Chapter 77 The house collapsed
The carriage traveled westward at breakneck speed, and before sunset, the brother and sister arrived at the entrance of Chenjia Village.
Xiao Qi jumped off the carriage first, took the bundle, and found that it was quite heavy.
"Brother, Master Jiang brought me cured meat and dried chicken, as well as some snacks I made myself. They're all good stuff."
Lin Yuesha urged her stepbrother to hurry on his journey; she had been away for half a month and missed her parents.
Urged on, Xiao Qi quickened his pace. The brother and sister walked one after the other towards home. After walking for a short while, he keenly noticed that there was no movement behind him.
"Little sister?"
Xiao Qi stopped, turned around and called out to his men.
"Big brother, please wait for me a moment!"
A strong wind blew last night, and some tree branches broke off. Lin Yuesha was struggling to drag the branches home to use as firewood.
You don't know the cost of firewood until you're in charge of the household. A bundle of firewood costs three coins in town. Besides, my mother, Chen, makes spiced melon seeds at home, which will then be roasted on the kang (heated brick bed), requiring the kang to be heated, which wastes firewood.
"You leave it there, I'll drag it away."
The little girl is so good at managing money; he, as her older brother, is ashamed of himself. Xiao Qi put the package on his left shoulder and dragged the firewood with his right hand without any effort.
Lin Yuesha clicked her tongue. Despite her stepbrother's thin frame, he was surprisingly strong. That was good, too; she could boss him around as a laborer in the future.
The more this is the case, the less we can continue living in the small courtyard in town. What if Xiao Qi gets his body drained by the female ghost and becomes a sickly person?
Lin Yuesha covered her chest with her hand. She was having such a hard time; everyone in this family required her attention.
The sun was setting in the west, just as dinnertime was approaching.
Chenjia Village is quiet, with smoke rising from every household and the aroma of food wafting through the air.
Lin Yuesha's stomach growled twice. She jogged ahead, ignoring Xiao Qi behind her, and headed straight for her house.
Standing at her doorstep, Lin Yuesha was dumbfounded.
"Little sister, why aren't you going in?"
Xiao Qi followed and noticed that Lin Yuesha's expression was strange, so he quickly asked.
Lin Yuesha pointed to her house and remained silent.
The original kitchen, with its thatched roof, is gone, leaving only the four earthen walls leaning precariously and cracked.
The main house had two rooms, one of which had collapsed. The courtyard was covered with plaster and thatch, a truly pitiful sight.
The only relatively safe place is Xiao Qi's study, which has not yet been affected.
Unexpectedly, the brother and sister found the house collapsed as soon as they got home.
"Oh dear, I just vaguely saw a shadow pass by in the yard. I was wondering who it was!"
Granny Wang stood at the courtyard gate, gloating, "Isn't this Scholar Xiao and Xiao Ya? You don't know yet, do you? Your house collapsed last night!"
"Now I see."
Lin Yuesha frowned. She was unaware of this. If she and her stepbrother hadn't returned, her mother, Chen, wouldn't have gone to town specifically to inform them of this.
No one was home. It seems my parents have moved. I don't know if they went to my maternal grandparents' house or my maternal uncle's house.
"Little girl, I heard that a wealthy man took you to town to be his son's child bride. You're going to be a very successful person."
Granny Wang speaks in a sarcastic tone; that lazy, greedy little girl has some good fortune. I heard that the wealthy family has a mentally challenged only son; she'll be living a life of luxury after marrying him.
The clan chief is really something. Because her family is from out of town, she never gets any good things. Her little granddaughter may be a bit ugly, but she's a million times better at housework than Lin Xiaoya.
Lin Yuesha never expected that she would be falsely accused of being a child bride with a mental disability after only half a month away from the village. Which gossipy woman made up such a story? It's utter nonsense!
"Aunt Wang, where did you hear all this from?"
Xiao Qi explained good-naturedly, "My sister is going to a wealthy family in town, but they don't have a son, only a daughter."
"Did she go to work as a maid?"
Granny Wang blinked her small eyes and sighed, "Little girl, next time I see your mother, I'll have to have a good talk with her. Even if a girl isn't worth much, she can't just be sold like that!"
Lin Yuesha wanted nothing more than to tear Wang Pozi's mouth apart. At this moment, she didn't even have the heart to curse; she only wanted to find out where her parents lived. The house had collapsed, and quite badly at that, especially since her father was in poor health—what if he was injured…
After speaking sarcastically for a while, Wang Pozi finally felt a sense of satisfaction when she saw that the brother and sister looked unhappy.
"Aunt Wang, are my parents injured?"
Xiao Qi was too lazy to argue with his wife, so he patiently asked.
His father disliked troubling others the most, and now that the house has collapsed, he hasn't even sent a message to the town. He'll probably just tough it out on his own.
"Who knows!"
After watching the commotion, Granny Wang wiggled her hips and left.
"That old hag!"
Lin Yuesha narrowed her eyes, cursing Granny Wang to trip and fall outside. She carried the tree branch she had collected to the courtyard, trying to comfort herself.
The house collapsed, so be it. Now that the family has income, they will rebuild it after the New Year. This time, she is determined to build a sturdy stone house!
However, the house couldn't be repaired before the Lunar New Year, so the family had to move to a different place.
"Let's move to town and talk about building a house after the New Year when it gets warmer."
Xiao Qi had originally planned to bring his family to town for the New Year, but due to the incident involving the Chen family, he didn't have time to say it.
"no!"
Lin Yuesha blushed and vehemently objected.
That courtyard is eerie, filled with a heavy, gloomy atmosphere. Father's health is already poor; what if his illness worsens if he moves in there?
Lin Yuesha preferred to spend some money to rent a small courtyard in town again.
Perfect timing! My family runs a business, and the town is close to the county, so we don't have to travel before dawn.
The siblings had a disagreement, and Xiao Qi realized he couldn't persuade Lin Yuesha. He couldn't help but feel frustrated, because he had to keep covering up the leaks in a lie.
The house belongs to her husband, but he bought it a long time ago.
Instead of living in their own yard, they went to rent a place, which wasn't easy to find in town before the Lunar New Year.
"Tingyun, Xiaoya?"
From a distance, Ms. Chen saw two people standing in front of her house. Upon closer inspection, she recognized them as her daughter and stepson.
"mother!"
Lin Yuesha turned her head, ran a few steps, and buried herself in Chen's arms.
"You little girl, why are you back? Did you get upset in town?"
Mrs. Chen held her daughter close, looking her up and down, carefully examining her for any possible injury.
The daughter's return home should have been a good thing, but the house suddenly collapsed, leaving only one room, which was too cramped for the family of four.
"Mother, where is my father?"
After Lin Yuesha acted coquettishly, she looked around but couldn't find Xiao Chenggui anywhere.
"Let's go in first and talk about it later."
Mrs. Chen opened the door to the study and let the brother and sister in.
With the kitchen collapsed, there was no way to light a fire in the house, so Chen had to put a charcoal brazier in the house for warmth.
“Our house hasn’t been renovated in ten years. Mother was planning to reinforce it in the spring, but after the strong wind last night, it’s like this.”
Chen sighed helplessly. Fortunately, her family members were all in the village and could help out.
There was only one room left, and the couple planned to squeeze in and figure out a solution when their son and sister came back for the New Year.
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