stingy landlady

Chapter 67 Watching the Fun

The farce ended with the old lady and Zhao leaving in disgrace!

Guizhi gave Dazhu a thumbs up and said, "Dad is amazing! Only Dad can do the job, he's worth two people!"

Dazhu still couldn't understand:

"You have quite the sharp tongue! I just can't understand it! Your grandma used to be so shrewd, how come she's been egged on by your second aunt to do all sorts of things! She can't even tell the difference between inside and outside! I need to get your grandpa to keep an eye on things! If I'm not home, something terrible will happen!"

Li was still shaken.

"If you weren't in the house, I'd definitely give you a beating! And I'd take all your money and belongings!"

Guizhi saw that her mother was in no condition and was afraid she wouldn't be able to help!

"Father! Mother! Hide the money! We can't just sit here all day doing nothing! Mother! You have to be more vigilant! Otherwise, we won't be able to keep an eye on the house! As soon as Grandma comes, you're like a mouse seeing a cat!"

Dazhu glanced at Li Shi and said:

"Your mother was only doing this out of filial piety! Sigh! Give me the money, I'll put it in the cellar!"

Li hurriedly opened the cabinet, took out a package of thirty silver ingots, and was about to take out more.

Guizhi said, "We can't hide them all in one place! Dad! Did we dig a cellar for our new house?"

"We've dug them up, we definitely need to dig cellars! We can't use them to store vegetables in winter! We've dug several already!"

Dazhu took the package to the cellar, and Guizhi said to Li:

“Mom! You need to be a little more cunning! Don’t be so foolish as to confront things head-on! If something like this happens again, don’t open the door when we’re not inside! Grandma won’t care if you live or die! Besides, it’s not worth getting a beating!”

Li said in a low voice, "It's only because your father is home. If your father weren't home! Just thinking about it is terrifying! Sigh!"

Guizhi thought for a moment and whispered her advice:

“Mother! Money can corrupt people’s hearts! What if my grandmother steals the silver? Will my grandfather return it if he finds out? Small amounts are fine, but when faced with so much silver, we can’t test people’s character with our meager family ties!”

"What if they don't pay it back? Are you and Dad really going to sue? People say even an upright official can't settle family disputes! Everything will be over! We'll always be the ones who suffer!"

Guizhi comforted Li Shi again, saying:

"In the future, when we live in a big house, we'll buy a few maids to serve you! If anyone bullies you, just let them all come and get you!"

Mrs. Li was amused:

"Nonsense! I have hands and feet, I don't need anyone to wait on me! Besides, what kind of daughter-in-law beats her parents-in-law!"

At this moment, Li realized that Guihong had not been seen for a long time.

"Your second sister has gone off somewhere to play! Isn't she back yet!"

Guizhidao:

"Mother! Don't pass on your submissive ways to my eldest and second sisters! Besides, my second sister doesn't buy into that!"

Gui Hong ran off to see what was going on.

There's a family surnamed Xu on the west side of the village, and they seem to be related to the Xu carpenter's family in some way!

The Xu family is currently splitting up! It turns out that the eldest son of the Xu family went to serve in the military to fight a few years ago, not long after he got married.

Everyone says that going to war is a matter of life and death! This eldest son's wife hasn't even given birth to a son or daughter for him yet, and I don't know when she started having an affair with Xu the second son.

She was pregnant! The old couple thought their eldest son was never coming back anyway, so they figured their second son would save them the money for a wedding! The two of them went from being a secret couple to being officially recognized as a married couple!

The eldest brother was wounded on the battlefield and became lame. When he returned home after his discharge, he found his house gone and his wife had become his brother's wife!

How could they live together like this? There was no other way; Older Xu felt utterly stifled! The only option was to separate!

Easier said than done! My eldest son has been in the army for years, and all his pay went to our parents! We initially thought they were helping him support his wife, so we didn't think much of it. They just sent it all back.

Whether the family buys land or builds a house, the eldest son will always get a share.

The elderly couple who were dividing the family property were going to have to pay money, which would be like taking their lives! They absolutely refused to pay any money to divide the land.

This caused a huge uproar!

Gui Hong and Hong Min ran off to see what was going on!

Old Master Xu, with a limp, stood in the yard on crutches, fuming and silent! Old Master Xu, the second son, was protecting his wife, who was holding a nursing baby in her arms!

The old lady was throwing a tantrum in the yard!

The village chief was invited over. With so many people watching, Old Man Xu still had some face to save.

They called the old lady to get up quickly, and then called the eldest and second sons into the house to discuss the division of the family property!

Finally, Old Xu emerged, limping, carrying a small bundle. The village chief then told him, "Find a place to stay first. We'll find a place to build a shack later."

After the commotion subsided, Guihong and Hongmin slowly walked home.

There weren't many wild vegetables left in the fields, and villagers gradually began to dig and plow the land, preparing to plant crops. Of course, very few could afford to use oxen.

But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. For example, the carpenter Xu's family hired the village chief's ox to plow the fields!

This year, Hongmin's family earned some money from wild vegetables and is also discussing hiring oxen to plow the fields! They want to finish planting the land sooner so they can go up the mountain to pick wild vegetables.

For example, there's celery, water fern, Cantonese fern, dry fern, and wild ferns! Celery, water fern, and Cantonese fern are mostly eaten by families, while dry fern and wild ferns are harvested every year.

Willow shoots are Guihong's favorite food. She blanchs them in boiling water and then makes them into a stir-fry dish. She can eat a whole bowl of it by herself!

The two agreed to go pick wild vegetables together later, and then they parted ways.

Gui Hong recounted the Xu family's story as a joke during dinner that evening. I suspect it wasn't just Gui Hong who told the story; everyone watching the spectacle was probably gossiping about it.

Guizhi thought:

"My second sister was so eager to go and watch other people's fun, but our own family almost became the laughing stock of other people's dinner parties!"

The old man said while gnawing on duck meat:

"We watched Xu the eldest grow up! He's a good person! Honest and hardworking! Xu the second is a bit cunning, but he's good with words. He fooled his parents so much that they lost their bearings! That's why they caused this mess!"

The old man then sighed again:

“She just abandoned her perfectly good son like that! I ran into the village chief when I came back. The village chief said that Old Mrs. Xu refused to divide the family property, and if she insisted on dividing the property, then Xu the eldest son would have to leave with nothing.”

Old Xu was a man of principle; he had the village chief help him write a document severing ties with the family. He left with nothing, and from then on, he and the Xu family were strangers!

Guizhi asked, "Grandpa! Do all soldiers know some martial arts?"

Dazhu found it amusing that his daughter always dreamed of being a chivalrous hero.

"Guizhi! How many soldiers know martial arts! But this Xu Laoda has been naughty since he was a child and loves to brandish knives and sticks!"

I think he must have learned something when he was in the army, otherwise war is not like the usual small skirmishes! It's a battlefield where you have to live or die.

It seems Xu Laoda (Old Master Xu) is quite capable; otherwise, how could he have escaped that calamity? On the battlefield, he only injured his leg but survived!

You have to understand how many people went there and never came back; their lives were practically a death sentence!

Dazhu sighed with emotion!