Chapter 32 – Injured, and the Family Breaks Up

Xia Tian was surprised to see Butler Wang come so early to pick up the goods—it wasn’t even the usual market time yet!

Butler Wang saw that Xia Tian had already set up her stall and rushed over anxiously. “Little boss, you’re finally here. Do you have extra braised pig head meat today? I need twenty jin.”

“Why so much?” Xia Tian was taken aback.

It had only been a day—what happened?

“You don’t know. Yesterday, a friend of mine bought braised pig head meat from you. It just so happened that my master was a guest at their place and got to taste it. As soon as he got home, he asked me to buy twenty jin—we’re hosting a banquet today.”

Butler Wang took a breath and added, “I already came by three times this morning. I was afraid if I came late, you’d have sold out.”

“Oh, oh, I’ve got it. I’ll weigh it for you now.” Xia Tian picked up the scale and quickly measured out twenty jin of pig head meat. Just as she was about to find a basket to pack it in, she saw Butler Wang motioning to someone behind him.

Turned out he’d brought people and even brought their own baskets—seems like they came well prepared.

Butler Wang directed his helpers to pack the meat into the baskets and take it back first.

Then he handed Xia Tian a tael of silver.

She took it and said, “Thank you, Butler Wang. Please wait a moment.”

Then she quickly grabbed two sheets of oil paper, wrapped up two portions of braised pig intestines and tofu, tied them up with straw rope, and handed them over. “Here, something for you to snack on with drinks. Thank you for supporting my business.”

Butler Wang paused for a moment, then accepted it. “You’re too kind, little boss!”

Xia Tian saw him off with a beaming smile.

Once he was gone, she got back to work.

Today was market day, and the crowd was at least twice the usual. The street was bustling with people, packed to the brim.

Her stall was never without customers.

Aside from the twenty jin of pig head meat Butler Wang bought, the thirty jin of tofu she’d prepared, ten sets of braised intestines, and the remaining thirty jin of pig head meat were all sold out before eight o’clock.

Still didn’t bring enough.

If she hadn’t set aside two jin of each item in advance, there’d be nothing left at all.

She packed up the stall, loaded everything into the baskets, and sat on a small stool to rest.

When the constable in charge of collecting market fees arrived, she handed over ten coins along with a half-jin packet of braised goods, then got ready to leave and buy supplies.

The constable had gotten used to this lately. He’d never seen any vendor sell out so quickly.

Basically, as soon as she set up, the stuff was snatched up. But to be fair, her braised goods were indeed top-notch.

And she was a decent person too—young, but every time they came by to collect fees, she greeted them with a smile, paid without fuss, and always gave them a packet of braised snacks.

A few times, they came by and she had already packed up, but she waited for them before leaving.

Vendors like her—who wouldn’t want to deal with them?

They used to hate doing this fee-collecting job—always arguing with neighbors over a few coins. Now they scrambled to take the shift, since if they were late, even they wouldn’t get any of that delicious braised food.

Xia Tian was about to shoulder her carrying pole and leave when she looked up and saw Xia Yang standing a few steps away, watching her.

“Big Brother?” Xia Tian was surprised and walked over. “You came to the market too?”

She hadn’t seen anyone from the Xia family the past few times and figured they just hadn’t come.

But her stall wasn’t right in the center of the market street, so it wasn’t surprising they hadn’t run into each other.

“No, I came to the clinic to get medicine.” Xia Yang’s eyes were red, as if he’d been crying.

“What’s wrong? Who’s sick?” she asked curiously.

“It’s Dad. He hurt his back.”

“What happened?”

“He fell off a wall while working in town the day before yesterday.”

“Is it serious?”

“Yeah. The doctor said if we don’t treat it in time, he might end up bedridden.”

As he spoke, Xia Yang wiped away a tear.

“Then treat it! What’s the point of crying?” Xia Tian grew anxious seeing him like that. What time was it—what use was crying?

“Which clinic is Dad in? I’ll come take a look.” As she spoke, she was about to pull Xia Yang along.

