After dinner, Qi He secretly asked Fu Xin Ci, "Sister Fu, do you want me to come back early tomorrow and take a look at your courtyard?"
"Mmm, go take a look."
Only after Sister Fu agreed did Qi He tell her everything that had happened these past few days, without omitting any detail.
He spoke especially of the Japanese pirates, his narration full of twists and turns, each step fraught with peril.
"It's a good thing Sister Fu informed my father early. Otherwise, with the brutal and vicious methods of those pirates, if they weren't all wiped out, who knows how many people would have suffered. The consequences would have been unimaginable."
"It was just a coincidence, really. If I hadn't seen the pirates attempting to commit violence on the way to Longcheng, I wouldn't have thought of so much."
Recalling the incident, Qi He couldn't help but sigh. "It's fortunate I met Sister Fu. If it had been someone else, they would have been in grave danger."
"Perhaps this is fate, heaven's will fulfilling itself."
"Hahaha, yes, Sister Fu, you are absolutely right."
The Fang family's courtyard was also nearing completion. It was also a typical tiled house with blue bricks.
Father He and Mother He went to take a look every few days. After each visit, their hearts ached with envy.
This time, Mother He went to her daughter again, nagging.
"I just came from your courtyard. The large courtyard is built so beautifully. Three spacious rooms with tiled roofs, and the windows are even inlaid with glass. It looks bright inside and out. Everyone who sees it praises it."
He Shi understood what her mother meant, so she continued her needlework without responding.
Mother He was surprised that her daughter had been acting like a mute even after so many visits. She was getting annoyed.
But for the sake of her own intentions, she continued.
"I heard from others that each piece of glass costs ten taels of silver!"
"Ten taels of silver is the price for those in Eagle Beak Cliff. In the capital, the price would have increased many times over."
Xin Ci had overheard this when she went to Longcheng to deliver money that day, but she dared not tell her mother, fearing that her mother would set her sights on the Meng family even more.
"Oh my, the Meng family must have earned a lot of money. Otherwise, they wouldn't have built such a nice courtyard for the Fang family."
Mother He's eyes grew more intense as she spoke, her gaze fixed on her daughter's face.
Even though this was her own mother, He Shi felt a chill.
"Mother, what are you trying to do?"
"What can your mother be trying to do? Of course, your mother also wants to live in a house with blue bricks and tiled roofs."
"If Mother wants to live in one, go back and discuss it with Father and Brother. If Father agrees, then build one."
"Can a large tiled house be built just like that? We don't have the money."
"If you don't have the money, then don't build it."
"But you and your father really like that large courtyard of yours."
He Shi had initially intended to play dumb, but seeing her mother's lack of restraint and increasingly blunt remarks, she put down her needlework and looked at her mother as if she were a stranger.
"Child, what is that look?"
"Mother, don't you understand what kind of look this is? I'm married into the Fang family and haven't even given birth to a son. I have no authority to speak. Where do you get the nerve to covet the house that Xiao Tao's sister and brother-in-law built for my in-laws?"
Mother He: ...
"Given Xiao Tao's current circumstances, if he were to divorce me, it would be easy for him to find an unmarried young woman in town."
"How could Xiao Tao divorce you?"
"With your actions, it will be soon."
"Child, I was just having a casual chat with you."
"You'd better stop having casual chats. If you keep talking like this, my mother-in-law will surely send me back to my maiden home and add, 'Don't come back. The Fang family will be relieved of their burden.'"
"No, that wouldn't happen."
"Wouldn't happen? If you met in-laws who were constantly coveting your property, would you be willing?"
"I..."
"So, Mother, if you're here to visit, your daughter welcomes you. But if you want too much, your daughter doesn't have the ability."
Fearing that her parents would not give up, He Shi added, "My elder sister-in-law and brother-in-law are not to be trifled with. You and Father should not try to bash your heads against a stone."
"Child, you're being too frightening."
Seeing her mother's evasive eyes, He Shi knew that her mother had no other options for now. She didn't keep her any longer. "Mother, it's getting late. You should go back."
Mother He was displeased when her daughter asked her to leave. "Chun Xiu, it's not easy for your mother to enter the Meng family's grand courtyard."
"Then please leave me some face," He Shi said, then knelt before her mother and kowtowed several times.
The floor of the Meng family's house was paved with blue bricks. After a few days of kneeling, her forehead became red and swollen.
"Child, what are you doing kowtowing when it's not a festival?"
Mother He was startled when her daughter insisted on kowtowing. She quickly reached out to help her up.
He Shi refused to get up and intended to continue kowtowing to her mother. As mother and daughter struggled, Qing Guo, who had just woken up, was startled.
The little girl, just awake, tried to sit up and thought someone was going to hit her mother. She immediately cried and crawled towards her mother.
At this time, Fang Shi was cooking in the kitchen with Yin Shi. Suddenly hearing her niece's heart-wrenching cries, she thought the child had fallen.
Without any further thought, she threw down her cleaver and ran towards the west wing.
When she entered the room where her brother lived, she saw He Shi kneeling on the ground, coaxing her niece, her forehead red and swollen.
Mother He did not expect Fang Shi to run in. Her embarrassed face turned red.
Fang Shi didn't even look at her. Her eyes were on her niece's tear-stained face, and she felt very concerned.
However, with her brother's wife present, it was not her place to coax the child. As for her brother's wife's mother, it was also not for her to interfere.
She casually said, "I thought Chun Xiu wasn't here," then nodded at Mother He and retreated.
Through the glass window, Mother He saw Fang Shi return to the kitchen. Only then did she say to her daughter, lacking confidence, "Child, alas, I'll go back now."
He Shi did not reply or get up to see her off. Instead, she continued to comfort her little daughter in her arms.
"Qing Guo, be good, don't be afraid, don't be afraid."
In her mother's arms, Qing Guo gradually stopped crying.
When Fang Shi returned to the kitchen, her heart was still worried about the west wing.
Yin Shi, fearing she would cut her hand, took the cleaver. "Madam, I'll cut these vegetables."
"Mmm."
Fang Shi handed the cleaver to Yin Shi and picked up some scallions, standing by the door. Only when she saw Mother He leaving dejectedly did she feel at ease.
When the Fang family of three returned from the new courtyard, Fang Xiao Tao saw his wife's forehead. He felt both heartache and anger.
"Your mother troubled you again today."
"It's nothing. As long as I give her a good earful, it'll be fine."
"If you really gave her a good earful, it wouldn't have ended up like this," Fang Xiao Tao said, then went to find his sister to see if she had any ointment for his wife's wound.
Fang Shi had already prepared it for her brother. Seeing her brother rush back to the west wing, she wanted to call out to him and scold him a few words.
But thinking about it, she said nothing.