When Feng Qingzi heard Meng mention the teacher from the capital, his first thought was the Grand Tutor. He went out and called Yang Wuqi and Ding Gui, ready to have them lead the way to the fields. If it was confirmed that it was the Grand Tutor, then the Crown Prince would be the one behind it.
"Fifth brother, dinner is about to be served. Where are you going? It's not too late to go after dinner." Seeing that they were taking Ding Gui out, Liu came out of the kitchen and shouted.
Ding Gui turned around and said, "Aunt, we ate in town and brought it back."
When Liu heard that they had already eaten, she turned around and glared at Gao, who was lighting the fire. "I guess you and your son had a nice meal out today. I was wondering why Ding Gui was so quiet today, like a starving ghost in the past."
"Even if I eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks, they are not the food and drinks for your Ding Zhu!" Liu is no longer the head of the family now, and Ding Zhu is just a concubine. Gao doesn't take Liu seriously at all and retorted.
"If you want to eat, you have to be rewarded by others before you can eat." Liu sneered.
"Yes, I haven't been treated to food. Even my mother hasn't been treated to food, let alone me. It depends on whether the wife of the family will treat you to food next time you go. Don't be like me and my mother, who were chased out at mealtime as beggars. That would be shameful."
Gao deliberately brought up her wife to anger Liu.
"What's wrong with the Zhengtou wife? She can't lay eggs. Sooner or later, Zhu'er will bring her down."
"That's right, just wait patiently, wait for your Zhu'er to become the wife and take you to the town to enjoy a peaceful life. Just wait patiently!"
"I'm just waiting. At least I still have hope. Unlike you, Ding Gui, who is useless at studying, is just as good-for-nothing as Ding Youtian. Ding Quan isn't much better either. Just wait and see. He'll definitely come back with two bamboo shoots soon. Then you can just rely on bamboo shoots fried with meat to eat!"
Liu's words successfully angered Gao, who said she could do anything except say her son couldn't study. Her mother-in-law, Meng, still looked up to her and favored Ding Quan, hoping that Ding Quan would become famous through his studies.
In a rage, she rushed towards Liu with a fire poker in her hand.
Fang was picking vegetables on the side, and she didn't even need to persuade him. Lao Wu finally came back, which gave her hope of dividing the family. She also heard Gao tell her privately that Lao Wu gave Meng a bag of golden beans. If they didn't divide the family now, when would they?
Her mind was full of thoughts about how to force the second son to talk to her parents about the family division when he returned that night, so she had no time to bother with the other two. Neither of them was easy to deal with, and Gao was good at instigating others to use as pawns. Otherwise, she wouldn't have told her about the fifth son giving Meng a bag of gold beans.
She knew exactly what Gao was planning. She was counting on the second branch to take the lead in dividing the family so that the gold beans could be distributed to each branch as soon as possible to prevent the fifth branch from gambling away all the money.
Gambling is something that is not easy to quit once you get addicted.
Although it disgusted Gao, Fang had always wanted to split the family, so she had to take the lead. She hoped that the two of them would make a big noise, preferably so that all the neighbors would come to watch, so that she could take the opportunity to propose a split under the pretext of wanting peace and quiet.
Liu and Gao scuffled from the kitchen into the courtyard. Any other day, Meng would have jumped out and started yelling. Her voice was loud, and her scolding could easily attract people. But today, Meng had no time to bother with them. Even if they had fought to the point of beating their brains out, she wouldn't have bothered to come out and take a look.
It is said that after joy comes sorrow. Meng and Old Ding used to worry about having no money, and now they are worried too. They are both worried that if Old Fifth becomes addicted to gambling, the debt collectors will come to their house and take away the gold beans and silver ingots.
The two hid in the room and discussed for a long time, and finally came up with a solution. They decided to secretly dig a hole under the bed in the middle of the night and bury the gold beans and silver ingots under the bed. It would be safest to bury them under their noses.
By the time they finished discussing, the Liu and Gao families had also finished fighting, and both were evenly matched, with both sides suffering losses.
Feng Qingzi felt the village was deserted. He could not see many people walking around, and the few he occasionally saw were the elderly, the weak, women, and children. He asked Ding Gui, "What are the other villagers busy with? Could all the able-bodied workers in the village be going out to plant hybrid beans in the fields?"
Ding Gui walked along, imitating the moves Yang Wuqi had taught him. When Feng Qingzi asked him, he shook his head and said, "Many of them went to the river to make lanterns and colored glass. My father and my eldest and second uncles have all gone. The rest are applying fertilizer to the fields."
Liuli Fengqingzi wondered what that lantern was. What was it that illuminated the stable? He was puzzled, and even if he asked Ding Gui, he wouldn't be able to explain it. He decided to first go to the fields to confirm whether the teacher in the capital was the Grand Tutor, and then go to the river to take a look.
"Uncle Wu, that's the teacher hired by the clan school. The old man across the street is closed today." Ding Gui pointed at the old scholar walking over on the ridge in front of him. "I heard that old man is very fierce and beats people with a stick at any time. Your second beggar has had his palm swollen twice."
The second beggar was the eldest son of the fifth brother, Ding Fu. Lu had given birth to a son before him, but she didn't keep him and he died before the full month. So Ding Fu was actually the second child, hence his nickname, the second beggar.
Feng Qingzi had no feelings for Lao Wu's children, so naturally he didn't care whether Ding Fu was beaten or not. He thought the old scholar was the teacher from the capital that Meng had mentioned. When he saw that he was not the Taifu, he lost all interest in going to the fields to take a look.
"Let's go to the river and see what your uncle and the others are doing." Feng Qingzi stopped. As long as the supporter behind the hybrid beans was not the prince, Feng Qingzi was not interested in any rich young man, and did not want to waste his time.
Ding Gui said, "It's a bit far to the riverside in the back mountains. Let's go back and get a carriage."
Feng Qingzi thought to himself, how big can a shabby village be? Besides, the village roads are so bumpy, it would be a torture to sit in a carriage, it would be better to walk around and take a look.
Yang Wuqi also meant this, but Ding Gui wasn't unhappy. All he could think about was learning skills from his uncle so he could teach Dabao and Ma Xiaomai a lesson and vent his anger. Just imagining himself knocking them to the ground filled him with such satisfaction and relief.
Ding Gui led the two of them to the riverside behind the mountain.
By the river, Meixiang squatted on a big rock, swinging a mallet and beating clothes while complaining. She deliberately avoided other women in the village and ran downstream alone to wash clothes, just to express her inner depression.
She stayed here despite the risk of catching a cold, not to continue doing hard labor here. She cursed Huo Jincheng and Jian Ning, completely unaware that there were three people standing on the shore behind her, chattering and cursing non-stop.
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