Chapter 118: Brother, Have You Ever Fallen in Love With Sister-in-law?
Translator: Flying Lines
That night, Xiao Baozhu was taken to the Wongs. She was not carried in by palanquins nor did she wear an auspicious red robe. Her only two accessories were bought by Li Hongmei. Ye Xiaoxian also gave her two silver ingots, asking her to hide them away safely.
As Xiao Baozhu left their door, Li Hongmei kept crying and said to Baozhu that if she suffered much grievance there, she might as well come back. They did not sign a contract to sell her, so if she wanted she could return at anytime. Still, Xiao Baozhu did not listen at all.
It was very cold that day and the cold wind was blowing above everyone’s heads. There were quite a few people gathered around the restaurant who knew of the matter of Xiao Baozhu and came to watch the drama.
“She’s really going? Tut-tut, she’s so young. Is she crazy, dreaming of having a man?”
“Maybe she thinks the Wong Family is great with fine goods and clothes, but doesn’t she know that those who enjoys the nice things are the masters. When she marries in, she’ll be a handmaid which is no difference from a servant.”
“I don’t know what she’s hoping to benefit from there. Doesn’t she have more freedom working at the restaurant? She just needs to do the accounts and take the bills all day long.”
“Maybe she’s after the handsome Scholar Wong.”
Li Hongmei looked at the back of Xiao Baozhu, who was resolute in leaving, and could not help her tears rolling down.
Baozhu, why are you so foolish?
…
Xiao Baozhu’s plan was that when she went to the Wongs she could stay at Scholar Wong’s side and serve him. She did hold onto wild dreams of Scholar Wong falling in love with her and she would be fine so long as she could see him every day.
However, Scholar Wong did not see Xiao Baozhu at all, let alone sleep with her. He just shut himself inside his room all day long to study.
There were a page and a maid by Scholar Wong’s side. When Xiao Baozhu married in, both the page and the maid despised her. They thought that she made her way into their family through nasty means which were very despicable.
Therefore, Xiao Baozhu was tasked with all the dirty and heavy chores in the yard. As Xiao Baozhu had just arrived she was unfamiliar with the surroundings and did not even know where to have meals, so she ate the food brought to her by the page and the maid.
The Wongs were a wealthy family but the food for their servants was very simple. It was already a treat if there were a couple of slices of meat in one meal, but when the meal was handed to Xiao Baozhu she found that all of her meat had been taken by the page and the maid. All she could have were several over-cooked vegetables. She was furious but dared not speak out against it.
Why did it turn out to be like this? This was not what the novels said. In novels, all the pages and maids are extremely loyal and very adorable.
The two servants of Scholar Wong were both lazy and liked to steal food. When Scholar Wong was present they would lick his boots and fawn over him but once he was not with them they just loafed around and had no consideration of being his servants.
When Xiao Baozhu had married in, she only saw Scholar Wong twice. She ran towards him the moment she saw him but Scholar Wong did not even look at her and moved away to another yard. He apparently despised her very much.
Xiao Baozhu could not see Scholar Wong and, moreover, she had to do heavy chores everyday which was even worse than living back in the village and there was no comparison with life in the restaurant.
When she was in the restaurant she just did the accounting everyday and the meals were great. She could have as much food she wanted. She used to be at most seventy jin and was nurtured by her sister-in-law into ninety jin. Since then she had started looking like a mature girl.
As for the accommodation, although the Wong’s mansion was splendid, the living conditions of the servants were also plain. She had to bunk up with several maids in one room.
There was an unwritten law: The newcomers are responsible for cleaning.
Xiao Baozhu was a newcomer, so she had to do a lot of work and also was mocked by other maids.
“I heard that she knocked out the young master so that she could climb into bed with him.”
“Hehe, she should find a mirror and look at herself in it. Who does she think she is. She’s not pretty and has no family background. The young master is going to marry and she still causes such trouble. I wonder what kind of mother could have such a daughter.”
“Maybe her ma is just the same as her.”
Hearing more gossip, Xiao Baozhu felt even more angry and was on the verge of crying, but she could not do anything about it. Currently the Wongs did not favor her and she also dared not make a scene as she was afraid of being thrown out.
When night came she cried silent tears and sometimes cried until late into the night. She really missed her sister-in-law, her mother, Baofeng and even Little Five, Little Six and Xian. Her life back then was so carefree. Why hadn’t she cherished it?
Although she missed them, once she thought about Scholar Wong she did not regret the situation anymore and even felt herself lucky for coming here. She thought that she should just take it, as if she had never had such a happy life before. When she was in the village living under the mercy of the first and third households, hadn’t she also had to do heavy chores every day?
…
When Xiao Baoshan came back from the dock he heard that Xiao Baozhu had gone to the Wongs. He blamed Li Hongmei right away, “Ma, Baozhu is not sensible. Are you not sensible either? How could you let her go to the Wongs to be a handmaid?”
“I couldn’t stop her.” Li Hongmei cried as soon as Baozhu was mentioned.
Ye Xiaoxian also sighed next to her. “Baoshan, it was Baozhu’s own choice. If you tied her down she would still want to go. Don’t blame Ma.”
Li Hongmei then sobbed and told Xiao Baoshan the whole story. Xiao Baoshan was rather furious and clenched his fists tightly. “Baozhu has actually done such a thing!”
