The Rebirth of Han Yuxi

Chapter 68 : Mama Fang Remarried (2)

Mama Fang considered the marriage proposal for a month and finally agreed to remarry. Lian Shan was overjoyed and set the date for third lunar month. Because it was her second marriage, Mama Fang didn’t want to make a big deal of it and only invited people closed to her to have a meal.

Yuxi planned to give Mama Fang the baozi (steamed stuffed bun) shop as a dowry, but Mama Fang did not to accept it. Yuxi thought for a moment and also felt that this was not a good idea. On one hand, it would not please the Old Madam, and on the other hand, it would also upset Mama Fang.

Yuxi considered it over and over again, and finally decided to let Mama Fang continued to work in the baozi shop. Besides getting a monthly salary, she would also get a bonus at the end of the year.

Mama Fang refused at first, but in the end, she reluctantly agreed to Yuxi’s request.

When Hongshan learned that Mama Fang was going to remarry, she became a bit silly, “Miss, do you mean Mama Fang is going to remarry?” She thought of her Miss’ behaviour in the recent period of time, and that feeling was really too subtle.

Yuxi nodded and said, “Well, it’s true. Even the date of marriage is already fixed. It’s only two days away.”

Hongshan was surprised and then asked anxiously, “Miss, Mama Fang is over thirty. Is it okay for her to remarry? The man will not have any other plot, will he? “

There was no joy nor dissatisfaction on Yuxi’s face, as she calmly said, “Mama Fang is going to marry a patrol guard. When he came to propose, I asked you to let your brother to find out all the ins and outs of him. According to the information found, this person has a good character and a small family. Mama Fang will not lose any money if she marries him. “

Hongshan became tongue-tied.

Yuxi was amused by the way Hongshan reacted to the news. How did Mama Fang remarried news made her gave out such big reaction? Yuxi didn’t want to say anything more about this. She just said, “When Mama Fang gets married, you will disclose this news.”

Hongshan didn’t know why Yuxi wanted to do this, but she was used to what Yuxi usually instructed her to do, so she carried it out with no objection.

The day before Mama Fang’s big day, Zisu said, “Miss, can you let me go! I will tell you the wedding process.“ Yuxi was definitely not allowed to go since the Old Madam would surely not permit it.

Yuxi shook her head and said, “You can’t go. You can’t come back once you go.” If Zisu went to Mama Fang’s wedding, the Old Madam would definitely throw Zisu out. It was not easy for her to find a trusted servant girl whom she also intended to cultivate into her confidant. She was not willing to fall short because of this matter.

Zisu had some regrets.

Yuxi had no regrets. It didn’t matter whether she attended the wedding or not, as long as Mama Fang had a good life in the future.

On this day, Lian Shan rode on a big horse and brought a group of lively and enthusiastic people to the baozi shop to escort Mama Fang to his house for the wedding. Only then did the people in Shangyuan Street realize that it was the manager of the baozi shop who was going to get marry.

Mama Fang listened to the loud sound of suona, gongs and drums outside, while feeling ashamed and angered. Mingming said earlier that Lian Shan would carry the sedan chair to pick her up on this day. Now that he had come up with such a big appearance, it was estimated that all people in Shangyuan Street now knew that she would remarry today.

This is a suona. She was playing one of my favourite song Senbonzakura.

Old woman An anxiously said, “Manager, what now?” As Mama Fang had not prepared to do anything big, she did not have an extra dowry. Now Lian Shan had invited these many people to meet her. If she came through the door empty-handed, she would surely be looked down upon.

Mama Fang immediately said, “Put all my four seasons clothes into a chest, and put all the textiles that Miss gave me into another chest.” She had more than twenty sets of four-season clothes and several leather clothes. She had also made some good clothes for Lian Shan and his two children, as well as some good things such as good textiles and the like that Yuxi had given her. When all the pieces add up, they amounted to six big chests.

Six chests were equivalent to six dowries, which were not too many, but not too few either.

