Chapter 13: Persuasion

The red glow in the west gradually fell, sinking into the mountains. It was dark.

Every household had closed their doors. The small village was so quiet that there wasn’t even the sound of dogs barking. Looking into the distance, it was completely dark. The night tonight was hazy, and the crescent moon in the sky hid in the clouds and didn’t come out, not even a sliver of moonlight.

The oil lamp in the house was flickering. From the window, you could see two shadows inside. The man standing in the corner was listening to the voices inside, sticking close to the base of the wall.

“…I don’t agree.” Cao A-die sat on a long bench, smoking his pipe. He didn’t agree with his wife’s suggestion to separate the fourth son’s family from the rest of them at this time. “That’s our fourth son!”

As soon as Chen Zhu saw that her man didn’t agree with what she said, she questioned him. “Don’t agree? Ah, you don’t agree! Aren’t you trying to kill us all? Are you trying to make us all die with their family?”

“What are you talking about, ‘die’ or ‘not die’? How could our fourth son harm us all?”

“How could he not harm us? Today even Doctor Sun said that fourth son’s leg will never be healed. With fourth son lying in bed like this, hiring a doctor to see a doctor and get medicine will cost an unknown amount of silver to fill in the gap, and this leg still can’t be cured. You tell me, what can he do after his leg is crippled? His job in town is gone, and Qi Wanfeng is pregnant again, another mouth waiting for us to feed.”

“Fifth son is studying in the academy. The teacher said that he will definitely pass the xiucai [scholar] exam in the future. Every month, a sum of silver has to be sent to fifth son. Do you think it’s easy for me with such a large family? You tell me, are you going to ruin our fifth son’s future for the sake of the fourth son’s family? I hope this son will revitalize our Cao family and bring glory to our ancestors. Your Cao family hasn’t produced a xiucai for hundreds of years. Don’t you want Cao Family Village to produce a xiucai? Don’t you want our family to produce a scholar? Now you want to ruin our fifth son’s future. This is taking my life…”

Chen Zhu was scolding and crying, with tears and snot flowing down her face, crying so miserably. The fourth son’s family had harmed their Cao family, harmed their fifth son, and harmed the xiucai that Cao Family Village had produced in hundreds of years. “I wouldn’t dare go down to face the ancestors even if I died, to see the ancestors of the Cao family…”

Cao A-die sat there, smoking his pipe one puff after another, a shadow in the dim light. Chen Zhu’s words struck at his heart. His fifth son, Cao Gaojin, would be the xiucai that the Cao family had produced in hundreds of years, revitalizing their Cao family and bringing glory to their ancestors. If he ruined his fifth son, he wouldn’t be able to face the ancestors after he died.

The fourth son was lying in bed now, and he didn’t know what would happen in the future.

Chen Zhu, who was covering her face and crying, secretly peeked at her man out of the corner of her eye. Seeing that her man’s expression had softened, she began to talk about the days she had lived since she married over, and how the days had finally gotten a little better, saying how their fifth son would bring glory to Cao Family Village after passing the xiucai exam.

The moon hiding in the sky secretly showed its face, casting a faint shadow on the ground. The chickens in the cage were all embracing each other and sleeping.

After a long time, the person listening at the corner outside the house vaguely heard a response from inside, a look of surprise on his face. He tiptoed into the room and got into bed, covering himself with the blanket. The husband and wife were whispering softly, “A-die really agreed?”

“Absolutely true!” another voice said.