Chapter 31

Sun Jinhua pouted. “What kind of good news could there be? There are only thirty or forty households in the village. If something happens, how could I not know?”

In the past, besides her, there was also her daughter-in-law Hu Shuiqing in the house, and the mother-in-law always made Hu Shuiqing do the chores.

Now that the second son’s family had moved out, the mother-in-law didn’t help with any housework and still bossed her around relentlessly!

One moment the water was cold, the food was insufficient, the ducks needed feeding, the floor was dirty, and the clothes needed mending. Even when her thirty-something-year-old son didn’t come back, she would come and ask her!

It had only been two days since the family split up, and she already wanted to kick the old hag out!

“If I say you’re dumb, it’s because you’re not smart. Can’t you go and find out?” Mother Fan didn’t pamper her eldest daughter-in-law.

Who didn’t endure their time as a daughter-in-law? The methods her mother-in-law used to deal with her, she was now using only half of them on her two daughters-in-law.

Besides, when she treated the second daughter-in-law like this before, wasn’t the eldest daughter-in-law quite pleased? Now that the second son’s family had moved out, of course, all the chores and serving the mother-in-law fell on the eldest daughter-in-law.

Sun Jinhua snorted coldly. “Whoever wants to know can go. I’m not going!”

Her mother-in-law was used to bossing people around. If you gave in to her, she could wear you out. She was not like her simple-minded sister-in-law.

Unable to get her eldest daughter-in-law to budge, Mother Fan’s chest heaved, and she was about to start scolding when she saw Sun Jinhua turn around and go back to her room, slamming the door with a bang.

Rebellious!

Just as Mother Fan was about to start cursing, she heard her precious grandson shout, “Grandma, Mom, something unusual happened in the village!”

Sun Jinhua couldn’t help but come out hurriedly and asked, “What’s so unusual?”

“You’ll never guess!” Fan Erzhu panted heavily, speaking proudly between breaths.

Mother Fan wanted to slap him, but seeing it was her precious grandson and not a worthless granddaughter, she suppressed her anger and asked with a flattering tone, “Erzhu, tell us quickly, what happened?”

Fan Erzhu, eager to share the gossip, said, “It’s about Second Uncle’s family! Grandma, you won’t believe it, Second Uncle traded two and a half pounds of rice with someone in the village for one pound of gorgon fruit. Isn’t that ridiculous?”

“He’s gone mad!” Mother Fan’s face darkened, and she said viciously, “No way, I have to go talk to them. With so little grain left, if they squander it, won’t they come back to our house begging?”

Sun Jinhua’s eyes rolled, and she quickly pulled Mother Fan back, persuading, “Mom, since they’ve split from us, what use is it to talk to them? Let them be.”

It would be better if they wasted it all.

Once they wasted everything, they’d have to sell their land. Then she could manipulate Mother Fan to put up the money to buy it at a low price, and the nine acres of good land from the second son’s family would be back in their hands.

“I’m the second son’s mother. How could it be useless?” Mother Fan said angrily.

“Grandma, it’s useless. Second Uncle’s wife is in charge now. I heard there are over a dozen families involved. Do you think there will be any rice left from Second Uncle’s family?” Fan Erzhu took the opportunity to complain.

Just this morning, they had grabbed rice from them, and now they turned around and gave it away.

Second Aunt really didn’t know how to distinguish between insiders and outsiders. She would rather give precious rice to outsiders without blood relations than keep it for their deeply related family members.

Mother Fan was so angry that her chest hurt. No, she had to find a way to stop the villagers from trading with the second son’s family!

She had to let her son know that in critical times, he still had to rely on her, his mother…

—

A flat stone in the open space was put to good use.

Fan Jin was a scholar, so his family naturally didn’t lack paper and pens. He spread the paper and pens on the flat stone, surrounded by a group of women.

Wang Guifen was in charge of weighing, Shuiqing reported, and Fan Jin recorded the numbers by the stone.

“Aunt Zhang, thirteen pounds, plus four pounds from noon, a total of seventeen pounds, right?” Shuiqing double-checked each report.

Aunt Zhang laughed heartily. “That’s right.”

In the morning, it was just her and Xiaocao peeling, while Jinniu and Yinniu went to collect firewood. But in the afternoon, everyone caught up together.

Seventeen pounds! Aunt Zhang calculated that tomorrow it would be exchanged for rice. She moved aside to make room for others to check.

“Granny Li, eight pounds, two pounds at noon, a total of ten pounds, right?”

“Right!”

“Grandma Xu, six pounds, one pound in the morning, a total of seven pounds.”

…

Among the people, there were the Li family relatives, the Wang family relatives, and the Fan family relatives, mostly smaller amounts, around two or three pounds.

There were few families like Aunt Zhang’s who couldn’t even get enough to eat. They had land and fields, and although they didn’t eat well, they could barely get by. They weren’t as experienced in harvesting gorgon fruits and peeling seeds as Aunt Zhang’s family, so naturally, they had less.

One of the Fan family relatives was skeptical and didn’t believe Fan Jin could provide the rice, so they didn’t put in much effort and didn’t bring all their harvest.

After all, if fresh ones could be exchanged for two and a half pounds of rice, wouldn’t dried ones fetch even more?

They didn’t believe dried ones wouldn’t sell as well as fresh ones. Besides, Fan Er knew the same people as Fan Da. They could secretly have Fan Da contact them…

As the crowd dispersed, Shuiqing and Fan Jin tallied the numbers by the stone.

Fan Jin pointed to one of the families also surnamed Fan. “This is my grandfather’s brother’s son’s family.”

Shuiqing, who was always confused by the lineage and hierarchy, gave up trying to figure it out and asked directly, “What’s the matter?”

Fan Jin’s dark eyes looked steadily at Shuiqing, a smile playing at his lips. “They brought out five pounds at noon, but only got one pound in the afternoon. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

Shuiqing immediately understood and was surprised by Fan Jin’s sharpness.

She praised him casually, “I didn’t expect a scholar like you to understand business.”

Embarrassed, Fan Jin looked away shyly, muttering, “I only know about the imperial exams, but I do understand other things.”

Knowing how important the exams were to scholars, Shuiqing comforted, “Don’t worry, you’ll definitely pass in the future!”

She wasn’t just making it up. In a dozen years, he really would pass and have a smooth career, becoming a very high-ranking official.

Moved to tears, Fan Jin looked at Shuiqing with deep, dark eyes.

How many years had it been?

From failing the exams repeatedly, the looks from the academy, the surrounding people, even his own mother and brother had changed.

The way they talked to him was as if he was a useless failure.

No matter how much he contributed to farming or earning money, it didn’t matter.

For a scholar, if the imperial exams didn’t go well, everything else he did was useless, and everything he did was wrong.

Especially as he got older, the lack of respect became more apparent.

Only Shuiqing believed in him and said he would succeed!

A scholar would die for a confidant… Shuiqing would be the most important…

Shuiqing felt uneasy under his intense gaze. It was just a few words; why was he so emotional?

Indeed, the imperial exams were the lifeblood of scholars!

They took it too seriously.

She changed the subject, “You mean your cousin doesn’t trust us?”