lcionline Chapter 400 The Hunter's Little Darling 61
Chapter 400 The Hunter's Little Darling 61
Old Mrs. Xie was surrounded by people. From what the people around her were saying, she had gone to Mr. Zhang's house to demand an explanation and insisted that Miss Zhang marry Fu Bao.
The result can be imagined.
Xie Qingyu only glanced at her; there were many onlookers, and Xie's mother was wailing and crying, completely unaware of Xie Qingyu.
The donkey cart passed by, leaving Granny Xie far behind.
At this point, only Granny Xie was left here, while Fu Bao was the bloodsucking leech standing behind her, draining her of her life force.
However, this has nothing to do with Xie Qingyu.
Having not spent much time with Granny Xie, Xie Qingyu didn't harbor any deep hatred towards her. However, seeing her in this state was somewhat expected.
They arrived at Sister Qiu's place in the village.
Sister Qiu must have been prepared in advance, having already prepared the meal.
"I thought you'd be back last night, but after waiting for ages and not seeing you, she assumed you'd gone back up the mountain without a word and was feeling down at home for a while," the peddler said.
He was also very pleasant to talk to as he walked through the streets and alleys, and he never let the conversation get dull after Tu Shen and Xie Qingyu came over.
"Something came up in the city and I was delayed overnight," Tu Shen explained.
Qiu Jie originally wanted to ask what was going on, but the peddler pulled her back, so she didn't ask and just urged them to eat.
Xie Qingyu observed their actions but remained silent.
He's perceptive and easy to read, which suits Sister Qiu well, proving that Sister Qiu made the right choice in the first place.
"I ran into Grandma in town today," Xie Qingyu told Sister Qiu during dinner.
Sister Qiu and the Xie family are only two villages apart, so she is quite well-informed.
Especially the peddlers.
Sure enough, when Xie Qingyu brought up the matter, Sister Qiu became excited.
"I know part of it," Sister Qiu said, getting so excited that she stopped eating.
"Didn't Fu Bao say when he came back that he wanted to marry the young lady from Master Zhang's family and wanted fifteen taels of silver?" Sister Qiu asked back.
Xie Qingyu nodded; of course she remembered this.
"Our grandmother tried to scrape together the money for a long time, but she still couldn't get enough. She only had about ten taels of silver. Then Fu Bao came home and said she wanted money to pay the betrothal gifts."
When Qiu Jie got to this point, she left Xie Qingyu in suspense, asking her to guess what happened next.
"Could it be that he didn't use the money to make the betrothal gifts?"
"How could you even guess that?" Sister Qiu said, somewhat dissatisfied.
A normal person would guess that he went to propose marriage but the other party disagreed.
Xie Qingyu smiled but didn't say anything, gesturing for her to continue.
Xie Qingyu clearly didn't know what happened next, so Qiu Jie guessed and continued.
“Fu Bao took the money and went on a lavish lifestyle with a group of rich young men in town. He spent half of it in no time, and then he took the remaining half to Master Zhang’s house to ask for his hand in marriage.”
Sister Qiu laughed heartily, "Miss Zhang had no impression of him at all, and she had already arranged her fiancé long ago, but she didn't say it out loud. So she was unwilling to marry him. She insisted that Miss Zhang was interested in him but wouldn't admit it. In the end, she was beaten by Teacher Zhang and was not allowed to study there anymore."
Sister Qiu spoke of this with great enthusiasm, "After he was kicked out, he didn't even think about going home. Instead, he took the remaining money and rented a room in town, wondering how he could explain things when he got home, since he had less money. Then, I don't know who he went to the casino with..."
"And then?" Xie Qingyu asked subconsciously when she saw Sister Qiu stop.
Sister Qiu seemed to be waiting for her to ask, "Then he met my father at the casino."
Uncle Xie was a gambler, and he dabbled in all sorts of things, including gambling, but he didn't gamble too much, mainly because he didn't have any money and was timid.
But Fu Bao was different. He was spoiled rotten by Granny Xie and had a lot of audacity.
Such people are bound to be targeted, not only losing money but also almost falling victim to a scam that leaves them with exorbitant interest debts.
Fortunately, Uncle Xie found them and took them home.
However, the ten taels of silver that Granny Xie had worked hard all her life to raise by selling her granddaughter were all spent by him.
Grandma Xie was naturally upset with Fu Bao, but he was her only grandson, so even if she was upset, she wasn't serious.
"I thought she would give Fu Bao a good talking-to, but instead she blamed Miss Zhang for not marrying Fu Bao, which is why Fu Bao gambled away all his money. She insisted that Miss Zhang either marry Fu Bao or pay back the money." Sister Qiu was still somewhat concerned about what was going on there and knew everything clearly.
"What about Fu Bao?" Xie Qingyu hadn't seen him in town today.
"Ever since he came back, he's been drinking all the time, living a life of debauchery, spouting nonsense about how he's not successful... It's all meaningless." Sister Qiu's last sentence was laced with disdain.
She did feel affection for her younger brother when she was little, but that affection disappeared after that.
Hearing this news from him now, I'm actually quite happy.
"Then they deserve it." Xie Qingyu's words were merciless, but Sister Qiu nodded fiercely.
Tu Shen and the peddler, who were eating at the same time, didn't dare to raise their heads when they heard this.
If it weren't for Granny Xie's inhuman behavior, neither of them would have been able to marry such a good wife.
So now no one dares to interrupt, for fear that the two of them might think of this.
After finishing their meal, Xie Qingyu gave Qiu Jie some of the things they had bought in the city.
Sister Qiu refused to accept it no matter what. She had already left them some game the day they came down, which was really precious, and now she wanted to give it to them again.
"This isn't for you, it's for the baby in your belly. I definitely won't be able to be there when you give birth, so this is something I'm giving to my nephew and niece in advance." Xie Qingyu took out some fabric.
The fabric is precious, especially one as soft as this.
Qiu Jie was deeply moved and that evening instructed the peddler to stuff extra things into Tu Shen's basket.
Peddlers travel from street to street, and what they have in abundance are small daily necessities that are not available in the mountains.
Tu Shen and his group only discovered this after they returned to the mountain.
However, they did not expect that their trip down the mountain and back would lead to trouble for no reason.
That night, everything was peaceful when they got home. It was already late at night when they arrived, and the two of them washed up and went to bed.
The next day, even Tu Shen woke up a little late and then went to start a fire to cook.
Once the smoke from the kitchen started to rise, people came running after hearing the sound.
The door was being pounded on loudly. Afraid of disturbing Xie Qingyu's sleep, Tu Shen went over and opened the door.
I thought it was my cousin coming over, but I didn't expect it to be Ma Erya standing outside.
When Ma Erya saw that it was Tu Shen who opened the door, a hint of grievance flashed in her eyes. "Why are you only coming back now?"