Chapter 75

The tombs of Liu Tong’s dad and daddy were located on the back side of the mountain behind their house, but if they wanted to go there, they had to pass by Liu Tong’s eldest uncle’s place.

Liu Tong had never returned since he got married, nor had he even seen his eldest uncle and his family members. When Liu Tong was young before his dad and daddy passed away, the relationship between the two families was really good. But after his dad and daddy died, the whole family of his eldest uncle had been thinking about how to take his family’s land. As for him, he had never been raised as a Ge’er since then.

It was not hatred but just dislike.

He was sure to remember those who were good to him, but he would also remember those who were bad to him.

So when they were passing by, Liu Tong didn’t say he wanted to go and take a look, and Xu Ran just didn’t know that was the home of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle.

However, someone always wanted to give them trouble even when they had no wish to offend anyone.

“Stop! Liu Tong, you are bold after getting married, right? You even didn’t want to come in to greet your eldest uncle when you passed by his home. I raised an ingrate indeed!

Liu Tong was suddenly asked to stop, and then lots of accusing words sounded. Hearing that, Xu Ran frowned and looked back, seeing an obvious pregnancy mole near the speaker’s ear. Also by judging the person’s dressing, Xu Ran could tell that he was the spouse of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle, but as if he didn’t know it, he asked, “Who are you? You shout at others whenever you want. You really have no quality.”

Hearing these words, the spouse of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle was furious. He took a few steps forward and stopped Xu Ran and his family members. As he rested his hand on his hip, he pointed at them and said, “Hey, how did you talk like that, little beast! I have no quality, but do you have it? Do you know who I am? How dare you swear at me?”

Xu Ran stood in front of his two kids as their shield and said, “You are the big beast, aren’t you? How could I not know who you are? Besides, a good dog won’t stand in the way. Please make way for us.”

“Whom did you accuse of being a beast? Good, you dare to bully me! Liu Tong, this is your secret lover, isn’t he? Your husband is a fool as we all know. Let me tell you something. Today you let your secret lover bully me, but tomorrow I will tell all the villagers that you have a secret lover. I’ll see if your idiotic husband will divorce you.”

These words of the spouse of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle made Xu Ran even angrier. He passed the basket in his hand to Liu Tong, rolled up his sleeves and said, “I am the fool in your words, but I have got back to normal already. You are unhappy, aren’t you? You just go and tell the villagers! If you don’t, I will have to tell them that you’ve taken away the family land of my spouse’s parents and sold their Ge’er. Not only will I talk about it in the village, but I will also go to the officials and sue you. I’ll see how your whole family will continue to live in the village, humph!”

‘It is just bluffing, isn’t it? I’m not afraid of you!’ Xu Ran thought.

Now he was a hooligan alive!

Seeing the look of their dad from behind, Tangtang and Guoguo did want to applaud, but the situation was not right, so they held back.

Ancients were most afraid of going to face officials, especially those who have something on their conscience. The spouse of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle was scared when he heard Xu Ran talking about going to the officials, but he still said, “Just go to the officials! Let me tell you something. I raised this ungrateful person for so many years, so what’s wrong with me for taking a bit of land from his dad and daddy? Anyway, all his family members are dead, so it’s useless to keep land for them. Besides, if it were not for me, how could you, a fool, have married Liu Tong? You would have just done it in your dreams!”

It seemed that he became more confident as he continued his talk. In the end, his voice even became louder.

Xu Ran didn’t want to argue with him because the latter was the spouse of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle. After all, his accusation could not go too far. Finding that Xu Ran was in a difficult situation, he tugged his clothes and said, “Ran, let’s go to the tombs first. Now I have no relations with them. Since they sold me to you at that time, I have been your spouse. Don’t care about them.”

When the spouse of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle heard the words “go to the tombs”, his eyes brightened. Liu Tong had never come to visit the tombs in the past few years. He even went to ask about it and learned that Liu Tong didn’t live a good life in the Xu Family. After coming back, he laughed for a few days.

Now Liu Tong had even come to visit the tombs with the fool and their children. The spouse of his eldest uncle stared at the basket, knowing that there must be something good inside.

In addition, Liu Tong was now dressed nicely and even had a jade hairpin on his head, which showed that his life now was different from the past. Now Liu Tong was the source of living rewards in the eyes of his eldest uncle’s spouse.

But Xu Ran and his family members could not care what he was thinking. They simply bypassed him and walked away.

When the spouse of his eldest uncle awoke from his daydream, they had disappeared.

But it didn’t matter because they would return.

The spouse of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle immediately turned around and ran into the room. “Husband, husband, Liu Tong is back.”

Xu Ran knew that they would not go back smoothly, so he planned to stay in the mountain for a little more while so that Liu Tong could speak more to his dad.

After putting the worship items in place, Xu Ran also set off the firecrackers.

The whole family kowtowed three times to the two earth tombs respectively. Liu Tong pulled Xu Ran and knelt with him in front of his dad’s tomb. “Dad, this is Ran. We’ve been married for seven years, and I’ve brought him here to see you at noon today. Previously, he was hurt by others and became a fool, but now he is normal. You two don’t have to worry. We also have two kids. They are twin boys. Tangtang, Guoguo, come here.”

