Chapter 35: Remuneration 2/4

Mr. Yao felt his head buzzing.

In the past, when Yao Zhenfu participated in the county exam, he gave him ten taels of silver!

After asking, Mr. Yao returned to the boat in a daze.

He instinctively reached for the oar, but as soon as he picked it up, somehow his hand loosened, and the oar fell.

He couldn’t even pick up the oar!

Today there was no pre-arranged job. In the past,Mr.  Yao would have been anxious, wandering around the county town looking for work, but now he didn’t want to do anything.

Shaking, Mr. Yao rowed the boat to a secluded place where few people would go directly to the cabin, lying down, tears streaming from his eyes.

He was someone who couldn’t stay still, but today he didn’t want to do anything, just lying there.

He knew he should go pick up his son, but he didn’t. He just stared blankly as the sky darkened.

It wasn’t until evening, when someone called his name to find him, that he snapped out of it and followed Jin Xiaoye back in the boat.

He didn’t say anything all the way, and after returning home, he politely sent away the villagers who were worried about him.

Only after completing these tasks did Mr. Yao come to his senses, realizing he was already home.

Yao Zhenfu had no idea what Mr. Yao was thinking.

After school today, he went to find Mr. Yao, but after waiting for a long time, Mr. Yao didn’t come to pick him up. He was furious.

He spent money to take a boat back to the village and learned that his father hadn’t come back. He started to worry a little, only to find out that his father had just fallen asleep!

He had been so worried, and his father was just asleep!

Since finding Mr. Yao, Yao Zhenfu’s anger had been growing. Now he couldn’t help but speak up, “Dad, didn’t you sleep enough at night? What are you sleeping in broad daylight for? You…”

Mr. Yao didn’t let Yao Zhenfu finish his words before hitting him with an oar.

Mr. Yao hit Yao Zhenfu on the left side of his body. He didn’t use all his strength, but it was painful enough for Yao Zhenfu to cry out.

“Old Yao, why are you hitting someone!” Yao’s mother asked hurriedly.

Jin Moli came to Yao Zhenfu’s side, “Zhenfu, are you okay?”

“Dad, have you gone crazy!” Yao Zhenfu regained his senses and glared at Mr. Yao.

Mr. Yao kicked Yao Zhenfu’s round belly again, “You little beast, did you go gambling?”

Mr. Yao remembered that when he was young, there was a landlord in their village.

At that time, the landlord’s family was very wealthy, and the young master even married a girl from a wealthy family in town.

Unfortunately, the young master developed a gambling addiction. He would lose money bit by bit every day until the family fortune was gone.

Some of the land of their Yao family was bought from his family.

Later, both the landlord and his wife died. The landlord’s wife was taken back by her family, and the landlord took the land they rented to farm with his wife’s son. Unfortunately, his son also drowned… After that, he went crazy, and no one knew where he went.

At that time,Mr. Yao was still very young, but he deeply remembered one thing: you must not gamble.

This was the first time Yao Shaogong laid hands on Yao Zhenfu, questioning him about where he spent the money, “Others only need fifteen taels of silver a year to study in the county, why do you need fifty taels? Where did you spend the money?”

While asking, Mr. Yao hit Yao Zhenfu again with the oar.

Yao Zhenfu was young and strong, theoretically stronger than Mr. Yao, but he didn’t know how to fight, so he was easily overwhelmed by Mr. Yao’s blows.

“I told you not to gamble! I told you not to gamble!” Mr. Yao, fearing he might hurt his son, threw away the oar and started hitting him with his hands.

“Dad, please stop…” Yao Zhenfu begged incessantly, “I didn’t gamble!”

“Then where did you spend the money? Fifty taels a year, where did you spend it?” Mr. Yao gritted his teeth, his eyes almost bursting with anger, “And why do you need a hundred taels this time?”

Yao Zhenfu couldn’t withstand the beating. He confessed everything, saying he was caught by the husband of a woman he was with, and now the man demanded a hundred taels as compensation.

Mr. Yao was almost breathless after listening, “I asked you before, didn’t you say you didn’t have a sweetheart? I sent you to study, and you spent the money on a woman?”

Jin Moli, listening on the side, felt extremely dizzy and her face turned extremely ugly.

Yao’s family was managed by Yao’s mother. All the money in the house was in Yao’s mother’s hands, so she had no idea how much money Yao’s family had or how much Yao Zhenfu spent.

She knew Yao Zhenfu spent a lot, but she always thought he spent at most twenty taels a year.

Who would have thought that Yao Zhenfu would spend fifty taels in a year?

Yao’s family could actually produce so much money!

But she didn’t get any benefit from it. When she was still at her mother’s house, she could eat meat two or three times a month, but when she came to Yao’s house, she only ate tofu!

What made her even more angry was that the money was spent on another woman!

Jin Moli’s eyes became sore, and tears flowed uncontrollably.

Both Mr. Yao and Jin Moli thought that Yao Zhenfu spent so much money every year because he spent half of it on Xuniang, but he didn’t.

Xuniang was very frugal, and Yao Zhenfu was very sympathetic to his mother. He spent money very sparingly, buying cheap paper and pens, but Yao Zhenfu was different. He was afraid of being looked down upon, so even if he couldn’t afford the best paper and pens, he still used relatively good ones, which cost a lot more money.

And then there were books. Xuniang could copy her own books, but Yao Zhenfu didn’t want others to know he was poor. He didn’t just copy, but also bought books whenever he saw others have one. This cost a lot more money.

In addition, Yao Zhenfu didn’t want to wear old clothes, so making clothes also cost money. Occasionally, he would also buy some delicious things from the town… These all cost money.

On the other hand, with Xuniang, Yao Zhenfu did spend some money on her, but buying gifts, dining together, and giving Xuniang support, it probably amounted to only seven or eight taels a year.

But Yao Zhenfu didn’t dare to tell the truth. Instead, he pushed all the blame onto Xuniang, saying that all the extra money he spent was given to her, and even claimed that she seduced him.

Mr. Yao believed his son’s words. Thinking that all the money he had worked so hard for over the years had been deceived by a woman, tears flowed uncontrollably.

He also thought of the people from the Jin family who had actually told him about this matter, but he didn’t believe it… He regretted it deeply.

Jin Moli also thought of this.

Yao Zhenfu had a sweetheart in the county, and she knew about it before she got married!