Chapter 76: There is Room For the Poor Daughter
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Chapter 76: Entering the Space
The matter of dividing the courtyards was settled. While most of the family accepted the arrangement, it was a different story for Yan Yishuang, who cried and complained to Concubine Lin due to the disparity between the expectations and the reality of having her own courtyard.
This was partly Concubine Lin's fault. She had overestimated her own position. Yes, she held some influence over Yan Zhigao, and he did show her some favoritism.
But she forgot that she was just a concubine—a concubine who had not contributed anything to the Yan family.
She wanted her children to have the same treatment as Yan family’s legitimate son and daughter, but it was uncertain if Madam Li would agree, not to mention that the second and third branches of the family would strongly oppose it.
Children from the second and third branches, who were of the legitimate line, should hold higher status than those born to a concubine, shouldn’t they?
Yan Wenjie and the others did not yet have their own courtyards, so it was impossible for Yan Yishuang and her siblings to have them.
"The second elder sister, being the eldest, should stay in the main house. Why should it be given to Yan Yishuang?"
Yan Yile was packing her things in the second branch courtyard when she voiced her dissatisfaction to her mother, Sun Shi.
Madam Li had assigned a large courtyard for Yan Yihuan, Yan Yishuang, and Yan Yile. It had a main house with three rooms, and three rooms for each of them in the side houses. The problem arose when deciding who would occupy the main house.
Actually, it was only Yan Yile who objected. Yan Yihuan, who was usually non-confrontational, did not care where she stayed.
Sun Shi patted her younger daughter on the head. "You should not speak about this outside. Now that the Yan family is under your eldest uncle and aunt’s care, the second and third branches must depend on the first branch. In some matters, we must yield to them."
Yan Yile sighed, feeling somewhat sulky. "Why is my father not the Prefect Magistrate?"
Sun Shi sighed in return. "Who says he isn’t?" She had often envied the status of the official’s wife, but unfortunately, her fate was not as fortunate as the other.
Yan Yile scoffed. "We fight over the main house, but Yishuang doesn’t even care!"
Sun Shi smirked. "Concubine Lin doesn’t seem to know her own worth. Your elder brother hasn’t even been given his own courtyard yet, and she, as a concubine, dares to ask for one."
Yan Yile snorted. "I wish I had been born a few years earlier, like the older brother and sister. They didn’t have to fight for anything and were just given their own courtyards."
Sun Shi thought about her daughter and sighed inwardly. "Even if you were born earlier, you might not have been given a share. After all, you don’t have an official father."
For this period, Yan Zhigao had been busy familiarizing himself with the affairs of the state and meeting local officials, while Madam Li managed the household and also socialized with the wives of local officials. Both were so busy that they didn’t have time to deal with Concubine Lin’s complaints.
Eventually, Concubine Lin and her daughter relented and obediently moved to their new courtyard.
As for Daohua, she didn’t care about what was going on with the others. Now that she had her own courtyard, she focused her attention on decorating it, particularly the flower corridor and flower beds on the east side of the courtyard.
"Man’er, go ask Third Brother if he found the climbing plants I asked him to look for?"
"Okay, I’ll go now."
As soon as Wang Man’er left, Daohua quickly closed the door and then disappeared from the room.
Where did she go?
She entered the space!
Daohua’s space wasn’t very large. There were three plots of land arranged in a "品" shape, each one acre in size, and they were divided into yellow soil, red soil, and black soil.
The space didn’t have any extraordinary functions; it was simply fertile soil where anything could grow, and the crops had higher nutritional value.
The black soil was the most fertile, while the yellow soil was the least.
Daohua had planted several common medicinal herbs in the black soil, which she had purchased from a pharmacy. The best-grown plants were ginseng, which she had been growing for five or six years. Given the quality of the soil, she believed that even though these ginseng roots could not compare to a hundred-year-old ginseng, their medicinal effect was comparable to those that had been grown for decades.
When she had previously collected Xiao Yeyang’s jade pendant, she had thought about finding an opportunity to give him a ginseng root. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure if there would be another chance to meet him.
In the red soil, she had planted every fruit tree she could find: apple trees, pear trees, peach trees, persimmon trees, orange trees, apricot trees, cherry trees, plum trees, and jujube trees. These were common fruit trees in rural areas, easy to find.
She loved tea, so she also planted over ten jasmine tea trees.
In the yellow soil, she planted various vegetables and grains, including corn, red beans, green beans, wheat, rice, sweet potatoes, and chili peppers. Because the variety was diverse, the quantities were relatively small.
Since leaving her hometown, Daohua had visited her space less often. Now that she had her own courtyard, she had more opportunities to enter it.
She came in this time to check if the flower seeds planted in the red soil had sprouted. The flower bed in the courtyard was empty, and she thought it would be a waste not to plant more flowers. Once they bloomed, they could be enjoyed and transplanted into pots to be sold.
After seeing that the flower seeds had sprouted, Daohua ate an apple and exited the space. She appeared in front of the flower bed, and with a thought, the sprouted flowers appeared in her hands.
Once Daohua finished planting the flower bed, Wang Man’er returned with a basket of climbing plants, followed by Yan Wentao, who also carried a basket.
"What kind of climbing plants are these?"
Daohua took the basket and picked up a vine.
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This novel is translated by the Eternal Novel Hits translators. Please read it at https://eternalnovelhits.blogspot.com
....
Yan Wentao smiled and said, "These are climbing roses. I had the servant look for them for a while before picking them out. It’s said that once these climbing roses cover the wall, they look beautiful. There are many varieties, and I selected a few for you to plant."
"But you should be prepared. The seller said that some varieties of roses are hard to grow."
Daohua smiled and wasn’t worried. With her space, what couldn’t she grow?
Yan Wentao looked at the flower corridor and asked, "The corridor here is pretty high. Do you need my help planting them?"
Daohua shook her head. "Not for now. I’ll try planting them in the flower bed first. If they grow well, I’ll ask you to help me later."
Yan Wentao nodded. "Alright. Just call me when you’re ready."
That evening, the family had dinner in the old lady’s courtyard. After the meal, Madam Li spoke up.
"It’s been over a month since we arrived in Xingzhou. According to custom, we should host a banquet to invite the local officials and gentry."
Yan Zhiyuan smiled and said, "That’s the proper thing to do, elder sister. If there’s anything you need help with, just let me know."
Madam Li smiled and nodded. "In the future, I’ll have to trouble Second Brother." She then glanced at the others. "I discussed with my husband, and we plan to hold the banquet at the end of this month. Everyone should keep that in mind. Since this is our first time hosting a banquet, we must make sure we do not lose face."
(End of Chapter)
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