Chapter 62: Breaking Defense
Tang Yixiao and Tang Luwu took out the bowls of rice from the basket.
There were two large bowls in the basket, each filled with half a bowl of white rice, and the remaining half contained twice-cooked pork, sweet and sour spare ribs, and garlic cabbage.
Tang Yixiao and Tang Luwu sat opposite Tang Baoyu with their bowls in hand and ate with relish.
The aroma of the food spread and entered Tang Baoyu's nose. Tang Baoyu, who was already exhausted, became even hungrier when he smelled the aroma. He looked at the bowls they held with eager eyes and swallowed his saliva. When he looked up, the wound on his forehead began to bleed, flowing down his nose and staining his entire face.
Li Erniu lay there for several hours before finally waking up. She lay on the ground, sniffed the fragrance in the air, and muttered, "Meat, I want to eat meat."
When Tang Baoyu heard Li Erniu's voice, he burst into tears. However, after being thirsty and hungry for so long, and having kowtowed for several hours, even if he cried out loud, it would be like fine lines. His voice was hoarse, and the sound it made was like a broken gong, unpleasant and harsh.
Li Erniu heard the crying and thought of Tang Baoyu, and she struggled to get up. She saw Tang Baoyu's face covered with bloodstains, her eyes narrowed, and she was extremely angry.
"You...I will beat you to death..."
"Aunt Li, you kowtowed 120 times and then fell unconscious. We went to ask Uncle Tang for an explanation. It was he who asked us to bring Tang Baoyu here to kowtow." Tang Luwu said, "When you were unconscious, Tang Baoyu had already kowtowed more than 1,000 times, and there were still 250 left to go. If you continue to kowtow, you have to kowtow 500 times."
Tang Yixiao looked at Tang Luwu in surprise.
His sister has always been timid. She wouldn't even dare to talk back when a four or five-year-old child yelled at her. But now, facing a vicious and ferocious woman like Li Erniu, she can actually say such a long string of words, and they are very clear and organized. She has really been reborn.
Tang Luwu mustered up the courage to say these words, and after she finished speaking, she found that it was not that difficult to bravely face the bad guys. Just now, she thought of Qin Huiyin and spoke in her tone. She always felt that Yinyin was younger than her, but spoke maturely and with dignity. She wanted to become a powerful person like Yinyin. Today, she seemed to have done it.
Li Erniu’s face turned pale.
She remembered Tang Jizu's methods and the big loss she suffered this time. If something happened again today, Tang Jizu would never let her go.
"I'll kowtow...I'll continue to kowtow for Baoyu." Li Erniu said weakly.
"It has to be my own mother." Tang Yi said with a smile, "Just now I asked Uncle Tang to kowtow on behalf of Tang Baoyu. One head is worth three cents, but he was unwilling to do so! He is a man, strong and healthy, and he can kowtow 500 less times. If he had come to kowtow, it would have been over long ago."
Tang Luwu looked at Tang Yi with a puzzled look, not understanding why he suddenly brought up this matter. Since she couldn't figure it out, she didn't think about it anymore, since Li Erniu was already kowtowing.
Li Taohua and Qin Huiyin were cleaning their room at home.
Tang Dafu's house is a bit old and has a lot of damage. I'm going to fix it up today since I have some free time and the weather is good.
Especially the kitchen, which was not big to begin with, and was piled with many unnecessary things. All they had to do was to make choices, throw away the useless things and burn them, make a list of the things they needed to buy, and go to the city to buy them when they had time.
"Mom, we're back." Tang Luwu was carrying a basket, with Tang Yixiao following behind her. The siblings pushed open the gate and walked in.
Qin Huiyin stood at the kitchen door, poked her head outside, and said, "How is it? Have you finished kowtowed 1,500 times?"
"The last 250 heads were kowtowed by Tang Baoyu's mother after she woke up. No matter what, not a single head was missing," said Tang Luwu.
"In fact, it's better to just ask for silver!" Tang Yi said with a smile, "Their heads can't be eaten, so they are worthless."
"We are fighting with them for justice. If we ask them for money directly, we will be easily criticized and our reason will be turned into that of an idiot. Our main purpose this time is to intimidate the other party and to warn the whole village. Next time someone comes to bully us, they will think twice before they know what happened today."
"How are you?" Tang Dafu asked, "I see your face is not so swollen anymore, but it doesn't look very good. I have boiled the medicine, go and drink a bowl."
Tang Yi smiled and was stunned for a moment, looking at Tang Dafu in surprise.
Tang Dafu felt uncomfortable being stared at by him, and said with an awkward expression: "I am your father, is it strange to boil medicine for you? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Tang Yi smiled and said, "Thank you, Dad."
For the first time in so many years, he felt the feeling of having a father's care and a mother's protection.
The villagers said that if there is a stepmother, there will be a stepfather, but they didn’t say that when the stepmother is like the biological mother, the biological father who never cared about her will still have a change of heart.
Tang Yichen moved the broken wood out of the room.
"What's this?"
"The cabinets in my two sisters' rooms. I saw that they were too badly damaged, so I just took them out and burned them. I will go find carpenter Zhang later and ask them to make new beds and cabinets."
"How about we replace all the beds and cabinets? They are too old." Qin Huiyin said, "I also want to make a set of kitchen cabinets."
Tang Yichen agreed, and the others saw that their two most opinionated children had united and would not stop them. After all, their family was rich now, and they didn't need the money.
Tang Yichen went out to find Zhang the carpenter. The others continued to clean up the room, clearing out all the tattered sheets, clothes, and unknown rags.
The originally small room became spacious after being renovated.
When Tang Yichen brought the Zhang brothers over to measure the size, Qin Huiyin suggested making a few desks. When things here are almost done, the Tang family will start literacy. Since we have to study, we have to prepare desks, otherwise how can we practice?
"Brother Zhang, why are you so worried?" Tang Yichen asked gently, "Is there something wrong?"
"No, brother Yichen, please don't misunderstand. All the requests you made are very reasonable. I have noted them down. It will only take five days to complete them all. I am worried about my brother. Some people were taken away to build the dam this time, and it was my brother who went to my house. I think building the dam is a hard job, and I don't know how he is doing there."
"Why don't you use the silver to buy this quota?" Tang Yichen said, "Your family's business should be good, you can afford two taels of silver, right?"
"Brother, you don't know. My family did make some money, but we didn't divide the family. Grandma was the head of the family. She was reluctant to take out the money, so she pushed my brother out to be used as a sacrifice." Zhang Dazhui smiled bitterly.
"The old woman in your family is really smart. She's not reluctant to part with the money, but because the girl your brother is planning to marry is favored by your uncle, so she deliberately sent your brother away!" Li Taohua said. "Your father and you brothers are all stupid, and they are completely controlled by the word filial piety."
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