Chapter 292: Chapter 292: Building a House Chapter 292: Chapter 292: Building a House “Eh!” Madam Xie looked dazed, not yet having gathered her wits.
The mason masters all smiled knowingly, thinking perhaps Madam Xie had been too overwhelmed with joy. After all, a woman like her, divorced by her husband, living alone with her daughter, would never have imagined she could move into a new house. Such good fortune, if it fell upon anyone, would cause a euphoric surprise.
After briefing her, the masons took their leave to prepare for purchasing the materials needed for the house. Building a house was a big deal that required many items and couldn’t be taken lightly.
Mo Family Village had a population of over three hundred. Nestled between mountains on one side and a river on the other, its pristine natural beauty was the only redeeming feature of this remote and poor area.
In the eastern part of the village lived Aunt Li, a woman in her sixties whose husband had passed away early. Without children, she lived alone in a large residence with two courtyards and over a dozen rooms. However, her reclusive nature meant she seldom interacted with other villagers. When Xuexue approached her to talk about renting the house, Aunt Li was grim-faced and reluctant. After much persuasion from Xuexue, she reluctantly agreed, but with conditions – the rent was three taels of silver per month, and Xuexue had to take care of her meals and drinks.
Despite the harsh conditions, Xuexue readily agreed, saying she would move in the next day.
It couldn’t be helped. In Mo Family Village, it was hard to find anyone else living alone in such a large house. Also, Xuexue didn’t like the inconvenience and potential troubles of living with too many people.
Madam Xie, knowing Xuexue had rented such an expensive house, felt very heartbroken. Three taels of silver could rent many rooms in a farmer’s home.
“Oh, Xuexue, why did you have to rent her house? Aunt Li is so reclusive and unsociable. Living with her, aren’t we just paying to be miserable?”
“Mother, listen to what you’re saying. If you don’t like her, just don’t talk to her. We’ll each stick to our own and mind our business,” Xuexue knew that Madam Xie said this not because she really had any issue with Aunt Li, but because she was pained by the amount of money spent on the rent.
“How can we each stick to our own when she is going to eat with us?” Madam Xie’s eyes bulged. They would meet head-on and even need to look up at each other.
“If you really dislike her, you can separate her meals and just deliver them to her,” Xuexue argued.
“How can that be right? It’s not very polite to treat an elderly person that way,” Madam Xie objected.
The next day, Big Bull moved all the belongings from the old residence into Aunt Li’s house.
The people in Mo Family Village all knew that the Mo family was going to build a new house with blue brick roofing, and they were quite envious.
“Who would have thought that Xuexue could actually earn silver selling garlic greens and loaches.”
“Indeed, now Old Lady Mo must be fuming. The daughter-in-law she discarded, after being sent away, unexpectedly started living a better life.”
“While her precious Concubine Sun, treated like a treasure, didn’t even produce an egg, and cost her quite a bit of silver,” the villagers said, finding this turn of events particularly amusing.
“Shush! Stop talking, Old Lady Mo is coming this way!” they warned each other, silently agreeing to hush up.
Just then, Old Lady Mo approached and saw the women who had been chattering joyfully quiet down as she neared. She said, bemusedly, “Well! I saw you all chatting up a storm just now; why the silence when you see me approaching? Could it be you were speaking ill of me?”