There's Something Wrong With My Little White Flower - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Fallen Republican Era Young Lady X The Overseas-Educated Paternal Aunt

“You want to take me back to Nanxi?” Ruan Jiyun had just entered the house when she saw Father Jiang in the hall, along with her meticulously dressed aunt and her group, who were smiling brightly at her.

Early that morning, her aunt had visited Father Jiang with Ruan Jiqing. To ensure a smooth trip, the aunt had left a day earlier, first staying overnight at Ruan Jiqing’s in-laws’ home on the west side of the city. She had learned that Ruan Jiyun went out sketching with her French teacher every Wednesday morning, so she arrived after Ruan Jiyun had left.

She had a goal this time, so she was unusually generous. She brought a basket of crabs and fresh lotus roots from the countryside as a gift, and her words were extremely warm.

“Yunniang has been raised so well at your home. Everyone who hears of it praises you, Old Master Jiang, for your kindness!” The aunt said, wiping her eyes with the corner of her clothes. “Although we are a humble family, we would never want to wrong our daughter when she marries. Since Old Master Jiang brought up the marriage, I, as an elder, will be brazen enough to speak.”

Father Jiang had only intended to notify the Ruan family. Jiang Zhiyu’s school could not wait, and he had already sailed for France. Yunniang was also still in high school. His intention was for the two families to exchange the marriage certificates, and hold the wedding ceremony when Jiang Zhiyu returned.

But the aunt would never agree to such a prolonged situation. Hearing this, she immediately said: “There’s no need for such trouble. This time, we want to bring Yunniang back. She hasn’t paid respects to my Third Brother since her mourning ended. It’s time to formally announce this matter to him. Our two families have always been close. After the betrothal ceremony, I will properly send her back to you!”

Father Jiang pondered for a moment. What the aunt said was reasonable. Many families setting engagements followed this process: if one party was not local, the elders of the two families would agree on a date, and the bride would be brought into the house in a sedan chair first.

Ruan Jiyun had lived in his house for three years, and he had treated her as his own daughter. Going through this formality to complete the ritual was for the best. Thinking this, he nodded: “That makes sense. However… my daughter Peifeng happens to be away for the next two days. She went to the Nanjing factory on behalf of her brother. What if we wait for her to return to send Yunniang off?”

Upon learning that Jiang Peifeng, the troublemaker, was not home, the aunt was even more relieved. She waved her hand broadly: “Miss Jiang is the groom’s younger sister! There’s no reason for her to send the bride off! I specially brought my Qingniang with me. The two girls grew up together and are very close. My dear in-law, please rest assured!”

This led to the scene Ruan Jiyun walked into. To prevent any last-minute complications, the aunt spoke a torrent of words, essentially saying that Yunniang was too shy, so they would just say she was returning to the countryside to pay respects to her ancestors, and they would slowly explain the marriage procedures to her on the way.

Father Jiang was a man, and it was naturally inappropriate for him to talk much with Ruan Jiyun, who was about to become his daughter-in-law. He simply instructed the aunt to take good care of her and took out a silver packet as a thank-you. The aunt repeatedly declined, then awkwardly and quickly tucked it into her pocket.

Ruan Jiyun was also somewhat hesitant about having offended her aunt last time, but the aunt greeted her with an appearance of having no hard feelings, repeatedly telling her that the ancestral hall in the old town had been renovated and that her family had diligently looked after Third Uncle Ruan’s grave for the past few years. Now that the mourning period was over, it was time for Yunniang to return and visit her father.

These words struck a chord with Ruan Jiyun. Since the end of the mourning period, she hadn’t had a chance to visit her father’s grave. Coupled with her aunt’s entirely accommodating attitude, she thought about it briefly and agreed to return to the countryside for a short stay with them.

After lunch, Father Jiang instructed the driver to take them back to the countryside. While the aunt wasn’t paying attention, he slipped a few silver dollars into Ruan Jiyun’s hand: “To buy yourself some snacks.”

Ruan Jiyun smiled wryly: “My aunt and uncle won’t deny me food, will they?”

Father Jiang smiled: “I know you. Your appetite has been spoiled by Peifeng. The countryside is not like home. Don’t deprive yourself. You’ll be back in a few days anyway.”

As they spoke, the driver had already brought the car to the door. Ruan Jiyun could not refuse any further, so she quickly put the money into her pocket and got into the car with her aunt and the others.

The aunt had traveled on a villager’s ox cart when she came, which was loaded with goods and luggage, shaking them constantly and making them feel disjointed. Now, sitting in the Jiang family’s car, she couldn’t help but exclaim admiringly: “The Jiang family is truly wealthy! Yunniang, you’ve landed in a den of blessings. Do you often ride in this car?”

Ruan Jiyun said: “Sometimes when I go out, yes, but I ride my bicycle to school. My teacher said I am frail, and cycling would strengthen my body.”

“Tsk… These Westerners’ ideas are really different from ours. Cycling is so tiring. If it were me, I’d ride in the car every day,” the aunt sighed wistfully. “I wonder when I’ll ever enjoy such good fortune.”

Ruan Jiyun chose to ignore this comment. Her aunt’s biological daughter was sitting right beside them. She silently lowered her head, thinking of Jiang Peifeng. She wondered if her first trip to the Nanjing factory was going smoothly.

This spaced-out appearance made her aunt inwardly mock her: Such a wooden doll of a girl. I wonder where she got this fortune from.

How wonderful it would be if this fortune belonged to my Qingniang!

