Chapter 70 - 70: Someone Jumps into the River 1

Translator: 549690339

“What did you say, Chen Dalian? Who are you calling petty?”

Chen Sanyou instantly flared up at this, taking off a shoe and hurling it at him: “Bugger off! Stop putting on a show in front of me.”

This unfounded comment stirred up his old grudges, faning the flames of his anger.

Damn Chen Dalian! That bald-headed jerk! Ignoring him wasn’t enough, now he had come to his door to mock him.

Seeing Chen Sanyou suddenly lose his temper, Chen Changsheng knew that he was about to go berserk and start hitting people again, so he quickly turned and ran. He only dared to shout insults back when he was far away:

“You old geezer! You have the audacity to throw a shoe at me while we’re just having a conversation! Just wait and see! I’ll complain to the Clan Leader about your insolence and how you’ve become unreasonable with age! Absolutely unreasonable!”

Of course, Chen Changsheng didn’t actually go to see the Clan Leader since the Clan Leader was Chen Sanyou’s older brother; approaching him would just result in further agony for himself.

As he stomped back home, he ran into Old Chen, and immediately began to complain.

“Can you believe that Chen Sanyou? I was just talking to him, and the bastard threw his stinking shoe at me…

Who am I doing this for? The East Village does nothing productive, just messing around, and it’s making our villagers restless that they can’t even focus on farming. This is unacceptable! I’m going to complain to Lizheng. He needs to step in.”

Old Chen glanced at him, nonchalantly saying, “Then you should hurry, otherwise you’ll miss your lunch.”

Chen Changsheng: …Everyone’s being so nasty today, just like Chen Ergou. They’re all so insufferable!

“Humph!” He snorted and turned to leave. It felt like he was caught between a rock and a hard place.

Old Chen paid him no mind and continued on his way home.

He still remembered how this guy had been selfish back in the day, which had caused him to get beaten. Now, every time the weather gets bad, his butt still hurts.

How could he have time to listen to others whine, while he had his own problems to worry about? His second son failed the college entrance exam again, and Old Chen was so dejected that he lost his appetite.

Before he even got to his front door, he heard crying and yelling from his home.

As soon as he stepped inside, he saw his daughter-in-law, from the Han Family, brutally beating her child with a bamboo stick.

Chen Wan, his granddaughter, was already nine years old. She was old enough to be betrothed, yet her mother was still scolding and abusing her. She wasn’t afraid that the child would be damaged and not be able to marry into a good family.

“That’s enough! Are you done yet?”

For the first time in his life, Old Chen screamed at his second daughter-in-law, “Look at what you’ve done to Wan! What the hell is your problem?”

The Han woman was startled by Old Chen’s sudden rebuke and quickly stopped her actions.

Unappeased, Old Chen continued, “Han, I’m not one to speak ill of you, but just look at what you’ve done to our home! The neighbors look down on us because of your misbehavior. Can you not disrupt the peace for one day? How is our second son supposed to go out in public or focus on his studies with all this?”

The Han woman didn’t dare to talk back. She tossed the bamboo stick and went into her room.

Chen Wan sobbed for a while, then ran out of the courtyard.

Old Chen didn’t interfere and returned to his own room, feeling frustrated.

Feng was sitting on the heated bed, spinning cotton into thread, she glanced at him and asked: “What’s wrong today? You’ve actually started scolding people.”

Old Chen sat down on the edge of the heated bed, slid off his shoes, sat cross-legged on the bed, and lifted his small teapot to drink from it. He pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Do you think the kid in the Jiang Family from East Village is really our second son’s?”

Feng kept on spinning the cotton without lifting her head, “Who knows. Wasn’t it you who said you wouldn’t get involved? Why are you suddenly bringing this up now?”

Old Chen took another sip of tea and snapped his mouth shut, “They say the Jiang Family in the east village has struck it rich, first catching a big fish, then growing some sort of golden ears, and now they have come up with this Divine Gourd. Even people from other villages are coming to see it…”

“Do you finally believe now?”

Feng suddenly perked up, craning her neck, “I’ve seen the Divine Gourd too. It’s just a shame I couldn’t touch it. They say that you’ll have good luck if you touch it, look at the poor people in East Village, they’re all so spirited now.

