Chapter 123 Furious
Seeing that Xie Chengzhi was so thoughtful, Xie Boyu thought for a moment and agreed.
The second son is quick-witted. Although his mother seems to be strict with him over the years, she actually subsidizes the second wife the most.
Xie Chengzhi was also good at making people happy, and he might be able to cheer his mother up.
After thinking for a moment, Xie Boyu said, "Mother is in a bad mood, so try to comfort her."
He couldn't directly say that his mother was probably faking illness to trick Shen Yuanzhu out of the dyeing recipe. But thinking that Xie Chengzhi was usually very quick-witted and probably knew the truth, he gave a few vague hints and left.
After everyone dispersed, Xie Chengzhi knelt by the bed, looking at Xie San Niang's tightly closed eyes, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"mother……"
Seeing Xie San Niang's heavy breathing, just like a dying person with little breath in and much exhalation, he grabbed Xie San Niang's hand and became excited.
"Mother, please tell me honestly, is it... is it really not going to make it through this?"
Although he usually jokes around, he still has some understanding of his shrewd and calculating mother.
Today's act of pressing for the dyeing recipe wasn't exactly shrewd, but since they've gone to such a crude scheme, it shows that his mother is really desperate.
Why the rush?
The answer is self-evident.
Xie Chengzhi knelt beside Xie Sanniang, his voice filled with sorrow: "Mother, your son is a good-for-nothing. If you really pass away one day, how will your son live?"
“I know you don’t like me, but Ying Shou respects you the most, and Lu Rong is not married yet. Can you really bear to abandon her and leave?”
Xie San Niang was still consumed by anger over Shen Yuanzhu and Xie Qi, and when she heard Xie Chengzhi's words implying that he hated her to death, she became even more furious.
"Mother, when I heard that you were seriously ill, my pillow was soaked with tears."
"When it comes to filial piety, no one in our family can compare to our son."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Shu covered her lips and chuckled to herself.
Xie Chengzhi ignored her and continued, "Mother, if you really leave, all the family property will go to my eldest brother, and my little bit of fertile land will really not be enough to eat, wear, and live on..."
"After you pass away, I will still have to live under my brother and sister-in-law's care. How difficult will that be?"
"My sister-in-law is shrewd and keeps a tight grip on the family's money. It's not easy to squeeze a little out of her."
Xie San Niang opened her eyes, her gaze filled with unyielding anger.
Xie Chengzhi ignored this and continued, "I don't have any ulterior motives, I'm just worried about Jingyuan..."
"You said Jingyuan isn't married yet. If you weren't there to uphold justice, what kind of marriage could your honest brother possibly arrange for Jingyuan?"
Mentioning Xie Jingyuan immediately extinguished a portion of Xie San Niang's anger.
"Mother, I really can't bear to part with you. I remember when I was little, I was always craving something sweet, and you would secretly take me to the kitchen in the middle of the night to find some baked flatbread to eat."
"My child has a weak spleen and stomach, so you had the kitchen always keep some noodles that nourish the spleen and stomach, which is why my child has grown into the strong and healthy person he is today."
"Therefore, I love my mother..."
"Just say what you have to say, stop with the nonsense."
Xie Sanniang was not in high spirits and did not want to argue with him. Upon hearing this, Xie Chengzhi quickly waved his hand, "I just feel sorry for my mother..."
"I'm glad you're not going to drive me crazy. If you have nothing to say, you should go back to your own yard."
"No, Mother, it's a rare opportunity for me to show my filial piety to you..."
Seeing that Xie San Niang closed her eyes and didn't want to talk to him anymore, Xie Chengzhi choked up and said, "Mother, you don't know how miserable my life has been."
“A few days ago, didn’t you help me pay off a loan? After paying that money back, I really didn’t have a single penny left in my pocket.”
“Even the dowry I had saved for Lu Rong was sold off by my child.”
At this point, Xie San Niang suddenly opened her eyes, and Xie Chengzhi continued, "I can't even afford to pay Ying Shou's tuition anymore!"
"If you go, you'll leave some land for the second wife, and Lu Rong will only be able to marry a farmer, and Ying Shou will only be able to work in the fields."
"As you know, Ying Shou is intelligent. Even if he doesn't become the top scholar in the imperial examination, becoming a successful candidate in the provincial examination will be a piece of cake..."
Seeing Xie San Niang's eyes widen, Xie Chengzhi continued, "Mother, if you really die, no one will care for our second branch of the family. Because of the family rules, our second branch will only have one option: to beg for food on the streets."
"So you see, when the family divides up in the future, won't you..."
Xie Chengzhi lightly twirled his fingers: "Shouldn't we leave some tools for our son to make a living?"
His gaze swept over the items in Xie San Niang's room, and he picked through them, saying, "I remember you have a string of jade beads that you've worn for decades. Why don't you leave them to me as a keepsake?"
"Does your camphor wood chest also contain a pair of headbands inlaid with seven-colored gemstones in red gold?"
“When Zheng Shu came in, I remember you mentioned this, so I gave it to her.”
"It's not that I'm greedy, it's just that I'm worried that if I leave you without leaving us anything to remember me by, you'll miss me terribly."
At this point, Zheng Shu also chimed in: "There's a Western clock in the front hall of the old lady's Suxuezhai. I remember that the small one that Third Uncle had was worth quite a bit of silver. Mother, you should leave that clock to us."
"And another thing, everyone knows why the Xie family has the rule of not dividing the family. There's no need to make the other branches suffer because of a little brat, is there?"
"If the old lady doesn't want to give it to us, does she not want to give it to Uncle San?"
“Then the eldest son’s family will rightfully inherit the property, the third son will receive the old lady’s savings, and we, the second son’s family, will get nothing. That won’t do.”
Zheng Shu nudged Xie Chengzhi: "We can't suffer this in silence."
Xie San Niang did have a memory of what Xie Chengzhi said.
Her two sons were frail and weak in childhood, so their diet had to be carefully selected.
If it's cold, hard, sour, or spicy, the child will suffer from severe stomach pain and roll around on the floor after eating it. So she asked the kitchen to bake him some flatbread mixed with medicinal herbs every day.
She fed him small amounts of food frequently throughout the day.
In the middle of the night, the child cried that he was hungry, so she went to the small kitchen to get some pancakes, slowly baked them until they were crispy and fragrant, and fed them to him.
But I don't know when it started, Xie Chengzhi has become the calculating and greedy person he is today.
"Mother, how about this, you secretly give me two shops, that way I won't have to put up with my older brother's attitude in the future..."
Thinking of Xie Xuchuan and Jiang Wansu, then of the Shen family's dyeing manual that they had waited for over a decade only to end up with nothing, and then of Xie Shan and Xie Qi...
Xie San Niang stared intently at Xie Chengzhi, suddenly realizing that faking his illness was unwise.
Compared to the Xie family's unlikely advancement to the position of imperial merchant, the shrewdness and calculation in the eyes of the child she raised is far more painful to bear.
Thinking of this, Xie San Niang felt a tightness and pain in her chest and couldn't help but cough violently.
"cough……"
She coughed twice, then suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
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