Chapter 84.1

Translated by Aviana

At this time, in Yang jia’s main room—

All the members of the family were seated in the main room. Even the preparations for lunch that day hadn’t started yet. Everyone just sat there astonished, not expecting Yang Tiezhuu and Yang Tiegen to move out suddenly, and to even build their own residences.

Earlier that day, with the latter being unwilling to pay attention to them, they couldn’t bring themselves to follow them and take a look. Nevertheless, later they got to hear tidbits from the villagers, as they excitedly conversed about how huge and beautiful Yang Tiezhu’s house was and further how it was made from grey-coloured bricks….

Actually, they truly didn’t want to hear about it, however with all the villagers discussing noisily the house descriptions while passing by their house, everything just fell into their ears.

Even without others coming and personally telling them, Yang jia got the entire gist of the matter. Just a few days ago, when there was a buzz around the village about the new house being built on the outskirts, curious, they also had gone to take a look at it. They were just curious then, and just sighed in amazement, without any other thoughts. But now, upon realizing that it was their house, no wrong, it was Yang Tiezhu’s house, an extremely unpleasant feeling welled up in their hearts.

For a long time, everyone remained seated in a daze without any words until Yang laoyezi’s long sign broke the silence in the room.

“Alright, it’s about lunchtime. It’s already quite late into noon, what’s the use of just sitting here, instead of eating? It’s good that lao’er and laosan had built a house for themselves. Besides, we had already separated, and they are not young anymore, why would they go out of their way to tell the family?”

Despite his words, Yang laoyezi still couldn’t stop the unpleasant feeling gushing from within his heart. They were all living in the same yard, yet the two of them didn’t utter a word. Besides, how were they able to afford to build a house?

Such thoughts ran amok within Yang laoyezi’s mind, throwing him into chaos. Nonetheless, he was acutely aware of the presence of knots in both of their hearts, restraining him from stepping forward to inquire.

Not to mention, even if he stepped up to ask, the other person might be unwilling to bother him. The second branch and third branch’s intention to ignore them didn’t go unseen by Yang laoyezi. Even during the house shifting, they asked Yang-shi’s family for help, a clear disinclination to let Yang jia intervene.

If Yang layeozi still couldn’t understand the thoughts of the two families, he would have lived all these years in vain. He became increasingly aware of their attitude towards them, it was a clear act of alienation, unwilling to have anything to do with them. Perhaps they might still give them annual elderly support without failing, but anything apart from that need not be mentioned.

This realization was followed by immense distress and heart ache as if his heart was stabbed by a knife. Yang laoyezi had always been under the impression that between a father-son relationship, there would never be any long-term feud. They had indeed let his sons down. Not long after their separation, the new year came, and due to that, he didn’t let them come to the reunion dinner. However, the two of them didn’t forget the incident and still took it to their hearts.

“Very good, behind our backs lao’er and laosan seemed to have earned quite a bit without us knowing!” He-shi’s face was overcast with clouds of gloom, “Didn’t I just ask them to give the annual support in advance, but they went and weaved rumors, painting me as a callous mother. Only a few months have passed yet they had already built a house for themselves. And here I was wondering where they disappeared a while ago. It turns out they had gone to make a fortune.”

When He-shi’s words fell into already vexed Yang laoyezi’s ears, he impatiently criticized her.

“Alright, now we and they have separated, even if they made a fortune, what does it have to do with you?!”

“Why doesn’t it have anything to do with this old woman? They crawled out of this old woman’s womb!” He-shi hollered.

Squinting his eyes, Yang layezi chided her even more impatiently, “Then go ahead and make a din at lao’er and laosan’s place. As long as you are not afraid of losing your face, and having the Clan Elder annul the marriage and send you back to your natal home, sure go ahead!”

He-shi knew that her old man was just saying it to block her. If she was truly daring enough to go, she would have gone way earlier rather than just sitting here and wearing out the skin of her teeth?! Clan Elder Yang’s name was akin to a band-tightening spell on her as if a headband was bound to her forehead that could contract at any given time like a knife hanging over her head, making her every day sit on pins and needles.

