Song Dingxiang [Completed]

C17. Send Away Beggars.

Chapter 17

Old Third Grandaunt Song was utterly infuriated by Song Dingxiang's behavior. She glared at the smiling Song Dingxiang standing before her, convinced that the girl had transformed completely after her suicide attempt.

Song Dingxiang wouldn't have made a fuss over such trivial matters. It was just a bowl; did the Fourth Song family lack bowls?

And even if the embroidery was rough, couldn't Song Dingxiang simply take it back and redo it?

She remembered the words her husband had said: 'She had offended the Fourth Song family.'

Indeed, she had offended someone.

She forced a smile, then put on a surprised expression and said, "Second Daughter-in-law, what is this you've brought? Isn't this the shoe upper I randomly made that day? Oh Dingxiang, you don't know, that day I wasn't feeling well and just wanted to do some needlework, but when I finished, it was all messy, so I left it aside without bothering to fix it. Who knew..."

Upon hearing this, the fifth daughter-in-law quickly took the shoe upper and said with a smile, "I told you, this doesn't look like the kind prepared by Mother. Oh, let me go change it, let me go change it."

With that, she hurriedly ran into the house, rummaged through a pair of shoe uppers she had made for her own husband, bit her lip, took out the shoe upper, and handed it to Song Dingxiang.

Song Dingxiang then said, "I knew Aunt Wu's needlework is so good, how could Jiao Xing sew so messily. Alright, thanks to Third Grandaunt, we'll be leaving now."

With that, she grabbed Zhou Yinuo, who had been trying to hold back his laughter, and left Third Granduncle Song's house.

As they exited, Zhou Yinuo finally laughed out loud and said, "This Third Grandaunt Song is quite interesting."

"Haven't taken advantage enough? I used to not bother with their family because my family members have good temperaments, but when they started bullying me, how could I not fight back? Let's go, let's go to Fifth Granduncle's house."

Fifth Granduncle had passed away early, so the courtyard was usually deserted. But today was different, as Fifth Grandaunt was in the yard with her grandson and daughter-in-law, beating the bedding.

"Fifth Grandaunt!" sweetly called out Song Dingxiang.

Fifth Grandaunt smiled and beckoned, "Dingxiang ah? Come in quickly and sit, it's freezing outside."

"It's freezing and Fifth Grandaunt is still out here? Why sunning bedding at this time?" she asked, puzzled.

Beside her, Song Hongmei couldn't hold back her laughter and said, "Isn't it because someone flooded the Dragon King Temple at night..."

"Aunt, don't say that!" the little grandson blushed and seemed embarrassed.

Hongmei was two years younger than Dingxiang, with three older sisters - Xiumei, Xiangmei, and Baimei, leaving nothing creative for her name except Hongmei.

In the dead of winter, if the bedding got wet, it couldn't be washed. But who doesn't have a child who pees on the bed?

So, to get rid of the moisture, they heated sand or dirt in a big pot and stomped on the wet spots, absorbing the dampness.

Once most of it was dried, they would take it outside to air and beat it, making sure the cotton didn't clump together.

After beating and fluffing it, they would put it on the kang bed to roast for a while, and it would be ready to use in the evening.