In the end, I was not able to figure out how to be a virtuous wife. The construction for my mother-in-law"s courtyard was going smoothly. Every day, Xiao Cha and I would help out here and there. I also dug up two banana trees and planted them in the courtyard. The entire house design was square and very simple, the layout was also very practical. There was also a big pig pen and cowsheds, the equipment of a wealthy village house was very complete. Xiang Qing also bought a pile of piglets and good cows to gift mother-in-law. I also packed a lot of jewelry that I had no use for and gifted them to my mother-in-law and elder sister-in-law, who was so happy that she kept praising me to my mother-in-law and my mother-in-law was also very impressed with me.
If I knew that I could buy virtuousness with money, why would I have run around aimlessly?
Regarding that, Xiang Qing touched my head and said, "You don"t understand."
What don"t I understand? I asked him in confusion.
"If my mother is a person who is so greedy for money, she will not have secretly used so much of her own money to support us when we were getting married," Xiang said, holding me in his arms. "If we just give her money, she would always accept it but she will not be willing to spend it, and then show off her son"s filial piety to the neighbors, so I simply bought something for her, since she won"t spend for herself."
I seemed to somewhat understand but did not fully understand and just nodded. I will always send any caught fish to them in the future. This kind of effort is much better than me having to cook and work.
Elder brother-in-law"s courtyard had not yet been completed and we received even more good news informing that elder sister-in-law is finally pregnant. Mother-in-law was so happy and said that when Xiao Mao was born, she didn"t get a chance to witness it and watch him grow. At last, she"ll finally have a chance to witness the birth of her grandson and take care of him. Therefore, elder sister-in-law was upgraded to the most precious lady of our family, she was not allowed to do any heavy labor and was only allowed to do light needlework.
My mother-in-law wanted me to go to help with the housework and I was naturally willing to go, but Xiang Qing was reluctant for me to do it and spent time and hired two experienced female servants to serve my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law originally thought that the expenditure was too great, but the joy of welcoming her grandson and my clumsiness eventually dispelled her concerns and she accepted taking in servants.
After becoming pregnant my elder sister-in-law started to experience some depression and her temper was also much bigger. She would always get upset at little things that were not important. Yin Zi said that it is a normal depression, she has been looking forward to this child and becoming pregnant for so many years, so naturally, she will be on edge. I used to be like this occasionally too when I was pregnant, and then after a while, I will be fine, so let us all accommodate her.
So I would frequently go and find her to chat, telling her some silly tories to make her happy, and take her for a walk in the garden. The sun was shining brightly down on elder sister-in-law, whose face was full of maternal radiance. She said she feels bigger and put her hand on her growing belly, and was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with satisfaction and happiness. It reminds of when I was pregnant with Xiao Mao and every day hoping he would come out, wondering if it would be a boy or girl, what name should I give? How to educate the child in the future? What kind of person will the child grow up to be?
When I heard his first cry, I felt the whole world had brightened, the excruciating pain in my stomach had also disappeared. I just wanted to hold him and take a good look at him, keep him in my arms and never let go.
At that time, he was ugly, his whole body was red, he had no hair, tails or ears and he did nothing but cry. But after all, he is the most adorable child in the whole demon world, No, he is the most adorable child in the world.
I used to hold him to sleep every night and sing him a lullaby of the cat family, coaxing him not to cry. One day I accidentally kicked him out bed in my sleep in the middle of the night, I was awakened by a loud piercing cry and quickly picked him up and continued to sing the lullaby.
After he grew up and went to school in Heaven, I will always find an excuse to go pick him up. Yin Zi said that I am pampering him too much and I"m spoiling him, so he grabbed a rod. I quickly sent him back, I also received scolding from the princ.i.p.al of the school.
Xiao Mao is so good, I suddenly missed him. I don"t know if he is carefully paying attention to the cla.s.ses at Blue Feather G.o.ddess"s school. I don"t know if he has caused trouble or not.
Or, I can"t stick to my husband every day, I should also go see him. How about I leave tomorrow?
Elder sister-in-law was still talking about children and seeing me absent-minded was somewhat unhappily asked, "Is younger sister-in-law tired?"
