Chapter 40: Your Second Brother Stole It, Go Find Him!

The moon slowly descended, and the sun emerged on the horizon. With the crow of a rooster, the sun leapt forth, and sunlight instantly flooded the earth.

"Mother!"

Inside the old Li family house, Li Qingyun stumbled in, clutching his head. "I've been beaten, and the money from the land sale is gone! Mother, we’ve definitely been set up! It was the second son—it had to be the second son; he stole my money!"

As soon as he entered the room, Li Qingyun collapsed at the feet of his elderly parents, sobbing uncontrollably. He had been a perfectly fine man, yet he had been left abandoned on a field ridge, lying in the wilderness for an entire night. If he hadn’t been near the village, he might have been torn apart by wolves! And his money—that was hard cash! A full hundred taels, all gone!

When Mother Li heard this, her mind went blank. Gone again? What divine law had their family broken to lose money time and time again? Li Dashan was also stunned. More money lost? He frowned and asked coldly, "What is going on? Where were you last night? No one was here to tend to your mother and me. And what about your eldest brother? Didn't he go with you to sell the land? How did you not cross paths?"

Li Qingyun, who had initially suspected Li Feng, suddenly shifted his target. He stood up abruptly and began to curse venomously. "That Li Qingbao! To think he dared to steal my money; I will never forgive him!" He turned his head and glared coldly at Li Dashan and Mother Li. "The fine son you raised is nothing but a white-eyed wolf! Where else would he go? He must have taken the money and fled to Huaiyang County! You two agreed that you would live with the eldest, but now that he’s run off, what do you intend to do?"

The elderly couple was shocked. At first, they couldn’t believe their eldest son would abandon them; he had two scholars in his household—he couldn't be that cruel. But they were equally stunned by Li Qingyun’s tone. What was this wretch saying? Wasn't he a scholar? Had his humility and respect been eaten by dogs? The Li Qingyun standing before them looked nothing like a scholar; he was like a demon crawled out of hell.

"Cough, cough, cough!" Li Dashan began to cough violently. What kind of wicked spawn had he sired?

Li Qingyun remained indifferent, continuing his boorish behavior. "Father, Mother, you decide! My money is gone, and I don't know what to do. You raised me to be a scholar, making me incapable of manual labor or even distinguishing the five grains. Now, I am useless for anything but reading. If you don't take care of me, I will destroy the Li family! I will shatter your dreams of being gentry once and for all!"

Li Qingyun had decided to burn it all down.

"You..." Li Dashan was red with rage. He looked at his wife. "This is the 'fine son' you raised! Not only does he not care about the family, but he comes here to pick our bones dry! Haven't we helped him all these years? Haven't we always given him the best of everything? Now that he has no skills of his own, he turns around to blame us. What kind of unfilial monster have I produced?"

"Old man!" Mother Li’s eyes were red. She no longer possessed her former vigor, and the wrinkles on her face had deepened. In just a few days, she had transformed from a matron of a prosperous household into a withered old woman approaching the grave. The disparity, combined with the repeated disasters befalling the family, made her lose all discretion. "Only your second son knew about the money in the house. He must be the one who broke in! Otherwise, why would everyone else be fine while only our house is in chaos?"

"The second one?" Li Qingyun raised an eyebrow. "What exactly has happened in this house while I was away?" He hadn't been back long and hadn't understood why his second brother had suddenly changed, only that his parents were clamoring to divide the family assets. He had been so blinded by the money he was about to acquire that he hadn't paid attention. But now, piecing the events together, he began to see a pattern. Why would his parents, who were getting along fine with the second son, suddenly act as if possessed to divide the family? And when they did, they only gave the second son a bit of land and some useless grain—if that had happened to him or his eldest brother, they never would have let it slide. Yet, the second son had swallowed his pride and accepted it.

He had initially thought the second son was just being his usual cowardly self. Now, it seemed there was nothing cowardly about it; this was clearly a trap set by the second son. Damn it, he had been played!

A scholar, yet filled with vile, filthy language. Li Qingyun didn't feel anything was wrong with his own behavior; he had clearly taken Mother Li’s words to heart. "I’m going to have a talk with the second son!" With that, Li Qingyun turned and stormed out.

"Slap!"

No sooner had he left than Li Dashan struck Mother Li across the face. "Do you know what you are saying? You are inciting them to kill each other!"

Mother Li, struck, flew into a rage. "Then you tell me, what can I do?" she shrieked wildly. "I’ve worked like an ox for the Li family my whole life, only to suffer this indignity in my final years! If we don't give the third son an explanation, how can we leave this place? How can we go live with the eldest?"

Mother Li was hysterical. "We already gave up on the second son! Even if he didn't do this, it’s all connected to him. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have had these disasters, we wouldn't have divided the family, and none of this would be happening! He is nothing but a base creature from the mud—why did he dare to dream of rising above? He even tried to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his eldest and third brothers; he should look at what he is! And you—you had him completely under your thumb, why did you suddenly let go? Afraid of death? You should have picked a better time to divide the family!"

"Now, it's done. The second son has nothing to do with us anymore. The division documents are clear, and they’ve been filed at the county office. Unless you want the third son to go and cause a scene, do you think you can go back on it?" Mother Li looked the old man up and down. "You change your mind every day. Do you think the county office is some playground? If you want to curry favor with everyone, you have to see if the magistrate’s staff agrees!"

Her words left Li Dashan’s face ashen. This old hag was truly insane! A mere woman, what did she know?

"Stay by yourself, then!" Li Dashan didn't want to be in the same room as her. Since the family was divided and the eldest and third sons weren't living here, the place was spacious enough. He needed to calm down and figure out how to resolve this mess.