AWB Chapter 164 I Can’t Honor You
Chapter 164 I Can’t Honor You
"Brother, you're back. How are you? What did the headman say?"
Wei Nanxing was taking Black Moonlight to the river to let it eat some grass. When he looked up, he saw Wei Qinglang coming back and asked hurriedly.
Wei Qinglang stepped forward and said, "Go to the ancestral hall this afternoon to get the land deeds. The village head said that the land behind the house is all ours. There is plenty of space. In addition to the chicken and duck sheds, we can also build a Ma Peng for Black Moonlight to live in."
Wei Nanxing happily touched the horse's neck and said, "Okay, then after breakfast we'll go to the city to buy some wood."
"No need to go to so much trouble." Wei Qinglang said, "I heard that Taohua Village ahead sells timber."
"That's great. I'll ride to Taohua Village and ask."
"Just buy some ordinary pine wood."
Wei Nanxing nodded in agreement and jumped on the horse, ready to let Black Moonlight eat grass while walking towards Taohua Village.
Wei Qinglang opened the door and entered the yard. Cheng Lishuang had just gotten up and was washing up. Cheng Pan and his two cousins were hanging the bacon they brought back yesterday under the eaves, and Cheng Guqiu was busy in the kitchen.
Wei Xinyi was picking up fallen petals under a rose tree, while her two younger brothers were reading and writing in the yard.
Cheng Chen sat upright, his back straight, diligently copying the famous commentaries that Master Shen had given him. Meanwhile, Cheng Xu knelt on a stool, his body tilted, drawing.
The little fellow was very smart. When he saw Cheng Shuang rinsing her mouth and turning around, he immediately covered her with a half-copied piece of paper and pretended to write seriously.
Cheng Shuang glanced at them, making sure they were copying carefully. She turned and called Wei Xinyi, "Xinyi, don't play with the flower petals near the well. If you fall in, the water will be dirty. And I've told you countless times not to get so close to the well. It's too dangerous."
When he turned around and saw Wei Qinglang coming in, he immediately said, "You're back. I told you that you must get some wood to make a lid for the well. These three like to run to the well without listening."
"Nanxing has already gone to Taohua Village to buy wood. He will start making it as soon as he gets back." Wei Qinglang glanced at the well and also felt that there were great safety hazards.
As soon as Cheng Shuang returned to the room, Cheng Xu secretly started painting again. This time, he was so focused on painting that he didn't notice anyone coming out and was caught red-handed.
Cheng Shuang frowned and knocked on the table, asking him to take out the things. Cheng Xu shrank his neck, took out the papers underneath and handed them over, whispering, "These books were given to you by Master Shen. He didn't ask me to copy them too."
"You've even learned to quibble." Cheng Shuang glanced at the painting and tapped him on the forehead with one hand on her hip. "You thought I couldn't confront Master Shen, didn't you? I'm telling you, I have no objection to you learning calligraphy or painting, but you also have to study hard. In a couple of days, I'll find a new private school to send you to, so you don't play around too much and become unruly."
Wei Qinglang had long discovered that Xiao Si was not copying books properly and was secretly drawing. Seeing him being caught red-handed, he was now laughing in glee.
After Cheng Shuang finished her lecture, she asked the little guy to continue copying the annotations, and walked over with the painting and handed it to him.
The drawing on the paper showed their courtyard. Wei Qinglang took it and compared it with the courtyard, and said in surprise, "It's a good drawing. Look at these trees, the well, the flower petals on the ground, and the little figure washing up, isn't it you?"
"Alright, keep your voice down." Cheng Shuang lowered her voice. "If you praise him, he'll study even less. Even if he has special skills, he can't fall behind in academic subjects."
Wei Qinglang quickly made a zippering gesture to indicate that he would do as he said.
Neither of them has experience as a parent, so they don't have any principles when it comes to educating their younger siblings. They just listen to whoever makes the right decision.
The mountains behind Taohua Village are planted with pine and fir trees. Almost every household in the village sells wood. Wei Nanxing entered the village and spent one or two or three cents to buy an ox cart of ordinary pine wood from a family. The seller helped deliver the wood to his home.
The ox cart pulled the wood directly to the back of the house. When it was unloading, Wei Changgui came out of the yard after breakfast, picking his teeth. He wandered over in a nonchalant manner, looked at the wood all over the ground, and then looked at the high walls and large yard in front of him, his eyes full of envy.