I told our second son to touch it too, but he refused. Ah, and now there’s no chance to touch it, the Jiang Family has sold the Divine Gourd. Humph, they only care about money, even willing to sell something that was gifted by an Immortal. ”

Old Chen stroked his beard, deep in thought, “What do you think, if we were to acknowledge that kid as our own, would our second son’s chances at passing the college entrance exam be guaranteed?”

“That’s the truth!” Feng Family slapped her thigh, “We should have brought her back a long time ago. To give away a good Fairy Child like that, Han Family, I tell you, she’s nothing but trouble, never does anything right. She finally gives birth to a useful one, and she throws her away. Our second son married her, and he sure took a big unlucky dive.”

“Enough!” Chen Lao Shuan glared at his old wife, “Be careful with your tongue, you say too much.”

Feng Family moved away from the spinning wheel, got off the brick bed, patted her clothes and said, “I’ll go ask Han Family where she gave that child away years ago.”

Chen Lao Shuan remained silent, just holding his teapot and pondering.

Feng Family walked to the door of the second room, calling out loudly, “Han

Family, come out, I need to talk to you.”

Only after a while did Han Family lift the curtain and step out of the room, “What’s the matter?”

Feng Family gave her daughter-in-law a glance, pushed past her and went into the room.

Chen Changping was sitting by the desk, copying the Book of Rites, and did not pay any attention to the arrival of his old mother.

Feng Family took a seat on a chair to the side, glanced at the daughter-in-law who followed her in and said, “Now that both of you are here, I want to ask, is the lost girl that Jiang Sanlang picked up in East Village ours?”

Chen Changping furrowed his eyebrows, put down his brush, turned around and looked at his mother, “Mother, why do you ask this now? I’ll say it once again, the child that the Jiang Family found has nothing to do with us.”

Feng Family’s mouth twitched slightly, then she turned her head to ask the second daughter-in-law, “Do you think the same?”

Han Family quietly glanced at her husband, gathering her courage to say, “Mother, why don’t we go to the Jiang Family’s place and see for ourselves?”

“Han Family!” Chen Changping got angry, suddenly stood up, overturning the chair, “Don’t you have any shame? I certainly do!”

He then said to Feng Family, “Mother, can’t you stay calm? How am I supposed to study with all this commotion?”

He had failed the court examination for several years in a row, and he was extremely frustrated. Although he had changed several academies to study, his progress was minimal.

So he decided to study at home and put off going to the county academy for a while.

To his dismay, there was no peace at home, either. It was either children crying or adults arguing, and now they were bringing up the child that was lost years ago.

Every time he heard about it, he felt as uncomfortable as if he had swallowed a fly, as if the deepest, most hidden, most fearful, and most regretful secret in his heart was being dug up, leaving him nowhere to hide.

Seeing her son’s strong resistance to this matter, Feng Family didn’t dare to say anything more and got up to leave.

Han Family followed her out.

The two women looked at each other, each understanding what the other meant.

When they stepped outside, Feng Family asked, “Han Family, what do you think? Is that child really ours?”

Han Family nodded slightly, “I think she looks like ours, mother, why don’t we quietly go and see. We won’t let my husband know.”

Over the past three years, there had been no movement in her belly, which made Han Family increasingly anxious. If it wasn’t for the scandal caused by Chen Ergou’s wife last time, she would have wanted to sneak to the Jiang Family’s place and take the child back.

Every time she mentioned adoption to her husband, he would immediately lose his temper, giving her the cold shoulder for days.

Today, her mother-in-law suddenly brought it up, and it hit right where Han Family wanted.

“Hmm, let’s settle on this. We two will find time to visit the Jiang Family. If the child is not ours, we won’t wrong them.” Feng Family smoothed her hair, and then said to her daughter-in-law, “Han Family, don’t say I didn’t warn you, stop angering Ergou. His head hurts from all the daily noise, how is he supposed to study properly?”

This time, Han Family was very obedient, bowing her head in acquiescence, understand, mother.”

“Disaster! Someone jumped into the river!”

Faintly, the cries of the villagers could be heard in the distance, “Someone come quickly! Help!”

“Who jumped into the river?” A villager emerged from their home. “We should go and see, seems like a child jumped into the river.” “Oh dear, whose child could it be, so unwilling to live…”

A few villagers hurried towards the source of the cries.

Han Family and Feng Family glanced in that direction, but didn’t seem to care much and turned to go back home..