Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 510 - 480: Acting the Full Set (1)_2

After having a little dry rice at noon, she hadn’t had a drop of water until now when it was getting dark, and the brazier in the room made her body hot and dry. Li Yuwen was so thirsty that she wanted ice water.

"There’s tea, young mistress, please wait a moment." Aunt Zhou quickly walked to the table and poured a bowl of warm tea for her.

Li Yuwen glanced at her and raised her hand to take it.

Her hand was slender and fair, like the hand of a fairy in a painting. It complemented the jade porcelain tea bowl beautifully.

The four people watched in a trance.

Li Yuwen was truly parched and drank the tea in one go.

"Another cup." She handed the cup to Aunt Zhou.

The cup was a small teacup, Li Yuwen drank it in a few gulps.

If it was an average-looking girl drinking tea so heartily, it might seem inelegant. But Li Yuwen was pretty, and despite her big sips, the four felt that her posture was the standard for drinking tea.

"Yes, young mistress, I’ll pour more tea now." Aunt Zhou took the cup and poured another cup of tea for Li Yuwen.

After drinking the tea, Li Yuwen asked if there was anything to eat.

The two wedding maids and two maids looked at each other, according to custom, they had to wait for the groom to eat together.

"Young mistress, we have to wait for the young master to come back, you should eat together." Aunt Zhou gently reminded Li Yuwen.

Li Yuwen glanced out of the bedroom; the room where they were drinking was far off, and she could only faintly hear laughter.

"How much longer will the young master drink? I’m hungry." Li Yuwen didn’t want to wait for Pei Shenyan.

Pei Shenyan was really something, going off to drink and eat meat while she was left hungry here.

"Well..." Aunt Zhou couldn’t answer. How would she know how long the men would drink?

"I won’t wait for him, just bring me something to eat first." Li Yuwen said.

She was tired and hungry.

Thinking that after this, she would have to get married again, and that this time was just for show, Li Yuwen felt uncomfortable.

Getting married once was already so exhausting, yet she was getting married twice!

What kind of bad luck was she having!

Just as the maids were trying to console her, telling her to bear with it a while longer, Pei Shenyan, dressed in his wedding robe, entered the room.

The two wedding maids quickly went over, "Congratulations, Mr. Pei."

"Thank you for your hard work." Pei Shenyan took two pouches out of his sleeve and gave one to each of the wedding maids.

The pouches were heavy.

The two wedding maids happily thanked him and left.

Aunt Zhou came forward, "Young master, the young mistress said she was hungry, can the wedding tea be served now?"

Pei Shenyan nodded, "Go to the kitchen and see, bring a few more dishes, and some wine too." Today, a temporary cook was hired to prepare the food.

Aunt Zhou acknowledged and left.

The young maid Cui Xi, being quick-witted, also went out.

Inside the room, there were only Pei Shenyan and Li Yuwen.

Pei Shenyan glanced at Li Yuwen and walked over to the chair on the side.

There lay a piece of red veil for covering the bride’s head.

Pei Shenyan picked it up and held it in his hand.

"I was worried you wouldn’t get used to it, so I found two maids, the younger one is Cui Xi, and the older one is Aunt Zhou. They are from a nearby village, and I know about their family situations." He looked at her and said.

Cui Xi’s biological mother died early, her father remarried, and later he too passed away. The stepmother wanted to sell Cui Xi to someone in the city as a concubine, which she refused, and attempted to hang herself at the village entrance. She was saved by Pei Ji, who was out searching for a maid, and bought her to serve in the house.

Cui Xi, upon learning she was only to serve the mistress of Pei Shenyan’s household, agreed, as it freed her from her stepmother, and she worked diligently.

In the days before Li Yuwen’s arrival, Cui Xi polished the tables, chairs, bed frame, and cabinets, making sure every room was spotless.

Aunt Zhou’s life was also unfortunate, her husband was a drunkard and a gambler.

One day her husband lost money, and drunkenly returned home intending to give their daughter to the creditor as payment. Aunt Zhou fiercely protected her daughter. Her husband, overwhelmed with anger, began to beat and kick Aunt Zhou, dragging her to the pond, threatening to drown her.

In their struggle, Aunt Zhou’s husband kicked her into the pond.

At the same time, because he was drunk, unsteady on his feet, he too fell into the pond.

The villagers rushed over when they heard the commotion and rescued them both.

They were pulled out together, but only Aunt Zhou survived, her husband drowned.

The creditor did not spare her; despite her husband’s death, she still had to repay his debt, forcing her to sell their house.

The mother and daughter lived in a makeshift grass shed.

Although it was said Aunt Zhou’s husband’s actions had led to his own demise and that he wasn’t a good man, deserving his fate, gossipers still claimed that Aunt Zhou had brought her husband’s death upon him. At that time, Aunt Zhou was only thirty years old, and because of her husband’s death, she was unable to remarry.