Chapter 57: Unable to Live
At this moment, Old Man Chen, leaning on his cane, also came over step by step. He listened to the villagers' ridicule and his two sons' unreasonable arguments, and his old face felt a burning pain.
The thing he valued most in his life was his face. But ever since the family split, this old face had been thrown to the ground and trampled on time and again by these unworthy sons.
"Isn't this embarrassing enough?!" Old man Chen used all his strength to slam his cane to the ground, making a dull thud. "Everyone, get out of here!"
His cloudy old eyes were filled with bloodshot and disappointment. He didn't look at Feng Lan, but stared at his two sons, as if he were looking at two sworn enemies.
Chen Kangzhong and Chen Kangshu were frightened by their father's appearance. They didn't dare to say anything more. They hung their heads and dejectedly disappeared into the crowd.
Old man Chen turned around, his hunched back looking particularly desolate in the autumn sun. He didn't return to the west yard, but instead walked step by step towards his own desolate fields.
That night, the lights in the west courtyard were on for half the night.
Old Man Chen called his three sons, along with Chen Kangnian, who was hiding in the house pretending to be sick, to the main hall. He didn't curse or hit anyone, but simply slammed a piece of paper he had already written on the table.
"These thirty acres of land are divided among you three brothers, and each of you will have ten acres. From today on, whoever owns the land will take care of it by himself. Whether the harvest is big or small, good or bad, it will all be on your own heads. From now on, no one will be able to rely on others!" Old man Chen pointed at Chen Kangzhong, Chen Kangshu and his second son Chen Kangyou who had never appeared.
Then he looked at Chen Kangnian, who had been hiding in the corner, thinking he could stay out of it.
"And you," Old Man Chen's voice was cold, "Aren't you going to study and take the exam to become a scholar? Okay. Starting this month, you'll pay two taels of silver a month as a maintenance fee to your family. This money will come from your three brothers' land. Whoever's land has a good harvest will pay less. If anyone's land becomes barren, you will use your family's savings to fill the gap!"
"Dad! This isn't fair!" Chen Kangnian was the first to jump up. "I'm studying to bring honor to our family. Why do you still want me to..."
"Shut up!" Old Man Chen slammed the table so hard that the piece of paper containing the land division contract jumped up in shock. "If you think this is unfair, take off that long gown right now and get to work in the fields! We in the Chen family don't support useless people who eat for free!"
Chen Kangnian shuddered at the shouting and dared not speak again. He looked at his three brothers, their eyes full of murderous intent, and for the first time, a sliver of panic crept into his heart. He knew that getting even a penny from home would be harder than climbing to heaven.
It was a farce that ended with the West Court falling apart.
In the East Courtyard, Feng Lan listened to the faint quarrel coming from the other side of the wall and just shook her head.
"Comber," she said to her husband, who was weaving a new backpack in the yard, "it seems our wall is still too low."
Chen Kangbo stopped what he was doing and smiled innocently, but a hint of subtle shrewdness flashed in his eyes.
"It's better to be short so we can hear any noise. Otherwise, they might starve to death one day and we won't know."
The couple smiled at each other, and everything was said without words.
But they didn't expect that although the trouble in the west courtyard was temporarily resolved, new troubles in the village were quietly brewing.
After being forced to sign the "military order" that night, Chen Kangnian's hatred for Feng Lan's family reached its peak. He didn't dare to resent his father and brother, so he put all the blame on the eldest wife.
He thought, the reason why the eldest wife was so strong was because they had land, water and hope, right?
He had visited the canal that brought water from the back mountain. The water flow wasn't large, but its constant flow was valuable. It was this spring water that brought the fifteen acres of rotten land back to life.
A sinister plan slowly took shape in his mind.
He couldn't destroy the canal, but he could cut off Feng Lan's family's more important source of water - the public well in the village.
As the autumn sun warmed, a delightful burst of tender green emerged from the fifteen acres of newly tilled land in the east courtyard. Radish and cabbage seedlings scrambled to poke their heads out, carrying the fragrance of the earth as they unfolded their leaves in the morning light. Most of the sweet potato vines that had been transplanted had also survived, creeping along the ridges, radiating with tenacious vitality.
The spring water brought from the back mountain nourishes the land day and night, and also nourishes the hearts of the family.
That morning, Feng Lan, as usual, carried two wooden buckets to the public well at the east end of the village to fetch some water. While the spring water from the back mountain could irrigate the fields, the flow was weak and inconvenient to drink directly, so the family still relied on the old well for food, drink, and washing.
But as soon as she reached the well, she noticed that something was wrong with the atmosphere.
Normally at this time of day, the well was bustling with activity, with village women and young men chatting and laughing as they lined up to draw water. But today, while there were quite a few people gathered around the well, their faces were stern and the atmosphere was solemn. At the sight of her, the conversations stopped, and complicated glances were cast upon her.
Several women who were about to fetch water stopped what they were doing when they saw her and stood aside silently, as if they were avoiding some plague god.
Feng Lan's heart skipped a beat, but she remained calm. She walked straight to the well and put down the wooden barrel.
"Hey, isn't this the eldest sister-in-law of the Chen family?" A sarcastic voice sounded from the crowd.
Feng Lan looked in the direction of the voice. The person who spoke was Wang Ermazi's wife from the west end of the village. She loved to gossip. At that moment, she was looking at Feng Lan with a smirk, her eyes squinting.
"Sister-in-law Wang, good morning." Feng Lan replied indifferently.
"Early morning? I don't deserve that." Wang Ermaizi's wife laughed strangely and raised her voice. "We are ordinary families, how can we compare to the power and prestige of your family, the eldest sister-in-law of the Chen family? You beat people up, you start lawsuits, and a few days ago you even forced your own brothers to embarrass themselves in front of the whole village. Tsk tsk, ever since your eldest branch separated and started living on its own, we haven't had a single day of peace in Pingjiang Village!"
As soon as she said this, she immediately attracted a lot of support.
"That's right! They quarrel and make trouble every day, making the whole family restless!"
"My children are afraid to go out at night now, for fear of running into you fighting in the back hills!"
"Feng Lan, we're not trying to criticize you, but can you please just solve your family's problems behind closed doors? Don't keep dragging the whole village into this. We don't want to suffer with you!"
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