Chapter 28 Seeking Refuge

"My family doesn't have any money to contribute... Anyway, it's not like the Wei family is the only one in the village with a well. Do you really think I care?"

Li Erniu's face turned ugly after being scolded. He poured the entire bucket of water he had fetched onto the ground and left with the empty bucket.

Mother Wei felt heartbroken seeing the spilled water. The drought was severe, and the water level in the well was constantly dropping. She couldn't bear to see anyone wasting water like this.

“From now on, we don’t welcome Li Erniu here. He can go to whichever house he wants, but he can forget about coming to the Wei family to fetch water again,” Brother Wei said with a stern face. He was also saying this to the others who were fetching water here.

The villagers, naturally not wanting to anger the Wei family, chimed in to condemn Li Erniu's actions.

During the first month back in the village, it didn't rain at all. The sun was blazing overhead, and apart from a few people going out to fetch water in the morning, no one else in the village would go out.

"The situation in town is not good. Many shops have been looted, and even the government's patrols can't stop it," Brother Wei said, and the news he heard from the village head was not good.

“It’s only been a month, and the townspeople don’t have as much grain as the villagers. Who knows, after a while, many people from the town will come back to rely on their relatives in the village,” Song Yushu worried that the villagers would be a mixed bag and the village head might not be able to manage them.

But there's nothing we can do; everyone in the village has relatives. We can't just stop people from seeking refuge with their relatives.

Sure enough, there have been many unfamiliar faces in the village recently. At the same time, petty theft has been happening frequently. The village head has called on people to talk about it several times, but he still couldn't improve the situation. He could only remind each household to keep an eye on their belongings to prevent them from being stolen.

The Wei family had no relatives in town. The eldest sister-in-law and the second sister-in-law were both farmers. After being reminded, they had already stored up grain and naturally did not need to come and rely on the Wei family. Therefore, the Wei family only needed to close their doors and live their own lives.

Even so, some people still set their sights on the Wei family.

That day, a brightly dressed old woman came to the door.

"Who is it?" Mother Wei asked.

"It's me! It's been so many years, how could you forget me, sister-in-law?" the old woman outside the door said with a smile.

"Wei Chunlan? What are you doing here?" Wei's mother didn't want to open the door for her sister-in-law, who had been married to a man in town for over ten years and hadn't returned home.

"I'm looking for my older brother. Surely he wouldn't turn away his own sister like me?" Wei Chunlan stopped smiling when she saw that she wasn't welcomed.

"You haven't been back for over ten years. Don't think I don't know what you're up to this time. Get out of here!" Mother Wei said rudely, urging her to leave.

"I'm also a member of the Wei family. What right do you, an outsider, have to kick me out? My elder brother hasn't even spoken yet!" Wei Chunlan continued relentlessly from outside.

"Let her in," Mr. Wei said, not wanting things to get too ugly, and finally let her in to talk.

"Why isn't there even a glass of water?" Wei Chunlan's lips were dry, but everyone else ignored her.

"Brother, I really can't make a living in town anymore. I want to come back and stay here. Please ask my sister-in-law to make some rooms for me!" Wei Chunlan said to herself when no one paid any attention to her.

“Impossible, there’s no place for you here,” Mother Wei refused without hesitation.

"The house left by our parents should rightfully have a share in it, don't you think, brother?"

"When Mother was sick, your elder brother and I went to find you, why didn't you see us? You even threatened to sever ties with the Wei family. Your parents have been thinking of you for so many years, but you ungrateful wretch have never come back once. Now you're eyeing the Wei family's house. Wei Chunlan, you're not even as good as an animal!"

Wei's mother was furious at her shameless attitude and started cursing at her.

Fearing that Wei's mother would get sick from anger, Song Yushu quickly came over to comfort her.

"Is this Wei Fang? Didn't she get married? If she can move in, why can't I?" Wei Chunlan was here to ask for a favor, so she didn't dare to vent her anger on her elder brother and sister-in-law. She could only take it out on Song Yushu, the married-out daughter.

"Just because she's more filial than you, Wei Chunlan, we have no relation whatsoever, you can leave!" When Wei's father saw her bringing up Song Yushu, he directly told her to get rid of her.

Wei Chunlan was pushed out by her mother and could only leave unwillingly.

"So? Has your brother agreed to let us move in?" Wei Chunlan's husband couldn't help but ask.

“They were kicked out. If you hadn’t stopped them from coming in when my mother was sick, things wouldn’t have turned out like this!” Wei Chunlan is quite old now, but she risked her reputation to plead for her son and grandson, only to be kicked out. Naturally, she wasn’t happy about it.

"Mother, we're running low on food. Could we borrow some from them? Your eldest grandson is still hungry!" Wei Chunlan's daughter-in-law urged.

The chubby little boy in my arms started crying at that very moment.

"Oh dear! My dear grandson, don't cry. Grandma will take you to eat meat tomorrow!" When Wei Chunlan saw her precious grandson crying, she didn't have time to complain about her husband and quickly comforted him.

The next day, he shamelessly brought his grandson to the Wei family again.

This time, Wei's mother didn't want to let her in, but Wei Chunlan made her grandson sit at the door and cry, which caused several families to come out to see what was going on, so they had to come out and stop her.

"Wei Chunlan, take your grandson and leave right now. If you cause any more trouble, I won't be so polite!"

"Sister-in-law! So many years have passed, I know you resent me, but I was forced into this situation. We really couldn't make a living in town anymore!" Wei Chunlan immediately put on an act when she saw that there were other people present.

"Is this Wei Chunlan? After all these years, how dare she come back?" Those who knew the situation did not sympathize with the grandmother and granddaughter.

"Her mother kept saying she was going to die, so why didn't she come back?"

"That's right. Your older brother and sister-in-law even went to look for you back then, but you wouldn't let them in because they were poor. How come you're begging them for help now? It's karma!"

The villagers did not side with the seemingly disadvantaged grandfather and granddaughter, mainly because the matter had caused quite a stir back then. After his wife passed away, Grandpa Wei personally said that he wanted to sever ties with his unfilial daughter, Wei Chunlan, and the villagers gossiped about it for a long time.

After all, it's rare to see someone as unfilial as Wei Chunlan in the village, so she naturally left a deep impression on them.

Wei Chunlan originally thought that after so many years, no one would remember what happened back then, but she didn't expect it to be brought up again. She was so embarrassed, but thinking of her grandson who was still hungry, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and speak.

"This is a family matter of the Wei family, what business is it of yours? How could you believe what my father said in the heat of the moment? Let me in, my dear grandson has been starving for days!"

Those around her were immediately taken aback by her shamelessness, but they really couldn't get involved in the Wei family's affairs.

"Stop trying to curry favor here. We won't give you any food. Forget about it!" Mother Wei said, her face dark as she closed the door.