nucmednet Chapter 328 Wan Cheng's family suffers mistreatment
Chapter 328 Wan Cheng's family suffers mistreatment
Prince Ning walked over, lit an incense stick for Wan Cheng, and stood aside without saying a word.
It was only when the second sister saw that their father was so haggard and could no longer hold on that she spoke to her younger brother.
"The dead cannot be brought back to life, and those who are alive must do their best to live. Uncle Wan's condition is not good, so let's go back first."
The younger brother nodded, got up and helped Wan's father up: "Uncle, when Wan Cheng took the knife for me, I said that his family is my family in this life, and I will treat you as my own father from now on."
Mr. Wan was too tired to say anything.
After returning home, because Wan's mother fell ill, only Rong'er was busy taking care of everything at home, boiling water to make tea for everyone, and also busy preparing lunch.
Wan's father was not feeling well; he would get out of breath even after carrying just a few things.
Rongjie said, "Father, you rest first. It's alright, I can take care of things here."
Seeing this, the second sister took her maid, Zhiyuan, to cook: "Rong-jie, whatever dishes are available at home, I'll cook them."
Rongjie was extremely embarrassed, as there was nothing left in the house. She hurriedly opened the gifts that her second sister and the others had brought that day and took out the meat.
It's not very polite to unpack these things in front of guests, but Rongjie didn't care, since there was practically nothing in the house to entertain guests.
Zhiyuan looked into the rice jar and unconsciously frowned.
Seeing this, Rongjie quickly said, "Sister, don't eat this. I'll go and change it right away."
My second sister had lived in the countryside before and knew what Rong-jie meant. The rice in that jar was old rice, with a strong musty smell, and some of it even tasted bitter.
Ordinary families couldn't afford refined white rice and flour, so they ate a mixture of different grains. This was especially true in the suburbs of Beijing, a relatively affluent area.
How come Wan Cheng's family is so poor? Was the food she ate last time bought by Wan's mother? She clearly gave them money.
The second sister pulled Rong'er aside and asked, "Do you have any flour at home?"
Rong-jie opened the bag of flour and whispered, "There's not much left..."
The second sister said, "Let's eat noodles."
She started rolling out the dough and making the toppings, which left Zhiyuan completely bewildered.
"Miss, I never knew you could cook so well! This sauce looks so delicious, I'm so hungry."
The second sister said, "We used to cook for our family, but my skills are far inferior to Aunt Jin's and the other women in the village who are good at cooking."
The kite was hungry and swallowed hard.
The second sister asked Rong'er, "It's only been a few days, and all the things I brought over last time are gone? Didn't you secretly give your mother some money before? Did you not have time to exchange them for food?"
"..." Rong'er thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth, "Sister, those were all taken by the main family..."
"What?" The second sister was taken aback.
She already knew that in order to maintain their reputation as upright officials, the Wan family would not do anything that involved profit, and the entire direct line would live off their meager stipends.
But Kyoto is a bustling metropolis, and every step of the way, from entering to leaving, costs money.
They could only rely on the hard work of the collateral branches to provide for them. Moreover, the collateral branches were not allowed to engage in commerce, so everyone could only make a living by farming. It was only through the combined efforts of the entire clan that they could barely maintain the prosperity of the Wan family in Kyoto.
But last time, when my second sister gave money to Qian Wanmu, she slipped it to her secretly and made her hide it.
When Rongjie spoke of this, her eyes welled up with tears: "When my brother's body was brought back the day before yesterday, they heard that the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review and you, sister, had come to see us, so they made us hand over everything we owned... And that wasn't all, they searched our house and our bodies, taking away everything of value. This... We've already handed over this year's harvest, and the rest was taken away. We have nothing to eat."
Rongjie wiped away her tears: "This little bit of flour was given to me by the aunt next door because she saw that my mother was very sick. She said I should use it to make nourishing dishes for her."
Hearing this, the second sister was already furious and asked...
"Your clan leader doesn't care about such harsh treatment?"
Rongjie said in a low voice, "The clan leader can't do anything about it even if he wants to. My family... has no male members left now, so they won't care either."
There were no male offspring, and both parents were ill. Apart from ten-year-old Rongjie, they had no other children in the family.
In other words, this family has little value, so the clan will naturally no longer pay attention to them.
The kitchen wasn't big, and it was a bit crowded with three people inside. Ah Song originally wanted to come in and help, but seeing that it wasn't convenient, he had to give up and just stood outside to talk.
"Miss Si, um... our Prince is sick and can't eat anything. He's only had some plain porridge these past two days. Could you please get him something to eat?"
The second sister paused, frowned slightly, and then nodded.
She hesitated for a moment, then started picking vegetables again.
Rongjie asked, "Sister, doesn't that official eat the same food as us?"
My second sister originally made braised pork and lamb rolls as toppings, along with vegetables and eggs. Now she's changed the vegetables and minced lean meat, and it's clearly different.
Seeing this, Zhiyuan came over and took the dishes from the girl's hands, explaining as she busied herself, "Didn't you say the prince was sick? How can a sick person eat such greasy food?"
Rong Jie nodded.
Zhiyuan glanced at her young mistress. Although she didn't know much about her, she understood a little and knew that there was something unclear between her mistress and Prince Ning. Moreover, this unclear situation arose before her mistress returned.
Of course, she was the young lady's head maid, and she was very sensible. She knew that if the young lady didn't say anything, she wouldn't ask, and she certainly wouldn't gossip.
The younger brother outside spoke to Wan's father, insisting that Wan's father and his family be brought to live in the city.
"Don't worry, the Empress Dowager gave my third sister a house that is currently vacant and uninhabited. I will ask my third sister for it later. You can just live there in peace."
Wan's father firmly refused: "We appreciate the young master's kindness, but it's really not possible. We still have chickens and fields at home, and we can't leave them behind."
The younger brother said, "What's there to worry about? If you can't bear to part with it, you can just rent the land out to someone else to farm."
Wan's father felt bitter. It wasn't that he was reluctant to part with the land; it belonged to the clan, not to them. The land was distributed according to the number of people, and each person had to pay a considerable amount of grain to the clan every year.
If he doesn't farm, what will happen to the grain that's handed over to the state?
What the Si family gave him was taken away by the direct descendants and the clan. The clan told him that as a member of the Wan family, he could only die in the Wan family and could not go anywhere else!
He could manage on his own, but he still had Rong'er. If they ran away, what would happen to Rong'er's household registration? When she got married in the future, wouldn't the clan control her?
The younger brother, unaware of his hesitation, continued, "If you don't like the city, go to the estate. My family owns several estates; you can stay there."
Prince Ning stood by without saying a word, but seeing his younger brother becoming increasingly agitated, he wished he could immediately deal with the Wan family and return together.
He spoke up: "Young Master Si, there's no need to rush. I still have some matters to discuss with the Wan family. Once we've discussed them, you can then consider how to settle Wan Cheng's family."