When Cui Xian was in Pei's house, he was regarded as life-long confidant by the four wealthy brothers.
Hexi Village.
The atmosphere in the Cui family is becoming more solemn day by day.
Since the day after Cui Xian left home.
The rice, flour, grain, oil, live chickens and ducks sent from the Pei Mansion were all sold by Old Cui and exchanged for silver.
There is no meat in the dishes on the dinner table at home.
Even the meals started to decrease in size.
But no one in the family raised any objection.
The brothers Cui Boshan and Cui Zhongyuan studied even harder.
The three women, Mrs. Cui, Ms. Lin, Ms. Chen, and Cui Xuan, worked together day and night to weave hemp.
The warm family atmosphere that had been briefly eased by Cui Xian suddenly became tense again after his departure, and was even more suffocating than before.
On this day, the women of the Cui family were busy in the yard.
The third uncle drove a donkey cart loaded with adobe bricks and tiles into the Cui family's yard.
Lin didn't react yet, she stood up with a cry of "Ouch" and said, "Uncle San, what are you doing? This... my family didn't buy any bricks."
The brothers Cui Boshan and Cui Zhongyuan, who were reading in the bedroom, were also startled and came out in confusion.
Uncle San took a puff of his pipe and looked at Old Lady Cui for advice: "Sister-in-law?"
“I bought it.”
Old Mrs. Cui ignored the surprised looks of the whole family and said to her uncle, "Old Third, pull the donkey cart to the cowshed in the small backyard. Can you build it today?"
The third uncle looked at his nephews, Cui Boshan and Cui Zhongyuan, with a sympathetic look, and finally said in a muffled voice, "Yes."
Wait until my third uncle drove the donkey cart to the small backyard.
Lin, who felt something was not right, exchanged glances with Chen in a subtle way.
Chen understood, and pretended to cry out "ouch" while holding her big belly. At the same time, she asked Old Lady Cui jokingly, "Mom, do we want to repair the cowshed? You clean that shed every day. If you renovate it now, the cows will live more comfortably than us."
Ever since Yu'er and Xian'er left home, Mrs. Cui's temper has become more and more strange.
Now, only Chen, relying on her pregnancy, dares to make a few jokes at home.
After hearing her daughter-in-law's tentative question, Old Lady Cui cleaned off the linseed on her body, put down the woven linen in her hands, and said calmly: "It's not for the cow to live in, it's for Boshan and Zhongyuan to live in."
The whole family's face changed suddenly when they heard this.
Cui Boshan shuddered and said in a trembling voice, "Mother, that cowshed is cold, damp, and drafty. How can it be lived in?"
Old Madam Cui looked at her two sons with cloudy eyes and gritted her teeth and said, "Oldest and Second Son, don't blame me for being cruel. For so many years, you two have always said that you can pass the exam, but you have disappointed me every time."
"Recently, my mother has been tossing and turning every night, thinking about your father's words before he died, and even more about Brother Xian..."
"My dear grandson is so pitiful. He is only eight years old and is forced to leave home to earn money. The Pei family is a noble family with many rules. Xian'er lives under someone else's roof. I don't know if he can have enough food and warm clothes. I don't know how much sadness and grievance he must endure."
"As an uncle and a father, if you still have a conscience, you should study hard, get a high score in the imperial examination, and help the family. Then bring Xian back home and send him to school to start his education."
"Instead of letting an eight-year-old child go out to earn money to support your two studies!"
Old Madam Cui scolded her harshly, every word was as sharp as a knife: "After your uncle has repaired the cowshed this afternoon, you two can move in. From today until the start of the college entrance examination next year, you two must not leave the cowshed at all, and study hard in there! The toilet bowl must be changed every day, and food must be passed in through the small window."
This... this is simply treating people as 'animals' and keeping them in captivity!
"Mother, I beg you, I will make sure my husband studies hard, please don't let him live in the cowshed!"
"That cowshed... is really uninhabitable!"
The two daughters-in-law turned pale and begged bitterly.
Cui Xuan was also frightened to the point of paleness.
But Mrs. Cui was not moved at all.
She stared at Cui Boshan and Cui Zhongyuan with her eyes fixed on them: "Think about what your father said before he died, and think about the sufferings that Xian'er has endured at such a young age! You two are useless and can't stand up on your own. Do you want your mother to lock Yu'er and Xian'er up in the cowshed in the future?"
On that day, the Cui family was filled with crying.
The brothers Cui Boshan and Cui Zhongyuan finally compromised and moved into the repaired cowshed.
The small cowshed is divided into two rooms.
Cramped and dull.
There is a small window on the top for delivering meals and handing over the toilet.
This square cowshed was like a prison cage, trapping the two brothers inside.
The two of them sat in the cowshed, reading books with numb expressions.
Old Mrs. Cui stood outside the cowshed, also expressionless.
A cowshed trapped three people.
After a long time.
Mrs. Cui finally came to her senses. She walked to the front yard, looked at the 'homeless' old cow, and said to her two sobbing daughters-in-law, "Sell the cow tomorrow."
Lin wiped away her tears and said, "If the cows are sold, how can we plough the land?"
The Cui family sold a lot of things over the years, and had thirty acres of land and an old cow left to make a living.
But Cui Zhongyuan and Cui Boshan wanted to concentrate on their studies.
The three women of the Cui family could not finish all the farm work, so they had to spend more money and ask the villagers to help with farming.
In addition, grain taxes had to be paid.
Now there is another boy, Yu, in the family who needs to go to school.
These are all scary expenses.
It is April now. In two months, it will be the summer harvest, followed by summer planting.
After selling the cows, farming will only become more difficult.
"The eldest and second sons have moved into the cowshed. The cows can't stay in the yard anymore. They will disturb them from studying. They have to be sold."
Old Mrs. Cui said, "When the time comes to plow the land, mother will think of other ways."
The two daughters-in-law looked desperate.
...If this continues, this family will really collapse.
The next day, the Cui family's cow was sold.
There are almost no secrets in the village, and the Cui family's successive major actions have caused people in the entire Hexi Village to talk about it.
"Old Cui has really gone crazy!"
"She actually let her two sons live in a cowshed! How can a human being live there? Oh, what a sin!"
"If you ask me, the Cui family has no chance of making the list!"
"Don't even mention getting on the list. Her family is so poor that they can't even afford to eat."
"Everyone, look at this. This is the miserable end of insisting on studying!"
"But I heard that Mrs. Cui sent Xian to be a servant a few days ago. Tell me, this is really cruel. I would rather starve to death than let my grandson serve others!"
"The Cui family is hopeless!"
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