Chapter 43
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The Li family no longer wants to buy wine from the Su family?!
Su Lianyi was equally shocked!
The Su family winery was nothing more than a small family workshop. Including Old Ma, they only employed three people. Even the owner, Su Hao, had to work personally on a daily basis. The winery’s recipe was an ancestral secret, and the water used came from Xianshui Mountain. Each worker had a clear role: Old Ma drove the cart, the other two went up the mountain to fetch water, and the owner, Su Hao, brewed the wine himself.
Because of this, Su family wine was much more expensive than ordinary wine. Most of their customers were regulars, and the biggest buyer was the Li household.
Now, with the Li family suddenly refusing to buy wine, what was to be done?
“Chuying, you go back and rest first. I’ll go to the winery.” Lianyi didn’t even have time to change clothes before jumping onto Old Ma’s donkey cart.
“I’m coming too! Take me with you.” Chuying refused to be left behind. Normally, she was at home bored out of her mind, and now someone was finally taking her along—how could she let this opportunity slip?
Lianyi sighed. “I heard my sister-in-law is acting crazy right now. If I go, I might get beaten. You have your condition to consider; what if something happens to you?”
If Su Lianyi hadn’t said anything, it would have been fine—but after hearing it, Chuying grew even more anxious. “No way, I’m going too! I’ll protect you. Lianyi is a good person; I can’t let her hit you!” Saying that, she ignored her growing belly and began climbing onto the donkey cart.
Lianyi had no choice and hurriedly helped her up. “Fine. I can’t argue with you. It’s better to have you with me than let you run off on your own. But you have to promise me: you’ll stay at a distance and not get too close.” Having known Chuying for a while, she understood that though the girl appeared gentle and naive, once stubborn, she was unstoppable.
If she didn’t bring Chuying along, she would probably run off on her own. It was safer to have her nearby.
“All right, I promise.” Chuying promised seriously.
Once Chuying was seated, Old Ma hurriedly drove the donkey cart toward the Su family winery.
By now, night had fallen completely. The village was quiet, and the villagers had gone to bed early.
The cart jolted along the road. Lianyi quickly took a tattered blanket from the cart to cushion Chuying, but her mind was elsewhere.
She didn’t only feel guilty that the winery was affected because of her. She was also confused. When she herself had been constantly involved with the Li household’s second young master, the Su family wine had never been cut off. Now, over a month after leaving the Li household, such a decision was suddenly made.
There were only two possibilities: the first was that the Li family stopped buying Su family wine for reasons unrelated to her. The second was that the Li family’s second young master was angry and persuaded his father to punish her by stopping the purchase. Neither made sense; everything seemed contradictory.
Before the cart reached the winery, they could already hear a woman’s wailing from afar. The heart-wrenching cries were especially jarring in the quiet countryside night.
“We’re here.” Old Ma looked back at Lianyi, his expression a mix of awkwardness and concern.
“Thank you, Uncle Ma.” Lianyi jumped down from the donkey cart with a clean, swift motion, then turned to carefully help the heavily pregnant Chuying off. Chuying hopped down with a bright smile, showing no sign of worry, as if this were some trivial matter.
“Remember, stay away from me. The child you carry is important; this is not the time to be stubborn.” Su Lianyi’s voice was cold and serious, lacking her usual easygoing tone.
“All right, I understand.” Seeing Lianyi so serious, Chuying quickly put away her smile and placed her small hands on her belly, acting cautious.
Lianyi nodded and entered the courtyard first.
This was Su Lianyi’s first time at the Su family winery, her elder brother Su Hao’s home. She had once wanted to visit, but she had never imagined it would be for such an unpleasant reason.
The courtyard was brightly lit with lanterns, and the smell of wine filled the air. One wine jar had broken on the ground, and two workers were cleaning up. A young woman sat cross-legged on the floor, utterly unconcerned with appearances, beating her thighs and crying loudly.
“Heavens! I can’t live like this! I, Jiang Bilin, thought I could have a good life after marriage, but who knew I’d end up with such a family? A family of scoundrels, a family of wolves! No matter how much I feed them, it’s never enough! The little money we had was all squandered by that rogue Su Lianyi! I can’t live like this…” She cried and yelled incessantly.
Lianyi had wanted to reason with her sister-in-law, but hearing these words, her guilt vanished instantly, replaced by a surge of righteous anger.
She wanted to confront her immediately but remembered that this woman was her sister-in-law, Su Hao’s wife. As the saying goes, “Even if you don’t respect the monk, you should respect Buddha.” So she forced the anger down.
In the corner of the courtyard, a man sat on a small stool. His hands were pressed against his legs, his face buried deeply in his palms, radiating such pain that anyone who looked at him would feel uneasy.
He was very thin, with dark skin under the lantern light, his build similar to Su Feng’s. This must be her elder brother, Su Hao.
