Transmigrated Into an Ancient Filial Piety Novel as a Scumbag Alpha (GL) - Chapter 27

Chapter 27

“Some people saw their mother suffering and toiling but did not come to help. They truly committed a sin. Why did I bother giving birth to you and raising you? I pitied my old bones and flesh, yet I still had to do these things in the end,” Liu Fengmei’s harsh voice rang out again. She squeezed out some sobs, and although she did not name anyone, her gaze fixed fiercely on Ji Huan.

Ji Huan set the wooden basin aside and nodded in agreement. She said, “Mother, you spoke correctly. Where was Ji Yuan? Was today not your day to work? Yet, you let Mother toil hard here to help you. Was this the filial piety that you scholars talked about? You only studied books all day, but even though you grew so old, your parents still served you. Did the teachers at your academy teach you this way?”

“No, no, oh, I did not talk about Ji Yuan,” Liu Fengmei said anxiously, clapping her hands.

“Oh? You did not talk about Ji Yuan?” Ji Huan pretended to realize suddenly and continued, “What about Ji Ming? Mother called you to come out and work. As the eldest son in the family, you did nothing all day and stayed in your room. What treasure did you have in there?”

“I did not talk about your big brother…” Liu Fengmei wanted to say more, but Ji Huan’s next words silenced her.

“If it was not about big brother, I understood. Ji Sen, where were you? As the youngest in the family, you had the most strength. Why did you only think about gambling all day instead of helping Mother with work? Was it easy for Mother and Father to give birth to you and raise you? Come out quickly. Did you not see that Mother was almost crying because of you?” Ji Huan’s voice carried anger, as if she truly stood up for Liu Fengmei’s grievances.

Jiang Yubai stood quietly to the side, holding rice paper. She almost failed to suppress the smile on her face. Her sister completely blocked Mother’s words.

“You, Ji Huan, did you want to anger me to death? How did you become like this? Did I talk about them? I talked about you,” Liu Fengmei said, her face flushing red with anger.

Ji Huan pointed at herself, her face full of disbelief. The next moment, her eyes reddened. She said, “Mother, you actually talked about me? I did so much for the Ji family. Did I not usually do all these things? I originally thought you truly wanted me and Yubai to come back, but now it seemed I overthought.”

Liu Fengmei felt overwhelmed by Ji Huan’s reaction. She feared Ji Huan would run out and tell others about this, making it hard to back down for a moment.

Ji Mantun came out of the house and said, “That’s enough, her mother. You went to cook. Ji Huan just came back, so why did you argue?”

Ji Mantun’s gaze turned to Ji Huan. He said, “You just came back, so go rest in your room. Don’t worry, from now on, the household chores will be shared one day per family. You won’t suffer as much as before. Your mother had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Yesterday, she kept talking about you, worrying that you and Yubai didn’t live well at your second uncle’s place.”

Ji Huan’s lips curved into a smile, too lazy to pretend. She said, “If that’s the case, I thanked Father. When I dug mud just now, I met Zhou Xiaochun. She kindly gave me some unused rice paper to patch the windows, unlike third brother, who wouldn’t even give me a few sheets. He watched his own sister freeze. Maybe third brother was just that selfish. Perhaps he already wanted to cut ties with us country bumpkins.”

Ji Yuan, who eavesdropped at the door crack, could not sit still. He hurried to the courtyard to explain, “Second sister, I didn’t refuse to give you paper. The rice paper was too expensive, and our family saved money for my studies with difficulty. I didn’t dare waste it.”

Ji Huan laughed in anger. She said, “So, giving me a few sheets to save my life was a waste? Ji Yuan, how did I not see before that you were so cold-blooded? In the future, if you married a Kunze from a high-class family, would you pretend not to know Father and Mother when they passed by you?”

Ji Yuan panicked at Ji Huan’s words, for no other reason than because she hit his thoughts exactly. He now felt the village people were utterly inferior, especially his family, who were not worthy of him, a scholar.

“Father, Mother, don’t listen to Ji Huan’s nonsense. She tried to sow discord. When I succeed in the future, I will definitely honor you well,” Ji Yuan said quickly, his eyes reddening as he expressed loyalty to Liu Fengmei.