"I am thinking of Xiao Mao." I replied honestly.
As a mother, she immediately understood and asked, "What private school is Xiao Mao attending? Is it good? How about I send my child there to study in the future?"
I was not very good at responding to this question and awkwardly said, "The private school is a bit far away and he has to live on campus."
"Oh, being too far is not good." Elder sister-in-law began to worry again, "I won"t feel at ease if the child is not in front of me."
At that time, elder brother-in-law came back from work, seeing her troubled he couldn"t help but laugh, "You don"t even know if the child is a boy or girl, and you"re already worrying about school?"
"A daughter can also be sent to learn to read and write." Elder sister-in-law smiled and took his hand, and they both left me to go back to their room.
I saw that there was nothing to do and so ran home to continue relaxing.
Xiang Qing was looking for me, he said, "the original money we have saved has almost been spent and I don"t want to use those gifts. So we might as well go retrieve some of the treasured that I hid, how about we go together?"
I was about to agree, then I suddenly remembered Xiao Mao and shook my head, "I want to go to Heaven to see our son."
After a bit of hesitation, he told me that he would be back after two to three days, and I should not get into any trouble in Heaven and should not stay too long and disturb Xiao Mao"s study.
After I responded with an "Oh", I went to find Yin Zi and Xiao Cha and asked if they would like to accompany me. Yin Zi said he didn"t want to go, but Xiao Cha was very excited and pulled him pleading to go out and have fun so he could only agree.
The three of us happily rode the h.e.l.l hound and flew to Heaven. Xiaolin warmly received me and cleaned up the room for me. After resting, I took Xiao Cha on a little tour around and then took her and headed to the demon school. However, this no good person had only gone halfway, before she insisted that she stopped and refused to move. So I had to wait for her to finish her playing and rolling around in the flowers. After all this delay, by the time we arrived, it was already the end of the school day. When Teacher Huang saw me, he was a little happy and came forward and praised Xiao Mao for being smart and asked if he was doing well in the mortal realm?
I was a bit confused and said, "he was also very well-behaved in the mortal realm, but I missed him so I came to see him."
"Came to see him?" Teacher Huang was also somewhat confused and asked, "Is he not accompanying you in the mortal realm?"
"No!" Hearing this, I suddenly felt nervous, "He left to go back to Heaven a while ago, did he skip cla.s.s?"
Teacher Huang quickly took me to blue feather G.o.ddess and blue feather G.o.ddess and hurriedly explained the matter, blue feather G.o.ddess was shocked and said, "Last night, Xiao Mao said that he missed his mother and asked for a day off to go visit you, did he not go back?"
I shook my head fervently, "He didn"t come back."
Blue feather G.o.ddess suddenly felt panicked and quickly got on her feet and said, "first go and look for him first, in case you missed each other on the road."
I heard her words, I quickly hurried out and even forgot to say goodbye, dragging Xiao Cha to run along with me whether she could keep up or not and quickly flew back to Xuan Qing palace to find Xiaolin and asked him in detail, Xiaolin"s answer was also consistent with what blue feather G.o.ddess said. he said that Xiao Mao came back last night and went out again and that he has not seen him since then and he thought that he had gone to the mortal realm to play in the Hua manor.
My son is missing, I felt so anxious I wanted to cry.
Yin Zi grabbed the disspirited me and flew off, leaving behind Xiao Cha. The two of us flew back to the Hua manor to check, then went to the village to check, but could not find Xiao Mao"s figure.
I went to bull devil"s house and surprisingly found him at home, he said that Xiao Mao did not come, he wanted to have me stay for dinner, but I quickly refused. I went Houyan mountain to find Lou Sha, but she was not at home, her maid said that she had hurriedly gone out.
What happened? Was it too embarra.s.sing for him to beaten by his father, and he really ran away from home? Has he turned into a bad child?
I bit my tail and walked up and down anxiously, and I didn"t think Xiaolin will send worse news from Heaven:
"Xiao Mao trespa.s.sed into the purple bamboo forest and has been arrested. He is now locked up in the prison of Lingxiao Temple."