Chapter 9 TGBW

FlamingoBees

Translating Chinese Historical Dramas for your enjoyment... and mine! :)

The General's Buddhist Wife

Chapter 9:

Maternal Home ・A Troublesome Return

Lou Jian Jia arrived at her natal home after about a two-hour walk.

Along the way, many people greeted her or pointed fingers at her. She knew they were talking about her husband, implying that he was dead and she was now a widow.

Ignoring the gossip, Lou Jian Jia continued toward her childhood home, which looked much better than Chu's family home from the outside. It was said that Luo's ancestors were well-known in the surrounding villages, with one even becoming a scholar. However, subsequent generations failed to carry on the legacy. By the time of Lou Jian Jia's father, no one in the family pursued education anymore.

Entering the courtyard of her natal home, Lou Jian Jia was greeted by a familiar atmosphere. Each brick and tree seemed to hold memories of her childhood. She spotted her mother working in the vegetable garden and approached her.

"Mother, I'm back," she said.

Her mother looked up, her face lighting up with surprise and joy. Dropping her tools, she rushed to embrace Lou Jian Jia. "My child, you're back! Are you okay?"

Lou Jian Jia nodded, smiling. "I'm fine, Mother. I just wanted to come back and see you."

Her mother held her hand and led her into the house. Inside, the atmosphere was simple yet warm and welcoming. As her mother busied herself preparing lunch with homegrown vegetables, Lou Jian Jia sat quietly, feeling grateful and content in her mother's presence.

© translations belonging to flamingobeestranslations.blogspot.com. If you read this somewhere else instead of flamingobeestranslations.blogspot.com then the translations has been posted WITHOUT permission of translator.

Master Lou went to the town to do business. At first, he made some silver, but gradually, he began to lose money. Therefore, Lou Jian Jia also experienced a period of prosperity in her childhood, but later on, the family's financial situation began to deteriorate.

Seeing his daughter grow more beautiful as she matured, Lou's father started to entertain thoughts of marrying her off to a wealthy family. He spent a long time considering various options but couldn't make a decision. Initially, he was dissatisfied when his daughter chose Chu Wei Leng as her husband.

However, after learning more about Chu Wei Leng and finding out that he was the guardian of the royal palace and quite capable, with a decent monthly income, Lou's father began to have other thoughts. He hoped that by marrying his daughter to Chu Wei Leng, they could establish connections with the royal family.

Unfortunately, he never anticipated that on the night of their wedding, Chu Wei Leng would accompany the prince to the border and never return.

During these three years, Master Lou also attempted to use Chu Wei Leng's name to establish connections with the royal palace. However, his efforts were in vain as the palace officials completely ignored him, leaving him feeling regretful and disappointed.

When he received news a few months ago from the palace that his son-in-law might have died, his frustration grew even more. After discussing with his mother and wife at home, they decided to remarry their daughter. They had already discussed this with her, and she agreed.

Today, they asked their daughter to come back, but not for the purpose of remarrying her, as that matter hadn't been finalized yet.

As Lou Jian Jia entered the house, a broom came flying towards her.

Luckily, she was agile enough to dodge it in time, narrowly avoiding being hit on the head.

Seeing the broom on the ground, Lou Jian Jia furrowed her brows.

"You worthless thing, you dare to come back?" A slightly elderly voice sounded out.

Lou Jian Jia followed the direction of the voice and looked over.

It was an elderly woman in her sixties, with a face full of wrinkles, dressed in a dark blue coarse cotton garment, and wearing an old silver hairpin on her head.

She was Lou Jian Jia's grandmother, Old Madam Guo.

In this family, no one genuinely cared for Lou Jian Jia. Among them, the one who detested her the most was Old Madam Guo.

As the eldest and a girl, Lou Jian Jia was the only child in the family for a long time. Old Madam Guo wanted a grandson, so she treated Lou Jian Jia poorly since childhood.

As Lou Jian Jia grew older and with the birth of two grandsons, Old Madam Guo's attitude towards her improved significantly, with hardly any harsh words spoken.

After the substantial dowry from the Chu family and the subsequent events with Chu Wei Leng, Old Madam Guo's attitude towards Lou Jian Jia became even better.

