Unlimited Resources: Raising a Minister with a Space Supermarket-Chapter 484 - 432: The Feng Family’s Orphan Trust (Part 3)

His sister desperately wanted to marry Zheng, the young doctor, and was even willing to be a concubine. A few months ago, he and his mother visited his sister in Yangcheng and waited outside the Zheng Mansion. Unexpectedly, he overheard Shopkeeper Hai chatting with another shopkeeper and learned that Zheng the young doctor had married a formal wife the previous year, but she lived in the Zheng Family’s old house in the south, not in the Northern Land.

When his mother tried to inquire further, the two shopkeepers were let inside by the gatekeeper; it seemed they were there at the end of the month to summarize accounts with Zheng the young doctor.

While waiting for the gatekeeper’s report, Zhao Ping and Madam Feng agreed not to tell Zhao Chunyu about it, as Zhao Chunyu’s infatuation with Zheng Yuanfeng had reached a nearly pathological level, and Zhao Ping and Madam Feng didn’t want to upset her.

However, when they met and conversed, they discovered that Zhao Chunyu had long known about Zheng Yuanfeng’s marriage.

Zhao Chunyu had been serving as a slave and maid in Zheng Yuanfeng’s mansion for nearly nine years. During this time, Zheng Yuanfeng explicitly suggested that Zhao Chunyu return home to marry. When Zheng Yuanfeng originally gave Madam Feng Zhao Chunyu’s indenture money, he didn’t formally go to the county government for the contract seal.

Despite Zheng Yuanfeng’s repeated persuasion, Zhao Chunyu stubbornly refused to return home to marry, and eventually, Zheng Yuanfeng stopped urging her.

Thus, Zhao Chunyu endured in the Zheng Mansion, becoming an old maid at twenty.

In the first few years, Madam Feng wasn’t anxious; she always thought that a man’s pursuit of a woman is like climbing a mountain, while a woman’s pursuit of a man is separated only by a thin veil. Her daughter wasn’t ugly, and although her status was somewhat mismatched, her daughter wasn’t seeking the position of the main wife.

Yet, in the past two years, Madam Feng felt her health worsening, and her daughter’s marriage became a persistent worry. Finally, at the start of the year, Madam Feng decided to bring her daughter back from Yangcheng.

When Madam Feng went, she was resolute, determined to bring her daughter back even if she had to tie her up. But when they met, and faced with her daughter’s heartfelt pleas, her resolve quickly diminished.

Zhao Chunyu refused to return to River Bay, no matter what. Madam Feng had no choice but to bring Zhao Ping back to River Bay.

Zhao Chunyu should be able to earn a monthly salary at Zheng Yuanfeng’s place, and she gave Madam Feng some of the money she saved. However, Madam Feng wanted to save the silver coin for Zhao Ping’s future marriage, so even when ill, she refused to see a doctor or take medicine, only enduring silently.

Zhao Ping held a grudge against this sister. If his mother hadn’t worried about his sister every day, she wouldn’t have passed away so abruptly, especially when she was not yet fifty.

With his mother’s death and the family scattered, Zhao Ping decided not to acknowledge Zhao Chunyu as his sister anymore.

"I’m willing to go with my sister. I can chop wood, cook, and do laundry. Sister, I won’t let you take me in for nothing," Zhao Ping’s voice was sullen.

If it weren’t for his mother’s dying wish to entrust him, he wouldn’t want to rely on anyone. There was plenty of land in their village that no one was farming. If he worked diligently, he could plant a couple of acres, and the harvest in autumn would be enough for him to eat for a year.

His mother’s dying wish was for him to follow Yu Xiaolian, and Zhao Ping didn’t want to defy his mother in the slightest. He had no more opportunities to fulfill filial duties to her, and if he also abandoned his mother’s final wish, wouldn’t he be as unfilial as his sister?

"Since you’ve decided to come with me, get on the carriage!" Yu Xiaolian, exhausted after a busy day, didn’t want to waste any more words at this moment.

"Sister, wait for me, I’ll be right back!" Zhao Ping said, quickly running to his own courtyard. Shortly after, he found the dozen small pieces of broken silver hidden by Madam Feng, put them in his chest, and grabbed a few of his clothes before climbing into the carriage.

"Sister, where are we going?"

Inside, Zhao Ping felt extremely uneasy, constantly reassuring himself that his mother’s entrusted person should not be a bad person.

Yu Xiaolian leaned against the carriage and closed her eyes. "We’re going to the town first; I have unfinished business. In a few days, I’ll take you to Yangcheng; my home is in Yangcheng now."

Zhao Ping’s small fingers kept pulling back and forth. He wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say, fearing that too many questions would upset Yu Xiaolian, so he remained silent.

Yu Xiaolian had arranged to meet Gao at the Lucky Inn in town, but Yu Xiaolian waited until dark without seeing Gao return. She knew Gao must have found her parents or brothers.

Yu Xiaolian arranged separate rooms for Zhao Ping and Cao Gen and asked some people to bring hot water for Zhao Ping, as he still had mud clinging to him from catching fish by the river.

Initially, Yu Xiaolian didn’t notice Zhao Ping carrying a bundle with several changes of clothes. When she realized it, she told Cao Gen to throw out Zhao Ping’s clothes.

Zhao Ping bathed and wore new clothes brought by Cao Gen, making him even more anxious.

This situation made him more uneasy than when his mother brought him and his sister to rely on the Zheng Family.

Perhaps having family around and his mother as a support in the past kept Zhao Ping calm.

At this moment, the two people beside him were strangers he had never met. Yu Xiaolian not only let Cao Gen buy him good material clothing but also fed him white bread. Could there really be kindness without reason in the world?

Even his parents’ relatives couldn’t be so generous, so why would this Yu Xiaolian willingly take him in as a ’freeloader’?

Could it really be because they were neighbors before, and her mother’s relationship with his mother was good?