Ugly girl only wants to farm

Xu Chaoyan was suddenly stunned by Zhang Rongrong's actions. In her subconscious, she had never seen anyone in ancient times who could stand up to her mother-in-law like this.

In ancient times, if you were disrespectful to your mother-in-law and quarreled with your elders, you would be labeled as unfilial and would be despised and cursed behind your back.

Zhang Rongrong initially tolerated the situation, but later reached her breaking point and finally vented her anger. She did admire this woman to some extent.

Judging from her tone of voice and her behavior over the past few minutes, Xu Chaoyan could tell that she was a cheerful, straightforward, and unpretentious woman. She felt that she had a chance and would like to get to know her better.

Madam Shen suddenly wailed, "You unfilial son! You just watch your old mother being bullied? I'll pretend I never had a son like you. I'm going to go to a nunnery right now so I won't be an eyesore to you and annoy you."

After she finished speaking, she stood up to leave. Everyone followed her gaze and thought she was just making a fuss. Shen Siheng was already used to it and stood there with a helpless expression.

When everyone came to their senses, they saw two men walking over from not far away. Upon closer inspection, the two men looked quite similar.

Before Xu Chaoyan could react, Old Man Shen stumbled and lunged towards the two of them. Her mournful voice pierced the sky, and everyone frowned as they listened to her sharp and shrill cry.

One of them covered his ears in frustration: "My son, my son, you're finally back! If you hadn't come back, I would have been beaten to death! Look, your wife is trying to kick me out. This house can't tolerate me, so I'm moving you out right now. And you old man, I've been wronged, and you didn't even come back sooner. If you hadn't come back, you would never have seen me again."

The foreheads of the Shen father and son throbbed, and their faces visibly changed. The father clenched his fists and quickly helped his wife up, looking distressed.

"What are you doing now? Tell me who upset you, and I'll stand up for you."

Shen Jia Dalang's expression wasn't too good. He saw his wife looking at him indifferently from a distance, and then at his mother. He knew perfectly well that the two women had probably had another argument.

His mother had complained to him as soon as they returned, and now seeing his wife's cold and distant attitude, he felt a chill in his heart. Usually, when he came home, his wife would greet him with a smile and ask if he was tired or thirsty. But now, his wife stood far away from him and avoided him like the plague, like a venomous snake or a ferocious beast.

Although her father helped her up, her mother still clung to his arm with one hand, preventing him from leaving to ask what had happened.

At this moment, Shen Siheng stepped forward, looking relieved, and said to them, "Father, elder brother, you're back. You can handle Mother's matter. I have a friend waiting for me, so I'll take my leave first."

After saying that, Shen Siheng ran away before the father and son could react, as if a rabbit was chasing them, and quickly came to Meng Jiu and the others.

"Brother Meng, let's hurry up and go. If we go to that bookstore too late, all the rare books will be taken. I'll give you whatever you like today."

After saying that, he disregarded Meng Jiuhe and Zhang Xuyang's wishes, grabbed them, and ran away.

Xu Chaoyan originally wanted to stay a little longer and chat with Zhang Rongrong, but now that they had left, she had no choice but to give up.

As she passed by Zhang Rongrong, she greeted her, and Zhang Rongrong also greeted her politely: "You are my brother-in-law's friends. I'm sorry to have made you laugh today. I'll invite you again when I have the chance."

Meng Jiuhe was dragged a few steps by Shen Siheng, but he didn't forget to turn back and call to Xu Chaoyan: "Wife, let's go quickly. This messy thing is probably going to offend your ears."

Even after the group had walked some distance, they could still hear the howling of wolves and ghosts.

Xu Chaoyan couldn't help but shudder. Zhang Xuyang suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence: "That Young Master Shen may be a bit presumptuous, but I'd like to ask another question."

Shen Siheng was only focused on pulling them forward at the moment, and had no intention of answering his question. His face was dark with anger: "If you feel it's presumptuous, then don't ask."

