A 135-year-old grandfather seeks a daughter-in-law

  "Hmph, won't he come to me a few more times? I don't think he's the kind of person who would be intimidated by me. He must have gone to his sister Zhang's place. Every time he comes, it's all about his sister Zhang this and that in front of me. As soon as he sees his sister Zhang, he's overjoyed and forgets about me. Let's go find him!"

  Miao Yu blinked her eyes and asked with a mischievous face: "Frost sister, why are you so angry?"

  "I'm fed up with him not taking my words to heart. I've waited for him for so many days, and he still hasn't sent back the things his servant stole from me! It seems that if I don't go find him myself, he'll soon forget about me, this sister of his. He said such sweet nothings, claiming he'd listen to me for a lifetime, but it was all just empty flattery to deceive me. I thought he'd be different from other men, but it turns out they're all the same, without a conscience!"

  Ling Feng finished speaking and stood up with a huff, about to walk out the door.

  "Sister Frost, you can't just leave like this, can you?"

  Ling Frost stopped in her tracks, looking at Miao Yu with a puzzled expression, clearly not quite understanding what she meant.

  "Look at what you're wearing! You'll attract every man in Luoyang!"

  She looked down at the thin, colorful silk dress that still clung to her body after the dance practice, her figure slender and delicate, with half of her full breasts exposed, and furrowed her brow in concern: "What's to be done?"

  "Didn't Young Master Yang give you a makeup box last time? It seemed to be some cosmetics used by street performers for their performances."

  "Go get it for me," Ling Xue said with a smile.

  ……

  In the kitchen of Zhang's Sweetheart Workshop, the pastry chef is busy configuring seasonings.

  Xing'er pushed open the kitchen door and happened to see Zhang Shi absent-mindedly pouring all the seasonings in her hand into the boiling soy milk pot.

  "Zhang sister, you quickly put a whole pack in."

  Zhang's eyes widened as she looked up to see Xing'er walking into the bakery, and then glanced down at the paper bag in her hand, a large packet of seasonings had been poured out, only then did she hastily stop herself.

  Xing'er asked: "What's wrong with you lately? You're always absent-minded, are you sick?"

  "No, there isn't."

  Xing'er walked up to her with a suspicious look, scooped out a spoonful of soy milk from the pot, put it in her mouth and tasted it, immediately spat it out while coughing, smacking her lips, and said with a worried face: "Sister Zhang, what on earth did you put in this?"

  Zhang heard this and hastily picked up a paper bag next to him, on which was written a large character for "salt".

  She actually took salt for sugar.

  Xing'er reached out and touched her forehead, furrowing her brow: "You don't even have a fever, no way, you must be sick, stop working right now, go upstairs and rest, I'll get Father to take your pulse and prescribe some calming medicine for you."

  "Xing Er, I'm really fine."

  "They all took salt for sugar and said it was nothing, yesterday when I walked home you suddenly disappeared, I thought you had been kidnapped, I was so scared that I searched everywhere with Zhen Gege, fortunately you came back, Zhen Gege was so anxious that he almost rushed into the Li Mansion to find Pei Qiantong to demand your return."

  Zhang's eyes glazed over again, seemingly lost in thought, his soul wandering.

  Just then, Huan suddenly pushed open the kitchen door and rushed in with a look of anxiety: "Sister Zhang, something's wrong! An old man has burst into our store, making a big fuss, saying he knows you and wants you to go out and talk to him."

  Zhang's body trembled all over, and his face turned white in an instant.

  Xing'er had never seen her look so scared before, as if she had just heard some terrible news. She grasped Zhang's hand and found it to be ice-cold, which made her tense up: "Sister Zhang, what's wrong?"

  "Zhang's tone was weak and pleading: 'Xing Er, can you go out and tell that person I'm not here?'"

  "Does Sister Zhang know that person?" Xing Er looked puzzled.

  "He is...my father-in-law."

  Xing'er had long heard that Zhang's father-in-law had pawned her to a usury shop, and as soon as she heard the words, she suddenly became furious: "He dares to come looking for you! Huan'er sister, you stay with Zhang sister, I'll go drive him away!"

  ……

  A crowd of people gathered at the entrance of the store, an old man was rolling all over the ground at the entrance.

  It was Zhang Shi's husband Song who had been missing for a long time, and after discovering that Zhang Shi was the boss of this store a few days ago, he had been thinking about doing something.

  He is now lying on the ground at the door of the store, crying and scolding in his mouth, Xing Er is standing by, helpless, and the surrounding customers are getting more and more.

  "Ah, my life is so bitter! I've lived for half a lifetime, and now my son is gone. I finally found his wife, but she won't even see me. Doesn't she remember who fed her, housed her, and kept her warm? I always thought of her first when it came to good things. But now that she's with some rich lover, she doesn't even care about her own father-in-law. She won't even come out to see me. What a heartless woman! I've raised a white-eyed wolf. What's the point of my living on..."

  "What's wrong with this old man?"

  "It seems like Tofu's ex-husband has come knocking on the door."

  "You're already old, how can you still be so shameless and reckless?"

  "No wonder he's like that, at his age, with no one to rely on, his son is also dead, it's not easy for his daughter-in-law to open such a big store, so he has to bask in the glory."

  "That Tofu Westerner is really heartless, after relying on each other for many years, he doesn't even want to see his own father-in-law, this is truly how human relationships are as thin as paper, once they achieve success, they turn their backs and don't recognize people anymore."

  "There's something strange, I often see a man coming and going from the shop, even staying overnight. As the saying goes, 'a widow's door is prone to gossip', I reckon it's eight out of ten that this tofu western woman has hooked up with some rich guy, and with General Dugu as her backing, who still remembers the kindness others showed her in the past."

  "It's really hard to believe that such a beauty can do something like this."

  "People's hearts are separated by a thin skin, this is called beautiful as peach blossoms, but with hearts as venomous as snakes and scorpions."

  Apricot heard these people discussing more and more excessive, language hurt Zhang's family, anxious to tie hands and feet, can only be on the side bitter persuade Song old head: "I didn't say that sister Zhang is not in the store? You make trouble like this, how can we do business?"

  Old Song wailed even more miserably: "If she doesn't come out to apologize and make amends, I'll die right in front of her shop! Let's see if she still has the face to do business after that! Ah, my life is so bitter!"

  "Isn't it just silver you're after?! Speak up, how much do you want?!"

  Old Song was taken aback for a moment, then he started wailing and making a scene again: "You ask me how much I want? Does the great Sui dynasty not have any laws?! She is my daughter-in-law, her store is also my store, her things are also my things. Now she wants to get rid of me with just a few taels of silver, does she think I'm a beggar?! Tell her, I am her father-in-law, not some beggar who came to her door!"