Aunt Zhao's son was called Liu Yanqing. Liu Yanqing was always short of money, and his family didn't do any business. Sometimes he would gamble with others, and his money would soon be gone.

The poorer Liu Yanqing became, the more he thought about making a lot of money by gambling.

However, how many people have actually made a fortune from gambling?

Yesterday, Liu Yanqing was broke, and thinking that the quilts at home were indeed quite warm, he decided to sell them. Cotton cost fifteen wen per jin, and a quilt weighed five or six jin. Liu Yanqing thought the price was reasonable. If he could sell a quilt for two hundred wen, wouldn't that be a profit?

Aunt Zhao was angry. Gambling was not a good thing at all.

Those two hundred coins were lost in a gambling spree.

"You bastard." Aunt Zhao was furious. She never thought that her son would actually go and sell the quilts in the house. If her house had not been locked, all the quilts in her house would probably have been sold.

"Mom, you still have a quilt." Liu Yanqing said, as if if he didn't sell the one from Aunt Zhao, he would be extremely filial.

When Liu Yanqing was in the Marquis' Mansion, he only gambled for fun. At that time, some people even deliberately lost money to Liu Yanqing in order to curry favor with the Marquis' Mansion.

And now, even if no one cheated, Liu Yanqing might not win any money. Liu Yanqing was still thinking about how he could win money in gambling before, so why couldn't he win money now? Maybe it was because he gambled too little and sometimes had bad luck.

Liu's mother heard the noise from next door. Since they had separated, how could she care so much?

When Liu's father returned, he heard the noise next door and learned that the family had sold the quilt to gamble. He couldn't help but shake his head. He had never paid much attention to these illegitimate sons before, just letting them study hard so that they could take the imperial examinations in the future.

The family's belongings are mainly inherited by the legitimate son. If the illegitimate son can pass the imperial examination, that is extremely good.

If the bastard didn't work hard, Father Liu wouldn't interfere too much. If the heir worked hard, that was fine. As for the bastard, when the family was divided, he could just get some things to live on.

At the time, Liu's father thought that the Marquis's mansion had a lot of things, and even if he gave some to his son, his life wouldn't be too bad. Who could have imagined that their property would be confiscated and they would be exiled? At this time, Liu Yanqing was still thinking about gambling.

"Let's eat first." Mother Liu said to Father Liu. It was not easy for them to intervene in the affairs next door. Mother Liu was not in a position to say anything. Father Liu had no ability and no money at the moment, so it was not easy for him to intervene.

But Liu Yanqing was Liu's father's biological son after all, so Liu's father put down what he was holding and went next door.

Seeing this, Mother Liu did not follow. Father Liu could control those people, but Father Liu could never give them the family money at will. Mother Liu also had a bottom line that she could tolerate.

"Gambling is harmful." Father Liu's face turned cold as he arrived next door. "Why do you go gambling?"

"That's because the money you gave me is too little." Liu Yanqing was dissatisfied. "Everything costs money. What can I buy with a few copper coins? I'm a grown man, married, and I don't have any money. What's the point of going to gamble? Isn't it because I'm thinking about my family and making some money?"

Liu Yanqing was the youngest among his brothers and could not endure the hardship.

Even if their family still had farmland, it was Aunt Zhao who insisted on them and kept an eye on them, so Liu Yanqing would only go and farm.

Farming is too hard, and Liu Yanqing doesn't want to continue farming at all.

"Dad, have you hidden a lot of goodies?" Liu Yanqing asked, "You always carry a lot of bags when you go to the market. You must be rich. Dad, you are so stingy. My eldest brother is the legitimate son and can inherit most of it, but we are also your sons."

Father Liu was furious when he heard this. He had no intention of hiding anything. If he had, he wouldn't be like this. The family mainly relied on his daughter and wife to make things to sell. At most, he would accompany his wife and daughter to the town or visit the fields.

As a father, he didn't have to plow the soil or pull weeds, so he really didn't do much.

"That money was earned later." Father Liu's face turned cold.

"Yes, it was earned later." Aunt Zhao quickly pulled Liu Yanqing's clothes, signaling her son not to continue. She had just allowed her son to continue talking because she wanted to see Liu's father's attitude and see if he would give him some money to share.

"Who knows?" Liu Yanqing said, "They hid something, and we didn't know about it."

"There is a difference between legitimate and illegitimate children." Father Liu was angry.

"Then you shouldn't have given birth to us." Liu Yanqing said.

Father Liu left with a cold face. He was very unhappy. How could his son have such a character? He had never felt this way when he was in the Marquis' Mansion. Perhaps it was because they were too rich back then. Even if these people had some ideas, they were suppressed.

After Liu's father left, Aunt Zhao glared at Liu Yanqing and asked, "Why are you saying that?"