After a flurry of activities, Xi Niang (woman employed to wait on the bride on her wedding day) helped Mama Fang into the sedan chair, with old woman An following along. When they arrived at Lian family home, Lian Shan uncovered her head. The other women in the room looked at Mama Fang’s jewelleries and their eyes turned green.

Mama Fang was wearing a red gold ruby hairpin on her head. The ruby was the size of a small fingernail. Coupled with the gold earrings embedded with eastern beads and the gold bracelet that she had deliberately exposed, all the jewelleries added up to several hundred taels of silvers!

Mama Fang didn’t want to reveal her wealth, but Lian Shan had upset her plan. She was a secondary wife, old, without a good appearance and she couldn’t give birth anymore. The only thing that could deter people’s mouth was a rich dowry. As she expected, her actions succeeded in intimidating several women in the room. The marriage went smoothly, with no one said anything sour nor let alone picked a problem, as the wedding ceremony passed in safe and sound atmosphere.

At noon, Lian Shan had invited a cook from a restaurant to make the wedding banquet. After the guests left, the cook also went back.

After lunch, Mama Fang changed her clothes and began to tidy up with old woman An. As for Lian Shan, he was already drunk and slept on the bed!

The two children also wanted to come forward to help. Mama Fang was very happy when she saw this and said with a smile, “Dalang* (eldest youth), you look after Erlang* (second youth), you don’t need to help here.” (T/N : Usually used as male siblings rank in a family.)

Dalang took Erlang’s hand and cleverly said, “Okay.” It was to Lian Shan’s credit that the two children were so receptive to Mama Fang as she showed her goodwill. Lian Shan had told his two sons that when he married Mama Fang, there would be somebody to take care of them, made them new clothes, and cooked them a lot of delicious food. Children were very simple. If their most trusted father said so, they naturally would not doubt it. Even if the neighbours told them that their stepmother would make their father became a stepfather and made him disdain them.

Lian Shan didn’t get up until it was dusk. As soon as he got out of the room, he saw that the yard had been cleaned up. Mama Fang looked at him and said with a smile, “Are you finally up? You should wash up first and dinner will be ready soon.“

After washing his face, Lian Shan went back to the main hall and saw a table full of food, with his two clean sons sitting by the table. He could not help sighing in his heart that when there was a woman in their home, their family became decent. Their life before was like a clear pot on a cold stove (Chinese idiom : Didn’t eat or drink. It is often used to describe the scene of poverty and desertedness) while his two sons were as dirty as monkeys covered in muds.

Two days later, the story of Mama Fang remarried was widely circulated in the residence. When Qiu Shi knew about this, her first reaction was disbelieved, “This cannot be? If I remember correctly, Mama Fang should be in her early thirties. She remarried? Marry an old man?“ With her current conditions, Mama Fang did not need to make up her mind to marry an old man.

Mama Li had inquired the ins and outs of the event before she told Qiu Shi, “The man is said to be only thirty, which is said that he is two years younger than Mama Fang!” Not only did Mama Fang not marry an old man, but she married a man much younger than herself.

Qiu Shi asked with surprised, “Is it for money? Speaking of which, Mama Fang should have saved a lot of money, but it’s not reliable to marry such a person with that kind of motive!“

Mama Li smiled and said, “Madam, that man is the patrol guard of Dongcheng (East side). His family has a house and a shop, and his hometown has fertile land.” This meant that the other party’s family was not poor and he did not seek wealth.

Qiu Shi did not understand “Then why did this man marries Mama Fang?” Didn’t all men like young and beautiful ones? Even if they had no money or power, it was hard to understand if they would marry an attractive middle-aged woman over a girl who had money and was still in her twenties.

Mama Li smiled and said, “I heard that this man has two sons. He actually didn’t want to marry again before, saying that he was afraid that the new wife he married would be bad for his two sons. I guess the reason why this man is willing to marry Mama Fang is that she will not give birth to another child since she is already old and will be able to be good to his two children wholeheartedly in the future.“ The so-called when there was as stepmother, the father would become a stepfather, these words were not absolutely true. For example, the stepmother had no children of her own. No matter how bad a stepmother would be, the father would never become a stepfather.(T/N : Erm. This is a saying where a widower with children marries his new wife, she might treats his children nicely at the beginning but slowly influenced her husband to treat his own children badly. Get it? I’m actually confused myself. But that is the gist of those sentences.)