However, after Chu Wei Leng left on his wedding night and news of his possible death emerged months later, Old Madam Guo's attitude towards Lou Jian Jia changed, becoming somewhat indifferent.

But today, it was the first time Lou Jian Jia had faced such treatment since she grew up.

Lou Jian Jia remained silent, showing no emotion. But for those familiar with her, they could detect a hint of coldness in her eyes.

Old Madam Guo was always the one who had the final say at home, and no younger generation dared to defy her. Seeing her granddaughter looking at her like this, she became furious.

Here's the passage with "Old Madam Guo" instead of "Mrs. Guo":

"What's this behavior?!" Old Madam Guo angrily exclaimed. Then, she attempted to grab a nearby stool and hurl it at Lou Jian Jia.

However, before she could strike, someone intervened and stopped her.

"Mother..." Lou Fu Sheng glanced disapprovingly at Old Madam Guo.

Although Old Madam Guo remained angry, her rage subsided a bit, but her gaze remained fixed on Lou Jian Jia.

"Jian Jia, why haven't you apologized to your grandmother yet?" Lou Fu Sheng turned to Lou Jian Jia.

Apologize?

Lou Jian Jia seemed to find the idea amusing and turned to Lou Fu Sheng, asking calmly, "What have I done wrong?"

"Can't you hear? She's getting too bold, daring to defy me," Old Madam Guo said angrily, as she made another attempt to charge at Lou Jian Jia.

At this moment, Lou Jian Jia's mother, Madam Zhang, hurried over and gently tapped Lou Jian Jia's arm. She then said to her daughter, "What's gotten into you? If you've done something wrong, why haven't you apologized to your grandmother? Do you want to get punished?"

Lou Jian Jia glanced at her mother, who seemed somewhat tense, and pursed her lips. Perhaps Madam Zhang was the only one in the family who still held some affection for the previous owner. However, this affection was negligible in the presence of Lou Jian Jia's two younger brothers.

In the end, Madam Zhang, like the others, eventually married off her daughter to a wealthy merchant for the sake of money.

Despite all this, they were still Lou Jian Jia's family, no matter how you looked at it.

Lou Jian Jia also had no intention of getting involved with these people any more than necessary. It was best for them to mind their own business and not bother each other.

"I wonder what my father wants with me today?"

Old Madam Guo was already angry, and hearing this made her even more furious. She immediately said, "You still have the nerve to ask? I heard you went with the people from the Chu family to do business? That Chu boy died a long time ago, they were just trying to deceive you with this marriage. How could you be so foolish as to go and make money for their family? Our Lou family are all shrewd people, how did we end up with such a fool like you!"

Hearing these words, Lou Jian Jia finally understood why things had turned out this way today.

Deceived by the Chu family?

Lou Jian Jia inwardly sneered.

Did this old lady forget how this marriage came about in the first place? After all, all of this was her idea from the beginning. Wasn't it because Chu Wei Leng could establish connections with the Prince's family that she wanted her to marry him, to pave the way for her precious grandson?

Lou Fu Sheng whispered a few words in Old Madam Guo's ear about the intention of bringing her daughter here today.

After hearing this, Old Madam Guo's complexion improved slightly, and she closed her mouth without saying anything more malicious.

"Jian Jia, although your grandmother speaks harshly, it's all for your own good. She's just worried that you'll suffer in the Chu family."

Lou Fu Sheng's words were not believed by Lou Jian Jia, but she didn't say much, just quietly hung her head, waiting for Lou Fu Sheng's further explanation.

Sure enough, seeing Lou Jian Jia remain silent all this time, Lou Fu Sheng began to speak after a moment.

"Do you know how much money your in-laws earn every day?"

In this era, the in-laws were the ones controlling the money, especially in cases where the family wasn't divided. So naturally, Lou Fu Sheng assumed that the money went straight into Old Master Chu's pocket without passing through Lou Jian Jia's hands.

Upon hearing this question, Lou Jian Jia looked up at Lou Fu Sheng. In his narrow eyes, there was a glimmer of cunning, indicating that there wasn't much sincerity in his inquiry.