Liu Tong called to Tangtang and Guoguo behind him. The two children walked over obediently, knelt with one on each side of them, and called “grandpa” to the tomb in front of them.

While pointing at Tangtang and Guoguo, Liu Tong said, “Dad, they are Tangtang and Guoguo, my and Ran’s sons. They will be six by the beginning of next spring.”

Liu Tong nagged for a while. However, Xu Ran kowtowed once again to the tombs while Liu Tong was not paying attention to him. “Dad-in-law, daddy-in-law, I am Xu Ran from another world. Liu Tong is my officially married Ge’er and will be the only one. I will work hard to be good to him and the children. Please feel at ease! Thank you for bringing up such a good Tongtong.

After the talk, Xu Ran got up. Looking back, he saw Liu Tong standing behind him with a smile. “Ran, I’ve heard all you said. I believe in you.”

Xu Ran smiled, stepped forward, and took his hand. Then, the family packed up their things and began to walk back with their basket.

As expected, they were stopped on the way back. All the family members of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle were waiting for them at the gate of their house.

There were five of them: Liu Tong’s eldest uncle and his spouse, his younger cousin and his spouse, and a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old Ge’er.

As soon as he saw them, Liu Tiezhu, the younger cousin of Liu Tong, came up to snatch the basket in Xu Ran’s hand. Xu Ran was not prepared for it, so the basket was taken away by the cousin like this.

In the basket, there was also a chicken leg and a large piece of fat meat apart from rice.

No sooner did Liu Tiezhu get the basket than he opened it. Seeing the things inside, he instantly picked up the chicken leg and put it into his mouth despite the fact that they were used as sacrificial offerings.

When others saw Liu Tiezhu putting the chicken leg into his mouth, they could not keep motionless anymore. Those who went up first were the spouse of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle and Liu Tiezhu’s spouse.

Both of them wanted to get the piece of fat meat in the basket. The spouse of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle swore at someone while trying to take the meat, while Liu Tong’s eldest uncle and Liu Piao beside them didn’t go for it because they felt too ashamed to do so, although they also wanted it so much.

It was really a good show. In the end, the fat meat was split up by the two people, and the rice was even taken and put into their mouths. Truly, they were no different from refugees.

After their snatch, Xu Ran retrieved the basket, where there were only three wooden bowls left, but Xu Ran could not bear to lose them.

“Folks, you’ve snatched the dishes and eaten them. Please let us go back! It’s late, and we still have a long distance to cover.

Hearing the word “snatch”, Liu Tong’s eldest uncle glanced at those people and then cursed, “Shame on you.”

The spouse of Liu Tong’s eldest uncle showed that he had a thick skin. Resting his hands on his hips, he stopped Xu Ran and said, “Want to go? This road is in front of my house. If you want to pass, you have to pay tolls.”

“Right, pay tolls,” Liu Tiezhu echoed.

Liu Tiezhu, the only child in the family, had been spoiled since he was young and formed a lawless personality. He, who liked gambling, went to town to gamble from time to time. As a result, he was not lucky and lost every time. Over the years, he owed lots of debts of different amounts in the outside world. Anything that was valuable in his family had been taken by him to gamble, so no money was left here. But where did he get the money to marry someone at that time? The family sold Liu Tong. Yet, the family still lived a poor life.

Today when he met Liu Tong, even if the latter were still as poor as before, he would possibly think about getting something from him, but the result he saw now was that the family not only had meat to eat but also got good clothes to wear. Besides, the glistening white jade hairpin on Liu Tong’s head was even more attractive to him.

The one who also wanted the jade hairpin was Liu Piao, who had been hating Liu Tong since he was young. The reason was that although they were all Ge’ers, Liu Tong could do everything except that he was not as beautiful as Liu Piao.

Liu Piao was about to be sixteen, but no one came to his home to introduce anyone to him. For one thing, his family was poor; for another, his daddy was shrewish, his elder brother loved gambling, and he himself didn’t know how to do household chores.

Therefore, no one visited his home to introduce a man to him even when others should get married at such an age. Indeed, he was quite sad about it.

Liu Piao not only took a fancy to the hairpin on Liu Tong’s head but also fell in love with Xu Ran. Although Xu Ran had been a fool all these years, he had s good look. Also decorated by his natural temperament, he was even more attractive to Liu Piao.

He thought, ‘Since Xu Ran could buy the jade hairpin for Liu Tong, he can surely buy other things for him. No doubt, he must have lots of money. If I marry him…’

As he thought about it, he began to envy.

Others didn’t notice Liu Piao, but Liu Tong, who had been looking at Xu Ran all the time, did notice him. What he didn’t expect was that Liu Piao, an unmarried Ge’er, was so shameless that he stared at a married young man without blinking.

“Ever since Ran became normal, more and more people have coveted him, and they are all from our relatives’ families,” Liu Tong thought, but he was speechless about it.