Chapter 219 - Owing Them (2/2)
“That’s right! At the time of the separation, it was clearly stated in the contact that he only needed to give us some coarse grain every month as a show of his filial piety! However, Second Son is a kind and upright person. He doesn’t forget to show filial respect for his elders even when he’s well off. He automatically changed the monthly coarse grain to fine grain, moreover, he also gives us five taels for groceries! Ay! Villagers of Dongshan Village eat homegrown vegetables and catch our own fish in the sea, so why would we need so much money for groceries? I wanted to give the money back to him, but Second Son refused. He told us to save it up, so if we want to buy something in the future, we won’t be short on money!” Old Yu was obviously showing off as he spoke.
He had originally thought that after that incident his second son’s family would be estranged with him, but he didn’t expect that Second Son’s family still treated him with filial respect and secretly gave him five taels every month. After he found out about Madam Zhang’s true colors, he continued to live in a seemingly harmonious manner with her for the sake of his third son and youngest daughter.
However, he couldn’t let Madam Zhang be the only one in control of the family anymore. When it was time for him to make decisions, he wouldn’t be indecisive again. He had secretly saved up all the money that Second Son gave him. Third Son and Youngest Daughter weren’t his only children; he also had his eldest daughter, who had been married off far away!
Ay! His eldest daughter was still mad at him!! It had been over a decade, except for returning once when Second Son got married, she had never come back to her maiden home over all these years. At that time, she only spoke with Second Son and ignored everyone else!
It was understandable. Eldest Daughter was such a strong person, yet Madam Zhang married her off far away to a poor, remote place. Moreover, the person she married was a widower who was a lot older than her. At that time, he had also been foolish. Why did he listen to Madam Zhang’s words and didn’t inquire carefully about the person? By the time the bridal sedan arrived at the door, it was already too late… Ay! When he thought about it now, he was seriously sorry to Cuiyun and had wronged Cuiyun’s two children ah…
Speaking of the northeast, when he went to town last time, he had heard a businessman, who came from there, say that there was no rain in the northeast this spring and summer, which was an omen of severe drought ah! He didn’t know how his eldest daughter was doing now… No, he had to ask someone to send a message over to ask about the situation. If there was really a drought, he would tell his daughter, ‘Although your mother is gone, you still have your maiden family.’
As he greeted his fellow villagers along the way, Old Yu had arrived at the old residence. The first thing he saw was his nephew, Yu Jiang, and his eldest grandson busily weighing seafood. There was a very long line in front of them. Other than the villagers of Dongshan Village, there were also some unfamiliar people from the neighboring fishing village.
The person in charge of collecting seafood in the neighboring fishing village had randomly raised the price and collected seafood that wasn’t up to standard. The seafood wasn’t preserved properly, so it was often stinky and rotten. As a result, the purchasing staff of the Zhou Family’s factories cancelled the acquisition point. Therefore, the villagers of the neighboring fishing village had to travel over five kilometers to Dongshan Village to sell their marine goods.
For collecting seafood, they could only earn several dozen copper coins per catty, but they were able to collect a large amount of marine goods ah! He made a rough calculation in his heart. With just the seafood acquisition alone, Second Son’s family could earn several taels as income in a day. Yu Jiang could probably get at least a little more than a tael daily, right?
Ay! Had Madam Zhang not been pretentious and gone overbroad in her actions, Second Son would have probably taken familial affections into consideration and given Yu Jiang’s task to Dashan, which was much better than fishing! Dashan had a lot of strength, but his fishing skills weren't enough as good as his. After working hard and being exhausted for the entire day, they still couldn’t earn much money… But, what was the point in talking about this now? With the things that Madam Zhang had done, it was already fortunate that Second Son didn’t blame him, let alone help Dashan!
Old Yu saw that people in the yard were busily eating lunch, and the strong aroma of meat drifted over with the wind. The corner of Old Yu’s mouth twitched, and he thought, ‘Second Son is building a house, but is the food being provided too good? Not only is there meat for every meal, but there was also iced sweet mung bean soup to drink. Even if he has money, he shouldn’t spend it so recklessly. I have to remind him next time!’ Old Yu didn’t enter the courtyard. After nodding at Yu Hang, who greeted him, he picked up a shovel and started shoveling the mud!
There was no concrete at this time. Bricks were made of yellow mud with strong adhesion, and it was mixed with cut up rice straws. Houses built with this were also quite sturdy! Old Yu felt that he somewhat owed his second son, so he had come over to help since the first day of the house construction. Furthermore, he never ate at the old residence, as if this was the only way to mitigate the guilt in his heart.
After eating lunch, Yu Hai came out with the villagers who came to help and saw Old Yu working under the hot sun. Yu Hai hastily put his straw hat on Old Yu’s head and said, “Father, why did you come so early? The sun is really strong right now ah. It’s fine to work later when it’s not as hot ah!”
“In the summer, it’s hard to say when it will rain! It’s better to quickly build the house while it’s a good day. Don’t you also need to quickly finish building the two rooms beside the old residence before the autumn harvest? The heavens won’t wait for anyone. We, fishermen, are used to working under the sun, so this little sun is fine.” Old Yu wiped off his sweat and continued to work.
When the others saw this, they were naturally embarrassed to rest. Liu Pei climbed onto the scaffold made of bamboo poles and said as he plastered mud on the bricks, “Uncle Yu, you can rest assured! We’ll go back a little later today. The walls of the house are almost done! We should be able to install the beam tomorrow!”
Old Yu spit into his palms, held the shovel in his hands, and kept shoveling mud into the bamboo basket. He nodded and said, “Mhm! Let’s aim to install the beam tomorrow! Second Son, the beam installation is an important matter. Have you prepared the firecrackers? Did you buy all the ingredients needed for the meal to entertain the guests?”