Unlimited Resources: Raising a Minister with a Space Supermarket-Chapter 487 - 435: Encountering Madam Xu Again

Yu Xiaolian knew what Sun Wulin’s wife was worried about; she was simply afraid of losing the source of income and the whole family living off the land until it was exhausted.

"Aunt Wu, I think you should ask Mansheng’s opinion. If Mansheng wants to continue studying, you don’t have to worry about the gift money; I will provide it for him."

The reason the gap between rich and poor is so great is that some people are very content with the status quo. As soon as they achieve a small success, they feel satisfied and refuse to strive further.

In Sun Wulin’s wife’s eyes, Sun Mansheng already knows more characters than the other sons of the Sun Family, and he can even write, which is quite enough for her. She never thought of having Sun Mansheng to achieve a top scholar rank; not even a Scholar’s degree crossed her mind.

Back then, Sun Wulin was considered the smartest person in the Sun Family, yet he couldn’t even pass the exam as a student.

People shouldn’t fantasize about things that are unrealistic; Sun Wulin’s wife just wanted to live a stable life, with clothes without patches to wear and white rice without grit to eat. She was very content with that.

Contentment brings happiness!

Yu Xiaolian saw Sun Mansheng standing not far behind her and Gao, so she simply waved him over.

Thinking Sun Mansheng would choose to continue studying, who knew he would say, he listens to his mother.

Yu Xiaolian frowned, suddenly feeling Sun Mansheng was like Liu Shan, unable to stand on his own, since someone offered to pay the gift money for him to study; shouldn’t he agree happily?

Yu Xiaolian did not expect gratitude from Gao and Sun Mansheng; she only hoped Sun Mansheng could seize the opportunity in front of him.

What Yu Xiaolian didn’t know was that Sun Mansheng didn’t want to continue studying, but he didn’t want to disobey his mother, making her sad. His elder brother didn’t come back with them, and his mother was indeed very upset.

Sun Wulin’s wife didn’t notice Sun Mansheng’s different expression; she merely felt relieved that her youngest son listened to her the most and was the most filial.

Yu Xiaolian sighed in her heart, no longer said anything, respecting everyone’s choice.

Life is short; everyone should live in the way they like.

Yu Xiaolian also left some chili seeds for the Gao Family and taught them the planting method, then stayed with Zhao Ping and Cao Gen before leaving.

The next destination was Yu Xiaolian planning to go to Sun Daji’s wife’s maternal family in Dajing Village. Dajing Village was downstream from the Lower River Bay, not far from Canghe. With Cao Gen driving, they took only a quarter of an hour to arrive.

Yu Xiaolian had been to Dajing Village before; Sun Hu’s grandmother’s family, the Xu Family, was from Dajing Village.

Back in those days, Xu abandoned the sick grandmother Sun and Sun Hu and returned to her maternal home alone, causing grandmother Sun to nearly die. Sun Hu couldn’t believe his own mother was so cruel, and insisted on going to Dajing Village to verify. Yu Xiaolian had no choice but to take Sun Hu to Dajing Village.

By coincidence, as soon as Yu Xiaolian entered the village, she spotted Xu.

Eighteen years had passed, and Xu looked much more haggard and old than before; though not yet forty, she seemed like an old woman.

How could Xu still be living in her maternal family? Had she not married in all these years?

Yu Xiaolian tapped on the carriage board to signal Cao Gen to stop.

After getting off, Yu Xiaolian walked directly towards Xu.

Sun Hu was concerned about his mother Xu, despite Xu being unkind to grandmother Sun, she genuinely loved Sun Hu.

Yu Xiaolian thought to help Xu as well, to provide some solace to Sun Hu.

Over these years, although Sun Hu was respectful to Qi Dalian, his stepmother, their hearts could not truly connect.

Xu was pushing the grindstone near the village entrance; inside the stone mill were crushed corn kernels. Xu would breathe heavily and take a break after a few rounds of pushing.

It was noon, the hottest part of the day, and Xu chose this time to grind cornmeal, which was puzzling. The stone mill might even be scalding at this time, right?

As Yu Xiaolian stood next to the stone mill, she caught Xu’s gaze.

Xu looked at Yu Xiaolian puzzledly, "Who are you looking for? Why are you coming to our village?"

"Don’t you recognize me?" Yu Xiaolian spoke as Cao Gen handed a paper oil umbrella from the carriage.

Yu Xiaolian opened the oil-paper umbrella to shield herself from the sun.

Xu found Yu Xiaolian’s face familiar but didn’t dare to acknowledge her as Yu Xiaolian, thinking the Sun Family and Yu Family once moved south together. How could she appear here?

"Are you Yu Xiaolian?" Xu asked tentatively.

"It’s me!" Yu Xiaolian nodded.

Xu suddenly became excited, "How have you come back? What about Tiger? Where’s my son?"

"Tiger didn’t come back here; he’s still in the south. Aunt, how have you been? Are you well?" Yu Xiaolian, for some reason, felt heartache seeing Xu looking so pitiful.

Xu wasn’t inherently bad; she was instigated by her parents back then to have ill intentions towards her mother-in-law. After being abandoned by Sun Fengshou, her parents’ attitude toward her changed immediately. While she sneaked money from the Sun Family for her parents, they refused to let her use even a penny and forced her to marry an old bachelor from the neighboring village just for a three-tael silver dowry.

Xu, having no way out, begged her parents to allow her to live at home for a while, to choose someone she would remarry, then leave.

Because Xu promised that the person she chose would surely pay a higher dowry than the old bachelor’s three-tael, she earned temporary respite from her parents.

"Before I found someone to remarry, a drought struck where we lived. From the autumn until the next summer, there was no rain, even the river was decreasing day by day. By the second autumn, little water could be drawn from the well, and many people from the village fled south. My parents and brothers left me here, and while escaping, they didn’t take me... Wah..." Though many years had passed, Xu couldn’t help but mourn when recalling the despair of that day.

Xu was penniless, unable to move, losing all will to live, and chose to stay in Dajing Village. Fortunately, there was still a way out when Xu found that the well, which had stopped yielding water, began leaking water occasionally. Only Xu and some elderly abandoned by their sons remained in the village, living around the well daily.

Xu’s family had no food. Her parents took it all, without leaving any for her, but fortunately, there was half a bag of bran for pig feed left. Xu survived on bran.

After enduring the severest year of drought, in the third year, heaven began to send snow in winter and rain in summer, allowing Yangcheng to revert to normal.

However, most of those who left chose to settle in the coastal cities and were unwilling to return.

"They say Bohai City is much better than Yangcheng, with seafood available by the sea and no need to worry about water supply. The sea has fish and shrimp, so starvation isn’t a concern, and fishers don’t pay taxes. Many from our village have settled there."

Xu rambled on and shared a lot with Yu Xiaolian, like a long-lost family member.