"You've had some rest these days, but are you feeling better?"
Wen Tingshan looked at Wen Miaoran with concern.
Wen Miaoran was rescued from the border by Zhao Yunji not long ago. She suffered some injuries and has been recuperating at home.
"It's already fine. Father, don't worry."
Wen Tingshan nodded and said with a smile: "It's good. I'm relieved as a father. Your mother has been so worried that you can't sleep peacefully every day. Now you can feel at ease."
Wen Jiaojiao walked to Xiao Yurong. Xiao Yurong took her to his side and sat down. He coughed heavily at the family and said with a bad face: "You three are the only one in the entire Wen family, right?"
After hearing Xiao Yurong's words, Aunt Ye immediately sat down in her seat.
Wen Tingshan said with a sneer: "Madam, what you said is not because I see Ran'er having suffered some hardships in the past few days, so I am more concerned about him."
Xiao Yurong said with a cold face: "You have a little daughter who is suffering from illness every day. How often have you cared about her?"
Seeing that Xiao Yurong was about to have another attack, Wen Tingshan immediately looked at Wen Jiaojiao and wanted to say a few words of concern to satisfy Xiao Yurong, but when he saw the chubby little daughter, he couldn't say any caring words.
He doesn't look like someone suffering from any illness. He looks better than the other two daughters.
Wen Tingshan said cheerfully: "I haven't seen you for a long time, but Ru'er has become a lot mellower. I think she is much healthier. She's very good, very good."
Wen Jiaojiao sighed in her heart. Fortunately, there were enough people who loved her. It didn't matter whether she had this cheap dad or not.
Xiao Yurong's expression became even colder when she heard Wen Tingshan's words. She was the only one in the Wen family who knew that Jiao Jiao's current good condition was just superficial, but as Wen Tingshan's father, and Wen Jiao Jiao was his only legitimate daughter, he did not care about her physical condition at all.
Thinking of this, Xiao Yurong's hand holding the chair slowly tightened.
A soft, slightly cool hand was placed on her hand, "Mom, don't be angry."
When Xiao Yurong saw Wen Jiaojiao, she felt relieved. She held Wen Jiaojiao's hand in hers, "Why are your hands cold? But you still feel cold on your body?"
Saying that, Xiao Yurong looked at Yuzhu and the others who were following Wen Jiaojiao and said, "Why don't you even prepare Tang Pozi for the lady?"
Yuzhu hurriedly handed over the Tang Pozi that had just been given to her warmly.
Wen Jiaojiao pushed her hand and said, "It's not cold. I just walked over with my eldest sister and my third sister. My body is warm, but the wind is blowing outside and my hands are a little cold."
Wen Jiaojiao's physique means that no matter how much she wears, her hands and feet will always be cold in winter. Before going to bed at night, Yuzhu and the others put a few Tangbaozi in their bed.
Xiao Yurong held Wen Jiaojiao's hand to warm her. Wen Jiaojiao leaned against her and watched the entire Wen family talking in the main hall.
The aunts all got along very harmoniously, and the brothers also sat together and talked.
The eldest brother Wen Hong looked at her several times, as if he had something to say, but it was because Xiao Yurong was there that he could not speak.
Wen Jiaojiao knew from the look on her eldest brother's face what he wanted to talk to her about. He and Shen Zhishu were good friends, so of course he wanted to talk to her about his affairs.
Wen Jiaojiao didn't want to talk to Wen Hong about this for the time being. Today was the New Year's Eve and it was a family dinner that her mother-in-law had put a lot of effort into hosting. She didn't want to spoil her interest on such a day.
It was not yet time for lunch, so the children and concubines of the Wen family met with the head of the family and their mistress first. Wen Jiaojiao was the only legitimate daughter and did not have so many rules. She sat down to crack melon seeds and drink tea.
Just now, Wen Yanxi's mother, Aunt Zhu, found an interesting book for her. She sat aside and read the book again and again.
There are many rules for big festivals like the Chinese New Year, especially for the children of concubines. In fact, Wen Jiaojiao also needs to pay New Year greetings to his parents.
But Xiao Yurong didn't want her to worship this useless father, so he just let her sit and play.
Wen Jiaojiao watched them kneeling on the ground, saying some auspicious words and waiting for the New Year red envelopes from the head of the family and the mistress.
This should be the etiquette for New Year's Eve, but Wen's family couldn't get it together on New Year's Eve, so they went through these rituals on Little New Year's Eve.
"Come here Jiaojiao, this is a lucky bag for you."
Xiao Yurong waved to Wen Jiaojiao, and Wen Jiaojiao immediately stood up and walked towards her.
Wen Jiaojiao was the legitimate daughter, and she was the first to receive the red envelope, but Wen Tingshan gave the red envelope to Wen Miaoran first.
Although Wen Miaoran didn't answer, this move undoubtedly angered Xiao Yurong. If it weren't for the Chinese New Year, she would have dragged Wen Tingshan and spit in his face!
Not to mention other things, even if the red envelope is not given to Wen Jiaojiao first, it will not be Wen Miaoran's turn, either Wen Zhao, the youngest, or Wen Wanzheng, the eldest.
Wen Jiaojiao didn't care about this order, but this was Beiyuan's rule in this era, and Wen Tingshan was simply doing Wen Miaoran a disservice.
Xiao Yu tolerated the tone in her heart, called Wen Zhao and Wen Wanzheng to celebrate the New Year, and gave the red envelopes to the three of them.
In the past Chinese New Year, she always gave the lucky money to the eldest and youngest first, and then to her legitimate daughter.
After Wen Jiaojiao noticed these details, he realized that Xiao Yurong had already served the water well in the Wen family. How could concubines and children in other families have such treatment?
According to the etiquette, Wen Wanzheng doesn't need to give her new year's money since she is married, but Xiao Yurong still treats her as her own child and still prepares a copy for her.
Wen Jiaojiao took the red envelope from her parents and sat back.
Each child's share of the red envelope is the same. Xiao Yurong would not give her a little more at such a time. Every year, Aniang would prepare another red envelope for her in private, which was much thicker than the one in her hand.
Her mother-in-law was really able to keep things even as the main wife, and Wen Jiaojiao felt aggrieved for her.
Because her father obviously didn't keep the water level, and completely skewed it to Wen Miaoran. In front of all the children, he gave her a red envelope that was obviously thicker than all of them.
Looking at her mother-in-law's expression, Wen Jiaojiao felt like she could eat her father alive.
In Xiao Yurong's heart, any faults or grudges committed by her elders would never be blamed on her children. Therefore, although she often scolded these concubines and expressed dissatisfaction, she never treated them materially harshly.
Otherwise, with her ability and status, these concubines and their children would not be able to live well.
But Wen Tingshan obviously took her tolerance as a matter of course and became more and more aggressive.
Wen Tingshan was so biased that even Aunt Zhu and the other concubines couldn't stand it anymore. They were afraid that the mistress would be angry and Wen Jiaojiao would take it as a riot.
They looked at Wen Jiaojiao and saw her sitting on a chair, holding a plate of nuts and gnawing on it. She was reading a book on the table with her chin propped up. She looked completely unconcerned.
Seeing her daughter like this, Xiao Yurong didn't want to get angry on such an occasion. She would wait until today to settle the score with Wen Tingshan.