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Lizheng glanced at Aunt Wu and leisurely said, “What are you all talking about? Let’s just finish dinner and rest.”
Originally, Lizheng wanted to casually pass over this matter without making a big deal out of it.
But before anyone else could object, Aunt Wu started making a fuss.
“Er Dan, what do you mean? Did you not hear what those people said about me? Are we still family? If you want to do your elder brother a favor, kick those few out,” Aunt Wu exclaimed.
The current Lizheng had received a lot of help from his deceased elder brother.
That was why Lizheng had turned a blind eye to what Aunt Wu did. However, if he didn’t speak up today, he was afraid he would lose the people’s support.
Lizheng’s face turned cold as he reprimanded Aunt Wu’s sons, “If you don’t start managing her properly, you’ll end up like the Shen family, kicked out on your own.”
They knew exactly what Lizheng meant.
Feeling embarrassed with so many people watching, they pulled their mother back.
Aunt Wu was fearless, except when it came to her own sons.
Seeing that they had really upset him, they slowly sat down and didn’t say anything more.
“Alright, let’s all rest now,” Lizheng said seriously.
Although the others were not pleased with Lizheng’s failure to scold Aunt Wu, they knew that they couldn’t escalate the situation further. So, they let the matter go.
However, some of them had a sour feeling towards Lizheng, feeling that what he did was unfair.
Meanwhile, the Shen family saw that the situation had calmed down and dispersed to pack their things and rest. They were tired after all, having been on the road for several days.
Now that they had left the group, they would have to take care of their own watch duty as well.
However, everyone was eager to take turns for night watch duty.
They finally agreed on two people for the first half of the night and another two for the second half.
Shen Yu’an and Xiaozhang still slept inside the carriage, while the others laid out straw mats and thin blankets on the ground to sleep.
…
Perhaps due to drinking too much water before bed, Shen Xingwang was awakened by the need to use the restroom soon after falling asleep.
He got up quietly, took his cane which was placed aside, and greeted Shen Rong and Shen Dalang who were on night watch duty before heading to a farther location.
Coincidentally, when Shen Xingwang was about to turn back, he ran into his son. He had intended to say a few words, but upon remembering the incident from earlier that morning, he hardened his heart and continued walking without stopping.
At noon, the three brothers felt uneasy and jealous when they learned that the Shen family might have found so much food in the city and they wanted a share of it.
As luck would have it, the three brothers, who couldn’t fall asleep, saw Shen Xingwang getting up in the middle of the night and decided to follow him.
As soon as Shen Xingwang was about to leave, the three brothers stopped him.
The grandfather’s expression was complex and he asked somewhat displeased, “What are you doing here?”
The eldest brother immediately put on a flattering smile and said, “Father, are you doing okay at Uncle’s house? Have they been bullying you? If they have, you tell me, I will definitely seek justice for you.”
The second and third brothers also nodded eagerly, each of them smiling sincerely, as if they were not the ones who had been heartless this morning.
The grandfather didn’t understand their intentions and said, “They have been treating me well, why would they bully me?”
The three brothers heard this and their smiles became even more sincere, quickly interjecting,
“Yes, yes, yes, Uncle and his family are the kindest people, they would never mistreat you.”
“By the way, Father, we heard that Uncle’s family found a cart of food in the city. Since they are so kind to us, could you ask them to give us some? We have a few young ones at home, and the food we brought with us won’t be enough.”
The other two brothers also nodded quickly.
“Uncle has the best relationship with you, if you ask him, he will definitely give it to you,” they encouraged.
The grandfather became more and more surprised as he listened, finding it hard to believe.
He couldn’t hold back his anger anymore and became agitated, banging his cane on the ground a few times.
“You bunch of scoundrels! Your Uncle’s family sold so much food to the villagers, and we still have more food than they do. Instead of thinking about helping each other out, you want to scheme to take their food,” Shen Xingwang scolded angrily.
Hearing this, the three brothers became unhappy.
They had plenty of food, but they didn’t know how long they would have to stay, so it wouldn’t hurt to have some extra.
“Father, why are you saying this? Uncle’s family found food in the city, and if we combine it with our food, it will be more than enough. We can just take half of it, they won’t be able to finish it anyway,” they argued.
The grandfather was so angry that his hands were trembling, and he almost couldn’t hold onto his cane. Through gritted teeth, he said, “They didn’t find any food in the city.”
After saying this, the grandfather wanted to leave. He didn’t want to talk to these three scoundrels anymore, or he might end up hitting them.
The three brothers obviously didn’t believe him and blocked their father’s way, trying to pressure him to agree.
Upon the shoving and pushing, the three brothers accidentally used too much force and caused the old man to fall to the ground uncontrollably.
“Ahh!”
A cry of pain came out of the old man’s mouth.
The three brothers also knew that they had done something wrong and, feeling guilty and out of breath, tried to push the blame away by saying, “W…we didn’t push you, it was you who lost your balance and fell.”
“Right, right, we didn’t push you.”
The old man sat on the ground unable to stand up, sweating cold and feeling increasingly sad.
The three of them spoke quieter as they saw the old man sitting on the ground gasping for breath, feeling guilty and nervous.
“Well…what should we do? Should we hurry back?”
As soon as those words were spoken, the three of them turned their heads and wanted to run, but they met with Shen Rong and Shen Yu’an who had been looking for Shen Xingwang.
It turned out that Shen Rong and Shen Dalang were worried about the old man as he hadn’t returned, fearing that he might have difficulty walking at night due to his bad legs and feet. So they came to look for him.
Shen Yu’an was woken up and followed them.
As a result, they saw the old man sitting on the ground and the three brothers looking panicked.
When Shen Yu’an saw that the old man’s complexion was not good, probably due to a fall, he asked his father to help the old man up, but she herself blocked the three brothers.
The three brothers were very anxious and afraid that if they stayed any longer, the old man would reveal that they had just pushed him. They wanted to push Shen Yu’an away.
Shen Yu’an didn’t let them leave so easily. She kicked each of them and asked the old man, “Grandpa, is it them who pushed you down?”
Before the old man could answer, the three brothers began to defend themselves, “It wasn’t us, it wasn’t us. He fell down because he couldn’t walk steadily.”
Shen Yu’an didn’t even look at them and continued to ask, “Grandpa, if it wasn’t them who did it, just say so.”
If the old man was asked whether they had pushed him, he probably wouldn’t be able to speak up. So Shen Yu’an asked in this way, knowing that if he didn’t answer, it meant they were the ones who did it.
Seeing that the old man didn’t answer, Shen Yu’an and Shen Rong understood the situation.
Shen Rong was still supporting the old man and couldn’t free his hands, so Shen Yu’an sneered and squeezed her fingers before walking towards the three brothers.
Little did they know that at this moment, Shen Yu’an looked like a demon in the eyes of the three brothers.
The three brothers ignored the pain in their bodies and tried to run away, but Shen Yu’an wouldn’t let them get away so easily.