章 8: Chapter 8 Eccentric Eye
Madam Lu smugly applied some proverbial 'eye medicine' to her sister-in-law right in front of her husband and, satisfied, carried her husband's footbath out of the room, tossing the leftover water into the courtyard.
"Ouch!"
"Who's there?" Madam Lu's grip on the footbath tightened as she looked toward the plum tree in the yard.
A drenched young man emerged from under the tree and frowned at Madam Lu, "Elder sister-in-law, couldn't you have looked before dumping that water?"
It was her younger brother-in-law!
Madam Lu was also resentful toward him. After all, their mother-in-law favored him. She pouted and replied, "Younger brother-in-law, who told you to stand there in the middle of the night? In this pitch darkness, who could see if you were a person or a ghost?"
Zhou Xueli glanced at Madam Lu, knowing all too well that his sister-in-law always had a sharp tongue. Not wanting to argue, he shook his head and walked into the main house.
Madam Lu spat in disdain and muttered to herself, then crept over and eavesdropped. Her face twisted slightly as she hastened into her own room in the East Wing.
Zhou Xuennian was still lost in thought. Seeing her come in, he merely lifted his eyelids but said nothing.
He was always dissatisfied with his illiterate wife—crude and not demure, unlike the wives of the headman and the registrar. Even if they weren't from noble families, they at least had some gentleness.
And what about Madam Lu?
Her voice was louder than a gong. If it weren't for her childbearing hips, his parents would never have arranged this marriage for him. Indeed, after Madam Lu married into the family, she had their eldest son, followed by a daughter, and later on, a younger son, somewhat fulfilling the hope of spreading the family lineage.
"What's with all the fuss? How many times must I tell you to be more composed? You're in such a hurry—how unseemly," Zhou Xuennian spoke with dissatisfaction.
Madam Lu walked over and said, "Ay, my dear husband, if I were to slow down like that, the whole Zhou family would fall into the hands of the younger brother-in-law."
Zhou Xuennian sternly asked, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
"Do you know what I just overheard?" Madam Lu lowered her voice, "I heard the mother-in-law and Xueli talking about the marriage arrangements!"
Zhou Xuennian looked at her. What was wrong with that? His younger brother was already sixteen—it was quite normal for him to be engaged.
"Do you know how much bride price the mother-in-law plans to give for the younger brother's engagement?" Madam Lu asked again, noting his indifferent expression, she flashed two fingers, "Twenty taels!"
Zhou Xuennian sat up a bit straighter.
Madam Lu snorted, "All the family money is in the hands of our mother-in-law. All these years, except for what father earns from tutoring, isn't it your earnings from outside? The younger brother just takes care of the family property and hasn't earned a single wen. Yet mother-in-law says she'll give him a twenty-tael bride price. This favoritism is too much, isn't it? He's only marrying a young lady from the Liang Family."
"Enough, enough, the property hasn't been divided, and it's mother who's in charge. After all, the Liang Family is an educated family. A higher bride price is not a big deal." Zhou Xuennian replied irritably.
Madam Lu grew even more indignant. When she married into the family, her own bride price wasn't even ten taels, and now her brother-in-law's was doubled. She didn't even know how much money was in the household?
"If it's all spent on the younger brother-in-law, Dajun and Xiuxiu will have hardly anything leftover for their own marriages," Madam Lu complained bitterly. "I just don't understand. Clearly, you are the eldest son, yet mother-in-law dotes on the youngest. I get that—people love the youngest child. But father? He dotes on Ying Mei, even after she did something so shameful, he has protected her for years. I refuse to believe he hasn't helped them out financially in secret. As for our main branch, we are loved by no one..."
Zhou Xuennian gave her a cold look and laid back down.
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