"That's how it is," Liu Yanqing said. "The neighbor bought so much food and ate so well. If he didn't hide the money, what could he do?"

"Whether they hid something or not, that's not your fault." Aunt Zhao believed that it was normal for everyone to hide something. Even if the eldest wife did hide something, in reality, the public treasury no longer had any property, so when the family was divided, the eldest wife could have withheld the money from them.

But Liu's mother still took out some silver and gave it to them, and Aunt Zhao understood this.

If it were Aunt Zhao herself, she wouldn't have taken out those things to share, but would have just chased the person away with a broom.

"I can't have it. Can't I just talk about it?" Liu Yanqing was also very dissatisfied. Why were others allowed to be angry but he was not allowed to be dissatisfied?

"You bastard, stop gambling. You've lost all your money gambling away, how are you going to make a living?" Aunt Zhao said. "Haven't you seen that the people next door are also honestly farming?"

"They also sell embroidery." Liu Yanqing said. It was not just farming honestly, it was obvious that they were doing other things.

"What? You think I'm not good at embroidery?" Aunt Zhao was also angry. Embroidery was really hard to say. It wasn't her forte, and neither was her daughter-in-law. At most, they made some simple things and sold them in town, but they couldn't get a high price.

"Farming is a dead end." Liu Yanqing emphasized, "If farming could be a successful career, would those people be so poor?"

"..." Aunt Zhao certainly knew that it was difficult to make money from farming, but if they didn't farm, would they just starve?

Liu Yulian wasn't surprised to see her father return so unhappy. Each of her half-brothers had their own agenda, and not everyone was willing to work hard to improve themselves.

"Dad." Liu Yulian placed a bowl of chicken soup in front of Liu's father, which was stewed today.

This morning, Mrs. Xie bought two chickens. She roasted one for Father Liu to take to the military camp, and stewed the other, just right for the family to nourish themselves.

Liu Yulian wasn't stingy with her food, and she wasn't afraid of the envy of the other villagers. The villagers had long been accustomed to the exiles eating well at first, but after a while, the exiles were unlikely to continue eating so well, so they began to tighten their belts.

"Let's eat first." Liu Yulian said, "You've been tired all day."

"There's nothing tiring about it. It's just that the ox cart is uncomfortable to ride." Father Liu prefers riding a horse, even riding in a carriage is much better.

The carriages of wealthy families have all kinds of cushions, while the ox carts of poor families are bare and people have to sit directly on the carts and be exposed to the wind.

Father Liu also knew that they were lucky to be able to ride in an oxcart. Some families walked there, but if they really walked, it would be difficult. If they were not careful, they would get blisters on their feet.

Father Liu was old, and even if he had fought in the battlefield before, that was in the past. His health wasn't as good as it used to be, and he would get sick easily if he overworked.

"The things have all been delivered." Father Liu thought of his eldest son, a smile on his face. Fortunately, his eldest son knew how to fight, even though going to the battlefield would inevitably bring danger. "There are also a few small toys woven with grass for Qingyun and Nannan to play with."

When they arrived here, there were no toys. Father Liu had some money in his hand, but he didn't dare to take out those fancy things.

"After the New Year, Qingyun will go to the town to study." Liu Yulian said, "There is a good teacher in the town. It's just before the New Year, so I'll bring some gifts to him tomorrow."

Liu Yulian thought that being a teacher was not easy. Some teachers were relatively poor, so they might not necessarily have a good New Year. She asked someone to find out. The teacher's surname was Li. Teacher Li was a Juren. Normally, Juren who didn't pass the Jinshi exam could still seek official positions.

But Master Li did not seek an official position, but returned to his hometown to become a teacher. There were other teachers in the town, and some people sent their children to the county town. Also, Master Li's reputation was not good, so few students came to study with him.

In fact, Master Li married a widow who was the daughter-in-law of a relatively wealthy local family. The family believed that the widow had brought shame to both her natal and in-laws by marrying instead of remaining a widow.

In this way, the widow remarried, but her reputation was bad and it also dragged Master Li down. Master Li didn't think it was a big deal and continued to be with his widowed wife.

If Liu Yulian had not asked someone to investigate, she might have thought that Master Li was a bad person, just like some people did.

"The shop is next to our house, so it's noisy and difficult to study or rest. We need to buy a separate house." Liu Yulian said, "Mencius' mother moved three times. We didn't move three times, and it's not easy for us to move either. So we have to find a better environment for Qingyun."

"I'll go check on him tomorrow. From now on, I'll pick him up from school." Father Liu picked up his chopsticks. "You don't have to worry too much. You've done a great job as his aunt, even better than I ever did."

Father Liu wasn't someone who would be easily persuaded. He wouldn't ask the eldest wife to help the other illegitimate sons more. He should just take care of his grandson instead of causing trouble for the family.