novelraw Chapter 161 It really is the Wei family.
Chapter 161 It really is the Wei family.
Chapter 161 It really is the Wei family.
Wang Er unconsciously touched the hem of his robe. His face was grim. The robe was borrowed and didn't fit properly. The long robe barely covered his trousers, but since he had raised both arms just now, his trousers were definitely exposed.
Wang Er didn't care what outsiders thought about him wearing women's trousers; what he feared was that someone would recognize the trousers, since he had essentially taken possession of their original owner.
He didn't want to risk being recognized by wearing these pants, but the three brothers only had two pairs of pants that they could wear in public.
On ordinary days, whoever is going out to meet people will wear the more presentable trousers.
Logically, he should have been able to get one for his trip to Bei'an City, but before he left, his third brother was called away to do work and took one with him. The remaining one had to be kept by the second brother, because if he wasn't home, someone had to keep an eye on the woman hiding in the house.
Finally, having no other choice, he had to lie down and put the woman's pants on.
Along the way, his pants were exposed to people more than once. Those who saw them would at most glance at them, and then leave with amusement on their faces.
Only the little girl behind him kept staring...
Wang Erxin's heart tightened, and he couldn't help but glance back. He saw that the girl had already turned her face away and was no longer looking at him, and he felt relieved.
The young girl was inexperienced and it must have been the first time she had ever seen a man wearing women's trousers. She couldn't help but be curious and took a few more glances at them, but she probably didn't recognize the trousers.
After being frightened, Wang Er lost his desire to raise the price. He stood on the street with the ox and lowered the price to thirteen taels, quickly selling the ox.
After selling the ox, Wang Er did not stay in the city to buy anything, but instead left the city with the silver and went home.
There's a small town to the north of Shanyao Village, about 20 miles away. There are quite a few shops in the town where you can buy things. It's better not to buy anything from Beian City.
His eyelids twitched several times, which was not a good sign. He should hurry home.
On Gu Tang's side, the father and daughter had already bought the cow and found a new cart at a nearby cart-selling place. They then harnessed the cow to it and had it pull the cart.
Given the cow's extremely docile nature, Gu Tang waved the whip and tried to drive the cart.
Gu Lianshan watched with bated breath, fearing that the ox would become restless and disobedient to outsiders.
Fortunately, the cow was very obedient, following Gu Tang's instructions to go when she wanted to go and stop when she wanted to stop, much more so than the cows of Gu Liu's family.
"These twelve taels of silver are really well spent!" Gu Tang said happily to her father, feeling that she had gotten a bargain.
"It's definitely worth the price." Gu Lianshan nodded; this cow was truly unexpectedly good.
Driving the newly bought oxcart, Gu Tang walked in front, while Gu Lianshan drove Gu Liu's oxcart behind. The father and daughter first went to buy some things, and then went to the yard to catch chickens and ducks.
There weren't many people in the city at the moment, so the father and daughter drove their cart leisurely, strolling through two streets and buying rice, flour, charcoal, several bolts of cloth, a fur coat, a pair of cotton trousers, and a pair of winter shoes for their third uncle.
The fur coat was made of sheepskin and was very thick. The cotton-padded trousers were filled with kapok, which was also in high demand. As for winter shoes, Gu Tang chose rabbit skin ones, which were warm and kept her feet from getting cold.
Besides buying for her third uncle, Gu Tang also bought a pair of rabbit fur winter shoes for her father, and Gu Ping'an also received a pair.
As for Gu Tang herself, she bought two pairs of shoes and two pairs of cotton pants. She also took a fancy to a light purple sheepskin coat, tried it on, and found that it fit perfectly, so she bought it as well.
Gu Lianshan watched his daughter spend the money, no longer feeling the pinch as before. He knew his daughter was skilled at making incense, so this little bit of money was nothing to her. She could earn more if she wanted to spend it, so he didn't care at all!
Everything was packed and loaded onto the truck, and more than ten taels of silver were gone.
Not hearing her father's voice expressing concern about money today, Gu Tang felt a little uneasy: "Father, why aren't you concerned about money today?"
"Father is no longer the short-sighted man he once was. A dozen taels of silver is nothing. Even if you spend more, Father won't mind." Gu Lianshan said with a smile, appearing very generous.
Gu Tang didn't know what was wrong with her father, and she didn't believe what he said.
"Is there anything you haven't bought yet? Do you want to wander around some more?" Gu Lianshan asked his daughter if she wanted to continue spending money. It was like the sun had risen in the west.
Gu Tang shuddered, sensing that something was wrong with her father. She thought he had lost his mind because of her, so she quickly shook her head and said she wouldn't buy any more: "It's getting late. Let's go back to the yard and catch the chickens and ducks to take home."
