Chapter 1933: Feud (March Monthly Ticket Plus 5)
The elders of the clan also saw Old Zhou's expression.
Seeing them looking over, Old Zhou immediately said, "There's nothing we can do. The family is still waiting for the rent to be paid this year. Even though Manbao has a salary, he still has to spend money to buy even a handful of vegetables in the capital. Even if he doesn't buy meat and only eats vegetables, that little money is not enough."
The elders almost said, "Then why do you and your whole family want to stay in the capital?"
But seeing Zhou Man's happy look, and remembering how Qian had arrogantly said that day that Zhou Man had to be filial to her since she raised him, he finally kept silent.
After returning, the elders told the patriarch what happened at the edge of the field.
Chief Xia frowned and asked, "Is she telling the truth, or is she lying to us? What does this mean? Is she urging me to pay her the rent? Or is she afraid that we'll come and ask for money in the future?"
"I don't think so. She knows a lot about farming. She stood in the field and looked at the wheat for a while, then gave us a rough estimate of the yield. I looked carefully and found that her estimate was not much different from our private estimate. But even so, when she mentioned the drought last year, she said without blinking that she didn't want the rent this year, and would use it to support the orphans and run the tribe school."
"Yes, it's her uncle who is very stingy. If he hadn't been keeping an eye on her, I'm afraid Xu Li would have donated the land he rented for a long time to the clan."
"Looking at the Zhou family, it seems they are indeed not well-off in the capital."
"Look at the clothes they are wearing, don't they look like they are not well-off?"
"It's better to lose the battle than the fight. This is our Xia family's territory, so they should dress nicely. If they don't dress well, who will respect them?" An elder said, "But they are officials. I heard that the court also distributes cotton and silk. The cloth they wear doesn't look like the cloth sold in ordinary cloth shops. It's likely distributed by the government."
The son of the Xia clan leader also said, "Dad, I heard that the two brothers from the Zhou family changed the door locks of the house yesterday. I heard that they wanted to buy some old furniture at the flea market to buy some more furniture, and then rent out the house."
Chief Xia: "...are you really that poor?"
He looked incredulous. "Let's not talk about the Zhou family. Look at the clothes and accessories she and the two young masters of the Bai family wear. Do they look like they are poor? Don't be fooled by her."
"She's already so powerful, why would she lie to us?" an elder said. "It's true that she's well-dressed, but as an official, she always has to be better. She doesn't want to be inferior to others in social interactions, let alone other things."
"As for the two young masters of the Bai family, they are from an aristocratic family after all, so they do have some background."
Patriarch Xia came to his senses and asked, "Why are you suddenly speaking well of her? What do you want to do?"
The elders were silent for a moment, then said, "We didn't intend to do anything. Didn't you suspect she had ill intentions? We just thought maybe she was really having a hard time."
Clan leader Xia snorted coldly and said, "No matter how difficult it is, it won't change her sinister intentions. Asking us to run a clan school at this time is completely ill-intentioned..."
"That's not right. She's not without reason. There are too few people in the clan who study. We didn't have any land for school before, but now we have one. The teacher's tuition is enough to support us. The clan can take turns cultivating the land to provide for us. Why should we stop the children from pursuing their dreams?"
"Studying costs more than just the teacher's tuition. It also requires books, writing brushes, paper, and inkstones, three meals a day, and clothes for all seasons, not to mention the construction of the school. All of these things cost money..."
"There are so many people in the tribe, we can just go out when the time comes."
Patriarch Xia was a little annoyed: "Wu Lang and Qi Lang are about to take the provincial academy entrance exam. As long as they pass, they can try to take the imperial examination in three or two years. Even if they can't pass the Jinshi exam, they can still try for the Mingke and other exams. When the time comes, the family will need to help them with the selection of officials..."
But Xia Wulang and Xia Qillang are not their biological grandsons, so why should they use their own money to support them?
They had no choice before, but now they can send their children to school, right?
Seeing that things seemed to have returned to the starting point of the dispute in the past few days, Chief Xia suddenly didn't want to talk anymore.
What made him even more tired was that even his son and grandson did not agree with him. Obviously, they also wanted their own children to go to school instead of supporting their cousins.
Chief Xia waved his hand tiredly and asked, "Where are they?"
"I went to Xia Yi's house. They said that they were the closest family after all, so I had to go and see them no matter what."
Chief Xia thought, is that to irritate people?
Manbao really didn't go there to irritate anyone. Even if she went there with this idea in mind, she couldn't show it. There was a large group of young men from the Xia family following her. They were all her cousins, uncles, and nephews, although she didn't know any of them.
Xia Yi's house is on the edge of Hongtian Village, with fields in front and several houses behind.
When they arrived at the place, Manbao nodded with satisfaction. It was indeed very shabby, with several mud houses. The outer walls were a bit peeling, and the yellow mud walls were full of potholes. Some of them could even be seen from the outside.
It's still summer now, but when winter comes, people will freeze to death.
Manbao walked over, sighed as he approached, and asked, "Did Uncle Yitang never repair the house before?"
A cousin replied, "I only come back two or three times a year and stay for a few days each time. Who would have the patience to repair it?"
The main thing was, who could have imagined that Xia Yan's granddaughter would come back alive? It would have been fine if she had just returned, but she actually made the clan spit out everything they had eaten.
Manbao looked at Xia Yi's house and sighed, thinking in her heart that this was simply made for her. No wonder she was always bullied by her own father.
This is fate destined by heaven.
When Xia Yi's two sons and one daughter saw Zhou Man and his friends coming, they stood in the yard and glared at them with some hatred, not allowing them to enter.
Except for the little girl who looked only seven or eight years old, the other two were about the same age as Manbao. However, she looked at their sizes and firmly believed that they were younger than her, so she asked with a smile, "Are you my cousins?"
The three of them stared at her without answering.
Seeing that she didn't seem to mind, the young men who followed her became more fond of her and took the initiative to explain, "They are younger than you."
Among the young men who followed her were many who were much older than her. They had memories of the past, and sometimes the adults in the family would talk about it, so they revealed it without restraint: "Back then, your grandfather said he wanted to adopt someone, and your adopted uncle waited and waited. In the end, he didn't start talking about marriage until your mother was about to get married, so they are all younger than you."
Manbao: ...
Bai Shan couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Manbao felt a little uncomfortable, so he looked towards Xia Yi's yard and found that there were a lot of furniture in the yard. He sighed and said, "How can this be done? Even the best furniture will break if it is left out in the open air. Why don't you move in?"
It was the young cousin who replied, "It's a mess inside. What should I do? I don't even know if there are any holes in the ground."
This is really a scam. He is sure that he will not return to his hometown to live, so he is wasting his home?
See you tomorrow, hahahaha
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