Ji Huan gave him a mocking smile and looked at Jiang Yubai. She said, “Let’s go. We patched the holes in the room.”

“Okay,” Jiang Yubai replied obediently. She returned to the room, placed the rice paper she held on the table, and then went to find Ji Huan.

Ji Huan ignored Ji Yuan, who still explained in the courtyard, and carried the wooden basin to the water tank.

Ji Huan poured some water into the basin with yellow soil. When Jiang Yubai came over, she asked Jiang Yubai to fetch some weeds from the backyard.

Ji Huan used a short knife to chop the weeds into small pieces and mixed them into the mud until it hardened slightly. She felt it was ready. She and Jiang Yubai carried the mud to patch the holes outside first, then returned to the room to continue patching.

Usually, Ji Huan only felt the room was cold but never counted carefully. She did not expect five or six large drafts below in the room alone. She marveled at how the original owner lived such a life.

Ji Yuan expressed loyalty to Liu Fengmei for a long time. Seeing Ji Huan ignored them completely, he finally relaxed a bit. His hardworking second sister really knew how to talk. Just one or two sentences strained his relationship with their parents. He decided he needed to be careful of Ji Huan in the future.

Jiang Yubai’s hands were covered in mud. She and Ji Huan blocked all the larger holes around. The remaining small holes were also filled with the yellow mud they prepared.

Some places were too high, so Ji Huan brought a ladder from the courtyard. She climbed the ladder first, and Jiang Yubai handed her a wooden board with yellow mud from below, making it easier for Ji Huan to patch the leaks while standing on the ladder.

Ji Huan saw Jiang Yubai holding the ladder for her below, her eyes curving slightly. Her little rabbit was quite considerate.

There were also many drafts at the roof. Ji Huan used the ladder to patch inside the room once, but the holes outside were hard to reach on the roof. She checked earlier and found many beams on the roof were nearly rotten. She could not climb up to patch them, or she might fall through with one misstep. They had to make do for now. At least the holes on all four sides were blocked, so only the roof side would be cold.

Climbing down the ladder, Ji Huan smiled at Jiang Yubai and said softly, “We can’t do much about the roof for now, so we’ll make do. When we build a new house, I’ll make sure they reinforce the roof well.”

Jiang Yubai nodded with bright eyes. She increasingly believed Ji Huan’s words. Perhaps she and Ji Huan would really have their own little home in the future.

“Sister, what about the paste?” Jiang Yubai asked.

“I’ll go to the kitchen to make paste now. You wait obediently in the room,” Ji Huan said. She wanted to pat her little rabbit’s head but remembered how she dodged last time, so she held back and did not reach out.

“Okay,” Jiang Yubai replied obediently. She knew if she went, Liu Fengmei would get angrier seeing her. Staying in the room caused less trouble for Ji Huan.

Ji Huan left the room and headed straight to the kitchen.

Liu Fengmei cooked unhappily. Seeing Ji Huan, her face lit up momentarily, but then she restrained her smile and put on airs. She said, “Didn’t you refuse to work? Why did you come?”

Ji Huan smiled at Liu Fengmei and said, “Mother, you overthought. I didn’t come to work. I just came to make some paste.”

Ji Huan found a small iron pot by the stove and scooped a spoonful of flour from the jar to set aside.

Liu Fengmei’s heart ached seeing the large bowl of white flour. She couldn’t help muttering, “Such a waste. The window had many holes, but you’re so delicate? Ji Huan, you’re a village child. Enduring hardship was normal. Don’t act so spoiled.”

“True, but Zhou Xiaochun gave me the rice paper. If you felt sorry for the flour and didn’t let me make paste, I’d return the paper to her and say my mother pitied the flour and told me to endure the cold,” Ji Huan said with a smile.

Liu Fengmei gritted her teeth and stayed silent. Telling Zhou Xiaochun about this was no different from telling the village head, Zhou Xiaochun’s father.

Liu Fengmei’s chest heaved with anger, but she dared not say more, fearing Ji Huan would really return the paper to Zhou Xiaochun. She could only endure.

