Chapter 62: Teaching Li Baozhu a Lesson, Only to Have the Table Flipped!

Looking at the thoroughly ill-mannered Li Baozhu, Li Qingyun felt that as her third uncle, he was fully qualified to teach her how to conduct herself. He immediately spoke up, "Have all your manners been eaten by dogs?"

"Can't you see there are elders present?"

"No greetings, no respect—is this really how your parents taught you?"

Li Baozhu: "???"

She looked at Li Qingyun, confusion filling her eyes. She clearly looked like she didn't recognize him at all.

"Who are you?" Li Baozhu asked after chewing and swallowing the pastry in her mouth.

Without waiting for Li Qingyun to answer, she immediately shifted her target to Madam Wang: "Granny, when are you going back to Li Family Village?"

"Didn't Second Uncle take good care of you both in Li Family Village? Why weren't you satisfied, coming all the way here to muscle in and take our house?"

"Baozhu!" Yunniang had emerged from the back earlier, but she had waited to see how her daughter would handle it. Only after Baozhu delivered those words did she step in to stop her. She glared at her daughter. "Is that any way to speak to your granny?"

"And besides, this is your third uncle!" Yunniang pointed at Li Qingyun.

"So what if he's my third uncle!" Li Baozhu rolled her eyes. "Our family's silver doesn't fall from the sky. Third Uncle is a grown man; why is he coming to our house to freeload?"

Everything on the table had been specially prepared by her parents for her and her two older brothers. Her brothers studied at the academy and worked very hard, so her parents had always been generous with their food.

Although she had never suffered hardship herself, she knew very well that times were hard now. Take her older female cousins, for instance—because they were girls, they were treated poorly at home. Her eldest cousin, only thirteen years old, had just been sold by her uncle!

Word was she had been sold to the Wanhua Brothel!

Baozhu had even gone to see her once. Her eldest cousin was standing by the entrance, her face painted up like a goblin, looking utterly miserable. If she didn't perform well, the older girls beside her would pinch her arms!

It was terrifying!

The only reason she was so utterly spoiled at home was because she had two older brothers who were older and bright enough to pass the county examinations. That was why she was held in the palm of their hands. She understood all of this.

Therefore, she could easily distinguish between her immediate family and outsiders.

She had very little interaction with her third uncle. A few years ago, when he returned to Li Family Village for the New Year gathering, she had caught a glimpse of this self-proclaimed scholar of a third uncle. Yet, in her eyes, this third uncle wasn't even half as capable as her two brothers!

Naturally, she felt no obligation to pay attention to Li Qingyun.

However, Madam Wang and Old Man Li were a different story. They were her father's parents, and getting them to leave wasn't going to be easy.

When she went out this morning, her grandfather had been limping as he followed her out, and by the look of it, he still hadn't returned. Who knew where he had wandered off to?

She couldn't understand it. Weren't Second Uncle's family taking perfectly good care of her grandparents? Why on earth had they come to Huaiyang County and insisted on living in her house?

"You—"

Having his humiliating situation pointed out by his own niece left Li Qingyun trembling with rage, yet utterly helpless!

He could only stare fixedly at Li Baozhu for a long moment before finally spitting out, "Such an impudent young lady! Eldest Brother, Eldest Sister-in-law, this is the fine daughter you've raised!"

"If she continues to be so devoid of manners and propriety, sooner or later she will bring disaster upon the entire family!"

"Our family's affairs do not require Third Brother's concern, and my people are not yours to boss around!"

"If you have so much idle time, go find yourself a job copying books once you've finished eating. You're a grown man; you ought to be able to support yourself, shouldn't you?" Yunniang retorted sharply.

If the person in question were still a child, she might have been willing to lend a hand. But what was Li Qingyun? A grown, able-bodied man who ate well, with a daughter who was already quite old, yet remained as lazy as ever. What did he take them for? The second branch, to be slaughtered at will?

Taunted and ridiculed once more, Li Qingyun flushed a furious crimson!

Seeing Li Qingyun being bullied, Madam Wang shot a fixed look at Li Qingbian. "Enough, both of you say less. Where did your father go? Why hasn't he returned yet?"

Yunniang replied, "Father said he wanted to see what Huaiyang County looked like and went out for a stroll. He told us not to wait for him to eat!"

Li Qingyun picked up a piece of fatty pork with his chopsticks and placed it into Madam Wang's bowl. "Mother, Father still has silver on him, doesn't he?"

Madam Wang glanced at the large piece of fatty pork in her bowl, and her face instantly bloomed with smiles.

Look at that!

It was still her third son who cared for her the most!

Her eldest son and eldest daughter-in-law lacked this thoughtfulness entirely, let alone serving food into her bowl; they were too eager to despise her!

Pacing the fatty pork in her mouth, she chewed it slowly and thoroughly, completely failing to notice that because of her dismissal, a flicker of impatience had crept into Li Qingyun's eyes.

"Mother, I asked you a question!" Li Qingyun repeated.

"What did you say?" Madam Wang looked at Li Qingyun, her face wreathed in smiles as she asked mildly.

Li Qingyun: "..."

The old hag was going deaf!

"Granny, Third Uncle is asking if Grandfather still has silver on him!" Li Baozhu chimed in.

"Of course not!" Madam Wang replied without even thinking.

Everyone else: "..."

What on earth was wrong with this old woman recently?

They had just mentioned that the old man had gone out for a stroll. Without silver, would the old man dare to step foot outside?

"Mother, perhaps you should think about it again?" Li Qingyun prompted. "Father just went out. Without silver, why would he leave the house?"

Madam Wang paused.

Had the old man secretly hidden silver behind her back?

But his leg hadn't even healed yet; why was he in such a rush to go out?

"When your father comes back, I'll interrogate him properly," Madam Wang said offhandedly.

With Madam Wang's words, Li Qingyun let out a sigh of relief.

Li Qingbian and Yunniang exchanged glances, their eyes filled with calculation.

Old Man Li was no simple character; his methods were ruthless. If Old Man Li hadn't been whispering in his ear all those years, the second branch would never have broken their backs trying to support the whole household.

Li Qingbian had chosen to settle in the town back then precisely to escape Old Man Li's control.

Perhaps for that very reason, the two old folks had wanted to keep the second branch by their sides so they could keep a tight grip on them. Yet the old man was terrified of dying, and over some groundless nonsense, he had actually forced a split from a strong laborer like the second son!

Even though they had been driven out with nothing to their names, the Li family had still suffered a massive loss!

After all, now that the family was divided, while the second branch was still technically obligated to support the elders, the rest of them could no longer make demands on the second branch!

They could no longer brazenly spend the second branch's silver, and now they even had to shoulder the corvée labor and poll taxes themselves, adding an entirely unnecessary expense.

Just thinking about it made their hearts ache!

And then there was...

Li Qingbian cast a glance at Madam Wang's waist.

Both elders were in perfectly robust health; how on earth had they both managed to injure themselves in falls?

Earlier, because of the matter regarding the Ministry of Works, he had urgently needed silver of his own, which was why he hadn't tried to stop the family split.

Now, the work at the Ministry of Works had mostly fallen through, and they had bought a house in the county seat, where everything was terribly expensive.

A single bolt of cloth cost several hundred copper cash—much more expensive than in the town.

The family's daily expenses, plus two sons studying—whether either of them could actually pass the imperial examinations remained uncertain—all of this required silver!

His own income was only a little over a hundred copper cash a day. While that was somewhat more than a common laborer made, he was utterly incapable of sustaining the expenses of two scholars!

If only the second branch could take the old folks back and continue to bankroll their household, then...