Demon King's Repayment - chapter 257

“Ah Xiang, stay with me for one night. If you go back at this hour, I can’t rest assured,” Dahua said affectionately, holding Yuan Xiang’s arm all the way.

Dahua was the eldest sister in the family. Her parents were busy with business and had no time to control her. Since childhood, she took her younger siblings and Yuan Xiang to play in the mountains and rivers. She developed a sturdy body and a round face flushed with blood with a healthy glow.

She originally had a lively and straightforward temperament, but because she had just married into such a populous family as a new daughter-in-law, she had to be restrained.

“Is it convenient?” Yuan Xiang asked. 

She had planned to stay in the inn for a day or two.

“It’s very convenient. There is an empty room next door to me. My mother had just cleaned it up when she came a few days ago. Besides, my husband lives in the study room and hardly comes to me. Don’t worry.”

She soon discovered that she spoke her heart out, showing shyness in front of her friend. A little embarrassed, she shook Yuan Xiang’s arm with her hand, “Since I got married here, I really want you to stay.”

Yuan Xiang accepted her warm invitation.

Since she was staying as a guest, she had to pay a visit to the mistress of the family. Yuan Xiang followed Dahua through the front hall to the wing room where her mother-in-law lived.

That house was originally a courtyard with three entrances. The vermilion paint on the beams and eave pillars had already peeled off, but from the auspicious patterns on the cloud piers, it could still be seen that the ancestor, the owner of this house, had a period of glory and wealth.

There were too many descendants who couldn’t live in the house, and the large and small courtyards were separated by separate covers. Even the downside house that was supposed to be for the servants was full of family.

There were a lot of people living in them. They burnt fires to cook, drained water and poured dirt, causing thick mud and silt on the road stones, and the painted walls were smoked black and yellow. The shabby housewives and naked children walked in and out of the doorsteps of each house, revealing a depression of a large population unable to maintain the ancestral foundation.

The patio in the backyard was very small, and only a small piece of sky could be seen. The house in the east was divided into three rooms, which were the residences of Dahua and her sister-in-law.

In a dim corner of the house, sitting a thin and serious middle-aged woman, she looked at Yuan Xiang’s clothes, jewelry, and the pork gift she held several times with her scrutinizing eyes, before she spoke indifferently, “Since the guest is here, please treat her well. You don’t have to come and wait for dinner.”

There was no servant in the family, and all the trivial matters were handled by the daughters-in-law. But because the youngest son was admitted to be a scholar, the mother-in-law felt that she was ready to be an official rank in advance. The girl from the butcher’s family who was married because of economic constraints, looked unpleasant in every way.

After Yuan Xiang stepped out, she heard the voice of Dahua’s unmarried sister-in-law from the house, “Mother, what you said is really true. Second brother is so capable, and sooner or later he will be a scholar. Even if he gets older, it is unnecessary to marry a daughter of a butcher’s house. You see, low grade relatives coming one after another now.”

Dahua’s face flushed and she awkwardly pulled Yuan Xiang away.

“Although the mother-in-law and sister-in-law are a little serious, they are still okay with me. They never… never beat or scold me,” she added something to herself.

The house where Dahua lived was isolated from the main door. She pulled Yuan Xiang into the house and closed the door, only to breathe a sigh of relief. She invited Yuan Xiang to sit at the tea table by the window, opened the cabinet and took out all kinds of peach blossoms, almond cookies, and soaked a pot of fragrant jasmine tea.

“Quickly taste it. My mother came to see me and secretly gave it to me last time. I have been hiding it all the time, and I didn’t want to take it out.”

“Your little treasury is well hidden, and you treat guests much better than your mother-in-law.” Yuan Xiang sat face to face with her, “How is it, how is your husband treating you?”

Dahua said after a long silence, “My husband is naturally good, but now the whole family points to him to get fame, and my mother-in-law asks him to study hard every day and stay in the study overnight. She doesn’t want to let him come into my house. We can’t say a word to each other for many days.”

“What’s more, my husband is a scholar, and it’s impossible to like a lady like me.” Dahua sighed, “Ah Xiang, if I could read and learn like you, it would be nice. This way, maybe I could talk more with my husband.”

Yuan Xiang looked at her young playmate, who was as old as her, but she had already changed, faded from her innocence, and began to live in such a small world with care for her whole life. 

That was really an era that was very unfriendly to women. Yuan Xiang depressedly picked up the peach blossom cake on the table.

Suddenly, she found two little people who were not finger-height standing on the table, together they lifted a piece of peach blossom cake, and walked to the window.

Halfway through, the villain’ eyes met Yuan Xiang’s surprised eyes.

The little man hesitated for a moment, as if he didn’t expect to be seen, and hurriedly threw the piece of cake, and fluttered his sleeves and slipped out of the window sill. But soon he grabbed the edge of the window, exposing two small heads, and looked at Yuan Xiang curiously.

“Ah Xiang, what do you think?” Dahua’s voice came.

“What? What did you just say?” Yuan Xiang came back to her senses, but didn’t hear what Dahua had just said.

“I’m talking about Chen Xiong, that is, Tie Niu. Don’t you know what Tie Niu thinks about you? After so many years, you can’t tell?”

Yuan Xiang was stunned. She had been running around that year. She didn’t have the slight affection for the shy boy from her childhood, and she would probably be disappointed immediately.

“You’re not young anymore, you should consider it. Tie Niu is handsome, he is also practical, and he is still working in the yamen. There is no one more suitable than him,”

Dahua said vigorously. The little dog squatting on Yuan Xiang’s knee suddenly turned his head and barked at her. The voice was low and heavy, not like a dog barking, but a bit like a wild animal in the wilderness. 

Dahua shivered with fright.

Yuan Xiang smiled and lifted the dog back, stretched out her hand to pinch his tail.

“I don’t like Chen Xiong, I have a sweetheart,” Yuan Xiang said while touching Nan He’s hair. After that sentence, she patted Xiao Nan.

“Auntie, could I come in?” A childish voice sounded from outside the room.

Dahua opened the door and led in a five or six-year-old girl.

“This is my niece, the daughter of my brother-in-law, and her name is Dong’er.” Dahua lifted her niece on the chair and shared her food without hesitation, “Dong’er came at the right time, auntie has delicious food here.”