Zhang Xuyang chuckled awkwardly: "Although it may be presumptuous, I still want to know, since it's probably common for your mother to make a fuss every few days, who ultimately wins in the end?"

Shen Siheng shoved him forward a few steps and pointed to the bookstore not far away: "Look, we're here. Curiosity killed the cat."

Seeing that he was deliberately avoiding the question, Zhang Xuyang didn't press him any further, and the three of them carefully selected books in the bookstore.

Xu Chaoyan was a little bored, so she wandered around outside. Because it was close to the end of the year, the streets were much busier than before, and there were quite a few shops nearby. They had never come here before when they came to the county town.

She quickly thought about what small business she could do to support her family. After all, you can't get fat in one bite. With his hard work, surely he could support his family?

After the group came out of the bookstore, Xu Chaoyan noticed that he was still empty-handed and casually asked, "Husband, why did you come out empty-handed again? Didn't you find anything you liked?"

Shen Siheng, looking utterly defeated, said, "Sister-in-law, I already said I would give Brother Meng a book, but he kept refusing, and there was nothing I could do. You can keep this book for him, just consider it as us being friends. Does he look down on me and not want to be friends with me? Does he dislike that I have an unreasonable mother?"

He said this as if he had suffered a great injustice.

Meng Jiuhe then spoke up to explain, "I just asked at the bookstore and found out that you can get 20 coins for copying a book. If you copy books for a long time, the price will be increased. I'll just take a few books back and copy them next time. Although I don't have the ability to remember everything I see, I can still remember most of it. Why waste money that doesn't come easily?"

Xu Chaoyan then took the book from Shen Siheng's hand: "Then I'll have to trouble you. If you ever need it in the future, just ask him. Don't be shy."

Meng Jiuhe was about to say something more when Xu Chaoyan stopped him.

Afterwards, Shen Siheng took them for a walk around the county school and an academy, both of which were located in the county town and were relatively close to each other.

Shen Siheng's school, Mingyue Academy, is thirty miles from the county town, and due to time constraints, this trip was not planned for today.

They arrived outside the county school and saw students coming out in twos and threes to find food. Xu Chaoyan pointed at them and asked with a puzzled look.

"Don't they provide meals at their academy? Why do they still need to come out?"

In her understanding, academies like these usually provide room and board.

Shen Siheng pointed at those people and patiently explained: "Because the county school is for students from well-off families, the communal meals don't suit everyone's taste. Some families with slightly better conditions send servants to deliver meals, and after a big meal, they go back to the academy to continue studying. Others just buy some food from street vendors outside to solve their meal problem."

After saying that, Shen Siheng pointed to the small stalls and said, "There's not much good food in our small town. These students usually just come out for a stroll because they're tired of studying. Those from poorer families usually bring their own food or eat communal meals."

Xu Chaoyan suddenly thought of setting up a small stall at the entrance of the college to sell hot food. Especially in winter, being able to eat a hot meal would warm you up.

She took a closer look and saw that the stalls were selling things like flatbread and steamed buns. In the dead of winter, eating such dry food was not as good as having a bowl of hot soup.

Xu Chaoyan became somewhat puzzled again: "That Shen Siheng is studying at the academy, how come you have so much free time every day?"

Zhang Xuyang also teased from the side: "Yeah, yeah, you didn't skip school, did you?"

"Do not."

"No, I didn't."

Shen Siheng blushed with embarrassment and quickly explained, "I used to study at this county school. Later, my father used his connections and spent money to try to get me transferred to Mingyue Academy. Now that the end of the year is approaching, my father said he would wait until spring when it gets warmer before I go there."

He spoke without much confidence, and his voice was weaker. In fact, it was his mother who made this decision, saying that it was freezing cold and they didn't want him to get cold.

Zhang Xuyang looked at him with an "oh, I understand" expression.

"So you haven't even gone to the academy yet, and you're already showing off."

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Shen Siheng's face, and he weakly said, "Isn't it supposed to be spring?"