Wufu saw the land deed that belonged to her for the first time while dining with Madam Zhou and took a keen interest in examining it over and over again.
"Keep it safe and don’t lose it," Madam Zhou said with a smile, seeing her rare enthusiasm.
Although a new land deed could be reissued at the relevant Yamen, it would undoubtedly be troublesome and best avoided if possible.
"I’m just looking, you keep it, Mother," Wufu replied.
"This is all your private property," Madam Zhou said gently as she tucked her daughter’s hair behind her ear with a look of tender affection. "Keep it locked up, and have Hongyu take care of it for you. I know you’re preparing for the contest; don’t overwork yourself, your face has gotten thinner."
"Not tired at all," Wufu said with a laugh. "If I win the first place, we can buy a few more estates and then you and I can be idle rich as well."
Her words were meant to amuse Madam Zhou, who indeed was delighted and responded, "We’re already idle folks now, and the income from this estate is enough for the two of us to live on."
"Mother, this is our first piece of property; don’t you want to go and take a look? Staying at home all day is boring," Wufu suggested.
"Let’s go together after your competition is over," Madam Zhou said, eager to see the estate but also aware that she shouldn’t disturb her daughter at this time.
"By the time the competition is over, it will almost be the Laba Festival," Wufu protested. "It’s too cold then, and the estate near the mountains will be even colder in the winter."
"Then we can wait until spring next year," Madam Zhou said.
"It’s okay, let’s go in a couple of days," Wufu insisted.
Madam Zhou was surprised, "Aren’t you in seclusion for your practice?"
Wufu smiled, "Carving isn’t an overnight task; I need to rest too. Otherwise, my hands would be ruined, and staying indoors for too long blunts the mind." She explained calmly and then playfully pleaded, "Mother, give me a chance to relax a bit."
In the past six months, Wufu had displayed strength and resilience, and Madam Zhou had seen her daughter’s girlish tenderness on few occasions, which softened her heart. "If it doesn’t affect your progress, shall we go take a look? I heard it’s not far away."
Wufu nodded in agreement, smiling.
In fact, it was her own desire to visit, but after hearing Hongyu mention that Qiu Xiang had suggested her mother go, and knowing that Madam Zhou felt it pointless to go alone, Wufu brought up the idea.
In the blink of an eye, two days passed, and Wufu promptly took Madam Zhou to the estate in Ping Family Hollow, under the pretense of inspecting their property.
In Huayang County, the weather in October was already quite cold, but Wufu and her company, crammed together in a carriage, didn’t feel the chill.
Leaving the city gates and heading toward the countryside, the carriage was filled with Hongyu’s jests and laughter.
Meanwhile, there were ox carts waiting to enter the city, and unlike the carriages which were sheltered, the ox carts had but a flatbed, their passengers shivering with cheeks flushed red from the cold.
As the laughter and voices spilled out from the passing carriage, those on the ox cart watched it go by.
"Little sister, what are you looking at?" the man sitting on the shaft of the ox cart asked the woman on the cart.
The woman cocked her head and muttered, "Big brother, I think I heard my aunt’s voice."
The man’s face darkened.
If Madam Zhou had lifted the curtain to look outside, she would certainly have recognized the people on that ox cart as members of her own family, her sister-in-law—Madam Lu.
As the ox cart slowly entered the city, Madam Lu watched the carriage shrink to a dot, thinking it unlikely. If that really was Zhou Yingmei, then Heaven was far too unjust.
After all the suffering of the Old Zhou family, how could those two vile creatures, after causing them harm, still be living so well!