Crossing Over to Yamada Love

Seeing Xue Lingfeng's expression, Mo Lan quickly changed the subject: "I wonder how Mo Ju's child is doing? He's quite a cute little thing. He was born with rosy skin and a wrinkled face, like a little old man." As Mo Lan spoke of the soft little baby, a smile full of maternal love spread across her lips.

Xue Lingfeng was puzzled. He calmed down and heard about Mo Ju's situation. The adults and children almost died. She was a year older than Lan Lan. He really couldn't rush to marry Lan Lan, otherwise Lan Lan's life would also be in danger.

"Lanlan likes children? When the time comes, we'll have two that will definitely be prettier than theirs." Xue Lingfeng said gently, and a picture appeared in his mind: Lanlan holding a delicate baby, and he sitting beside her, looking at them with tenderness.

"Get lost, I'm not talking to you anymore. Who wants to have a child with you?" Mo Lan said shyly, glaring at him before running away.

As Xue Lingfeng watched Mo Lan's retreating figure, he thought to himself: This girl is getting more and more shy and blushing these days. She's so cute. Is it because she likes me that she's so shy in front of me?

Mo Lan went to the kitchen and had someone serve Xue Lingfeng food, while she quietly tugged at Qiu Shi's sleeve.

"What's going on? Why are you being so mysterious? Can't you see your mother is busy? Tell me quickly." Qiu Shi found her daughter's actions amusing. She spoke while busy with her work.

Mo Lan had Granny Zhang take over Qiu's work, and then without saying a word, she pulled Qiu into her room and closed the door.

Mrs. Qiu was somewhat surprised. Her daughter wouldn't act like this unless something serious had happened. What could have happened?

"Mother, how is my brother's situation?" Mo Lan asked directly.

"I've already looked at all the girls, and I've asked around. Everyone says she's a good match. I plan to talk to your aunt in a couple of days, and then I'll have someone propose marriage." Mrs. Qiu said with a smile on her face, clearly very satisfied with the girl.

"Mother, I asked Young Master Xue to inquire about this girl. Young Master Xue came today and told me the results of his inquiry."

"What? What did Young Master Xue say?" Qiu asked hurriedly.

Mo Lan smiled and said, "Young Master Xue said this girl is quite nice."

Mrs. Qiu slapped her daughter and said repeatedly, "You scared me! I thought you were going to say something bad. I told you, I can't be wrong in my judgment of people. Besides, this marriage was arranged by your aunt, so it can't be bad."

Mo Lan smiled but remained silent.

Seeing her daughter smile, Qiu said, "You dragged me into this just for this? I thought it was something serious. Is everything alright now? If not, I'm going to get back to work." With that, she turned to leave.

Mo Lan quickly grabbed her sleeve and said, "Mother, don't rush, I haven't finished yet."

"What else? Hurry up and tell me! You're driving me crazy!"

“Mother, Young Master Xue said that this girl is indeed quite good, but her brother and brother-in-law are ambitious and a bit domineering. They always want to be the best and want to monopolize everything.” Mo Lan’s words were somewhat gentle, and she did not immediately mention the matter of usury.

After listening to her words, Qiu lowered her head and thought for a moment before saying, "It's not necessarily a bad thing. If he's not ambitious, he won't be able to do big business, right? As long as they don't do anything immoral, it's fine. We can't be too picky."

“And they also lend money at exorbitant interest rates,” Mo Lan said, adding the last sentence.

"Loan sharking is nothing. What? What did you say? Loan sharking? Lan'er, you can't talk nonsense about this. Loan sharking is a heinous crime. You can't lie to your mother." Qiu's eyes widened in shock, and she grabbed her daughter, her expression clearly showing disbelief.

"Mother, how could I lie about this? It was Young Master Xue who sent someone to find out. He even said that they almost drove someone to their death because of loan sharking."

Qiu was startled by her daughter's serious expression and plopped down on the stool, refusing to move. Mo Lan quickly stepped forward and patted her back, saying, "Mother, don't worry. This matter isn't settled yet, is it? It's better that we knew earlier, so we don't have to marry into such a family. Otherwise, it would be troublesome if we only found out after the wedding."

It took Qiu a while to come to her senses. She stared intently at Mo Lan and asked, "Lan'er, is everything you said true?"

Seeing her daughter nod, she stood up abruptly from the stool and shouted, "Huang Yueying, what deep grudge do you have against me? If you try to harm me like this, my Erlang is a scholar. If people find out that his in-laws are lending money at exorbitant interest rates, his life will be ruined. Huang Yueying, you bitch, just you wait, I'll fight you to the death!"

As Qiu cursed, she rushed out. Mo Lan couldn't grab her, and Qiu opened the door, grabbed a rolling pin, and started yelling that she was going back to her parents' house.

Mo Lan was speechless. Her mother's temper was too short. Seeing that everyone had gathered around, Mo Lan waved her hand and told the maids and servants to continue their work. She pulled Qiu Shi into the main room. Because of Qiu Shi's commotion, everyone knew about it by now.

