After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 889 Old Resentment
With an elder standing up to support her, Fang felt relieved.

After supporting her family independently for so many years, she now has someone to rely on. She feels much more at ease, and the burden that had been weighing on her mind has largely disappeared.

But thinking of the illegitimate son Hai Baozhu's youthful vigor, she became a little worried and wanted to speak well of him in front of her second aunt: "Baozhu lost his father when he was still a baby, and was forced by a villain to leave home and grow up away from home. I was not able to stay by his side and educate him carefully. His aunt is not someone who has seen the world and has limited knowledge. Fortunately, he has the guidance of his mentor and his mistress, so he didn't take a detour. But the child is still young after all, and he doesn't have enough experience, so he always thinks things simply. When he comes, you and second uncle just teach him. If he does anything impolite, please don't argue with him."

Ma raised her eyebrows when she heard this: "You're going to protect him now? Could he dare to be rude in front of my husband and me? We are not those ungrateful people in the clan, what can he say to us? Could it be that he blames us for being away for so many years and never lending a helping hand when the eldest branch was in trouble? I have to make this clear to him, it's not that our second branch doesn't care about family affection, it's really that his grandfather is a bad person! If he hadn't pressed us step by step and wanted to snatch the military quota that our master got, saying that it was passed down from our ancestors and should be inherited by the eldest branch, which made my mother-in-law angry to death, why would our master leave his hometown and run thousands of miles to my mother's home in Chang'an to make a living?! Besides, we didn't lose contact as soon as we left. I don't know how many letters we have sent to our hometown in the past few decades. Did his grandfather ever reply?! It was the eldest branch that broke its promise first, how can we blame our second branch for not knowing in time that something happened in the hometown and rushing back to rescue?!"

When Ma talks about her uncle Haidongling, she is still very angry.

The Jiang family has been plotting for the Hai family's land for a long time. Ever since the old man retired from the army due to injury, the Hai family has been declining day by day, far less prosperous than before. That's why the Jiang family set their sights on the Hai family. Hai Dongling, as the eldest son, had just inherited the family business. He didn't take his stepmother and brothers seriously at all. He was arrogant and stubborn. He fell into the trap of the Jiang family and got into a lawsuit. He almost went to jail. It was his stepmother, Madam Xie, who took her son Hai Xiya, sold part of the dowry, sold everything she had to make a generous gift, and sent it to Shanhaiwei to ask for help, which settled the matter.

If Madam Xie and Hai Xiya had stood aside and watched the incident, the worst that could happen would be a loss of some public money. But when Hai Dongling got into trouble, he would naturally have to step down from the position of head of the family, and Hai Xiya would directly become the new head of the family, and no one would question his position. But Madam Xie and Hai Xiya kindly helped him solve the problem and saved his position as head of the family. For such a great favor, he was not grateful to his stepmother and brothers, and instead complained that they spent too much money afterwards. Is this still human language? !
Fortunately, at that time, because Hai Xiya showed up in Shanhaiwei, he was appreciated by Old Master Ma, who worked together with Old Master Hai's old friends to solve the trouble for the Hai family and helped Hai Xiya inherit the military quota passed down by his father, which made the Jiang family fearful and chose to give in. Hai Xiya then married Ma, and Hai Dongling did not dare to cause trouble due to Old Master Ma's status, so the first and second branches were able to live in peace.

But with the death of Old Master Ma, Hai Xiya failed to get promoted in Shanhaiwei, and Hai Dongling was ready to make a move again, and even wanted his son to snatch Hai Xiya's regular army quota, bullying the second house without a backer. Madam Xie was angry at his shamelessness, and her illness worsened and she died. The nephew Xie Wenzai, who was a top scholar in the capital, came to pay his respects, which shocked Hai Dongling again, so that he dared not do too much, and thus preserved the peace of Madam Xie after her death.

