A rooster's crow broke the tranquility of Nanshan Village.
After a night of hard work, Old Chen put down the stack of bricks he was carrying, and, exhausted, climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and fell into a deep sleep...
Not long after, Old Mrs. Chen woke up from her dream. Looking at the blue bricks filling the room, she was so happy that she wanted to hug and kiss Old Mr. Chen, who was already asleep.
They're incredibly capable; they stole hundreds of bricks in one night, and there's barely any room to step inside the house anymore.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, Old Mrs. Chen hurriedly put on her shoes and went downstairs to rearrange the blue bricks.
He then found some old burlap sacks to cover it, and only after he felt that was enough did he leave the room with peace of mind.
Sun came out of the house carrying a chamber pot and bumped into Old Mrs. Chen, who had just come out of the house.
"Second brother's wife, is breakfast ready? Hurry up and eat, I'm starving."
Mrs. Sun looked displeased. "There's no rice left in the house. What am I supposed to use for breakfast?"
"Didn't I give you a small bag of millet a few days ago? It's all gone in just a few days?"
"Mother, five catties of millet has lasted for five days. Are you planning to eat that little bit of food for the rest of your life?!"
Mrs. Sun was seething with anger. Her family of five needed only a pound of rice a day; it was far from enough to feed them.
Erbao has been so hungry these past few days that she looks pale and thin. Even she herself is listless, and her heels feel unsteady when she walks, as if she might fall at any moment.
She resented Old Lady Chen in her heart. If she hadn't secretly sold the food rations to Chen Zhancai, the family wouldn't have run out of food.
Sun gave a cold snort, her face turning ugly.
“You’ve squandered all the food in the house. We haven’t had enough to eat these past few days. You’d better think of a way to save us, or we’ll really starve to death. Then you won’t be able to benefit from your son being a scholar.”
Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Chen immediately flew into a rage, rolled her eyes, and said furiously.
"Explain yourself clearly. What do you mean I cut off your food supply? I supported Zhancai's education so that you could live a good life. Now that the food supply is cut off, why are you blaming me?"
"Alright, Mother, stop arguing and being unreasonable. You know better than anyone what really happened. Now is not the time to quarrel. Instead of wasting your time, you should hurry up and get some food."
"To say something you might not like, we young people can manage to go hungry for a couple of days, but you and my dad are old and frail. If we went hungry for two days, we'd probably be meeting our maker."
As she spoke, Madam Sun sighed softly, feigning regret, "If you all go hungry, even if your youngest son becomes an official in the future, you won't be able to see him, touch him, or enjoy the good fortune along with him."
Old Mrs. Chen was speechless with anger at these words, her ribs aching. "You, what nonsense are you talking about? Bah, you're such a jinx!"
"Whether I'm talking nonsense or not, you know in your heart."
Sun had long seen through Chen Zhancai. He was a selfish and ungrateful wretch who thought it was his duty to support his education and had no sense of gratitude whatsoever.
Even if he passed the imperial examinations and became a scholar, his family wouldn't be able to benefit from it. If it weren't for her husband's insistence on not separating the family, she would have left this house long ago.
She continued, her face full of indignation, "You're only good at bullying the second wife. If you're so capable, show some toughness to your third son. You extorted so much money from Fan Tong as a bride price, why didn't your third son leave you any? Why doesn't he care about your life or death? You still expect to enjoy a life of luxury with him? I think you should just give up."
"What do you know? The third brother only has one daughter. Taking the bride price back is to leave a way out for Ruolan. It's not the same as him earning money to support me. Even if that money were given to me, would I accept it?"
Sun pursed her lips and muttered under her breath, "You can't accept Ruolan's dowry money. You're just trying to rip off Qingya. You're such a senile old fool."
Although Sun's voice was soft, Old Lady Chen still heard it clearly.
Old Mrs. Chen really wanted to point her finger at Mrs. Sun and have a big argument with her.
But then she thought, there's no food at home right now, and we're counting on getting money from Da Bao to buy rice, so I can't afford to upset her.
Thinking about it this way, the anger in my heart instantly vanished.
She forced a smile. "Second son's wife, it was wrong of me to sell the family's food rations, but you have to understand my good intentions. I was hoping that if the third son became successful, we could also live a better life."
What's past is past. Even if you blame me, we have no food to cook at home. Let's think about how to get through this difficult time!
Sun rolled her eyes. "What can I do? I'm not in charge."
"Don't worry, as the saying goes, there's no mountain too high to climb, no mountain too steep to cross. With several grown men in our family, I don't believe we can't come up with a solution to overcome this difficulty."
Hearing her say that, Sun's tone softened. "That's true, but right now our family has no money and no food. What good ideas can we come up with? If you ask me, the best way now is to go to town and find Zhancai, and ask him to bring back a few taels of silver so we can buy some food to get through the current situation."
"No, no, this is not a good idea. This is the most important time for Zhancai to study. How can we add such trouble to him? If he is distracted and thinks about home, it will definitely affect his chances of passing the imperial examination."
“Then I’ll go work for Qing’s daughter. With my face, I can probably get some wages in advance, so our family can barely make ends meet.”
"No, no, Zhanshan still needs someone to take care of him. If you go to work, who will look after him?"
Old Mrs. Chen had considered having Sun work, but when she thought about Chen Zhanliang lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) needing someone to serve him tea and water, and the endless housework, she gave up.
Seeing that her suggestion was once again opposed by Old Mrs. Chen, Mrs. Sun became somewhat angry, "This won't work, that won't work, what do you suggest we do?"
“Cuiqin, my good daughter-in-law, look at you, why are you getting so worked up again? It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone. I’m just worried that Zhanliang will have no one to take care of him. If he doesn’t recover properly, his leg will be crippled, and Zhanliang’s life will be ruined.”
"We can't even afford to eat, what's the point of raising a pet!"
When her husband was mentioned, Madam Sun became emotional. "Mother, let me ask you, how many times have you visited Zhanliang since he was injured? Do you know what state he is in now? If you really care about him, you should make sure he eats and drinks well so he can recover better, instead of just wishing him a long life all day long."
Old Mrs. Chen was filled with shame. The family depended entirely on the couple's work; even if they were just pretending, they should at least go through with it. How could she have not gone even once? She had been so careless.
She awkwardly forced a smile, trying to put on a brave face.
“With you taking care of Zhanliang, what do I, as his mother, have to worry about? I know you feel sorry for Zhanliang, but don’t worry, I’ve already thought of a solution. I promise Zhanliang won’t go hungry.”
"Tell me the solution quickly, stop keeping me in suspense. Zhanliang has only had a bowl of thin porridge since yesterday and is starving."
"Don't worry, don't worry, I'll have to trouble you with this again." After saying that, Old Mrs. Chen glanced at Chen Dabao's room and asked, "Where's Dabao?"
......
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
