Chapter 55
After settling the team of guards, Yao's father and mother called a meeting with their sons and daughters-in-law, mainly to gather opinions.
Right from the start, Yao's mother made her decision, "I must go. Old man, you have to come with me!"
"Mom and Dad, do we really have to do this? You can just stay with your sister for a few months, half a year, or a year, and come back when you've had enough." Yao, looking at his wife, hesitated. If she left, she might never return home again. And he didn't want to move. People are often despised when they leave their hometowns. In Jinniu Village, he could survive just fine, whatever he did. What could they do in Yichun?
In fact, Brother Yao’s condition is easy to understand, that is, he is afraid of the unknown.
Yao Da's hesitation and resistance were so obvious that Yao's mother naturally noticed it.
"Those of you who don't want to go to Yichun can stay. But after you stay, I have only one condition, and that is you are not allowed to cause trouble for your sister!" Yao's mother had only one thought, that is, no one was allowed to drag her daughter down!
Brother Yao, Brother Yao and the others were speechless. The distance was more than a thousand kilometers, how could they cause any trouble to his sister?
"I was just saying this. If your sister's people hadn't returned in time, our whole family would have been killed by that damned girl Yao Xing. Is this considered troublesome?"
When he mentioned this, Brother Yao felt a pang of guilt. Well, it was really thanks to his sister that this happened. So his mother wasn't wrong.
"Mom and Dad, you're all gone, so why should we stay? My wife, the kids, and I can go with you," Yao Erge said with a grin. If they stayed with Mom and Dad, they could still benefit from their sister's help and have meat to eat. Mom and Dad went to Yichun, so what was the point of them staying? He wasn't the one who liked to be in charge anyway.
Yao Ersao agreed with her husband's words. To run a business, one must lean on a strong tree for shade. Having tasted success and then lost it, they understood this well. Their shop had flourished when it first opened, before the Wang family fell on hard times. But after the Wang family fell from power, they lost their protection, and the constant visits of thugs and hooligans annoyed them. Now, their shop in town is even mediocre.
Mother Yao nodded and said to the second brother Yao, "Okay, you can start packing your luggage later, and remember to sell the shop in town." After that, she said to the eldest brother Yao, "We will sell half of the family land and leave the remaining half to you, and this house to you as well. I'll leave you one-third of the family's money." If you keep too much, you won't be able to keep these two things, and who knows who will benefit in the future.
Yao Erge listened attentively and thought his mother's way of dividing the property was fair, so he said nothing.
What Yao's mother said was almost equivalent to dividing the family. It was done swiftly and decisively, making Brother Yao and Sister-in-law Yao panic. Are their parents just going to abandon them like this?
"Mom and Dad, have you really decided to move? Are you not going to leave grandpa and grandma behind?" Brother Yao struggled to ask this question.
Yao's father, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. "Based on my understanding of your grandfather, he would most likely agree to move the whole family to Yichun."
Yao hadn't expected such an answer. If his grandparents had gone to Yichun, wouldn't his uncle have followed? Thinking that their little family was the only one left in Jinniu Village, he panicked.
"Brother, I think your family is the one who should leave the most. Both you and your wife are not as cruel as Yao Xing. Once your father and I leave, it would be strange if she doesn't eat you to the bone. You have more than one daughter, Xing'er. You have to think about Hu Zi, right?" said the second brother Yao. He really couldn't understand what his eldest brother was lingering on.
Yao Da Ge said embarrassedly, "Second brother, it's not that serious, is it? You even made Xingzi into a scary demon."
Yao Er Ge raised an eyebrow, "Let me ask you one question. Do you think you two can beat Yao Xing?"
Brother Yao and his wife were in a difficult situation. When their daughter became stubborn, they really couldn't handle it.
Yao's mother listened to what her second son said and nodded secretly. The second son had been doing business in the town for some time and he had indeed become more insightful.
"Brother, don't hesitate, let's go to Yichun together. Don't forget that you are the eldest son." He needs to set up a household!
"Second brother, don't force your eldest brother and sister-in-law. A forced melon is not sweet. If you want to stay, then stay, but I have to say this first. After we leave, you and your wife will have to fend for yourself. We are thousands of miles away, so you have to solve any difficulties on your own. Don't count on your parents, us, and your sister. It's not that we don't want to help, but we will wait until the news reaches Yichun before returning. I guess the opportunity will be gone by then. If you really encounter a critical situation, we should be able to come back in time to collect your bodies."
Brother Yao and Sister-in-law Yao: This is heartbreaking.
Finally, Brother Yao wiped his face and said, "Dad and Mom, we will go to Yichun with you too!"
Their words were heard by Kang Xiaodong and others who were resting in the guest room. They made victory gestures to each other.
