Farmer girl swaps husbands: buys a sickly villain and pampers him

Chapter 236 Worry
Su Yaoguang nudged Zhou Wangshu, gesturing for him to look at Zhang Zhaodi across from them.

Zhang Zhaodi poked at the rice grains in her bowl for a long time without eating a single bite of food, looking preoccupied.

"Mother, are you feeling unwell?" Zhou Wangshu asked.

Zhang Zhaodi shook her head: "No, I was just thinking that business has been pretty good lately, and I was wondering if I should buy some land."

“Instead of acquiring land, we should open more branches,” Zhang Pandi said. “Today, a foreign merchant was very interested in our business and said that if they had such shops in their country, they would definitely be very successful.”

"The Hu merchants' place is too far away, but we can consider the nearby big cities. We have many old partners, so we can develop these old partners to manage the new shops. We will give them 30% of the profits. I believe many people will be eager to go."

“That’s a good idea…” Zhang Pandi said. “I’m willing to go too! You guys can keep an eye on things here, and I’ll keep an eye on the branch stores.”

Su Yaoguang and Zhang Pandi were discussing business matters when Zhou Wangshu kept watching Zhang Zhaodi. When Zhang Zhaodi went out, he followed her.

“Mother…” Zhou Wangshu caught up with her. “Can’t you tell us what’s on your mind? No matter what happens, we’re all family and we can face it together. If you keep it all to yourself, we’ll all worry about you, and then no one will be at peace.”

“Wangshu, your mother does have a question in her heart, but it’s too far-fetched to explain.”

“We are willing to listen to whatever Mother says, no matter how absurd it may be, we can accept it.”

Zhang Zhaodi turned around and saw the others standing at the door, all looking in her direction. Clearly, they had all noticed her unusual behavior and were waiting for her to speak.

“Alright, I’ll tell you.” Zhang Zhaodi returned to the dining hall. “Do you still remember General Su?”

"remember!"

"Pandi, Yingdi, do you still remember what your brother-in-law looks like?"

Zhang Pandi and Zhang Yingdi exchanged a glance and shook their heads simultaneously.

“We were young when you got married, and we hadn’t seen him many times.”

“That General Su looks exactly like Yaoguang’s father,” Zhang Zhaodi said. “I originally wanted to check if he was that bastard, but General Su’s body was covered in wounds, so it was impossible to tell if he originally had a birthmark. When he enlisted, I made him several pairs of shoes. One pair was left unfinished and I finished making it at home later. I compared it to that pair of shoes, and the size was wrong. The shoes my family wears are a size smaller than the ones General Su wears. So I think I must be overthinking it.”

"Mother, does it really look like her?" Su Yaoguang asked curiously.

“Actually, it’s not that similar!” Zhang Zhaodi said. “Your father doesn’t have his imposing presence or spirit.”

Su Yaoguang thought about what happened in her past life. In her past life, she had no chance to meet that General Su. Therefore, she did not experience these things in her past life, and thus had no way of knowing.

In her past life, Zhang Zhaodi never had the chance to go to the capital; she died on the way. If General Su really was her father, and if Zhang Zhaodi had had the opportunity to go to the capital in her past life, wouldn't she have had a chance to see her husband, who should have disappeared long ago, and wouldn't she have died such a tragic death?
No, that's not it. These are all guesses; perhaps Zhang Zhaodi is just overthinking it. There are many people in the world who look alike, and besides, Zhang Zhaodi and her husband have been separated for more than ten years, so even her memory is probably blurry. Perhaps she's just remembering things wrong.

"Whether it's true or not, we'll know once we investigate," Zhou Wangshu said. "Leave this to me, I'll investigate." "You're really boastful, kid. He suffered a severe head injury; he doesn't even know who he is. How can you possibly find out?"

Zhang Zhaodi confided her worries, and although the problem wasn't solved, she felt much better. She realized that when you don't have to bear it alone, even the biggest problems aren't so difficult. Her greatest gratitude was having so many family members around her who shared her burdens.

The General's Mansion. Su Rende sat in the main seat, with Madam Pang and the old woman Tang Pozi, who should have left long ago but hadn't, standing below him.

"General..." Pang felt guilty and dared not look at Su Rende.

Su Rende tapped the table lightly, his gaze lingering on Madam Pang, and said, "I'll give you two options now. One is that I'll provide a dowry and marry you off, which will also be a way of giving your husband some peace of mind. The other is that you move out of the General's Mansion and go to the countryside to retire."

“General…” Pang looked at him with a sorrowful expression, “Why are you doing this to me? What did I do wrong?”

"What have you done that I, the general, need to remind you?" Su Rende stared sharply at Pang Shi. "For your husband's sake, I've been supporting you and your daughter, and you've lived a comfortable life all these years. I've even cleaned up the messes when you used my name to bully others. And now, you've actually set your sights on me. Didn't I say you were just a guest I kept here?"

"Since you are not content, wanting not only wealth and status, then you should leave the General's Mansion. Guards..."

“General…” Madam Pang knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Su Rende. “I was wrong, I will never dare to do it again, please don’t send me away. I was really scared, worried that I would live in the general’s mansion without a proper title and that people would gossip. I will never do it again.”

“I have a deputy general under my command, who is not much older than you. If you are willing to marry him, he will be your legitimate wife.”

“I don’t want to,” Madam Pang said, wiping away her tears. “My heart belongs only to my late husband. Even when I did those foolish things before, it was because I was too scared. The general also said that you will take care of my daughter and me as a way of repaying my late husband’s kindness. So I won’t do anything foolish again.”

"What will you do if you do it again?"

"If you do it again, I will leave with Qingyan."

"Alright, I'll give you one more chance." Su Rende frowned. "From now on, unless I give you instructions, you don't need to come looking for me."

"Yes."

Pang wiped away her tears and left with the hot water bottle.

Su Rende said, "This hot water bottle must be sent away. If you don't, I'll sell her off."

"General, please calm down. This old servant will leave in a moment," Granny Tang said hurriedly.

After Pang and Tang Pozi went out, Pang's legs went weak, and Tang Pozi quickly supported her.

"Is Madam really willing to just let it go like this?" Granny Tang said. "If you get pregnant, he won't be able to shirk his responsibilities."

"But you saw it yourself, I gave him such a strong drug, and he would rather push me away and run away than touch me. I don't know where he's been these past few days, he's acting like nothing happened, he must have gotten himself into the hands of some vixen," Pang said angrily.