooms to rest.
Bai Ruozhu sitting on the bedside and looking at the window, wondering in her heart if Jiang Yichun would appear tonight.