Li Hongmei continued to cry. “I don’t know how Baozhu lives at the Wongs. I went there yesterday and wanted to ask about her condition but the Wongs did not let me in. They said that a handmaid is a servant and servants are only allowed to come back to visit their families on the thirtieth of each month.”
Xiao Baoshan said with self-reproach, “Ma, as her brother, I’m the one to blame for Baozhu ending up like this. I didn’t expect that she could do such a thing!”
“Baoshan, what you just said is like slapping my face! I’ve eaten and lived with Baozhu all the time and didn’t think that she’d become like this, and you’re her brother. How could you, a man, notice this?” Li Hongmei sighed again.
“If I was more considerate and talked with her more in daily life, maybe it wouldn’t have to be like this!”
“…” Li Hongmei was about to blame herself again when Ye Xiaoxian spoke up. “Ma, Baoshan, don’t confuse yourselves anymore. If you have the time for such things, you might as well go to the Wongs to check on her. You can always find a way to get in.”
Ye Xiaoxian looked at Xiao Baoshan. She knew very well that with Xiao Baoshan’s skills, whether he was going to see Xiao Baozhu or even sneak into the government house, no one would possibly find out.
Surprisingly, Xiao Baoshan understood Ye Xiaoxian’s suggestion, so he said right away, “Right, I’ll go then!”
…
When Xiao Baozhu saw her second elder brother she was sweeping the yard. Xiao Baoshan suddenly appeared in front of her which made her weep tears. All the pain she was suffering showed on her face.
“Baozhu, leave with me!” said Xiao Baoshan. Seeing Xiao Baozhu’s tears his heart also ache. He did not have to ask and already knew that Xiao Baozhu did not lead a happy life here.
Xiao Baozhu, however, slapped Xiao Baoshan’s hand away and said with determination, “I won’t go!”
“Baozhu, why should you torture yourself?”
Xiao Baozhu’s tears rolled down as she said, “Brother, you don’t understand. None of you understand what it is like to fall in love with someone. I am suffering here but if I leave, I’ll still suffer the same. Being here I can at least see him sometimes and hear from others about whether he’s well or not. If I leave I won’t hear anything about him. Brother, don’t force me. No matter how terrible it is living here it’s my own decision. I won’t regret it!”
Xiao Baoshan felt very sorry for her. “Baozhu, will you really not regret it?”
“No, I won’t!” said Xiao Baozhu, extremely determined.
“What are you really after?” asked Xiao Baoshan.
Xiao Baozhu smiled scornfully. “Brother, you’ve never really liked Sister-in-law, have you? If you really liked her then you’d understand my feelings.”
This time it was Xiao Baoshan who was puzzled. He did not like Little Ye or understand her?
The two of them had been in a stalemate for a while. Seeing that Xiao Baozhu was so headstrong he then understood that she would never be persuaded. Even if there were ten oxen here, they wouldn’t pull Xiao Baozhu back.
He did not feel it was necessary to continue trying to persuade her. This sister of his perhaps had to undergo a lot to understand that what she had chosen was wrong. Whether she would lead a good life or not in the future would simply depend on her fate.
On his way back, Xiao Baoshan still thought about that question: Brother, you’ve never really liked Sister-in-law, have you?
Don’t I?
Xiao Baoshan pondered on it and thought that he did like Ye Xiaoxian now. Every time he went sailing he missed her very much. Sometimes he looked at the sky sitting on the deck at night and the starry sky would turn into her smiling face.
However, to like someone is not to cling to them, because you have to consider their feelings also. To like her was to make her happy.
Would Scholar Wong like Baozhu even though she had done all of this? He wouldn’t. So, instead of truly liking him, she was in fact just being selfish.
If one day Ye Xiaoxian did not want to be with him he would not pester and urge her to stay but let her pursue her own happiness, because the one who could offer her happiness may not be him.
…
Seeing Xiao Baoshan return alone, Ye Xiaoxian and Li Hongmei knew that he was unable to persuade Baozhu.
Ye Xiaoxian knew that it would turn out this way. Girls in their puberty did not listen to others. They could only understand something by getting terribly hurt.
“Baoshan, how’s Baozhu living now?” Li Hongmei asked him with red eyes.
Xiao Baoshan said, “She’s fine.”
“Really?” Li Hongmei was not convinced.
“She’s at least living the way she wants to,” said Xiao Baoshan again.
Li Hongmei wanted to cry again as Baozhu had really made up her mind about this unpromising journey.
Ye Xiaoxian did not feel comfortable saying anything. After all, Baozhu was her husband’s sister and it was not appropriate for her to comment on certain things. If she did, she may sound nosy. She could only give Xiao Baozhu some advice, the next time she saw her, about how she should lead her life in the future.
“Baoshan, shall I go to the kitchen to cook some dishes for you?” Ye Xiaoxian asked. “Do you want to eat now or later with the others?”
“I’ll eat with the others,” said Xiao Baoshan looking at Ye Xiaoxian.
There was a fire of affection in his eyes which made Ye Xiaoxian a little self-conscious and she had to evade it. Ever since the last time he came back he had started looking at her in this way, as if she was his prey and he was the hunter.
Ye Xiaoxian felt uneasy again.
