Chapter 64.3

Translated by Aviana

This chapter is dedicated to IwonnaHH! Thanks for your support!!

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After both sides exchanged pleasantries, Lin Qingwan began examining Xia Dacheg and his wife.

This was Lin Qingwan’s first time seeing Yang-shi’s extolled son. He seemed to be in his 30s and had a square-shaped face with thick eyebrows, appearing quite dashing. But at this moment, he seemed pretty gaunt with a sickly complexion, making this middle-aged man appear quite haggard. Zhang-shi was on a plump side with a round face and gentle temperament, while also exuding natural and graceful at the same time, appearing quite friendly.

Yang-shi then called out Xia Dacheng and introduced Lin Qingwan to them as Biao shen . Yang Tiezhu, Yang Tiegen, and Yao-shi had all met the two children long ago, only Lin Qingwan, who had only married this year, didn’t have the chance to meet the two.

表婶 (biǎoshěn): wife of grandmother’s sibling’s son. 婶 (shěn) is used as an appellation for the younger brother’s wife. 表 (biǎo) means relatives with a different surname/ family relationship via females

The two kids were brought up in the county thus had soft and tender skin, unlike the kids in the countryside. Nevertheless, the main point was that the two were very good-looking, beguiling Lin Qingwan to fall in love with the pair of this cute little shota and little lolita.

Taking out the small red envelope she had prepared earlier, Lin Qingwan handed them to the two kids.

From the side, Yang-shi grumbled for foolishly spending the money. Lin Qingwan disproved with a smile, saying that this was the rule. Here in Luoxia village, whenever the younger generation met the older generation for the first time, they would be given small red envelopes by the elders. Few put only a few copper coins in the envelopes, while others put dozens of them in it. Since Lin Qingwan and Yang-shi’s relationship was quite close, she put small silver coins in it.

It wasn’t much, just half a silver tael to each envelope, adding up to just one silver tael. But in Luoxia village, this could be considered quite generous.

“This is a little allowance given to you by your biao shu , and biao shen to you. Hongzhi can buy pen, ink, and the likes, while Ju’er can buy any playthings, she likes.” Lin Qingwan was aware that Yang-shi’s eldest grandson, Xia Hongzhi, was studying currently.

表叔 (biǎoshū): son of grandmother’s brother or sister; 叔 (shu) is father’s younger brother

The two kids bashfully thanked Lin Qingwan and moved to the side as the adults sat and conversed.

When the topic came to Xia Dacheng’s situation, everyone let out a rueful sigh. Overnight, he fell from the heavens to the earth. The entire family’s fortune was lost, not to mention the whole body littered with wounds. But beyond all these issues, the main point was that they couldn’t even get justice. Even upon knowing that the other party wished to play with you, all you could do was to grit your teeth and endure.

A spell of dejection beset everyone in the room.

Zhou-shi, recalling the time her husband was sent to the prison and the feeling of dejection that overwhelmed her at that time, couldn’t help but break into tears sorrowfully.

Lin Qingwan also felt extremely uncomfortable in her heart but didn’t know how to comfort others. After all, it wasn’t her who had suffered through it; any words of comfort would seem superficial.

Yang-shi quickly tried to break the ice and tried to lighten the atmosphere. “Alright, alright, it’s pretty good that Xia Dacheng managed to safely come back. It’s good that he was able to come back. What amount of money couldn’t be earned in the future?!”

Everyone was aware that for Xia Dacheng to be able to come out, they had to lose their family wealth. More than ten years of careful hard work just disappeared overnight.

But what could they possibly do? Just as Yang-shi had said, having the person come back was a pretty good situation, unlike Xia Dacheng’s senior, old general manager, isn’t that so?

In order to brighten up the mood, Yang Tiezhu jested with a smile, “Elder Brother Dacheng, you and I both ended up injured!” Saying so, he slightly raised his bandaged arm.

Xia Dacheng smiled weakly: “Yeah, I’m even bedridden and can’t move. It would be troublesome for mother and your saozi. They are even two kids.” After saying so, unable to stop his cough, he covered his mouth and coughed.

嫂子 (sǎozi): older brother’s wife / sister-in-law

Yang-shi rebuked, “What are you saying? We all are a family!”

“Precisely, Elder Brother Dacheng, this is nothing but a trivial matter. You just have to properly recuperate, soon you will be good as new. As you can’t go to the county any longer, it would be better to do farming here. Once this lad, Hongzhi, is groomed properly, in a couple of years, you will become a high-ranking official’s father.” Yang Tiezhu comforted him.

His words amused everyone while Xia Hongzhi’s fair face reddened to the max. Eventually, feeling a little embarrassed, he dashed to his room like a wisp of smoke.

Xia Dacheng nodded. He also wished the same. Currently, they could only go about like this. It doesn’t matter if he tumbled down, unable to get up. He can’t affect his family in any way.

Thus he soon revitalized himself and said, “This year, I plan to take back our land and cultivate myself. No matter how exhausting it is, I will make more money.”

Yang-shi’s family doesn’t own much land, just about 3-4 mu. For this much, Xia Dacheng felt he and his wife would suffice. And with the two people doing it, it wouldn’t be much exhausting either. After all, he and Zhou-shi both were from peasant households and had done this sort of work when they were young in their families. It’s just that it had been years since they had done this sort of work and might prove slightly difficult initially. But at this moment, whether the work is exhausting or not was just secondary, for they can’t starve their family.

亩 (mǔ): classifier for fields/unit of area equal to one-fifteenth of a hectare

As for the dividends his mother gets from Yang Tiezhu’s wife’s business, Xia Dacheng, who had always been prudent and careful, couldn’t put on his complete hope for the family’s livelihood on that alone. Upon cautious inquiry from Yang-shi, he had found out that this business could only be done for a few months. As for how the situation in the future was not something he could say. That’s why he intended to take back the land for safety. After all, for rural people, the land was nevertheless their foundation. Regardless of how things turn out to be in the future, at the least, they wouldn’t have to worry about starving. Furthermore, he also planned to fund his son’s future studies, so having more income was always beneficial.

“This is a good idea. Taking back the land and cultivating yourself will give you more food every year. After all, tenant farmers hand out only 60% of the yield every year. If you can get the rest of the 40% too, you won’t have to worry about the food.” Yang Tiezhu seconded.

In Luoxia Village, a tenant farmer generally had to pay 60% of the harvest, while the taxes were paid by the landowner himself. Luoxia Village was a poor village, and most households were eager to cultivate as much as possible. Thus, very few families gave their land on lease. At that time, when Yang-shi leased her land, she didn’t hope for much income. After all, she also can’t cultivate much land all by herself. What’s more, her son would also not agree to her doing farmwork all alone. When she leased out her land, she only hoped that she would be able to get sufficient food for herself.

After jesting for a while, Xia Dacheng, who had initially been at a loss for the future, gradually came up with a few ways, and the person too didn’t seem to be gloomy any longer.

Taking in her son’s improved complexion, joy filled Yang-shi’s heart.

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Chapter 65 Part 1 (Teaser)

While listening to Yang Tiezhu’s words, Lin Qingwan would let out a chuckle whenever she heard any amusing anecdotes of his. However, a part of her heart was still mulling over Xia Dacheng’s family’s matter.

Yang Tiezhu could see that too, “Wife, are you pondering about Elder Brother Dacheng’s family’s matter?”

Lin Qingwan asked with a nod, “What are your thoughts regarding this incident? When the people above fight, the subordinates below get implicated. Fortunately, elder brother is a wise man who knows how to submit to the circumstances. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to get out of the problem.”

— (Bonus) will be on 7th Feb

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