Chapter 485 Can You Afford It?

Old man Chen shook his head and smiled, "You're just worrying about nothing. The teacher earns two or three taels of silver every month. How could the third brother be without money? Unless he doesn't want to give it to us."

Old Mrs. Chen rolled her eyes at him, displeased. "Nonsense! We've spoiled and raised our son, and we've never owed him anything. How could he not spend his money on us? That would be ungrateful!"

"Yes, I just said it casually. I think our son is very filial."

"That's right. No one knows a son better than his mother. Zhancai's character will never disappoint me as a mother. Let's go and find our son." Old Mrs. Chen put on her shoes and went downstairs.

Old Man Chen was stunned. "Old lady, are we going now?"

"Then how long do you want to wait? Do you want to wait until I suffocate to death before you move?"

"Why can't you just speak properly? You can't even speak straight. I just want to confirm it."

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up. If we really find our son, he might even treat us to a meal!"

Mrs. Chen said this casually, and Mr. Chen believed her and immediately swallowed his saliva. "Oh, that's great! If we go to a restaurant, I must try the fried dough sticks and tofu pudding."

Old Mrs. Chen couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Look at you, you're such a loser! All you think about is tofu pudding. It's really cheap to go out with you. How can we eat that in a restaurant? We have to have scrambled eggs with tomatoes. I heard that it tastes better when it's sweet and sour!"

"How much will that cost? Why not buy two pounds of fine rice? That'll be enough for the two of us old folks to eat for several days."

Old Mrs. Chen curled her lips and said, "You will be poor all your life and will never enjoy happiness."

The two of them left the house and headed straight for Qingshui Town.

Their idea was quite good, and they found the Confucius Academy without any difficulty.

But after asking around, I found out that Chen Zhancai didn't teach in the academy at all.

I wanted to find out where he lived, but no one in the academy knew where Chen Zhancai lived.

Seeing this, Old Lady Chen couldn't help but complain.

"You damn old man, I was staying home well, but you had to go to such trouble to come here to look for my son. Now you haven't found him, and you've exhausted me to death. If you tire me out to death, I'll get some rat poison and kill you when I get home!"

When Old Man Chen heard this, he was furious. "How would I know Zhan Cai wasn't teaching here? Can you blame me for this?"

"If I don't blame you, who else can I blame? Think about what to do now."

"What else can I do? Just go home!" After saying that, Old Man Chen turned around and walked forward helplessly.

Although Old Mrs. Chen was upset, she really couldn't blame her husband, and followed Old Man Chen unwillingly.

The two of them hadn't had a drop of water since morning, and they were already starving, their stomachs rumbling with frailty.

Smelling the aroma coming from the snack shops on both sides of the street, Old Lady Chen couldn't help swallowing her saliva.

"Old man, I'm so hungry that I can't walk anymore. Why don't you get me something to eat?"

Old Man Chen rolled his eyes speechlessly and said unhappily, "My pockets are cleaner than my face. Where can I get you food?"

"You useless thing, you don't know how to love your wife at all. If you starve me to death, who will accompany you through hard times?"

"Hmph, if it weren't for you, our family wouldn't have reached this point." Old man Chen muttered in dissatisfaction.

His voice was very low, but the sharp-eared Old Lady Chen still heard it. She glared at him with gritted teeth, "What did you say, you old man? Say it again!"

Old Man Chen was so frightened that cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck. He could only laugh and playfully say, "Look at what you're doing. I told you that you're a great contributor to our family, but why are you glaring at me? If you can't walk, how about I carry you for a few steps?"

"Get out of the way! If anyone needs your back, I'm afraid you'll throw me into the ditch and kill me."

"Okay, okay, let's go home quickly. I'll make you some rice bran and vegetable porridge when we get home."

"If you keep eating that crap all day, you'll choke to death sooner or later." After saying this, Old Lady Chen walked forward weakly.

As he was walking forward, Old Man Chen looked up inadvertently and saw a familiar figure appearing not far away. He pointed with his hand.

"Look, old lady, that person looks like Ruhua."

Old Lady Chen looked in the direction of his finger and saw a fair-skinned, very pretty woman wiping the sweat off a man selling tofu. She then withdrew her gaze and gave Old Lady Chen a cold look.

"He's clearly a tofu seller, why did you mistake him for Ruhua? Take a closer look and don't make a fuss."

"Okay, but this person looks too much like Ruhua. They are just like two peas in a pod. The only difference is that he dresses like Ruhua and looks as fair as Ruhua."

"There are so many people who look alike, it's no big deal."

Old Mrs. Chen rolled her eyes, and the two continued walking forward.

After walking for a while, Old Man Chen suddenly saw a man coming out of a snack bar, and his face lit up with joy.

"Old lady, look, that one looks like our talented person."

"Are you done yet? I think you've fainted from hunger. If you really recognize the wrong son, be careful of getting beaten!" After saying this, Old Lady Chen looked up and glanced ahead. "Oh, that man really does look like our son."

Old Man Chen squinted his eyes and looked carefully again. "It's the same. It must be our son. There's no doubt about it."

"Yes, it's Zhancai." Old Mrs. Chen also noticed it and hurriedly trotted after him.

At this time, Chen Zhancai had eaten and drunk his fill in a small restaurant. He was humming a little tune happily and wanted to go home for a good sleep when he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind.

"Zhancai, wait a minute."

He subconsciously looked back and his heart suddenly skipped a beat. Oh my God, why are they here?

I wanted to walk away quickly to get rid of the old couple, but they were already so close to me that I had to stop and frown.

"Dad, Mom, why are you two here?"

Old Mrs. Chen stepped forward quickly, grabbed Chen Zhancai's hand, tears welling up in her eyes, "Oh, my good son, I finally get to see you."

"Yes, if we don't find you, your mother and I will have come here in vain." Old man Chen also agreed happily.

Chen Zhancai pulled his hand away impatiently, "What do you want from me?"

Old Mrs. Chen smiled and wiped away her tears. "Good son, you don't know yet, our family is out of food again. Your father and I have been eating bran and vegetables every day these days, and now we are almost out of rice bran."

Old man Chen quickly took over the conversation, "Zhancai, your mother has been eating bran these days and can't poop. She's been crying all day long because she can't hold it in. Please give us some money to buy food."

Chen Zhancai was incredulous, frowning in disbelief. "The two hundred coins Chen Zhanliang gave me can buy enough corn to last two or three months. How come you're out of food so quickly?"

"Zhancai, you are right. Your mother and I can eat corn for two to three months, but your mother likes to eat refined rice. We thought that you earn at least two taels of silver a month in the town, and you can afford to support us with some refined rice, so we bought twenty kilograms of refined rice." Old man Chen avoided his gaze and did not dare to look him in the eye.

Chen Zhancai's face immediately turned cold when he heard this. "What? You bought 20 kilograms at once? Why didn't you think about starving when you were eating well? Now there's no food to eat, what can I do? You guys figure it out on your own!"

......