"Zhou Chenyu, you brat!" Chen Cuiping pointed her finger at Zhou Chenyu.
Zhou Chenyu, feigning ignorance, was startled and quickly hid behind Li Xiuju. "Auntie, you were just praising me, why are you pointing at me and scolding me now? What did I do wrong? I'm just a child."
Li Xiuju patted Zhou Chenyu's hand, shielding him behind her, and said calmly, "I told you long ago, our family doesn't have any land for you. She's just a child, and nothing she says counts."
“Sister-in-law, we’re all brothers and sisters-in-law, we can’t be too ruthless!” Chen Cuiping knew that Li Xiuju was easily swayed, and this trick always worked. She persuaded her gently, “After my brother passes away, there’s only Baoyu left in the family. He’s not even fully grown yet, what can he handle? When that time comes, we’ll still have to step in.”
"I'm not a child anymore, I'm all grown up!" Baoyu protested indignantly.
Li Xiuju didn't want to hear Chen Cuiping's explanation, so she kept her lips tightly shut and didn't say a word.
Seeing that they were all in cahoots and acting like a pair of peas in a pod, Chen Cuiping could only vent her anger on Zhou Wanqiu, yelling, "What are you standing there for? Come home with me!"
Zhou Baoyu slunk to the door, opened it wide to see the guest off, and said, "Auntie, take care. And thank you for the steamed buns."
"Hmph!" Chen Cuiping snorted coldly and left angrily.
As Zhou Baoyu watched the two walk away, his smile faded, and he became vaguely worried: "Mother, sister, we've completely fallen out today. Will my aunt and uncle pull some tricks behind our backs?"
Zhou Chenyu brushed the crumbs off his hands. "The devil is always one step ahead of the saint. If they dare to play tricks, we dare to fight back."
“Exactly!” Baoyu nodded. “If they dare to cause trouble again, I’ll expose all the despicable things they’ve done and let the villagers judge for themselves and see their hypocritical faces.”
Li Xiuju was still a little scared when she said those hurtful things, but now, looking at her increasingly sensible children, she smiled and said, "Your father was still alive when he fell ill, and they dared to scheme against us. They don't value our brotherhood at all. Shameless people like them only know how to take advantage of others and kick us when we're down. It's better not to associate with relatives like that. If your father knew this in the afterlife, he would understand us."
Li Xiuju smiled helplessly, considering all her past efforts as wasted. "Alright, go back and rest early."
After saying that, Li Xiuju returned to her room.
After what just happened, Zhou Chenyu was in a state of high excitement and had no sleepiness at all.
Fortunately, the moon is bright tonight, with stars twinkling in the sky. The bright moonlight shines throughout the courtyard, making it exceptionally bright without the need for fire or lamps.
Zhou Chenyu moved a small stool to the courtyard gate and sat down, listening to the croaking of frogs coming from the nearby pond.
Baoyu also felt that it was still early, so he leaned against the door.
The two usually bickered and teased each other, so Zhou Chenyu was a little unaccustomed to the sudden silence and casually asked about Chen Cuiping's family situation.
It turns out that the man Chen Cuiping married was named Zhou Wenwu, who was five years younger than Zhou Wenbin.
These two brothers lost their parents at a young age. Zhou Wenbin raised Zhou Wenwu single-handedly. In order to raise his younger brother, Zhou Wenbin got married a year later than Zhou Wenwu. Unfortunately, he raised an ungrateful child.
After Zhou Wenwu and Chen Cuiping got married, they had two sons and a daughter. Their eldest son, Zhou Baocai, was one year older than her, and their youngest son, Zhou Baoquan, was the same age as her. Both of them were married.
According to Zhou Baoyu, the two brothers had a big fight over the homestead two years ago, which led to their separation. The favored younger son took over the main house, and the two elderly people followed him to take care of them in their old age, illness, and death. The older son only needed to give them money regularly.
Perhaps it was karma, but the younger son got married and had his own children, which gave rise to selfishness. Although the two old folks lived with them, they had to depend on their son for everything, from food and clothing to daily necessities.
In addition, their youngest son, Zhou Baoquan, was lazy and gluttonous, and his domineering wife controlled the finances. Whenever anything went wrong, Zhou Wenwu and Chen Cuiping would be insulted and verbally abused.
After living such a stifling life for so long, Chen Cuiping and Zhou Wenwu gradually began to regret their actions. However, their eldest son was dissatisfied with the allocation of the homestead, so he just let it go.
To make life a little easier, Chen Cuiping set her sights on them. She wanted a good plot of land to grow vegetables without having to clear the land herself, so she could just come and reap the benefits when the time was right.
Zhou Baoyu stretched out his arms and laughed heartily, "Sister, it's good that you're here. She's fooled us so many times, and she still thinks she can get away with it? She's dreaming."
"This is probably what they call 'if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too.'"
Zhou Chenyu muttered something to herself, when suddenly a barefoot man carrying a lantern walked towards the field. "It's so dark, what's he going to do?"
Baoyu glanced at it and said, "Oh, he went to catch eels. Before planting, there are usually a lot of wild eels in the fields. They are hard to catch, but they are nutritious and are very popular with the masters and mistresses of wealthy families. If you can catch a dozen or so catties, you can make a lot of money selling them for over a hundred coins a catty. However, some people can catch several catties in one night, while others can only catch a few. It depends on your luck."
If you set up a dedicated eel farm, you'd be rolling in money. Eels.
Zhou Chenyu was captivated by the prospect of wealth. "Hey, let's go get some too!"
"Sister, these eels only appear at night; they stay under the mud during the day. We don't have any lights, so how are we going to catch them? And if we're unlucky enough to run into a poisonous snake, it'll be even worse."
Zhou Chenyu was met with a cold shower: "This is so troublesome."
The man stopped in the paddy field in front of his house. Baoyu ran over to join in the fun, and Zhou Chenyu quietly followed.
The man stood on the edge of the paddy field and spotted an eel lying still in the water. He held a lamp up to the clear paddy field with one hand, and with the other hand, he pulled out a large, homemade pair of serrated bamboo scissors from his waist. He snipped at the muddy paddy field and instantly caught an eel as thick as a thumb.
The eel shook its body violently in a final struggle, but the bamboo shears were very sturdy. Not only did it not escape, but its skin was also chafed. Soon, the man threw it into the bamboo cage at his waist.
After catching this one, the man continued walking along the ridge of the field, heading further afield.
Zhou Chenyu and Baoyu returned to their doorstep and looked at the distant paddy fields, where the flames that had been lit up increased from one to four or five.
It's a pity they didn't have any lights, otherwise she would definitely have tried.
Zhou Chenyu suppressed his restless heart.
Zhou Baoyu stared blankly at the lush old tree in front of the door. After a long silence, he murmured softly, "Sister, do you remember when we were little, we often sat there and listened to Dad tell us stories?"
Want to listen to Zhou Wenbin tell stories?
She didn't even know what Zhou Wenbin looked like.
"Who would remember something so trivial?" Zhou Chenyu leaned back, stretched out her legs, pounded them a few times, and prepared to go home and take a nap.
Suddenly, Zhou Baoyu's sobbing voice reached her ears, "Sister, I miss Dad."
Zhou Chenyu looked at him. He usually had a playful and cheeky look that made him look like he wanted to punch someone, but now he looked aggrieved and was wiping away tears in a flustered manner, crying like a child.
In that instant, she also missed home.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com