Chapter 4: Blind Filial Piety

Logically speaking, the Cao family wasn’t poor. In Cao Family Village, their house was made of blue bricks and had a tiled roof, boasting four rooms, with two smaller rooms attached to the outside. Father and Mother Cao occupied one of the main rooms, the eldest and second eldest son each had their own, and the youngest son was given the last room by their mother. Cao Xiangnan, the fourth son, resided in one of the small outer rooms, while the other was given to the eldest son’s child, which greatly displeased the second son.

The original Cao Xiangnan was a man of blind filial piety. He didn’t perceive any unfairness nor harbor any thoughts of resistance, accepting his mother’s arrangements as a matter of course.

When Cao Xiangnan was young, he envied his younger brother for entering the village school to study. He secretly followed him to eavesdrop on the teacher’s lessons. This child was actually quite intelligent, able to remember everything the teacher lectured on after hearing it only once. Later, when seeking work in town, he was hired because he was literate, earning a fixed wage of three guan per month.

In this era, one guan equaled one hundred wen, and one thousand wen equaled one liang of silver. Thus, three guan a month amounted to more than three liang a year. However, Cao Xiangnan handed over every single wen of this money to his mother.

The Cao family’s blue brick house with the tiled roof was built thanks to Cao Xiangnan’s monthly wages and the gifts his third sister’s husband’s family gave each year. Chen Zhu, the mother, saved all of it to construct the house, yet only allocated a small room for Cao Xiangnan’s family.

More than three liang a year was enough for his family of three to live very well. Coupled with his hardworking wife, Qi Wanfeng, their family lived the hardest life in the household.

The eldest son, Cao Fugui, was honest and diligent, but he married a calculating wife. The second son, Cao Fuqiang, was lazy and liked to eat, and his wife was equally idle. The whole family didn’t engage in production, the six mouths were just waiting to be fed. The youngest, Cao Gaojin, studied, he only knew how to read and did nothing, only spending money.

In this era, for a family to support a scholar, especially one of farmers who toiled with their backs to the sun and faces to the earth, it was impossible to afford with the money of the whole family.

From a young age, Cao Gaojin’s studies had consumed nearly all of the family’s money. Chen Zhu was stingy with everyone, but when it came to this youngest son, she was willing to spend however much money on him. Fortunately, after Cao Gaojin passed the Tong Sheng exam last year, the village sent some money and goods to their family. However, this amount was a mere drop in the bucket compared to his decades of schooling. The expenses for all those years of studying still had to be borne by the family.

Over the years, the family had successively bought a lot of farmland. The ten-plus mu of land were managed by his father, eldest brother, and Qi Wanfeng. The eldest and second brothers usually led the women of the family in doing some needlework to earn money.

Cao Xiangnan was not favored in this family, and neither was his wife, Qi Wanfeng, liked by the mother. To make matters worse, they only had a son, which made them even less favored. In this family of over a dozen people, all the household chores were pushed onto Qi Wanfeng. The eldest and second brothers did nothing, not to mention their mother, Chen Zhu.

Therefore, Cao Xiangnan’s monthly wages were the household’s largest source of income, and his wife, Qi Wanfeng, was the greatest source of labor, supporting this large family and serving them, yet their family’s treatment in the household was the worst.

Thinking of this, Cao Xiangnan was so angry that his liver hurt. He’d seen stupidity, but never such stupidity. He and his wife worked their lives away, yet their family received the worst treatment in the house. This foolish man allowed his wife and child to live a hard life, while his own child suffered from malnutrition, while the children of other families were raised plump and healthy, and raising other people’s families well.

The blind filial piety of the ancients is truly infuriating!