Wei Nanxing, who was helping to unload the goods, had already noticed the person behind him, but he just ignored him. After unloading the goods, he took out his purse to pay, but suddenly a hand reached out and snatched the purse away.
Wei Nanxing turned around and saw the person behind him, "Dad, why did you steal my wallet?"
Wei Changgui weighed the purse and found it quite heavy. He opened it and took a look. He saw at least ten taels of silver inside. His eyes lit up and he immediately stuffed the money into his arms.
"We've moved to a new house and need to buy a lot of new things. This money is your filial piety to me."
Wei Nanxing held his hand and said, "No, give me back my wallet."
"I'm your biological father." Wei Changgui jumped up and down, "I raised you up, so what if I need some money now that I'm broke? Who else would have a son as ungrateful as you?"
Wei Nanxing's face darkened and he tried to snatch it. He had learned martial arts and his hands were very strong. With just a little force, Wei Changgui screamed in pain and let go.
Wei Nanxing took back the purse and said calmly, "I can't show filial piety to you now. My money is all given by my brother and sister-in-law. Food, housing and other expenses are all earned by them. I don't make any money for the family and I spent a lot of money on my brother and sister-in-law's martial arts apprenticeship. So I am not qualified to give you this money. If you want me to show filial piety to you, wait until I can make money on my own in the future."
"You ungrateful bastard, I should have strangled you to death. You don't even recognize your own father just because you have some dirty money." Wei Changgui yelled angrily, but he didn't dare to go forward to snatch it. His wrist was still hurting. He didn't know when this kid became so strong.
Wei Nanxing didn't bother to pay attention to him. He opened his wallet and paid the uncle who delivered the wood. The uncle took the money and drove away in the ox cart, and kept looking back to watch the fun.
Wei Changgui kept cursing and calling him an ungrateful person. Wei Nanxing didn't want to get entangled with him, so he took the Black Moonlight who was eating grass and turned around and left.
Wei Changgui cursed alone behind the house for a while before stopping, and took a piece of wood with him when he left.
He carried a piece of wood into the yard. When Wei Da Kui and Wei Xiao Kui saw him, they surrounded him and asked where he came from.
After asking what happened, Wei Da Kui said disdainfully, "Dad, what's the point of you carrying a piece of wood back? You should ask Nanxing to give you some silver. Our family only has five taels of silver given by the government as a settlement fee. What should we do in the future?"
"Do you think I don't want to?" Wei Changgui got angry when he mentioned it. "That brat refused to give it to me and almost broke my hand."
"It must have been that little bastard Wei Qinglang who taught him."
Wei Xiaokui spat fiercely on the ground, "Neither of them is a good person, especially Cheng Shuang. On the one hand, they support their aunt who married out, and on the other hand, they don't allow Nanxing to give us money. Why didn't that little bastard Wei Qinglang beat her to death?"
The family also heard the villagers say last night that Wei Qinglang and Cheng Shuang had a fight. Wei Da Kui snorted coldly, "It's been almost a year and she still can't have a child. The little bastard will divorce her sooner or later."
Wei Changgui also said: "I've long said that kind of woman is useless. Not only can she not do much work, but she can't even lay eggs."
After the father and his two sons had arranged the people, they began to think about how to make money.
The money Wei Qinglang gave them as a share of the family property had been spent on drinking and eating meat, and now they only had five taels of silver in their hands. In order to save trouble when moving, they did not bring many things with them and needed to buy them again.
After much deliberation, Wei Da Kui suggested, "Dad, why don't we sell the 15 acres of land at home? We can't farm it anyway, and the land given by the court needs to be reclaimed, which is too tiring. It's better to sell it for money."
Wei Xiaokui also said: "I agree. We are now residents of the prefecture. Why should we farm? We can sell the land and use the money to find some business in the city. Isn't that better than farming?"
Wei Changgui was a little hesitant, but when he thought about how his two sons at home would definitely not be able to do the work of reclamation, even if the crops were planted, they would not be able to take care of them and the harvest would not be good either, just like last year's autumn harvest was less than half of previous years.
After thinking about it, Wei Changgui made a decision and decided to sell the land after getting the land deed, and go to the provincial capital to find out what kind of business he could do.