"By the way, where is the letter written by A Nuan?" Yao's mother suddenly remembered this. The envelope was addressed to her grandfather, so she gave the letter to her father-in-law.
"My dad must have taken it away?" Yao's father said uncertainly.
Yao's mother wondered, "Has your father never put down that letter since he read it?"
"Is that true? He probably forgot. Dad is old, so it's normal for him to forget things."
Little did they know that the reason why Grandfather Yao kept holding on to the letter was because Yao Chunnuan had planned the future development direction for the Yao family in the letter.
At Grandfather Yao's age, his biggest worry was the lack of success for his descendants. Now, his granddaughter's letter offered him a clear path forward: Furthermore, her concerns were not without reason. As her fame grew, her enemies, and those within her superiors, would inevitably resort to shady tactics, making their families' closest relatives the obvious targets. So, after reading the letter, Grandfather Yao began to consider the pros and cons of relocating his family.
After returning home, Uncle Yao's family also held a meeting.
"Dad, what do you think?" Uncle Yao first wanted to confirm his father's thoughts.
"To be honest, I want to go to Yichun!" Grandfather Yao did not hide his inner thoughts, and even his eyes lit up when he said this.
"You know what's bothering me."
As the eldest son, of course he knew.
"I've always dreamed of changing the Yao family's fortunes, but unfortunately none of you are cut out for studying or taking the imperial examinations, so you can only muddle along like this."
Uncle Yao lowered his head in shame.
"You should understand the difference between a person with or without a background."
Uncle Yao nodded. It was indeed true. If the Yao family hadn't produced two successive village chiefs over the years, the land under their name might have been forcibly bought and sold at low prices. And without a good background and some skills, it was very difficult to ask others for favors. Sometimes, even if you paid money, you couldn't even worship the gods.
"Now that A Nuan has finally found another way and has already walked on it, we should help her! Instead of letting her fight alone, we only enjoy the prestige and honor she brings." Grandfather Yao was full of energy when he said this.
Uncle Yao was stunned for a moment. He hadn't seen his father so motivated and energetic in a long time.
"What about you? Are you hesitating? Are you reluctant to leave your hometown or are you reluctant to give up your position as village chief?"
Uncle Yao shook his head. He had been reluctant to leave, but after hearing his father's words, he realized that compared to his niece's position as chief clerk, his lowly position as village chief wasn't much of a concern. As for the idea of being reluctant to leave one's hometown, that didn't even exist. His Yao family hadn't been from Jinniu Village for generations. Furthermore, after his niece's implicated exile, his prestige had waned, and his work wasn't as smooth as before.
Grandfather Yao nodded. "You're right to think so. Have you noticed? The taxes have been increasing year by year over the past two years."
Hearing this, Uncle Yao certainly understood what his father meant. It meant that his position as village chief would only become more difficult in the future. However, he still felt uncomfortable about moving his entire family to live with his niece. Furthermore, he still had doubts, "Dad, Ah Nuan didn't seem that smart before."
"Isn't it good that the younger generation has made progress? Do you know that ignorance is a rare blessing? And isn't there a saying called "late bloomer"? I guess that's what happened to Ah Nuan. After all, it's the environment that trains people and forces her to grow up."
Uncle Yao thought about it and realized that there really couldn't be a worse environment than what his niece had experienced. If she hadn't stood up, she probably wouldn't have had a good ending.
"Don't think too much. If they weren't relatives, who would go to so much trouble and spend so much money and effort to arrange for us?"
Uncle Yao thought about it and agreed.
"Okay, now that we've made the decision, let's take action. Let's quickly deal with the land and property. Spring plowing hasn't started yet, so the farmland will be easier to deal with. After we've taken care of ourselves, we can set off. Don't let those soldiers wait for us. And you, those who should go back to your mother's home should go back to their mother's home, those who should visit relatives should visit relatives, and say goodbye to all your relatives." After saying this, Grandfather Yao slowly exhaled and looked at the white snow on the ground. He just hoped that he had made the right decision. New Year, new beginnings, and their Yao family will have a new beginning in the new land.
The daughters-in-law of the Yao family all gave birth to children. When Grandpa Yao and Uncle Yao decided to move the whole family to Yichun, they were reluctant to leave but also looked forward to a new life. They all obediently returned to their parents' home and said goodbye.
The Yao family's move was quite a big deal. First, they dealt with the land. They specifically asked Yao's grandfather's cousins if they wanted to buy land. If so, they would give them ten taels per mu for the best land and seven taels per mu for the medium-quality land.
The combined land of Uncle Yao and Father Yao's family spans nearly 100 mu, mostly top-quality land, with about a quarter of it being medium-quality land. All of this land was slowly acquired by Grandfather Yao. Honestly, if the family were to relocate, these fields would be the last thing the Yao family would want to part with. These top-quality fields are cultivated, and their annual grain output leads Jinniu Village. Furthermore, they are all connected, not scattered here and there.