“Alright, let’s go home first. We have an oxcart now, so we can come to town anytime we want.” Gu Lianshan got into the oxcart and let Gu Tang go first.
Even if the ox is docile, it's still a newly bought one, and it's Gu Tang's first time driving the carriage. Gu Lianshan can't just let go without a care; he still needs to keep an eye on things from behind.
Before long, the father and daughter drove their car and stopped one after the other at the gate of the yard.
After unlocking the door, the father and daughter led the oxcart into the courtyard and parked it in the second courtyard.
First, I counted the number of chickens and ducks, and there were no more or fewer.
Gu Lianshan stayed in the chicken coop to collect eggs, while Gu Tang took the key and went to check each room.
While they're away, please make sure no thieves get into this yard.
They checked all three courtyards and found that nothing was missing from the houses, and the grain and other items hidden in the kitchen were all in perfect condition.
If nothing is missing, it means no one has sneaked over here.
Back in the second courtyard, Gu Tang told her father and then helped collect the eggs.
Some of these chicken and duck eggs were laid inside the nest, while others were laid outside. The ones laid inside were intact, while some of the ones laid outside had thin shells that cracked from the frost.
Gu Tang picked out the frozen and cracked chicken and duck eggs and put them in a small basket with straw inside to prevent the egg liquid from leaking out during the bumpy ride on the oxcart on the way back.
After collecting the eggs, the father and daughter turned over the chicken and duck cages they had left there, took out the chickens and ducks and put them into the cages, then loaded them onto the oxcart and tied them with hemp rope several times to prevent them from falling off on the road.
After finishing all this, it didn't take much effort, and there was still plenty of time. Gu Tang simply lit the stove in the kitchen, intending to brew a pot of hot tea and put it in a water bag to carry with him.
Taking advantage of this moment, Gu Lianshan thoroughly inspected the courtyard, humming a little tune as he did so, quite leisurely and content.
When he returned to the kitchen, Gu Tang mentioned something to him: "When we bought the cow earlier, do you remember that guy called 'Wang Er'?"
“I remember! Just by looking at him, you can tell he’s no good!” Gu Lianshan frowned, his impression of Wang Er was very bad.
And the ox: "His ox looks big, but its limbs seem a little unsteady. I don't know if it's tired or has some kind of illness."
Gu Tang hadn't noticed this yet, but that wasn't the point; after all, they hadn't bought his cow. "Father, when his cow was restless and shaking its head, did you see the trousers under his robe?"
"What the heck?" Gu Lianshan looked completely bewildered. "Wang Er's pants? Why would I want to see his pants?"
"I saw it!" Gu Tang exclaimed excitedly. "He was wearing a pair of blue women's trousers!"
Gu Lianshan didn't catch the next sentence; his mind was filled with the image of his daughter staring at a man's pants. He immediately frowned and said, "What are you doing, young lady, looking at other people's pants!"
"What are you thinking?" Gu Tang glared at him, displeased. "He's a man, yet he's wearing women's trousers. Who wouldn't take a second look?"
A beat slow on the uptake, Gu Lianshan stared in astonishment before finally realizing what was happening: "...Wang Er is wearing a woman's trousers?!"
The image automatically flashed in his mind: a burly man wearing brightly colored women's trousers... Gu Lianshan shuddered!
If I saw it myself, I'd stare at it for a few seconds!
A burly man wearing women's trousers, wow! That's quite a rare sight.
Seeing that her father understood, Gu Tang rolled her eyes at him and continued, "Originally, I was just curious, so I took a second look. But the more I looked at those pants, the more familiar they seemed. They looked exactly like my aunt's pants!"
"Huh?" Gu Lianshan was startled again, his voice slightly shrill: "Whose pants do they look like?!"
"Like my aunt's pants."
Gu Lianshan stared blankly at his daughter, then jumped up, his tone slightly strained: "Like your aunt's pants?!"
"Yes, like my aunt's pants."
These words struck Gu Lianshan like a hammer blow, leaving him stunned: "Wait a minute! Let your father sort this out!"
He paced back and forth in the kitchen like a headless fly, staring at Gu Tang with shining eyes: "You said you saw Wang Er wearing a pair of women's trousers, and then the more you looked at them, the more familiar they seemed, like your aunt's trousers?"
“That’s right! The pants Wang Er is wearing are exactly the same as my aunt’s pants!”
At this point, Gu Tang described Wei's pants, and then described the pants Wang Er was wearing. Apart from the flowers on the hem, which she couldn't confirm were the same, the fabric and style of the two pairs of pants were exactly the same.
