Chapter 164 Jiang and the Pregnant Woman

"Pregnant woman? What do you mean?" Gong Youwei looked at Li Daoxuan with her eyes wide open.

"Do you think there is a possibility that Li Xiucai's wife is a fox in disguise, and the dead body in the well is Li Xiucai's wife?" Li Daoxuan made a bold guess. He thought of what Li Yanming said and the dead body in the well, and then connected it with what Grandma Zhou said.

The connection between these things made him feel that this might be the case.

"I don't know." Gong Youwei shook her head. "But if I could see him, maybe I could find out something."

"You mean to meet Mr. Li's wife?"

"Yes."

"Well, after dinner, let's find a reason to visit." Li Daoxuan said.

After dinner, Li Daoxuan changed into a clean jacket.

Although he didn't like this kind of jacket very much, it was the most popular type of clothing nowadays.

He tidied his hair, put on a melon-shaped hat, put Gong Youwei in his arms, and went out with his things.

He planned to visit the scholar's home and find out about the scholar's wife.

As for the reason, he planned to say that he wanted to go to school and wanted to ask Brother Wen what other books he read besides the Four Books and Five Classics.

As soon as I arrived at the scholar's house, I felt a gloomy atmosphere coming from the yard.

I reached out and knocked on the door, and a woman's voice came from inside the room: "Who is it?"

Li Daoxuan straightened his clothes, coughed and asked, "Is Aunt Jiang at home? I am here to visit you."

"Hey, yes, yes." As the woman in the room spoke, she heard a burst of hurried footsteps coming.

The door was opened, and a haggard-looking woman with her hair combed out slowly walked out.

She wore white underwear and a blue jacket embroidered with plum blossoms. Although she was a bit old, she was still affectionate.

Her eyelids were green, and she looked at Li Daoxuan with the wooden shuttle in her hand. Seeing that he looked a little surprised, she asked, "Isn't this Sanlang from the Qianyuan family? Do you have something to ask me?"

Qianyuan is the name of Mr. Li, and the old village chief also called him that. Since the woman could call Mr. Li that way, I guess they were old acquaintances.

After listening to these words, Li Daoxuan felt that Jiang's tone was not very good, and it seemed that she had some resentment towards his cheap father.

But thinking that he was here to do business, he just pretended not to hear and bowed to Jiang and said, "Greetings, Madam."

"Forget it. I wonder if Sanlang has something to do here?" Jiang said a little tiredly.

"There are indeed some things." Li Daoxuan said. "The boy is preparing to go to school recently, but he doesn't know what books to read. Grandpa Cheng knew that the boy in my aunt's family was also studying, so he came here to ask."

As Li Daoxuan spoke, he handed the gift in his hand to Jiang.

Those were the chickens he brought, all of them were fat and big roosters.

Jiang looked at the gift handed to her and was silent for a moment before she moved aside the person blocking the door: "Come in and talk. It's not nice to stand outside."

"Yes." Li Daoxuan responded and walked into the scholar's house.

He felt a chill coming over him, causing his fur to rise.

"It's really too much yin energy." Li Daoxuan thought to himself.

The Qi-Observing Eyes quietly opened, and saw wisps of gray mist still scattered in the yard, which seemed to be signs of remnants. It seemed that someone in the scholar's family must have fallen ill and had not recovered yet.

I had already felt that there might be something strange about this place, so I gave up my qi-watching technique after just one look.

Looking at the scenery in the yard, there are shady trees and overgrown weeds.

The branches and leaves of those trees were extremely dense, almost covering the entire yard. It seemed that even the bright midday sun could hardly shine in.

Li Daoxuan was surprised by the gloomy courtyard. The trees could almost completely cover the courtyard. Not to mention whether people were comfortable living there, it was easy to attract insects and ants, and it was easy for snakes and rats to hide. Perhaps seeing Li Daoxuan looking at the courtyard, Jiang said as if explaining or talking to herself: "My daughter-in-law is afraid of light and doesn't want to go out for a walk on weekdays. Now she is pregnant, and sitting at home for a long time is not good for her health. So I let this tree grow a little longer to block the sun."

"So that's how it is." Li Daoxuan nodded in response.