Ji Huan felt quite cheerful. She added water to the small pot, poured in the flour, and stirred it with chopsticks in one direction as the water heated. Soon, the paste in the pot grew thicker. Ji Huan saw it was ready and lifted the pot.

Before leaving, Ji Huan cheerfully greeted Liu Fengmei, saying, “Mother, you keep busy slowly. I’ll go back first.”

Liu Fengmei was so angry her roots itched. She fiercely chopped the cabbage in her hand.

Ji Huan looked at the paste in the pot and picked up a branch from the roadside to use as a brush. She carried the pot back to the room.

Zhou Xiaochun was generous, giving Ji Huan plenty of rice paper. Though it had practice writing, it was still usable. Ji Huan looked at the window paper and said, “The paper should be enough. We’ll paste a layer outside first, and if there’s extra, we’ll paste inside too.”

Usually, in cold places, people pasted window paper outside first to prevent moisture from the room’s breath. If possible, pasting both sides kept it warmer, and Ji Huan planned to do so.

She applied paste to the window frame, while Jiang Yubai neatly pasted the rice paper on it. Their room was small, so they quickly finished pasting the outside paper and moved to the inside.

After pasting both sides, plenty of rice paper remained. Ji Huan did not throw it away but stored it in the wooden cabinet, thinking it might be useful later.

When she and Jiang Yubai went to wash their hands, Liu Fengmei finished cooking. Ji Yuan, afraid of family mockery, pretended to help Liu Fengmei carry the food. Liu Fengmei, who doted on him, said, “You go sit in the dining room. How could we let scholars like you do this?”

She glanced up and saw Jiang Yubai standing by Ji Huan. She scolded with a frown, “Blind thing, I let Ji Huan marry you. Did you think you came to our Ji family to enjoy blessings? You had no sense and didn’t come to help carry the food.”

Helping carry food was a small matter. In ordinary families, anyone might do it casually. But Liu Fengmei refused to let Ji Yuan do it and scolded Jiang Yubai with foul words. Ji Huan’s face quickly turned cold.

She stepped forward, shielding Jiang Yubai, and looked at Liu Fengmei coldly. She said, “Mother, if your words didn’t count, what’s the difference between a person and an animal? Was this your so-called one-day-per-family work? What? Ji Yuan was a person, but we were not?”

“Ji Huan, how could you talk like that? How dared you speak to your mother this way? Besides, I didn’t ask you to do anything. I only asked Jiang Yubai to carry the food. What spell did that little wretch cast on you? Why did you always side with her now? Don’t forget, she was a cursed widow who married before,” Liu Fengmei shouted recklessly.

With every word she said, Ji Huan’s face grew colder. She stared at Liu Fengmei and said, “Talking to people like you was a waste, but I still had to say it. Jiang Yubai was my wife. You kept your mouth clean when you spoke. If I heard those filthy words from your mouth again, I had ways to make the Ji family unable to stay in Dongniu Village and ways to make your precious son despised by his classmates.”

Liu Fengmei pointed at Ji Huan, wanting to curse more, but Ji Yuan stopped her. He quickly took the food from Liu Fengmei’s hands and said, “Mother, say less. Second sister just came back. Don’t make things big.”

Liu Fengmei thought of the villagers’ stares before and gritted her teeth in anger. She said, “Third son, was your second sister possessed? What a sin.”

“Mother, let’s go. Stop talking,” Ji Yuan said, fearing Ji Huan would get pushed too far. If he could not survive in the academy, where would he find a wealthy Kunze?

Ji Huan looked at Jiang Yubai behind her, seeing her expression somewhat downcast. She comforted her, saying, “Ignore her. She’s like a mad dog. Let’s go to the kitchen to get food. We won’t eat with the mad dog.”

Seeing her little rabbit’s low mood, Ji Huan thought for a moment and held Jiang Yubai’s hand. They went to the kitchen.

There wasn’t much food left. Ji Huan poured it all into a bowl. There were five coarse grain buns in the pot. Ji Huan took four at once and carried the food back to the room with Jiang Yubai.