Unspeakable regret and remorse washed over He-shi. If she had known this earlier, she wouldn’t have been so anxious to kick lao’er as soon as possible…

This one thought has been swirling in He-shi’s mind like an unstoppable loop for a long time. Unfortunately for her, in this world, there was no medicine for regret, and there were no ‘ifs’. Thus, she could only sit in her room, restraining her mind as much as possible from wandering over and thinking about these foregone matters. Unexpectedly, not long after she had barely calmed herself, lao’er and lason gave her another blow – they had built a house and moved away, utterly dumbfounding her.

Despite his impatience, Yang laoyezi was aware of He-shi’s feelings, thus he too calmed down and consoled her, “Don’t dwell over it too much, we have already separated. Besides, a son who has already separated is not inclined to lend a hand in household finances. Anyways, they aren’t cutting back on annual support. As for the rest, don’t think too much about them.”

He pacified her not only because he too felt the same in heart, but also cause he was scared that his old woman might really go and make a din at lao’er’s place, and make him lose his face. Villagers were still gossiping about the fuss at home last time. Having lived in the village for over a few decades, this was the first time he had to face such criticism and ridicule.

He-shi pursued her lips and harrumphed.

Seeing that his old wife had calmed down, he swiveled his head towards his daughters-in-law, “What are you sitting there in a daze for? Go and prepare lunch.”

Despite Yang laoyezi’s repeated instructions, no one budged.

Having been struck by a thunderclap from a clear sky, dumbfounded, who would still have the moot to eat? But of course, imbued with waves of desire, envy, and jealousy, very petty thoughts sprouted with the Eldest branch’s husband and wife, as they couldn’t help but fantasize if they could attain something from lao’er…

As for Yang Xuezhang, he couldn’t stop himself from wondering had his second eldest brother, Yang Tiezhu not separated from the family, perhaps he would have been able to continue his studies in the academy…..

Yang laoyezi couldn’t bear to see everyone become soulless and distraught. How to put it, he might be biased and callous, however, he wasn’t spineless.

Since lao’er and lasan dreaded that they might approach them for benefits, he won’t approach them either! He refused to believe that without those two sons, his family wouldn’t be able to survive!

Hoisting himself up, Yang laoyezi kicked Yang Tieshuan and called Yang Xuezhang again.

“Since you don’t want to eat lunch, fine, let’s go to work in the field. We will remove weeds today, and everyone who is able will follow me. The one who refuses to come will not have dinner tonight. Also—” he paused, “You all are prohibited from approaching lao’er and laosan! Have some

backbone. Whoever dares to approach them would no longer be my son!”

Deep down Yang laoyezi was embarrassed, and such ill feelings were even more pronounced when facing his son. Thus he put on a stubborn facade on the surface.

Yang laoyezi’s unsightly expression rendered everyone from refuting.

Wang-shi and Yang Tieshuan nudged each other. As Yang laoyezi stepped out, everyone followed him with a hoe on their shoulders.

Consequently, the following scene unfolded in front of villagers that day—Amid the glaring heat of high noon, Yang jia’s people, old and young, stepped out without even having meals. Initially, inquisitive villagers thought they were going to the Yang family’s second son’s new house. However, soon they found that the group was heading toward the fields.

The ones who were aware of the inside story, let out an eccentric snicker. Spatting on the ground, they grumbled at them for smashing their own feet with a stone by driving the people in the middle of the winter. It was truly one heck of a laughable matter!

As for the two brothers’ attitude when moving out this time, quite a lot of villagers have also noticed. But no one thought there was something wrong with it, as they donned an expression of watching a good show.

Having shunned them for being handicapped and unable to earn money, at that time they had driven them out. Now that they had made money, and had even built a house themselves, a big one at that, where did Yang jia get face to come out again?!

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