Chapter 45: Refusal, The Masks Come Off!

Chapter 45

"Dad!"

Li Qingyun raised his voice a bit. "Why did you refuse?"

"Once I sort all this out, I'll go into the county town and buy a courtyard house. I've already asked around, it only costs forty or fifty taels of silver!"

"Five mu of paddy fields total seventy-five taels of silver. After buying the house, I can still rent a storefront, and our family can start a business!"

"I can even bring Mom and Dad over to live a life of ease. Why wouldn't that work?"

Li Dashan's eyes bulged wide.

No, how could this person utter such shameless nonsense with such a straight face?

He had already divided the family property.

The third son failed to keep his share—what did that have to do with him?

Those five mu of prime paddy fields were his reliance for the rest of his days; how could he possibly give them away so easily?

"There's no room for discussion!" Li Dashan said with an unyielding attitude. "I've already spoken with the village head, and the fields have been leased out!"

"From now on, your mother and I can live off the rental income. As for you..."

Li Dashan was thoroughly disillusioned now. "Do whatever you must. Don't forget, we've already split the family, and your mother and I are going to live with your eldest brother!"

"Whatever happens to you in the future has nothing to do with us whatsoever!"

Li Dashan still had his wits about him. Knowing he couldn't count on Li Qingyun, he simply refused to invest a single coin, lest his money be thrown into the water.

Madam Li felt a pang of sympathy.

"If you dare to help him, I'll divorce you!" Li Dashan declared decisively, completely cutting off Madam Li's retreat.

Li Qingyun's face turned livid.

He wanted to move, but the injuries on his body left him immobile. He could only watch helplessly as the elderly couple left the room.

Inside the house.

In the corner, a man sat before a bowl, the food inside completely cleaned out.

Seeing Li Dashan and Madam Li leave, the man let out a foul breath and said, "Your parents are truly ruthless, not even caring whether their own son lives or dies!"

"You haven't fulfilled what you promised us earlier. If you can't deliver, our brothers will double the humiliation we suffered today and pay you back in full!"

Raitou spat on the floor. What absolute bad luck.

He had thought it was just a simple debt collection, but instead, he had gotten himself dragged into it, taken thirty heavy blows with a stick, and nearly lost his life.

In town, they were the sort of bullies who lorded it over others on the strength of others; when had they ever been treated like this?

The people of Li Village were truly ungrateful wretches. Still, the water sources here were quite abundant, much richer than their own village.

If they could take this place for themselves, it might turn their Heitian Village wealthy overnight!

Pondering the possibility of this scheme, he did not forget to threaten Li Qingyun, demanding that the man cough up the silver owed to them.

Didn't he still have land? Selling it would be more than enough.

If all else failed, this courtyard house could be used as collateral.

With this courtyard, things would be much more convenient for them in the future!

"What are you bickering about?!"

Li Qingyun only then remembered the man's presence. He glanced toward the corner, his eyes filled with ferocity.

They knew his family background—did they still expect to leave alive?

What debt?

Death wiped out all debts. If all these people were dead, the debts would be cleared once and for all!

Raitou, a bully who only acted tough within his own turf, shrank back. If Li Qingyun had shown even the slightest bit of toughness, Raitou wouldn't have dared to let out even a whimper.

He could only swallow his thoughts in frustration. No matter, once his wounds healed, was he afraid he couldn't handle a mere scholar?

"This little bit of food isn't enough. Get me some more; you can't just let me starve to death, can you?"

Raitou demanded.

Li Qingyun rolled his eyes. "Am I your father or your mother? I'm in this state myself, and you still expect me to serve you food? What are you dreaming about? Just stay put!"

With that, Li Qingyun fumbled as he dragged himself up, knocking over several bowls in the process with a loud clatter that only deepened Madam Li's inner turmoil.

"When are we going to the county town?"

Madam Li asked. "We've already become the laughingstock of Li Village. If we don't leave now, we'll lose all our face!"

"Didn't the eldest son want to enter the Works Department? Once we go to the county town, we can just ask around and find out where he is, right?"

"And you, day in and day out, you keep using that bone-setting ointment from Dr. Li. That kind of salve isn't going to fix your leg. Have you thought this through?"

Li Dashan lowered his gaze.

He didn't want to become a cripple either.

It was just that the family still had his two taels of gold hidden away. Ever since the house had been burglarized, he had felt extremely uneasy.

Yet his leg was injured, making it impossible for him to climb up to check the hiding spot, leaving him with no choice but to watch helplessly.

"We'll talk about it later!" He turned over onto his side and muttered gloomily!

The morning sun rose high.

Li Feng woke up bright and early. His disciplined routine had given him a reliable biological clock, and the moment dawn broke, he was awake!

Stepping out of his room, Li Feng caught a whiff of fragrance. Entering the kitchen, he saw Daya preparing breakfast for the family!

He stepped closer to take a look. They were vegetable buns—green in color and looking rather appetizing, though a bit coarse, making him wonder if they would scratch the throat.

"Why are you making these? Did you finish all the white flour?" Li Feng asked.

Daya raised her head from behind the stove. Seeing Li Feng, she hurriedly stood up like a child caught doing something wrong. "Dad, we still have some coarse grain we brought over from the old house, so..."

Seeing the child's flustered expression, Li Feng sighed. "Dad isn't scolding you. Why are you hanging your head?"

"Didn't I tell you before to keep your heads held high?"

At Li Feng's words, Daya instinctively straightened her spine. Standing there, she looked small, yet a hint of resilience seemed to grow within her.

Li Feng: "..."

Things had changed, but not entirely.

Taking out sixteen eggs, Li Feng handed them to Daya. "Boil all of these. I'll go wake your brothers up."

Busy handling the eggs, Daya hurriedly spoke up upon hearing her father's words. "Big Brother and Second Brother are already up. They went up the mountain earlier; they want to finish making Dad's wardrobe as soon as possible!"

"The timber we've been using lately was earned by doing odd jobs for the landlord in the past. We have to hurry. If the landlord finds out, he might not let us log anymore!"

Hearing Daya mention this, Li Feng suddenly remembered.

Aside from the deep mountain forests behind them, the firewood they usually gathered was cut in designated safe zones.

And most of these forests had already been bought up by the wealthy landlord.

Every household in Li Village needed firewood, and over the course of a month, that naturally consumed a significant amount of timber.

Some villagers would proactively offer their services as woodcutters for the landlord's estate, not only helping the landlord fell trees but also hauling them to town in exchange for the timber they needed.

Big Dog and Second Niu had done this before.

A load of firewood weighing about twenty to thirty catties would fetch around twenty to thirty wen.

If it were a hundred-catty load, the price would be around ten to twenty wen.

Prices in the village differed from those in town, and delivering it directly added about ten wen to the price!

Big Dog and Second Niu had chopped wood for the landlord's family for about a year, and in return, the landlord allowed them to fell enough trees in the mountains for themselves.

Over the past few days, before dawn had even broken, Big Dog and Second Niu had gone up into the mountains to log.

Third Niu had tagged along to gather fallen branches, bringing them back to dry so they could be used as kindling.