Qiu Shi nodded her head. “If that’s the case, then, the man is not bad either.” For the sake of his two sons, he was not going to marry once more. It was certainly not bad to have such a kind father. (T/N : Yeah! Not like Yuxi’s father. Bad father!)

Mama Li also felt good, “I heard that the two children, age six and four, are very clever and sensible. Mama Fang picked up two sons for nothing.” She, who had a son of her own, was not envious, but those lonely old women in the residence were especially greedy.

Qiu Shi asked a key question, “Does Yuxi know about this?”

Mama Li smiled and said, “Fourth Miss knows. She also had asked Yang-er to check the background of this patrol guard. I heard Yang-er said that the first time the patrol guard had come to ask Mama Fang’s hand in marriage, he was refused by Mama Fang. Once Yang-er had checked all the details of this patrol guard, not long after, Mama Fang accepted the marriage.“

Qiu Shi was a little puzzled and asked, “Yuxi didn’t stop this?” Mama Fang would not be able to put her heart entirely into the baozi shop once she was married, and so did their plan to open another baozi shop. This would be a pity since the baozi shop had earned a profit of six to seven hundred taels annually.

Mama Li thought for a moment and said, “Maybe in Miss’ eyes, Mama Fang’s happiness is more important than the baozi shop!” If Yuxi did not want Mama Fang to remarry, Mama Fang would definitely not remarry.

The Old Madam’s face was very ugly when she heard the news, but Mama Fang was no longer a servant of the state residence but a free man, and she could not stop her from doing it. However, she prohibited Mama Fang to enter the gate of the residence again. Everybody knew that the Old Madam words were meant for Yuxi to listen to. (T/N : What is her problem? First, she was the one who kicked Mama Fang out of the residence, and now she was not happy that Mama Fang remarried? You should go see a psychiatrist, old lady!)

Yuxi heard that the Old Madam had prohibited Mama Fang from entering the residence, but Yuxi did not show any expression on this matter. She already guessed that this would happen. Fortunately, she had kept it from the Old Madam before Mama Fang got married, otherwise she couldn’t say for sure that the Old Madam would stir up trouble. (T/N : Your Grandmother has gone mad, Yuxi!)

When Mama Shen came back from the main room, her body was drooping. When the people of the Rose Courtyard saw her, they all avoided her, so as not to be scolded by her in return.

Yuxi called Mama Shen to her study and asked, “What did Grandmother say to you?”

Mama Shen evaded the serious matters, and took up trifles (Chinese idiom : avoid what’s important and dwell on the trivial) as she softly said, “The Old Madam was asking about Miss’ recent schoolworks. This was also for fear that Miss has slacken off.“

Yuxi smiled lightly and said, “Mama Shen, I am not a fool, so you should not use such a bad excuse to prevaricate me. I know exactly what Grandma told you to do.”

Mama Shen’s expression kept on changing, “What does Miss actually want to say?”

Yuxi’s face remained unchanged, “I don’t want you to do anything. I just hope that in the future, mama will not have to report everything happen in Rose Courtyard to my Grandmother.”

“I will not betray the Old Madam,” said Mama Shen.

Yuxi smiled and said, “You can rest assured. I’m not asking you go against my Grandmother’s wishes, but I just hope you don’t have to tell my Grandmother everything.” After a pause, she continuesd, “I am a young lady of the state residence, so I will not do anything dishonourable and harmful to the state residence.” Unless her means were superb or her life was good, then there was no need for her to depend on the support of her maiden family, but that could only happen after her marriage. She asked herself whether she had a bad life or did she have any means. After thinking for a while, she decided that she couldn’t afford to lose the backing from the residence.

Mama Shen’s heart was moved, but she didn’t have the courage to make the decision immediately, “Miss, let me to think this over first.”

Yuxi said: “As long as you can promise, if you have any demands, I will not refuse.” This was indirectly a guarantee for Mama Shen.