Rebirth: Contract Husband Falls in Love with Me-Chapter 169 - 85 He Still Cares About Face_2

"Hmm! I knew my eldest sister is such a virtuous woman!" Shi Fengju chuckled in praise, then smiled and said, "Our Qingzhou is not like Meng County, the merchants usually do not offer credit, you know this too. If one day your husband wants to go shopping, have someone let me know and I will accompany him. I almost know all the big and small merchants here in Qingzhou City, and they might give us a discount then!"

"Yes, that’s true!" Shi Yumei nodded repeatedly upon hearing this and laughed, "Second brother, you are really good to our eldest sister!"

"Don’t say like that, we are close relatives after all!" Shi Fengju smiled. In his heart, he thought if this scoundrel goes out and runs up debts, not only is it a bad habit that shouldn’t be encouraged, but it would also utterly disgrace the Shi family!

After sitting for a while longer, Shi Fengju stood up, ready to leave to take care of business and instruct someone to handle this mess. Mrs. Wang asked him to stay for breakfast, but he had no appetite and shook his head, saying he had a prior arrangement to eat out.

"Second brother!" Just as he was stepping down, he saw Shi Yumei catching up quickly, hesitated for a moment and then said with a forced smile, "Second brother, about my brother-in-law’s debts, could you, um, perhaps not tell anyone else... and could you personally go to Meng County to settle them..."

Shi Fengju was stunned.

Shi Yumei, lowering her head and looking quite embarrassed, said, "After all, he is a scholar... if the servants knew about this, it would be quite embarrassing..."

He still cares about his reputation! Yet, he does such things while worrying about his face!

Shi Fengju genuinely wanted to have someone beat Ren Zhixian as a way to vent his anger.

Alright then! Better not be angry! It’s not worth getting upset over!

"Alright, I will go to Meng County today!" Shi Fengju suppressed his feelings over and over again, took a deep breath in secret, tried to smile calmly and said.

"Thank you so much! Fengju!" Shi Yumei sighed in relief.

"Eldest sister, tell your husband, this cannot happen again!" Shi Fengju said coolly.

"Of course, of course! Don’t worry, it definitely won’t happen again!" Shi Yumei quickly nodded.

"By the way," right when Shi Fengju was about to leave, he suddenly asked, "Did you move all your stuff here? Including his books and writing materials like brush, ink, paper, and inkstone?"

Shi Yumei laughed and said, "Those things were all given away! He said it’s a keepsake for his old friends! Oh, I have the list of books here, I’ll bother you to get another set for him later..."

"..." Shi Fengju was speechless, "Even the Four Treasures of the Study bought from Guangwen Store were given away?"

Guangwen Store in Qingzhou also has a large shop, specializing in the Four Treasures of the Study, scholar’s calligraphy and paintings, ancient books and other items used by scholars, and the prices are hefty. A top-quality set of the Four Treasures of the Study consisting of Huzhou brushes from Zhejiang, Huizhou ink from Anhui, Xuanzhou paper from Anhui, and Duanzhou inkstone from Guangdong, the most expensive could cost up to a thousand taels, and even the cheapest would be over two hundred taels.

"It seems so! Anyway, nothing was left!" Shi Yumei clearly did not understand what the Four Treasures of the Study were or think them worth much.

"..." If I knew better I wouldn’t have asked—the more I ask, the angrier I get. Such a prodigal!

When Shi Fengju returned to Ningyuan, Sang Wan was just finishing her breakfast and about to leave for Linqing Pavilion to hear reports from the housewives and maids. Seeing her husband, who was supposed to be out on errands, returning home took her by surprise and seeing a trace of frustration on his face made her even more puzzled.

"Did you forget something? Why have you come back?" Sang Wan quickly asked.

"It’s nothing!" Shi Fengju sat down and signaled the maid to pour tea, looking up at Sang Wan he instructed, "Tell Chang Huan to prepare the carriage, pack me two sets of clothes, I need to make a trip out and will be back tomorrow!"

"Alright!" Sang Wan nodded without asking further, hurriedly instructed Hong Ye to find Chang Huan, and took Xingzhi inside to pack his clothes. Hearing Shi Fengju asking Liu Ya, "Is there anything to eat? Just bring something simple for me!"

"Didn’t you eat at mother’s place?" Sang Wan turned around, after instructing Xingzhi about the clothes, she ordered Liu Ya to hurry to the small kitchen to check, and if there was nothing, to ask the cook to prepare a bowl of noodles.

"No need to go through the trouble, if there’s nothing I’ll just eat outside!" Shi Fengju warmly smiled, thinking to himself that his wife is truly dependable!

"It’s all ready-made food, it won’t take long!" Sang Wan said with a smile, "Eat at home before you rush off, it’d save you the trouble."

Shi Fengju smiled and did not say more.

Leaving Shi Fengju’s departure aside, Sang Wan continued handling the household matters as usual, slightly revised the menu for the Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet, and took it to Mrs. Wang for approval. Mrs. Wang smiled and affirmed it, so Sang Wan instructed the servants to pass it down to the kitchen as usual.

In the afternoon, Gu Fangzi returned from performing a ritual ceremony at the temple.

First, she returned to the peony garden to freshen up and change into clean clothes, Gu Fangzi then went with Lan Xiang to the main courtyard to greet Mrs. Wang.

Mrs. Wang, seeing her looking wan without makeup, dressed in simple green clothes, and with her hair casually tied showing no decorations, which made her seem even more pitiful and endearing than usual, couldn’t help but feel a pang of heartache and sincerely comforted her.

Gu Fangzi nodded repeatedly, thinking hard about her somber and tragic life; her eyes welled up with a few tears, making Mrs. Wang even more sympathetic.

"Don’t be sad, my dear child! From now on, this is your home, your aunt is your family, silly child, don’t cry!" Mrs. Wang couldn’t help but embrace Gu Fangzi and sighed.

"Yes! Thank you, Auntie. Fangzi is so fortunate to have you as my aunt in this lifetime!" Gu Fangzi nodded and wiped away her tears.

Then she smiled faintly at Mrs. Wang and said, "Auntie, yesterday in the temple’s Buddhist hall I performed a ritual to pray for blessings, and I dreamt of my father again! He told me that all past events were his fault, that he failed in his duties as a husband and father, causing me and my mother much suffering! Unfortunately, now it’s too late for regrets! He can only hope to make it up to us in another life!"

Mrs. Wang couldn’t help but solemnly sigh and clapped her hands together: "It shows he still has a conscience to think like this! Alas, it’s just too late!"

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