After all these events, Hai Xiya and his wife completely lost their trust in Hai Dongling. That is why after Xie Wenzai asked for help privately, they immediately began to prepare for their transfer and relocation, and successfully left their hometown in Yongping. Except for the house they got when they divided the family property, they did not let the eldest son gain any advantage at all.

But Hai Xiya still remembered that there was his mother's grave, relatives, clansmen, and his niece and niece-in-law in his hometown, and he would write letters back every year when he was in Chang'an. But Hai Dongling was narrow-minded and refused to pay attention. Only his niece Fang would occasionally ask someone to send back letters privately. Within two years, even Fang stopped writing letters, and the two sides completely lost contact.

Later, in order to protect his cousin Xie Wenzai and a group of old students from Wumen, Hai Xiya fled all the way from Chang'an to the northwest border city. Later, because of the pain of losing his son, he fled to Guazhou. The journey was long, and there was no way to contact his hometown. There were reasons for this, and it was not the responsibility of the second house. If the first house really wanted to contact the second house, they would not have been able to find out Hai Xiya's new position. There were many caravans going to the northwest in Zhili all year round. How could the second house be blamed for the first house's refusal to take that step?

Ma kept recounting the past events, and as Fang listened, her head drooped lower and lower.

She also knew that it was her father-in-law who was at fault. But no matter how her mother-in-law and relatives and friends persuaded her, he insisted on doing it his own way. What could she do as a junior? She also tried to reply to her second uncle's letters several times. Later, her husband Hai Dingkun persuaded her not to write anymore, so as not to be discovered and scolded by her father-in-law. Then she stopped. After that, the two branches lost contact for many years. When the eldest branch first encountered trouble, she also thought about asking the second branch for help, but at that time, she had no way to inquire about the news of her second uncle...

She later learned that her second uncle's family had left Chang'an and went to the border town, and then her cousin in Dingcheng was killed in battle, her cousin's sister died with her husband, and her second uncle and aunt took their nephews and nieces to Guazhou. How could she find them thousands of miles away? When her second uncle's family returned to Chang'an and wrote to their hometown again, she had become a Jiang family woman. She was too embarrassed to tell her second uncle, and even if she received his letter, she didn't dare to write a reply...

When Ma was tired of scolding, Fang whispered, "I have mentioned all these past events to the child. Baozhu knows what is right and wrong. How could he blame you and the second uncle? It was you and the second uncle, as well as Jiao Ge'er and his friends, who asked the nobleman to rescue Baozhu and me from the Jiang family. Baozhu is very grateful for this. He is only grateful and respectful to the second uncle and you, and will never complain! It's just that the child is young and hot-tempered, and has suffered a lot since he was a child. He has many complaints about the clan and often feels that his ancestors were confused, which gave the Jiang family an opportunity to take advantage of... If his words are offensive to the ancestors, please don't be offended by you and the second uncle. He actually blames his grandfather and father more, and has no intention of involving the old man and the old lady..."

Ma finally understood and couldn't help but sneer: "What's the big deal? I often scold his grandfather, so he can scold me if he wants. As for his great grandfather, he is not a kind and honest man, otherwise he would have taught his grandfather to be like that? I, your mother-in-law, have been wronged! It's rare to have a wise man like Baozhu among the descendants of the eldest house, this is a good thing. He can understand things at such a young age, and he will have a great future! Not only will I not be surprised, I will also praise him. We can't let the child learn from his father and grandfather, otherwise the eldest house will really be hopeless!"

Fang could only laugh dryly, with embarrassment in her laughter. When she was a child, she often didn't know how to respond to her second aunt's blunt remarks, and now that she is older, she has not made any progress. Apart from laughing dryly, she really didn't know what to do.

Haitang smiled and paved the way for her, turning the topic back to the right path: "Aunt, Baozhu's cousin's affairs are easy to handle, but Sister Baozhu's marriage is the most important thing to be resolved first. My grandfather and grandmother are elders from the next room, and you are Sister Baozhu's biological mother. How to arrange her lifelong affairs depends on your mother and daughter's ideas."