Chapter 360 - 359: Take the Initiative
The next day, Chen Shi held a feast at Xinglong Grand Restaurant, inviting Wang Cheng’s family and Chen Ming’s couple.
At the banquet, Chen Shi sincerely apologized on behalf of Mrs. Chen to Mr. Wang and Wang Cheng. He also hinted awkwardly that Mrs. Chen often spoke without thinking, so they shouldn’t mention this to Afu.
Chen Ming also advised Mrs. Wang in private not to tell Afu about this matter, as it would only add to her worries and affect her relationship with Mrs. Chen and the main chamber.
Later, Mrs. Zhang couldn’t hold back and told Mrs. Wang about the conversation between Mrs. Chen and Chen Shi, which angered Mrs. Wang. She said, "Even my third uncle knows how my family is doing, but they keep lying. When I gave birth to Afu, nobody took care of me during my confinement period, it was me who used the few dozen money I had left to hire someone to help me wash clothes and diapers, and cook meals. Throughout that month, Mrs. Hu never came to visit. However, Mrs. Chen often came, but she behaved as if she didn’t see me or Afu, only cooking two eggs for my husband, or a bowl of meat soup. Afraid that my husband might try to keep some for me, she would insist on watching him finish eating before leaving. I was worried that he was concerned about us, so I lied to him that Mrs. Chen also cooked for me. My milk was insufficient, so Afu could only drink rice soup. But when I gave birth to Alu, Mrs. Chen kept sending chicken and eggs, afraid that my lack of milk would hinder Alu’s growth..." Thinking of those difficult days, Mrs. Wang’s tears began to flow again, she said, "I dare not tell Afu these things, I fear it would upset her. They have protected Afu several times, but they were actually helping my husband."
As it turned out, Mrs. Wang never mentioned about the issues Mrs. Chen and the main chamber caused. But this time, she was truly angry and couldn’t help but tell Afu when she got home. She only mentioned the most recent incident, and still dared not tell about the previous ones. She was worried that Afu would be upset and it might cause a rift between Afu and the main chamber which would put Chen Ming in a position.
Afu was at a loss for words, she really didn’t have much affection for the main chamber. The reason why she had always been decent to the main chamber was because of Chen Ming, she respected Chen Ming so she also respected his mother and brother.
Another reason was that there were three incidents that made her think highly of Mrs. Chen and Chen Ye. Two of these incidents involved them helping her when she was fighting with the villagers even though they were weak, they tried their best to help. Even though they were mainly helping Chen Ming, she still benefited from this and avoided suffering losses. In addition, Chen Shiying’s cruel mother wanted to bribe them to deceive her into the main chamber to sell her, but they didn’t let greed blind them and didn’t sell her. She felt that they had a moral bottom line, which was different from Chen Shiying’s vile mother. They just liked to take advantage of small benefits and were not bad people.
However, even after giving so much to them, they were dissatisfied and dared not vent their anger on her, instead they took it out on Mrs. Wang which caused Afu to become unhappy. Thinking about this, she decided that apart from the necessary exchanges of common courtesy, she would not provide them with extra gifts in the future, to prevent them from becoming too greedy.