After listening to the little boy talk about what he knew about the three brothers of Chen Ming, and thinking about what Chen Ming said in the evening, and adding his own imagination, Chen Afu learned some old stories of the Chen family.
The father of the three Chen Ming brothers felt that he could not make money by digging in the soil, so he followed a distant relative to do business. In ten years, he did make some money and bought more than 20 acres of land for the family. He thought that he would stop after this last business trip, but he fell off a cliff and died on the way. At that time, the eldest brother Chen Ye was nine years old, the second brother Chen Ming was seven years old, and the third brother Chen Shi was five years old.
With only women and children left at home, Chen Ming's second uncle and second aunt decided to seize their family property. They moved their family to Chen Ye's house and wanted to take over his family's fields and help manage them, and forced his widowed sister-in-law to remarry.
In people's eyes, the second uncle was right to use the excuse that his nephew was young and his widowed sister-in-law might remarry, so he wanted to help manage the household. But the widowed sister-in-law was determined not to remarry, and her child was smart and she didn't want relatives to help take care of her, so she was also right.
However, Uncle Chen and his wife are young and strong, while Chen Yejia is an orphan with a widowed mother. Most of the villagers believe that Uncle Chen will be the winner in the end.
Chen Ye was very thoughtful at a young age, and Old Lady Chen was not a weak woman, so they would certainly not let their property be taken away by others. After discussion, the two secretly sold four mu of land and used the 20 taels of silver they earned to give gifts to Gao Lizheng's family and the more respected families among the clan members, asking them to help the orphans and widows.
These families had always looked down upon the despicable behavior of Uncle Chen, and after receiving generous gifts, they helped the mother and son of the Chen family to drive away the uncle who wanted to seize the property of his widowed sister-in-law and nephew, thus preserving the family business.
Through this lesson, Chen Ye knew at a young age that his family had to become strong so that they would not be bullied. He felt that there was no development in just digging for food in the fields, but it was too dangerous to do business like his father. He felt that his two younger brothers were smart and had the potential to study. He persuaded Mrs. Chen to sell a few acres of land to support his two younger brothers' studies. He originally studied in a private school, but he dropped out. He had no conditions to continue studying, and he could not get into it.
Old Mrs. Chen was the kind of woman who obeyed her husband when he was still alive and her son when he was dead, and she followed her son's arrangements.
After selling another four mu of land, the family still had eighteen mu of land. From then on, Chen Ye and Old Lady Chen went to work in the fields from morning till night, instead of hiring permanent workers as before. They would only hire temporary workers for a few days when the mother and son were too busy to handle the busy farming season.
Chen Ming and Chen Shi were both sensible. Seeing how hard their mother and brother worked, they studied hard. Chen Ming passed the examination for a student at the age of thirteen, and his teacher said that he would definitely pass the examination for a scholar next year. However, he caught a cold the following year, which later turned into tuberculosis, and he almost died, so he did not continue his studies.
Chen Shi was not as good at reading as Chen Ming, but he was smart and quick-witted, and he was very sweet-spoken. He knew that he could not read well, and what he had learned was enough. When he was twelve years old, he stopped studying and went to work as a clerk in a shop in the county town, and later worked as an accountant. Later, he married the daughter of the boss and went to the provincial capital to open a shop of his own.
When Chen Ming was 18 years old, the Chen family officially split up because Chen Ming was dying of illness and the money for medical treatment was spent like water, and Chen Shi was going to the capital to start a business, which also required a large sum of money.
Old Mrs. Chen felt sorry for her second son, Chen Ming, but she also didn't want him to be a burden to her other two sons, so she proposed to split the family. After the family split, Chen Ming's land would be used to treat his illness. If he could be cured, it would be good fortune. If he couldn't be cured, it wouldn't bring trouble to the other two sons.
The family had a yard and 16 mu of land. The yard was divided among the eldest wife, and an extra mu of land was given to the eldest wife, not only because Mrs. Chen needed the eldest wife to take care of her in her old age, but also because Chen Ye had made great contributions. The remaining 15 mu of land was divided among the three brothers, with five mu each.
Chen Ye first helped Chen Ming sell an acre of land, and Chen Ye and Chen Shi each added one or two taels of silver in private to buy the small courtyard where Chen Ming's family now lives.
Just after the family was divided, Old Lady Chen and Chen Ye heard that the girl from the neighboring village, Wang, who was sold to the neighboring town Chen Juren's family as a child bride, was driven back by her mother-in-law. They knew that Wang was a lucky girl. It was because she married Chen Juren's family that she cured Chen Juren's father who was dying of illness. Moreover, she learned good embroidery from Chen Juren's mother, and marrying her into the family would also allow them to afford Chen Ming's medical treatment.
Although Wang had been married once, she was not sure whether she was willing to marry a sickly man like Chen Ming. Old Lady Chen and Chen Ye went to her house to talk to her personally. Unexpectedly, it was successful.
This was another smartest decision made by Old Lady Chen and Chen Ye.
Wang entered the Chen family and not only "made good" Chen's name, but also worked hard to earn money for his medical treatment. Seven months later, she gave birth to a daughter prematurely due to an accident, and a few years later, she gave birth to a son. Although the daughter was a fool, the son was well-behaved and sensible, but unfortunately he became lame in the end.
The above is what Chen Afu heard and imagined. There are even more secret things that she doesn’t know.
Wang's mother was a stepmother, and she said that as long as the Chen family could afford a betrothal gift of ten taels of silver, Wang would be married immediately. Chen Ming was already so ill, where could he find ten taels of silver? The remaining four acres of land was the capital for his life and survival, and he did not dare to sell it as a betrothal gift.
When the mother and son of the Chen family walked out of the village dejectedly, Wang caught up with them and said that she had ten taels of silver given to her by Mr. Chen's family, and she was willing to give the silver to them as a betrothal gift and marry into the Chen family, but...
After a long discussion, they finally reached an agreement. Wang took out a ten-liang silver note from the sleeve of her dress and gave it to Old Lady Chen. The next day, the Chen family asked a matchmaker to come in and propose marriage. Because Chen Ming was dying of illness, three days later, Wang was carried to Chen Ming's yard in a sedan chair.
Chen Afu thought that Old Lady Chen was a good mother who really cared about her three sons. The three sons' lives were different now, but they were all living the best within their respective abilities. If it were any other village woman, their families would definitely not live as well as hers.
Chen Ye and Chen Shi can be considered good brothers, especially Chen Ye, who has vision and courage and knows how to care for his brothers appropriately, but he will not make his life miserable.
It was good that Chen Ye and his mother could do this. At least they were sincere about Chen Ming and Chen Ayuan. Although they didn't like themselves and Dabao, they still tolerated Wang's support for them.
But the eldest aunt, Mrs. Hu, was too good. Chen Ming was sick and dying. Except for Mrs. Wang, all the family members were weak and disabled. How could they have the money to honor her? Moreover, it was reasonable to honor Mrs. Chen and be grateful to Chen Ye, but honoring her? Who was she?
That's the Chen Juren, uh, also surnamed Chen! That man is probably the biological father of this body, right? From what Xiao Zhengtai said, it was no secret that Wang had been a child bride to Chen Juren.
Then he asked, "Does Dabao know Mr. Chen?"
The little boy rolled his eyes and whispered, "I can only ask my son about this. Don't ask grandpa and grandma."
Do you really think I'm a fool? Chen Ahfu smiled and nodded, saying, "Mom knows."
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