When Wang asked what had happened, Qiu felt wronged and started to cry. She really didn't expect her sister-in-law from her own family to want to harm her.

After she explained the situation, everyone was shocked. Lending money at exorbitant interest rates was no small matter. They could accept it if the other family was poor, as long as the person was good. But having a relative who lends money at exorbitant interest rates as an in-law was sure to cause trouble for their family.

"Girl, is what your mother said true?" Mo Quan asked his granddaughter, his voice trembling.

Mo Lan nodded and said, "Master, it's true." She then turned to Qiu Shi and said, "Mother, don't worry, I don't think Aunt knows about this loan sharking."

"She doesn't know? I don't believe she doesn't know. It would be a miracle if she didn't. No wonder she was in such a hurry, coming back and forth to me, afraid that this wouldn't work out. She must have taken some benefits from someone else to harm us. Everyone knows how cunning she is." Qiu was seething with anger.

“Mother, they did this very discreetly. It took Young Master Xue a lot of effort to find out. Besides, they did it in town, and Aunt doesn't go there, so she probably doesn't know. She probably brought up the coal because her daughter is good, her family is well-off, and she has some connections. Whether it works out or not, we can't blame her. I believe she wouldn't do it on purpose. What good would it do her? Brother Xiaojun is in our shop. Aunt wouldn't deliberately harm us.”

After hearing her daughter's words, Qiu opened her mouth but couldn't say anything. She had been too hasty just now. Now that she thought about it, her sister-in-law couldn't possibly have intended to harm her family. She guessed that her sister-in-law really didn't know.

“Second son’s wife, Lan’er is right. My niece-in-law isn’t that kind of person. If she knew, she definitely wouldn’t have arranged for her to marry into our family. Don’t go back to your parents’ home and make a scene. If your in-laws find out, they’ll be heartbroken. Let’s just let this go. In a few days, tell your in-laws that the two families aren’t a good match, and let this matter rest.” Wang Shi advised her daughter-in-law.

Qiu reluctantly agreed, but a fire was burning inside her. What should have been a happy occasion had turned out this way, and she felt terrible. But she had nowhere to vent her anger and could only keep it bottled up inside.

Wang offered a few more words of advice and told them to go about their business. Qiu went back to her room and lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed), not even going out for lunch.

Seeing that this wasn't a solution, Mo Lan stood outside the door for a moment, then pushed the door open and went inside.

Qiu was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) feeling miserable and secretly wiping away tears. The man her sister-in-law had recommended to her was someone she had carefully selected and praised to her family for a long time, but in the end, he almost harmed her son. She felt ashamed.

Mo Lan gently stepped forward, took her mother's handkerchief, wiped away her tears, and softly comforted her.

"Lan'er, Mother is alright. It's all because Mother is useless. I almost harmed your brother. Mother really hates herself. How could I be so useless?" Qiu Shi pounded her thigh, blaming herself.

Mo Lan quickly grabbed her hand and advised, "Mother, please don't be like this. It makes me feel bad. You raised us and everything you do is for our own good. Even if you had made a mistake, we wouldn't blame you. Please don't be sad. I have something to tell you."

"What's wrong?" Qiu asked, forcing herself to stay alert.

"Regarding my brother's situation, my brother-in-law actually arranged a marriage for him, but since my aunt mentioned this family, he didn't dare to bring it up. Now that the marriage fell through, I was thinking, should we take a look at the family my brother-in-law mentioned?" Mo Lan asked Qiu Shi for her opinion.

When Qiu heard that it was about her son's marriage, her eyes lit up immediately, and she asked, "Tell me quickly, what kind of family is the other party? Xuan'er, really, why don't you tell us? If you tell us, we can choose one."

Seeing her mother perk up, Mo Lan smiled and said, "The other party is from town. They run a small shop right next to my brother-in-law's shop. This girl is called Bai Qing'er. She's sixteen this year. She has a father, her mother died early, and she has a brother. She's pretty and very capable. She manages everything at home. My brother-in-law thinks she's a good person, so he thought he could talk things over with Erlang."

Upon hearing her daughter's words, Qiu's face fell, and she said with little interest, "Lan'er, I don't think this matter is a good one. She's already sixteen, and it's not good that she hasn't found a husband yet. Let's just forget about it. We'll look at other families later."

Mo Lan understood her thoughts; she was worried that her daughter might have some bad habits. It's only natural for a mother to want the best for her children. She could understand.

“Mother, I’ve asked around. There’s nothing wrong with this girl. She’s just worried about her father and brothers being left without anyone to take care of them, so she doesn’t want to marry far away. She wants to find someone in town so she can come home often and take care of her family. That’s why things have been delayed until she’s found a suitable family.”

As soon as Mo Lan finished speaking, Qiu Shi immediately said, "No, I can't agree to this. You said this girl is a good girl, filial and family-oriented. I can't agree to the marriage just because of her. What if she marries into the family and lives in town? Erlang is the eldest son in the family. His wife has to stay at home. I can't agree to that. You should tell your brother-in-law."