Xia Yang quickly stopped her. “Siya, listen to me. Dad’s not at the clinic—he’s at home!”

“At home? Did you call a doctor to treat him there?” With an injured back, if he wasn’t treated properly in the clinic, moving him back home could make it worse.

“No, the clinic wouldn’t admit him because we couldn’t pay,” Xia Yang stammered.

Xia Tian – “……”

Seeing that it wasn’t a good idea to keep talking in the middle of a crowded street, she pulled Xia Yang to a small noodle shop, ordered two bowls of noodles, and found a quiet corner to sit and talk.

“Dad got hurt while working for someone else—didn’t they take responsibility?”

Normally, the employer would at least cover some of the medical costs. They couldn’t have just brushed it off with nothing.

“They gave ten taels of silver, but Grandma took it all and only left us two taels.” Xia Yang said, clearly upset.

“That wretched old hag! Isn’t Dad her own son?” Xia Tian was even angrier than he was.

This time she resisted the urge to slam the table—didn’t want to break it and embarrass herself.

“And you just let it go like that?” she asked, unwilling to accept it.

“There’s nothing we can do. We begged and argued, but Grandma said the doctor couldn’t guarantee a cure, so why waste the money? Might as well save it for their retirement.

They even said if we keep making trouble, they’ll accuse us of being unfilial.” Xia Yang must’ve been holding it in for a while, and now the words came pouring out. “Siya, we’ve split from the family!”

Xia Tian was still reeling from the Xia elders’ shamelessness when Xia Yang’s words—“we’ve split from the family”—left her stunned.

It took her a while to come back to her senses. She asked in disbelief, “Really split from the family?”

It had only been half a month since Xia Yang last came to her, and she’d merely mentioned the idea of splitting up. Now it had actually happened.

“Yeah, we split,” Xia Yang nodded and explained what had happened.

Basically, the old woman realized Xia Tian’s father would no longer be able to work, and since Xia Yang had married and started forming his own opinions, he no longer blindly obeyed her. On top of that, they still had to feed all the kids in the second household—it just wasn’t worth it. So she kicked them out.

The Xia family had ten mu of dry land and twenty mu of paddy fields. But they only gave them two mu of dry land—no paddy fields. Said that since only Xia Yang was able to work now, he couldn’t farm any more anyway.

They gave them a single bag of coarse grain and claimed they didn’t have much left at home. The crops were about to ripen anyway, and since their second household had so many kids, a little food would be enough if they stretched it.

Xia Tian was so angry she wanted to curse on the spot. That old woman really was something else!

She didn’t even care whether her own son lived or died!

How was this any different from kicking them out with nothing?

Back when things were tense, all Xia Tian wanted was to separate the households.

She never thought it would actually happen—and in this kind of situation.

Still, maybe it wasn’t a bad thing. At least now there was no more exploitation from the old hag, and no more leeches in the other branches of the family. Life would surely get better for their second household.

Xia Tian grumbled angrily for a while before finally calming down. Just then, the noodles were served. She called out to Xia Yang, “Big Brother, eat first. After that, we’ll think of something together.”

Xia Yang, having been caught up in explaining the situation at home, only now noticed the carrying pole Xia Tian had with her and remembered he hadn’t even asked what she was selling at the market.

He had heard from others in the village that Siya had a stall in town, so today he came to see if he could find her and explain everything.

Now remembering, he asked, “Siya, I saw you had a stall earlier. Are you doing business now?”

“Mm, just a little trade to keep us fed,” Xia Tian replied. She knew it was only a matter of time before the Xia family heard about her stall, and she was already on guard in case any shameless ones came to make trouble.

She wasn’t afraid of them, but it would still be annoying.

“How’s business?” Xia Yang asked with concern.

“Pretty good,” she said with a smile.

“That’s good.” Xia Yang relaxed. As long as Siya was doing well, he’d feel a bit better.

“Big Brother, where are you living now after the split? Is everyone else okay?” She’d been too mad earlier, ranting nonstop, and hadn’t even asked how things were going after the separation.