As dawn broke, Chen Zhancai embarked on his journey to take the imperial examination.
Watching her son's departing figure, Old Mrs. Chen's nose tingled with tears, and she said to Old Mr. Chen beside her,
“Old man, you said I should be happy that my son is going to take the exam, but I feel uneasy.”
"What can I say about you? You're just a woman who loves to meddle in other people's business."
"You're really talking without thinking. Do you think I can manage without worrying about this family? Don't forget, our family is all counting on Zhancai."
Upon hearing this, Old Man Chen became furious.
They still have the nerve to talk about it. They were living a good life, selling grain and land, and now they've become this poor.
We don't have much food left at home, and we'll be starving soon. Let's see what you do then.
He was extremely dissatisfied, but dared not say it aloud, and could only patiently try to comfort her.
"Old woman, you're overthinking it. You know what our son is like. He's been smart and quick-witted since he was little, and he studies very hard. He's sure to pass the county-level exam and become a provincial-level scholar, which is a piece of cake."
You should just relax, eat and drink as usual, and don't dwell on things. If your son knew you were like this, he wouldn't be able to live in peace.
These words made Old Mrs. Chen nod repeatedly.
“What you say is true. Our son is a reincarnation of the God of Literature. If I, as his mother, get anxious, it will only cause trouble. We’ll listen to you and take good care of our health so we can enjoy a comfortable retirement with our son in the future.”
As soon as Old Mrs. Chen finished speaking, her stomach growled, "Old man, we're having white rice for lunch again."
Old Chen sighed heavily, "Old woman, our rice is almost gone. Let's be careful and mix some brown rice with it!"
"You're really missing a screw in your head! Mixing rice with brown rice, you can't taste the rice flavor at all! You're just wasting food!"
"We don't have much food stored up right now, so we'd better eat sparingly so we don't go hungry."
"All you do is worry about all day long. If you have this much free time, why don't you just get some food? What kind of skill is it to save money on food?" Old Mrs. Chen glared at him irritably.
When Old Man Chen heard this, he almost went crazy. Who was this person?!
That spendthrift woman sold off all the family's grain and land.
How could she possibly say something like that, asking me to get food?
Seeing that he remained silent for a long time, Old Mrs. Chen chuckled, "What's wrong? Don't know what to do? If it weren't for me, you would all starve to death."
"What do you mean? You can get your hands on food?"
"There's always a way out, you definitely won't go hungry," said Old Mrs. Chen, before turning and entering the courtyard.
Old Man Chen watched Old Woman Chen's retreating figure, clenching his teeth in anger. "That spendthrift woman, I'll see what she's capable of."
More than ten days have passed in the blink of an eye.
These days, Old Mrs. Chen eats white rice and fried eggs for every meal. After eating her fill, she sleeps, and after sleeping enough, she goes out and wanders around the streets.
He talked until his throat was dry and his stomach was growling, then he finally got up and went home.
As soon as he entered the gate, he saw Ru Hua sitting blankly at the entrance of the kitchen, and his face immediately turned displeased.
"Ruhua, it's already noon, why aren't you cooking?"
"Mom, it's not that I don't want to do it, it's that I don't know what to do!"
"Just steam some rice."
"Oh my goodness, I told you this morning that we're out of refined grains." After saying that, Ru Hua pointed to the clothesline, "Look, I've already washed all the grain bags."
Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Chen frowned. How could she have been so careless and forgotten about this? Without refined grains, she had no appetite!
At this moment, Old Man Chen came out of the west wing, waved to Ruhua, and said, "Don't eat lunch today, go back to your room and rest!"
"Okay, then I'll go back to my room." Ru Hua turned and went into the house.
Old Man Chen sighed deeply, then looked at Old Woman Chen with a solemn expression.
"Old woman, I just checked again. We still have half a bag of brown rice and a bag of rice bran. I've roughly calculated that if we skip lunch starting today, have thin soup for breakfast, and mixed grain buns for dinner, we can probably barely make it until our son comes back..."
"Is what you're saying even human? All you eat all day is thin porridge to fill your belly and cornbread to irritate your throat. That's not human food at all."
Before Old Man Chen could finish speaking, Old Woman Chen interrupted him sharply.
"If I had to eat this rubbish every day, I probably would have starved to death long before my son came back."
Old Chen was speechless. She used to eat coarse grains and cornbread every day, and she ate plenty of those. Now she complains that they're too rough on her throat. It's like she's forgotten who she is after just a few days of good food.
Don't they even look at their own family's current situation? They'll starve her for a few days, and she won't even mind eating shit then.
He frowned and glanced at Old Mrs. Chen with dissatisfaction. "We only have that little bit of food left in our house. If we don't eat this or that, what do you suggest we eat?"
Old Mrs. Chen's eyes darted around, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Look at you, so useless! All you can do is crane your neck and stare when you can't come up with an idea. Can't you use your brain?"
"Old woman, what kind of thinking do you want me to do? I can't possibly go begging with a wooden stick, can I? I don't care about that, but Zhancai is a scholar. If he really passes the imperial examination and comes back, wouldn't that be a disgrace to him and a stain on his reputation?"
"Alright, old man, all you can come up with is a stupid idea like begging." Old Mrs. Chen waved her hand and laughed, "Don't worry, with me here, you won't go hungry."
Old Chen was taken aback, completely bewildered. "What do you mean, old woman? Do you have some secret stash of money?"
"You silly old man, you've given all the money to the third son, and now I'm penniless, I don't have a penny left!"
"So what did you mean just now?"
"What do you mean? What do you mean? I've found that you're really slow-witted and don't understand things. You're just a blockhead who won't get it straight. Don't forget, we have an ungrateful bastard son."
"The family has already been divided, can Zhanliang help us?" Old Chen frowned and scratched his head, thinking it was unlikely.
Old Mrs. Chen snorted, "That poor wretch is still living under someone else's roof, how much money could he possibly have? We need to find a fat duck to target."
......
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