If Old Madam Guo's lifelong obsession was to have her grandson study and become a successful scholar, then Lou Fu Sheng's was money.

On the way here, Lou Jian Jia had thought that the Lou family would discuss the issue of the wealthy merchant with her, as described in the book. However, after being here for so long without them bringing it up and with Old Madam Guo throwing such a tantrum, Lou Jian Jia was somewhat surprised. Now, upon hearing Lou Fu Sheng's question, everything became clear to her.

So it turns out, it was Master Lou who came up with this idea.

~ Part 2 ~

Indeed, money seemed to be the most important thing for him.

There weren't many people doing business at the dock, and many were in a wait-and-see state. From today's conversation, it could be inferred that Old Master Lou was also observing.

After sorting out these thoughts, Lou Jian Jia lowered her gaze slightly and said, "I don't know."

Upon hearing this, Master Lou was very disappointed, and his tone became somewhat heavier than before.

"How could you not know? The Chu family's estate is just a small place, and your in-laws are straightforward folks. Just casually chat with them, and you'll find out. If needed, you could even sneak into their room when they're not around."

Lou Jian Jia furrowed her brows slightly.

"Still asking what she's up to? I've said she's gone stupid. Used to think she was clever, but ended up picking that short-lived ghost from the Chu family. Shows she's just plain dumb. Can't even handle such trivial matters properly," Old Madam Guo's words were even more venomous.

Old Master Lou glanced at Old Madam Guo, then turned to look at his daughter standing in front of him.

However, his own mother wasn't entirely wrong. His daughter had indeed disappointed him greatly.

Especially when she insisted on marrying Chu Wei Leng. That son-in-law was a terrible choice.

If she hadn't chosen Chu Wei Leng in the first place, his daughter might have married into a wealthy family in the county town, and his business would have flourished by now.

But now, not only had his son-in-law died, but his daughter had also been married once before. It was nowhere near as good as before. Finding a wealthy husband again would be difficult.

It was only a few days ago that he encountered a merchant from out of town who was unfamiliar with local affairs and had been deceived by him.

Whether it was his imagination or not, he looked at his daughter in front of him, expressionless, and felt that she was different from before. Nowadays, she seemed excessively calm, and there was even a faint hostility towards the family.

Thinking of the incident with the wealthy merchant, Old Master Lou temporarily suppressed his anger and said, "Aren't you blaming me for not bringing you back? Don't worry, in a while, I'll bring you back. Just go back and find out how much money your in-laws make every day. Don't act like a fool, just working all the time."

Lou Jian Jia replied indifferently, "No need. Perhaps Chu Wei Leng isn't dead yet. There's no need for your daughter to come back."

Although she desperately wanted to leave the Chu family, to separate from Chu Wei Leng, and to sever ties with him, it didn't mean she wanted to return to the Lou family. Compared to the Lou family, she would still prefer the former. At least, Chu Wei Leng was the male lead in the book, thoroughly familiar.

"This information came from the Wang residence, there's no mistake, Chu Wei Leng is indeed dead," Master Lou said firmly.

Since Master Lou believed that Chu Wei Leng was dead, Lou Jian Jia didn't want to argue with him. She simply said, "Father, if there's nothing else, I'll go back now."

"Alright, you can go back now. Don't forget what I just said," Old Master Lou instructed.

Hearing this, Lou Jian Jia put down the basket and prepared to leave.

Old Madam Guo glanced at the contents of the basket and sneered, "The Chu family is making money again, and they're giving you just these few eggs? Are they giving alms?"

Lou Jian Jia's hand was about to retract, but upon hearing this remark, she placed her hand back on the basket and said, "Since you don't like it, then granddaughter will take it back."

With each egg valued at half a copper coin, there were twenty eggs in the basket, totaling ten copper coins. It took her several times of saving from not cooking and feeding the chickens to accumulate them.

Since the Lou family didn't appreciate it, she saw no need to leave it.

With that thought, Lou Jian Jia picked up the basket and left the Lou family behind.

The members of the Lou family in the courtyard were left speechless by Lou Jian Jia's actions.

•••

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Chapter 9 TGBW

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