They chatted intermittently along the way. Before nightfall, Nanxi Town was already in sight. The driver politely declined the aunt’s enthusiastic invitation to stay, simply dropping them off safely at the doorstep and hurrying back, afraid of trouble if he drove at night. The aunt repeatedly tried to keep him, but reluctantly let him go.

She was still thinking about whether she could ride the car around the village tomorrow morning to show off…

The eagerly awaiting Ruan family was already gathered in the main hall. Uncle Ruan still had his usual composed look. Seeing them enter the house, he only instructed: “Hurry and eat!”

Ruan Jiyun looked up. Besides a few types of pickled vegetables and tofu, a large bowl of greasy, stewed pork hock sat prominently in the center of the table. Several cousins, their eyes gleaming, stared intently at the pork hock.

Once the food was served, Uncle Ruan picked up his chopsticks first, and the group immediately scrambled to poke at the bowl in the center. Among them, her cousin Xiaoxian was the most aggressive in grabbing food.

“A bunch of hungry ghosts reincarnated!” The aunt regained her dominant presence once she was home. She tapped her younger daughter’s hand with her chopsticks and first smiled as she placed a small piece of meat in Ruan Jiyun’s bowl: “Let your Sister Yunniang eat first.”

Immediately after, she picked out a large piece of pork hock, skin and meat included, and placed it in Ruan Xiaoxian’s bowl. She then sucked the grease from the tip of her chopsticks and ordered: “Hurry up and eat! It will be dark soon, and we’ll have to waste oil on the lamp!”

Ruan Jiyun found the glossy, stewed pork hock a bit too rich. Father Jiang’s worry was absolutely right; her appetite had indeed become quite refined. Holding the dish in her bowl, she looked at her younger sister’s longing eyes on her left, picked up the piece of pork hock, and handed it over: “Sister, you eat it.”

Ruan Jining’s eyes lit up at the sight of the meat. She quickly stuffed it into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out, swallowing it almost without chewing. Her aunt failed to stop her, reaching out to slap her daughter on the back: “Hey! She’s just a little girl, why is she eating meat!”

But Ruan Jining had already wiped her greasy mouth, giving Ruan Jiyun a grateful smile.

Uncle Ruan cleared his throat: “It’s a happy occasion. Don’t talk about these things. Just eat quickly.”

By the time the family finished eating, it was completely dark. Since Ruan’s father passed away, the Third Branch’s rooms had been absorbed into the First Branch, leaving plenty of empty space. But the aunt smiled and said: “We rushed back too quickly. Qingniang’s room hasn’t been tidied yet. Why don’t you two sisters share the room tonight, sleeping in Yunniang’s room?”

With her saying this, even if Ruan Jiyun was reluctant, she couldn’t force her cousin to sleep in the courtyard. She silently agreed.

The shared sleep made her feel even more awkward. Ruan Jiqing was completely familiar, entering the room and immediately rummaging through the snow cream and perfume Ruan Jiyun had brought back. As she tried them on, she asked: “Yunniang, is this French perfume? This small bottle must cost a lot, right?”

Ruan Jiyun looked at the perfume bottle and said: “I don’t know. Peifeng gave it to me.”

“That Miss Jiang from the Jiang family?” Remembering the incident at the department store, Ruan Jiqing still felt lingering fear of Jiang Peifeng. “She’s certainly very good to you, but it’s understandable, after all, you’re about to become her sister-in-law. She’ll have to be mindful of you at home in the future.”

“Sister, what nonsense are you talking about?” Ruan Jiyun’s heart skipped a beat. “What sister-in-law or whatever, what will people think if they hear that?”

Ruan Jiqing chuckled: “It’s obvious, isn’t it? We’ve had a marriage contract all along, and you know it. You’re not young anymore, and you’ll be marrying in sooner or later.”

She continued to talk to herself: “When you become the eldest daughter-in-law of the Jiang family, don’t forget about me.”

Ruan Jiyun didn’t feel much about the marriage contract at first. However, now that she was studying at school and interacting with young female classmates, they occasionally talked about marriage. They said that “freedom to love” was the current trend, and arranged marriages were feudal dross that should be abandoned.

Ruan Jiyun was still unclear about what “freedom to love” meant, but she sometimes wondered how wonderful it would be if things could just stay the way they were. Ruan Jiqing’s words were undoubtedly a wake-up call for her: the main reason the Jiang family took her in was because she was the designated daughter-in-law for their son.

She pursed her lips, temporarily setting aside this thought, and silently opened the vocabulary notebook she had specially brought back. Since setting the goal of studying in France, she had added French to her studies. Now, by the faint light of the oil lamp, she raced against time to study.

Ruan Jiqing had already climbed into bed, yawning wearily: “My mother is always careful with lamp oil. Don’t study too late.”

Ruan Jiyun said softly: “I’ll buy her a jin of lamp oil tomorrow. I’ve already fallen behind in my schoolwork by coming back, so I have to catch up.”

Seeing her impervious attitude, Ruan Jiqing simply rolled her eyes.

Putting on this pretentious act now. After she marries in, won’t she still have to obediently serve her in-laws? Reading so many books is useless. It would be better to focus on giving the Jiang family a son as soon as possible.

The oil lamp cast a dim light. Ruan Jiyun sat quietly in a corner, concentrating on her book, silently reciting vocabulary. Letter by letter, the words became clearer before her eyes, and her gaze grew firmer.

Peifeng once said that as long as a person focuses on the task at hand, even an inch of progress is an achievement. So why should she fret over things that had yet to materialize? She should just do the best she could with the present moment.

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