Zhao Lao Er was still thinking that if Zhao Yi hadn't married Jiang Bai, the family would have received much more than they have now.
He knew that Jiang Bai had opened a shop in the county town. One of his brothers had eaten there and came back praising it highly.
This business is quite good; you have to book a table a day in advance, otherwise you won't be able to get a table.
Zhao Lao Er could tell from a glance that Jiang Bai must be making a fortune from this shop, but how could Jiang Bai, a woman, possibly run a shop?
It must be Zhao Yi supporting her behind the scenes.
Thinking about it this way, Zhao Lao Er was so angry he wanted to grind his teeth.
She was his own brother, yet he had never offered to help her in any way. Her three sons were under immense pressure, but he seemed oblivious to it all. In his eyes, she was less important than that newlywed troublemaker.
Thinking of this, he said, "It's not impossible for us to have the slightly inferior one, but you have to give us some compensation, brother."
"What kind of compensation?" Zhao Yi asked with interest.
Zhao Lao Er shook his head and talked eloquently: "Since you, elder brother, have spent money and effort to open a shop for your wife in the county town, then I, your younger brother, would also like you to help me open one."
When Zhao Laosan heard this, he objected. Although he wasn't good at studying, compared to having a shop in the county town, those two plots of land were simply insignificant.
Now that they've opened the shop, he and his wife can be considered city dwellers.
The third son's wife was also anxious, and she winked at him.
Zhao Laosan quickly said, "We can give up those two plots of land, as long as we can open a shop."
Jiang Bai watched helplessly as this family engaged in a fierce power struggle, speechless.
She wanted to see what Zhao Yi would do, and when she turned her head, she met his gaze.
Zhao Yi smiled at her, then widened his eyes and looked innocently at his two younger brothers, saying, "What shop? Where is the shop?"
Jiang Bai: Goodness, this is a blatant denial. You deserve an Oscar.
The second son's wife objected when she heard this: "Brother, it's no fun lying through your teeth. I ran into my sister-in-law the day before yesterday, and she admitted to me herself that she opened a shop."
"What shop?" Jiang Bai and his wife echoed each other, looking at each other innocently with their big, matching eyes. "How come I didn't know I owned a shop?"
"You..." The second son's wife pointed angrily at Jiang Bai, "You clearly said that if you don't believe me, we'll go to the county town to look for him."
"I really didn't say that, and I don't own any shops." At least not now.
Jiang Bai said confidently to Grandpa Zhao and Grandma Zhao, "Father, Mother, I don't know whose lies my second and third brothers listened to, but I don't know what they were saying. Could it be that my second brother's wife was dreaming and then told others what she dreamed about?"
Seeing her so determined, the second son's wife was also puzzled.
She tried desperately to recall the scene when she met Jiang Bai before, but the more she thought about it, the more blurred her memory became.
—Could it really be a dream? Jiang Bai's personality that day was completely different from before, not like a real person.
Zhao Laosan, quick-witted as ever, said, "Even if you didn't open a shop for your wife, you've made so much money now, you should help your brothers out. You could open one for us!"
The other three nodded in unison.
Zhao Yi smiled knowingly: "Opening a shop is fine, but do you have any special skills?"
The whole family fell silent.
They've made their living off crops their whole lives; what else can they do besides farming?
When Zhao Yi earned his first pot of gold, he took Zhao Lao Er and Zhao Lao San with him. The two brothers worked for less than a month, but they felt tired and couldn't go home. With their future uncertain, they secretly went back to the village and only then told Zhao Yi a message.
Zhao Yi then sighed, realizing that there was no hope of saving a hopeless case.
Zhao Yi continued, "If you don't have any special skills or capital, you'll need money and manpower to keep the shop running in the future. Where will these things come from? It's not like I'll prepare everything for you."
"If the business goes well and you make money, who gets the credit? If it goes badly and you lose money, who gets the credit? You all need to think about these things. If you make money, you keep it; if you lose money, I'll cover it. So don't say anything hypocritical like wanting me to open a shop for you. Just say you want money from me."
“I’m away from home most of the year, and you’ve been taking care of my parents. So I’m willing to bring home two, three, or even ten times more money than each of your families every year. I don’t even care how my parents spend that money.”
“But you and I are both married, have our own families, and have children to raise. I have no responsibility to support you younger brothers.”
“Dividing the land is fine, but Jiang Bai doesn’t have the strength to farm it. It’s better to let our own family use it than to rent it to outsiders, but you can’t take it for granted.”
Upon hearing this, Zhao Lao Er and Zhao Lao San lowered their heads. They had been farming for many years and were so dark-skinned that only the tips of their ears were clearly red.
Seeing that Zhao Yi wasn't blindly filial, Jiang Bai also spoke up for him: "Father, Mother, it's not that we don't want to help our brothers, but business is tough right now. Zhao Yi lost a lot of money this time. He's been thinking about you ever since he came back, and he keeps talking to me about it, but he doesn't have any money in his pocket, so he doesn't dare to come over."
"I mustered up the courage to come see you today with Ping An and Xiao Le, but I didn't expect you to bring up the land issue as soon as you opened your mouth. He was heartbroken."
Grandpa Zhao and Grandma Zhao favored their second and youngest sons, but they weren't entirely without affection for Zhao Yi. Upon hearing this, they quickly said, "We're not..."
“I don’t care how you divide the land, but we have to wait until the tenants’ leases expire,” Zhao Yi said, pretending to be heartbroken, his eyes even reddening. He interrupted Old Master Zhao and said, “They’ve planted crops in the land, we can’t expect them to pull them up. We’ll discuss this after the autumn harvest.”
His words were a done deal, and everyone fell silent.
Zhao Yi turned to Jiang Bai and said, "Find Ping An and Xiao Le, then we're leaving."
Seeing that her eldest son was truly heartbroken, Old Lady Zhao quickly said, "Eat at home before you leave."
"No, thank you," Zhao Yi refused. "We have other things to do!"
What could possibly have happened? The family of four came back all dressed up, clearly intending to stay all day. They'd only been in the house for less than half an hour, barely had time to sit down, and were already leaving. The villagers could tell at a glance what had happened.
Regardless of what the Zhao family said, Jiang Bai immediately went to the door and called out to Zhao Ping'an and Zhao Xile.
After their conversation, Old Master Zhao chased the children out. Now, the five children from the second and third branches of the family were playing shuttlecock in the yard, while Zhao Ping'an and Zhao Xile were sitting in a corner playing with ants. The two groups were clearly divided, and neither paid any attention to the other.
Upon seeing Jiang Bai emerge, Zhao Ping'an jumped up excitedly and ran to Jiang Bai's arms, saying, "Mother, you've finished talking."
“Mm,” Jiang Bai patted the back of his full head and nodded, “Let’s go home.”
.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
