Chapter 47.2

Translated by Aviana

It took He-shi a good while to calm down and come back to normal.

Right at that moment, Yang laoyezi knocked on the table with the bowl of tobacco before opening his mouth and breaking the deadlock.

老 爷子 (lǎoyézi): polite appellation for an elderly male

“Wang-shi, just say what you wish to say, don’t go around making your mother angry. Where’s laoda? Damn you…. letting your wife make a ruckus in front of your mother, making your mother infuriated to this extent…are you satisfied now?

老大 (lǎodà): eldest child in a family

Yang laoyezi was distinctly aware that Wang-shi would not make this much fuss just because her kids were hungry. Certainly, there must be some other reason.

Hearing his father call him, Yang Tieshuan listlessly walked out of the east room and stood behind his wife, without a word.

Wang-shi pulled Yang Tieshuan behind her, indicating that this matter had nothing to do with Yang Tieshuan and was entirely done at her own discretion.

“Father, we are no longer be able to reason with mother anymore. You have to be reasonable, alright? You see how we will be able to pass our days now? To help laosi, the entire family was turned over, entire silver was taken, and even the grains were sold. Laoer almost lost his life in the process…”

With a calm and composed face, Yang laoyezi cut her in the middle, “Say the main point!”

While standing at the back, Lin Qingwan’s lips twitched as she understood Wang-shi’s intention.

It seems that Wang-shi was no longer able to sit still!

Being suddenly interrupted by Yang laoyezi in the middle, Wang-shi’s face turned red, as she spoke out her true intention.

“Anyway, I feel that you have to consider, we can’t go on living like this!”

Everyone in the room could hear the real meaning behind Wang-shi’s implicit words. Getting up from the kang, He-shi grabbed a teacup and flung it towards Wang-shi.

“Great, Wang-shi! I was wondering why you came here to make such a fuss at this time. It turns out that you actually came here to urge my old man to have Xuezhang stop studying in the future. This old lady will crush you, a repulsive woman, to death. Such a vicious-minded little s*ut, #$@&! Do you hold any grudge against our Yang jia….To go as far as to target our family’s Yang Xuezhang….”

Actually, the words used were even more derogatory. As they were colloquial, I was unable to find right terms to translate.

Wang-shi was hit head-on by the teacup, tea spilling all over her head. But ignoring it all, she persistently zeroed her eyes on Yang laoyezi, waiting for him to give an explanation.

Seeing that her trick was unable to suppress Wang-shi, He-shi shrieked, “Laoda, you go and throw out this repulsive woman for me and divorce her. Our family will never accommodate such a malicious daughter-in-law….”

But to her dismay, Yang Tieshuan, unexpectedly, wasn’t on his old mother’s side this time.

“Mother, why do I have to divorce Wang-shi? For me, she has given birth to so many sons. Besides, there was nothing wrong with what she said. If things continue going on like this, how do you expect us to still live?”

“Great,” He-shi jested, “It turned out that husband and wife both wanted to suppress my laosi! My laosi is already pitiful enough and still out there looking for that scammer in the town. You conscienceless bastards…..”

Yang Tieshuan was impatiently interrupted He-shi in between.

“Where are we conscienceless? You said you wished to have laosi study, did we say anything? You said laosi was diligent in studying and would become a qualified xucai. Did we say anything? Then, you said you wanted to provide 50 teals to laosi to buy exam topics and had all the branches help you pool money. Did we object you? Is only laosi your son? Could it be that we aren’t your sons?”

老四 (lǎosì): fourth child in the family

秀才 (xiùcai): a person who has passed the county-level imperial exam

Seeing her man supporting her, Wang-shi once again loudly said: “Yes, we have done utmost to fulfill our duties. In order for laosi to be able to go to school, every day we stuffed ourselves with all kinds of unappetizing foods….This time in order to pool enough money to buy questions for laosi, father stubbornly sold all the grains at home, leaving us with porridge as our everyday meals…. There are still many growing boys in the house who wail every day for hunger….the meals at home aren’t even sufficient to fill a person’s stomach…how can one be this biased….

Wang-shi broke into tears while speaking.

“… Aren’t all of them father and mother’s sons…. we are always short on silver because of laosi….my children don’t even get to eat a boiled egg….”

Once First Branch begins opening their mouth, they know how to stab at one’s sore points very well, even rendering He-shi and Yang laoyezi to speechlessness.

As the Second Branch and Third Branch are usually not well-received in the family, they simply stood at the corner, watching the Eldest Branch’s husband and wife raise a fuss.

Sitting there, Yang laoyezi felt as if a knife was being twisted in his heart.

As soon as laosi met with a mishap, the eldest branch’s husband and wife were unable to remain calm and began making a ruckus. While the Second Branch and Third Branch remained calm, without expressing any interest, evoking chill in his heart and bitter disappointment.

Lin Qingwan, who had all along been closely watching the situation here, has certainly hadn’t missed the bitter disappointment and chill on Yang laoyezi’s face.

Yes, bitter disappointment. Hehe…..then why didn’t you take a moment to consider if the other person would also be bitterly disappointed, chilling their hearts, when you were handling the affairs?

No wonder people say that human hearts always tend to be prejudiced – by natural disposition, they are as such and aren’t something that could be cured. He-shi and Yang laoyezi both exhibit prejudice. It’s just that He-shi shows her bias openly, while Yang laoyezi’s is just not obvious on the outside.

Otherwise, without Yang laoyezi’s tacit support, how would just He-shi, all by herself, support Yang Xuezhang’s education all these years, turning the family more and more destitute over the years? Only when Yang Tiezhu came back were they able to turn the tide over.

The grievances that have been accumulating for many years finally erupted. All sons had their own respective thoughts. Yang laoyezi was unable to rein in them any longer. He could only helplessly sit on kang as the eldest branch’s husband and wife continued to make a ruckus.

Regardless of how bitterly disappointed and chilled his heart has become, this issue was something he had to face in time.

Regardless of whether it was now or sometime in the future, he eventually had to resolve it.

In extended families, it’s unlikely for the patriarch to hold a bowl of water level even, and eventually, some time or other, clashes arise. Unfortunately, Yang laoyezi was never able to comprehend this principle. Not to mention He-shi, whose prejudice has elevated beyond limits.

一碗水端平 (yī wǎn shuǐ duān píng): lit. to hold a bowl of water level (idiom) / fig. to be impartial/ to handle things fairly and not to favor

Yang laoyezi took yet another deep drag from a tobacco pipe and exhaled before stating in a deep and low voice, “Your mother and I will ponder over this. Or else, how about we do this, wait till laosi comes back, then we will have a talk, alright? At that time, I will surely give you a reply.”

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