Chapter 378: Chapter 196 Self-blame_1
The smoke in the outer room was so heavy that it almost made it hard to keep one’s eyes open. Lian Manman hurriedly stood on the threshold and took down the cotton door curtain. The north wind blew in the winter, and the thick smoke rushed eagerly into the courtyard; with less smoke in the outer room, Lian Manman could finally see the situation inside.
It was Lady Gu and Lady Chiang.
Lady Chiang occupied a small stove with a medicine pot on it; she was brewing medicine for Old Master Lian.
Lady Gu was squatting under the large stove, tending a fire; that was where the thick smoke was coming from. It wasn’t time to cook yet; Lady Gu was simply boiling water.
The faces of both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were blackened by smoke, their eyes red and teary from the irritation.
Lady Gu’s domestic skills had regressed, after all, she had spent the last few months in the county town, staying in the Song Family’s idle house with servants attending to her every need.
"With such thick smoke, why didn’t you open the door curtain?" Lian Manman asked.
"Oh, it’s Manman," Lady Chiang said with a forced smile as she let go of the handkerchief that covered her mouth and nose, "we were afraid that opening the curtain would let the cold in. The fire just started, so the smoke is a bit heavy, but it will be better soon."
Lady Gu sat on a small stool, also covering her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, keeping her head down and tending the fire without responding to Lian Manman.
The door to the east room swung open with a bang, and Lady Zhou’s head emerged from inside.
"What on earth are you doing, filled with resentment and wanting to set fire to the house, or burn us old folks to death, what’s the meaning of this?" Lady Zhou exclaimed angrily.
Lady Chiang quickly bowed her head, and Lady Gu also hurriedly stood up from the small stool.
"Mother, I wanted to boil some water for you and father to drink. Mother, please go back inside quickly and close the door tight. The water will be ready soon," Lady Gu said with a grin.
"Boil water for me and your father?" Lady Zhou scoffed coldly, her gaze scrutinizing Lady Gu, "If you truly had filial piety, would Old Master be lying there unable to move on the kang? It’s almost time to cook; who asked you to boil water? Do you think that firewood comes for free? Put out the fire at once!"
Lady Gu’s lips twitched as if she wanted to justify herself. In the end, she didn’t dare say a word and lowered her head to extinguish the fire in the stove.
Lady Zhou then turned her critical gaze to Lady Chiang, for whom she still retained some semblance of face.
"When the medicine is ready, bring it to your grandfather," Lady Zhou said.
"Yes," Lady Chiang hurriedly agreed.
"Manman, what are you doing here?" Lady Zhou turned to go back inside, then paused as if she had just noticed Lian Manman.
"Granny, I came to see how you and grandfather were doing," Lian Manman replied.
"Then come in. What are you doing standing at the door, with all this smoke and wind?" After saying that, Lady Zhou turned and went back inside.
Both Lady Gu and Lady Chiang then turned their heads to look at Lian Manman.
For some reason, the tone of Lady Zhou’s words was always different from that of ordinary people. The words she just spoke, translated into the language of common folk, meant that she was telling Lian Manman to come inside quickly and not to stand in the doorway catching the wind. Previously, such consideration was only reserved for Lian Xiuxiu and the people of the main branch of the family. Thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty more on the west; now Lady Gu had become the one being scolded, while Lian Manman was enjoying Lady Zhou’s favor.
Lady Gu and Lady Chiang understood the look in Lian Manman’s eyes, but she didn’t care; she turned and went back into the yard to start moving items from the cart with Wu Lang and Xiao Qi.
Lian Manman was the primary hero this time for managing to pay off the high-interest loan on time and bringing Lian Shouren’s family back home. Old Master Lian had fallen seriously ill, and Lady Zhou had been scared nearly half to death, no longer possessing as much strength as before.
That was how Lian Manman’s status came to be highlighted.
Carrying some items, Lian Manman walked back into the outer room just in time to see Lian Shouren, wrapped in a thick overcoat, standing at the door of the west room, complaining to Lady Gu.
"Why has the fire gone out?" Lian Shouren said as he stamped his feet against the cold, "The kang was just getting warm, and now you stop the fire."
It turned out that Lady Gu’s boiling of water was just an excuse, her real goal was to warm up the kang in the west room.
Lian Shouren’s family’s return this time was different from the past. The once coddled treatment was completely gone. Now that it was winter, the Lian Family did not have a habit of heating rooms with furnaces; their warmth depended entirely on heating the kang by burning fire in the big stove.
But lighting a fire was not a trivial matter. Apart from the three daily meals, Lady Zhou did not allow fires to be lit at other times. With two large stoves in the Upper Room to the east and west, the fire had to be started on the eastern side first, giving priority to warming the kang for Old Master and Lady Zhou.
The west room had been unoccupied for a long time and was inherently cold. They had not received particular attention yesterday and must have frozen through the night; unable to withstand it, Lady Gu had personally come out to light the fire.
