The Evil Man’s Lazy Lady Chapter 34 (Part 1)
Chapter 34: Secret Meeting by the River (1) Original translation is from tenderflower's blog.
When Zhang-shi returned home, she saw Cuihe walking out of the western room. She was wearing a 70% new embroidered green skirt with the peach wooden hairpin she bought from the roadside stall for three wens on her head. In the dark night, she actually showed a three-pointed beauty, especially her bumpy figure which was plumper than when she was young.
“Where are you going dressed like this?”
Cuihe was bringing the door when she heard Zhang-shi’s sharp voice she was shocked at first, but she quickly calmed down and said sullenly: “It’s hot, I want to go for a walk by the river. Mother, you’re back, is it agreed over there?” She changed the subject spontaneously.
Zhang-shi didn’t really think about it and replied casually: “Of course, he is an orphan with no father and no mother. Our family is willing to take him in. He’s eager to move here. By the way, you should tidy up the eastern room first, don’t just stay there all day with no work in sight!”
The hesitation in Cuihe’s eyes flashed for a moment. She did not dare to refuse for fear Zhang-shi would become suspicious. Anyway, there was still some work to do before the time she and Zhao Dalang agreed to, and she could still catch up with a little bit of quickness.
“Mother, if Ah Lang stays in the eastern room, where do the piles of things go?” Cuihe went back and changed into old clothes. When she opened the eastern room door, she found a row of sacks containing grain placed on the heated-brick bed, and the empty space beside it was full of old clothes. The ground was a mess. There were broken shoes that haven’t been worn for a long time, old pickaxes that couldn’t be used, and even a moldy rice bowl left in the corner. She couldn’t help frowning and asked. It was so messy. She didn’t know how long it would take to clean it.
Zhang-shi moved a wooden stool and put it in the yard, nibbling on melon seeds with Lianhua while enjoying the cool air. She wanted Cuihe to clean up casually, but she thought of the wolf that Xiao Lang had brought back and said: “Take care of it properly, useless thing, throw it in the east field, be sure to clean them neatly and wipe the heated-brick bed mat with clean water a few times. I will check it later.”
If she wanted Xiao Lang to be obedient, she had to make some sacrifices first. He was a child without parents. If she cared a little, he would be grateful. Thinking there would be more capable workers at home, that Xiao Lang could fight back the wolf every three or five times, and then thinking of the wolf skins that could sell for a lot of money, Zhang-shi felt like her good day was coming soon!
Cuihe looked at her younger sister who was sitting over there eating melon seeds in dissatisfaction. She couldn’t help but say: “Mother, it’s very messy here. You let Lianhua help me or it won’t be cleaned before dark!”
“I won’t do it! You lazy b*stard, that’s what my mother asked you to do!” Lianhua glared at Cuihe with a domineering attitude as if Cuihe was her maid.
Zhang-shi frowned, took the plate containing the melon seeds into her arms, glared at Lianhua, and said: “Go help your sister work. You only know how to eat it all day. Today, I lost face in front of that vixen because of you. What are you still doing, go!”
Zhang-shi and Qin-shi married in Qingshan Village in the same year. The villagers were idle and had nothing to do, so they liked to judge their wives the most. Zhang-shi prided herself on her beauty, but she didn’t expect others to praise Qin-shi as beautiful. Even if she would say a few words when they mentioned her, she always added something like “It’s not as good as Shu Maoting’s wife who looks generous and has a white face”, even Xiao Shouyun secretly glanced at Qin-shi several times, but Zhang-shi was still angry and kept calling Qin-shi a vixen in secret.
Seeing that her mother who had always been partial to her asked her to do that kind of dirty work, Lianhua was so angry and burst into tears, but she didn’t dare to talk back to Zhang-shi, so she kept cursing Cuihe in a low voice that she was dark and ugly, no one wanted her. For a moment, she said she would marry an old and poor man as his wife. She would be ashamed when she returned to her parent’s house in the future, and so on. In short, every sentence was vicious.
Cuihe had been numb for a long time. She was born to be a servant girl. Xiao Shouyun thought she was a loser, and Zhang-shi thought she was ugly and could not get much dowry in the future. She was like a dog tail grass growing in the dark corner of the wall. No one would take a look. The birth of her younger sister Lianhua further accentuated her misery. Just because Lianhua was white and beautiful, Zhang-shi spoiled her. All the heavy work was done by her older sister, but all the delicious and beautiful clothes were made for Lianhua. Cuihe used to expect Lianhua to help her speak well in front of her parents for the sake of coaxing her to grow up. How could she have thought that the person in this family who didn’t treat her as a human being was the younger sister who was accustomed to being lazy and stupid? She also compared her with Shu Lan all day long. She didn’t even think about her own family’s conditions!
She didn’t seem to have heard Lianhua’s verbal abuse. Just wait, after she married Zhao Dalang, see if she dared to talk about her!
After half an hour, the eastern room was barely tidied up enough to stay in. Cuihe used the excuse of going to the river to wash clothes and went out the door in the dark.
The people in the village were simple, and sometimes they didn’t need to lock the door when they went out for a walk. Zhang-shi was not worried about any danger to her daughter. Besides, now was a good time to enjoy the coolness before going to bed. There must be a bunch of wives and daughters-in-law sitting under the big locust tree by the river. She subconsciously thought that Cuihe went there to do laundry.
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