Gu Lianshan stared in disbelief, then suddenly asked, "What kind of flower is embroidered on Wang Er's trousers? Can you tell me?"
"I'll draw it for you!" Gu Tang pulled a thin piece of firewood from the stove, blew out the fire, and used the charred end to draw on the ground.
"On the hem of the two trouser legs, one was embroidered with three flowers and the other with two flowers. The petals were embroidered in a blurry mess, and it was impossible to tell what kind of flowers they were."
Gu Tang roughly sketched out the flowers embroidered on the pants, even drawing the arrangement of the flowers.
Gu Lianshan looked at the flower on the ground, whose outline he could only make out, and said with a complicated expression, "You're probably not mistaken, those pants really might be your aunt's..."
"What? You've also seen my aunt's blue pants?" Gu Tang raised an eyebrow. Surely Madam Wei wouldn't be so careless? Did she show off the pants to her father?
Gu Lianshan, oblivious to the meaningful look in Gu Tang's eyes, pointed to the flowers on the ground and said, "Once, I was sitting on the veranda when your aunt came to show off to your mother wearing a pair of blue trousers. The hem of the trousers was trimmed with a three-finger-wide strip of moon-white cloth, embroidered with flowers."
Because there wasn't enough embroidery thread, one trouser leg had three flowers embroidered on it, and the other leg had two. Your aunt's embroidery skills weren't good; she said she was embroidering a five-petaled plum blossom, but the petals were all embroidered into a mess. Your mother made a couple of jokes about it, and your aunt even had an argument with your mother.
Now it was Gu Tang's turn to be stunned: "Are you sure?" It really was Wei's pants?!
"Of course I'm sure. After your mother and your aunt had their argument, she came back and asked me for money to buy cloth to make clothes. I ignored her, and the matter was dropped afterward."
Gu Tang twitched the corner of her mouth: "It's not that it was left unresolved. My mother asked me for money afterward, but I didn't give it to her, so she took away the cloth you bought for me to make clothes."
Gu Lianshan: "...This is something your mother would do."
Gu Tang rubbed his face: "I won't mention my mother, but what should we do about this? Should we go back and tell them?"
"Of course I have to let you know. That Wang Er lives in Shanyao Village. Have your grandfather send someone to Shanyao Village to ask. If your aunt is really there, we must bring her back no matter what."
Uh... that might be a bit difficult.
Gu Tang scratched her head: "My grandfather has already made up his mind to hold a funeral for my aunt, so I'm afraid he won't agree to send someone to bring her back now. And my uncle, he's a scholar, and he cares a lot about his reputation. If my aunt were really with Wang Er, he'd probably have been taken away by him long ago..."
Gu Lianshan was taken aback, clearly not expecting this.
After a moment of contemplation, he said, "We won't concern ourselves with this matter. We'll just inform your grandfather and your uncle. As for what happens next, that's your uncle's business. We won't interfere."
Gu Tang nodded. Indeed, this matter had nothing to do with them, and the final decision rested with Gu Liansheng.
The firewood that had been pulled out was thrown back into the stove, and soon the tea in the teapot began to boil, filling the entire kitchen with a rich aroma.
After the tea had been boiling for a while, Gu Tang took the teapot off the stove, turned off the stove, poured out two bowls of tea, and set them aside to cool.
The remaining tea was put into two water bags, which were to be kept close to the body when setting off, so that they could keep warm and also be drunk a few times to ward off the cold on the way.
After finishing the hot tea in their bowls, the father and daughter dared not linger any longer. They locked the courtyard gate and drove the oxcart out of the city.
When I arrived this morning, the sky looked fairly clear, but now that I'm leaving, it's turned overcast.
Gu Lianshan glanced at the sky, feeling a little worried. He hoped it wouldn't rain; it could wait until they got home.
Gu Tang, who was walking ahead, also noticed something was wrong with the cumulus clouds in the sky and subconsciously quickened her pace, hoping to get home before the rain started.
The father and daughter hurried along, and as they approached the village entrance, a raindrop fell on Gu Tang's face.
Gu Tang wiped away the rain, looked up at the gloomy sky, and then many more raindrops fell densely on her face.
She wiped her face, turned around and called out to her father, "Dad! It's raining!"
"Don't rush, don't rush, we're almost home. This little rain won't hurt. Take your time, don't go too fast!" Gu Lianshan said anxiously, trying to reassure his daughter.
Gu Tang isn't a real "child." Even if her father didn't tell her, she knows she can't rush at this time.
When it rains, not only people panic, but cattle also panic.
Fortunately, the rain had just started and wasn't too heavy. After entering the village, the father and daughter arrived at their doorstep in no time.