So when the Yao family announced they were going to sell this land, not to mention that the price was two taels cheaper per mu than the market price, even though the Yao family intended to give priority to the families of the same clan, people from the same village still got wind of it.
Faced with the prime farmland offered by the Yao family, seven or eight families on Yao's grandfather's cousin's side gritted their teeth and took what they could, taking out all the money they had pledged. If it wasn't enough, they would borrow some from relatives, taking as much as they could. After all, once the land was purchased, planting crops would yield a harvest, and selling the harvest would pay off the debts.
In the end, the cousins of Yao's grandfather took over nearly 50 acres of high-quality paddy fields, and the rest were all taken up by the villagers of Jinniu Village, with some taking two acres and some taking three acres.
The Yao family's two houses were also excellent. Whether it was the overall layout, the location in the village, or the materials used in their construction, they were all excellent houses in Jinniu Village. Furthermore, the Yao family took good care of their houses, and the houses looked new. Therefore, selling them wasn't difficult.
It was when the two families were dealing with the land together that the villagers of Jinniu Village learned that Yao Chunnuan had not only brought his biological father, mother, and brother's family to Yichun, but also his grandparents and uncle's family.
Upon hearing this news, and after everyone had divided up the Yao family's land, everyone praised Yao Chunnuan for her filial piety. Indeed, she was indeed filial. As soon as she made her fortune, she remembered to bring her family along to enjoy a better life. Some men couldn't do that.
The Yao family's movements were heard by several surrounding villages, not to mention the Yao Xing and Chen families who had been keeping an eye on them.
"Your aunt is really a capable person." Mrs. Chen sighed. She had wanted to tell her eldest son about this, but unfortunately, Mother Yao didn't agree.
Yao Xing was filled with regret. Her aunt was indeed unlucky for her. Why did her aunt's men appear only after she had offended her family to death? If those men had returned a day earlier, no, even half a day earlier, she wouldn't have been left with no way out.
Mrs. Chen glanced at her eldest daughter-in-law who remained silent and said, "Go back and beg your parents to solve this matter."
Yao Xing whispered, "They won't be willing to pay." After diverting the blame, her grandmother would definitely not even let her enter the house.
Mrs. Chen said, "If they don't want to pay the money, then don't pay. With those soldiers here, the loan sharks will at least be a little cautious. It's just right that you can sell the small house near the county school and settle this matter. This must be done as soon as possible." Otherwise, once the Yao family and those soldiers leave, the loan sharks will really have no scruples. At least they can still use their power now.
"Also, you really need to go back and beg your mother. This marriage cannot be broken off!"
Yao Xing responded in a low voice.
Yao Xing didn't dare delay, fearing that one day her family would be gone. But she also didn't dare visit the Yao family, at least not for the time being. So she could only hang out near the laundry dock in Jinniu Village, hoping to run into her mother.
The people in the village were receiving favors from the Yao family. In addition, Yao Xing brought the loan sharks to her parents' home to extort money, so everyone looked down on her. Therefore, these wives secretly told the Yao family about her whereabouts.
When Mother Yao learned about this, she sneered repeatedly, then gave her eldest son and daughter-in-law a lecture. She especially warned her eldest daughter-in-law, "Wasn't Yao Xing's presence there just for her?" She wasn't worried about the others. If Yao Xing dared to appear in front of them, they would beat her with sticks!
Yao Xing waited for two or three days but failed to catch her mother. After she came to her senses, she used a little trick and finally caught her mother.
"mother--"
Mrs. Yao walked with her head down and didn't respond to her at all.
Yao Xing followed her all the time.
"Don't follow me." Mrs. Yao retreated repeatedly. "Don't say anything. I won't believe anything you say."
Honestly, after this incident, Sister Yao was heartbroken. She'd thought she was a capable mother, but when her daughter came home from marriage and said she wanted to open a shop, her grandmother didn't support her, and it was she, the mother, who dug twenty taels of silver out of her own pocket to help her, and how had she treated her? She had the nerve to bring loan sharking to her parents' home. Didn't she even consider the safety of her father, mother, and brother? Her mother-in-law was right; this daughter was a debt collector.
"Mom, I know I was wrong."
In response to Yao Xing, Mrs. Yao ran away, refusing to listen and just chanting sutras.
"Mom!" Yao Xing chased after her.
"Don't follow me. We will live our own lives from now on. Don't come to our house again. No one here welcomes you." Mrs. Yao said this without looking back. She ran faster, still running towards home. She looked so panicked as if a ghost was chasing her.
After hearing this, Yao Xing finally stopped chasing. She stared blankly in the direction of her former home, motionless.
Mrs. Yao looked back from a distance and was extremely scared.
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