Xu Li has always been stubborn; once he decides to leave, he never stops.

Changming, Bomu, and the two yamen runners left behind by Ying Wenlong immediately helped him harness the carriage and load the things onto it.

Xu Tiezhu was dumbfounded: "Brother, what do you mean by this? What will people outside think of me? Aren't you afraid they'll talk behind my back?"

Xu Li looked at Xu Tiezhu and said sternly, "I'm not used to living here. I want to stay in the county town. Is that not allowed?"

Yesterday, Xu Tiezhu and Liu Ermei saw that Xu Li had no airs at all and were thinking of teasing him like they did when they were children, completely forgetting that Xu Li is now a general.

Now that Xu Liwei is looking stern, Liu Ermei is a little scared, but she absolutely cannot let go of the opportunity to take advantage of him.

"What are you doing, Uncle? Even if you become an official, you can't despise your hometown. A dog doesn't despise its poor home, and a child doesn't despise its ugly mother. How can you despise your own brother?"

What do you want?

“It’s fine if you don’t stay here. Xu Tiezhu is your own brother, and Dalang, Erlang, and Sanlang are your own nephews. They were so poor they couldn’t even afford to eat. Now that you’ve made it big, you can’t abandon your brothers.”

"I won't lie to you, all the furniture in this room, even the bed you sleep in, was put together by my second grandfather and the village head."

What if I ignore it?

"Anyway, you're a high-ranking official. If you look down on us, there's nothing we can do. There's just one thing: we've always paid our respects to our parents' and ancestors' graves on holidays. If you want to come back to pay respects to your ancestors, you'll have to ask us first!"

Xu Li laughed angrily: "You mean if I move out, you won't let me perform ancestral rites anymore, and I won't even be allowed to burn paper money for my parents?"

"If you look down on your brothers, what kind of parents do you have? What kind of ancestral worship are you offering? Why don't you try it and see if Dalang and the others won't break your legs!"

"Break my leg! Fine, fine, fine..." Xu Li, who was usually good-tempered, couldn't help but want to curse and said "fine" three times in a row.

Looking at Liu Ermei's shameless face, and then at the fierce faces of Dalang and Erlang, he suddenly realized that yesterday's dream was not a random dream.

These are a pack of wolves!

He imagined his brother and sister-in-law would repent and sincerely admit their mistakes, but that never happened.

Seeing that Xu Li had loaded everything onto the car and was about to leave, Liu Ermei and Xu Tiezhu panicked. They knew Xu Li couldn't just leave like that.

The two chased after them, crying and shouting. Villagers who had come to watch the spectacle had all lost their shoes in the process.

Xu Tiezhu knelt at Xu Li's feet and cried out, "Brother, you can't disown your parents and your brothers! Our family may be poor, but you can't disown your ancestors!"

Liu Ermei simply stood in front of the carriage and cried loudly, "It's all my fault, it has nothing to do with your older brother, don't resent him."

Their commotion made the villagers furious when they saw that Xu Li's things had been loaded onto a horse-drawn cart.

What, you want to leave?

How can we leave? There are still so many things to resolve.

"Little Fatty, what happened? Why did you just leave like that?"

"Third Uncle, Lord Ying has prepared a courtyard for me in the county town. My brother's family is in financial difficulty, so I'll go and stay there!" Xu Li was furious that Xu Tiezhu and Liu Ermei were trying to morally blackmail him, but he disdained to argue with them.

"Little Fatty, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but you've been away from home for over ten years, and you're coming back for just one day and then leaving again? That won't do." The village head tried to smooth things over. "Come on, come on, let's go to my house and sit down. What's on your mind? Let's talk it over properly."

If he leaves like this, won't his meal have been wasted?

His son even wanted Xu Li to take him to find a job, and his daughter wanted to become a princess...

Xu Li said, "Third Uncle, where are my parents' graves? I'll go and offer incense to them."

“I know where your parents’ graves are. Come on, let me take you there.”

Changming led the horse, and Bomu drove the carriage to the road outside, with two yamen runners following Xu Li and the village head.

When Second Master Xu heard that Xu Li was leaving, he came along with his cane. When he heard that Xu Li had gone to the cemetery, he immediately followed him to the fields.

Xu Li found his parents' graves and saw that the grass on the graves hadn't been pulled up and the paper money hadn't been burned, which made him even angrier.

Even if you're poor, you can still pull weeds or add some soil for your parents, right?

Xu Li squatted down to pull weeds, then pulled up the saplings and shrubs next to the grave, and added soil.

He told Changming to bring over the incense, candles, and paper money he had bought, and to set out the offerings. Xu Li kowtowed and stood silently for a long time.

The village head and Master Xu looked at the pastries that Xu Li had offered as a sacrifice, wondering if Xu Li would give them these pastries after the sacrifice was finished.

After offering the sacrifice, Xu Li bid farewell to the village head and Master Xu and prepared to leave.

Master Xu tapped the ground with his cane and said authoritatively, "Heh, you're just leaving like that?"

"Can't we leave?"

"What are you doing back here? Just to pay respects to your parents, burn some paper money, and leave? Do you know how your brother has been all these years? You've made it big, yet you have no regard for family ties and no gratitude to your hometown. Is this how His Majesty taught you?"

Xu Li didn't want to bother with these people at all, let alone mention His Majesty. But this hypocrite actually dared to speak ill of His Majesty?

"How dare you!" Xu Li shouted. "How dare you question His Majesty?"

Master Xu said, "I am a scholar who has worked for 260 years and has official rank. Do you intend to disregard the law and make things difficult for me?"

"Who gave you the audacity, Your Majesty of Yin and Yang?" Xu Li could tolerate everything else, but not this.

The village head retorted to Second Master Xu, "Second Uncle, you're getting old, you should say less!"

Master Xu's face was gloomy, his authority challenged and he was very dissatisfied.

Xu Li then asked him, "You are the backbone of our Xu family. Yesterday, my eldest brother came back and said that he wants to revise the family genealogy, repair the ancestral hall, repair the road, and build a family school... You plan to have me pay for all these expenses, right?"

"Now that you've made a name for yourself, shouldn't you give back to your family and your hometown?"

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