As you step into the main hall, the first thing you see is the altar in the middle with fruits and melons placed on it.

There was a tablet on the altar. Judging from the name of the deceased engraved on it, it should be Jiang's husband, who passed away only a few years ago.

Li Daoxuan didn't know about Li Xiucai's mother, Jiang, and no one in his family mentioned it, so he had no idea who Jiang's husband was or what he had experienced.

In addition to the memorial tablet, there was also a loom in the room.

This kind of wooden machine was not uncommon in the Liangjiang and Fujian-Zhejiang regions, and was also a way for ordinary women to supplement their family income, especially in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. After all, oriental silk was still a hot commodity in that era. Even the opium business that Britain was interested in would mostly be traded in silk. However, these matters can only be discussed separately.

"Sit down." Jiang said, rolling up her sleeves and serving food to Li Daoxuan. "Wen Ge'er has just fallen asleep, so we can't ask him to come out and talk to you. I'll go look at the books he usually reads and bring them to you to read."

"Thank you very much, Auntie." Li Daoxuan quickly thanked her.

"You don't have to be so polite." Jiang smiled and said with a smile. "Come to think of it, I've heard about you. Didn't you go to the mountains to practice Taoism? Why did you come back to study?"

"My master let me come back because he saw that I was old enough. So after I came back, my father asked me to study hard and learn to read and write, hoping that I could pass the imperial examination in the future." Li Daoxuan made up the lie without blinking, just looking at Jiang, his expression very calm and composed.

"I see, that's right." Jiang said softly. "How is your father doing recently?"

"My father? My father is fine recently. But he always exaggerates how intelligent Wen Ge'er is from my mother's family and says that I can't compare to Wen Ge'er." Li Daoxuan said again, deliberately belittling himself and praising Wen Ge'er.

This way of speaking is part of interpersonal communication, and ordinary people like to listen to it.

But Jiang didn't look very happy after hearing this. Instead, she looked at Li Daoxuan with a gloomy expression: "Is that so? Will he say that too?"

"." Li Daoxuan felt that the atmosphere was a bit weird and did not dare to continue making up stories.

He always felt that there seemed to be some connection between Jiang and his father, otherwise she would not have made such an expression after hearing these words.

"My father said a lot, and sometimes I forget." Li Daoxuan whispered. "Auntie, are you very familiar with my father?"

"Your father and I? We are indeed very familiar with each other." Jiang said angrily, wanting to say something but stopping herself. At this moment, she heard a noise coming from the side, and saw a young woman in plain clothes walking out.

She was pregnant and looked unhappy. She looked at the two people sitting in the room and complained, "I was sleeping, but you kept waking me up. Do you still want your Li family's child? If you do, don't disturb me. You, as a mother-in-law, always do bad things. If I have a miscarriage, it will be retribution for your Li family."

The pregnant woman finished speaking in one breath, then turned around and went back to the room, not caring about the reactions of the two people in the main room. However, her words were so fierce that even Jiang looked embarrassed.

Li Daoxuan frowned and stared at the pregnant woman's back.

He didn't expect that the scholar's wife would have such a bad temper that she even dared to scold her own mother-in-law.

Stroking Gong Youwei's head, he felt the warmth on his fingertips.

Li Daoxuan knew that this was a signal from Gong Youwei, indicating that she had seen the true identity of the pregnant woman.

However, the sudden appearance of Li Xiucai's wife and her scolding actually saved Li Daoxuan the trouble of chatting with her.

She had been wondering how she could meet the pregnant woman from Li Xiucai's family. Now, not only did Gong Youwei get to meet Li Xiucai's wife, but it also gave Li Daoxuan an excuse to leave.

"Auntie, I am sorry for being rude. I will go back first. If I am free tomorrow, I will come to ask Brother Wen for advice."

Jiang had just been embarrassed by her daughter-in-law's scolding. Seeing that Li Daoxuan was about to leave, she stopped being polite and just said, "Okay, okay."

After saying that, he let Li Daoxuan get up and leave.

Li Daoxuan walked out of the main room, glanced at Jiang's haggard figure, and sighed secretly in his heart.

"What did you find?" Li Daoxuan asked Gong Youwei after walking more than a hundred steps out of the scholar's yard.

(End of this chapter)