Ch 2: The Unfilial Children Trembles in Fear (QT)

Dong Zhiyong quietly told them what had happened earlier and urged them to hurry up and work, so they would not cause any more trouble. Right now, every household was cooking at home. If the commotion got any louder, the neighbors would hear, and people would laugh at them.

After hearing this, the second son, Dong Zhijie, wanted to call Dong Zhiyong over to chop firewood with him.

“Zhiyong, you’re strong and work fast. You chop it, and I’ll help stack it. I still have to write on the blackboard and grade homework when I teach. If I hurt my hands, it’ll affect my work.”

He was somewhat thin and scholarly, the sort of person who naturally made people feel favorable toward him at first glance.

But what use was that?

Yun Xi gave a soft sneer. This one had a black heart. Ever since he was little, he dodged whatever household chores he could, always using studying hard as his excuse. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Yet he had not amounted to much. It was only because, compared to the other people in the village, he counted as educated that he could become a teacher at the village primary school and teach the village children some simple knowledge.

After becoming a teacher, Dong Zhijie consciously felt his status in the family had changed.

He was an educated man. He looked down on these dusty, earth-scraping people who made their living from the fields. He simply did not show it. Instead, he carried himself with airs and often stayed at school grading homework, only coming home to sleep.

Oh, right. All three meals he ate in a day were made by the original owner early in the morning and packed for him to take to school.

Only the original owner felt that her second son had promise now that he had become a teacher. Perhaps he might even become a teacher in the city one day. She was sincerely happy for him.

As for the rest of the family, they only cared how much money he handed over and how much work he did for the household. They were not going to indulge him.

Sure enough, Dong Zhiyong rolled his eyes and said,

“A village schoolteacher, and you really think you’re somebody now? Back when Old Wu was alive, he was missing two fingers and still worked as a carpenter. If your work is affected, that just means your skill isn’t good enough. Mom told you to do it, so hurry up and go. Stop dragging your feet.”

After saying that, Dong Zhiyong was about to run off, but Yun Xi called him back.

“Don’t just talk about your brother. Go pick a few potatoes from the cellar and have your second sister-in-law fry potato slices. Then go borrow the bicycle from the brigade leader’s house and ask him to write me a certificate. I’m going to the city to handle something.”

The moment those words came out, everyone in the family stopped what they were doing and looked at her.

Even the eldest son’s family, who had been sulking inside the room, hurried out.

Dong Zhiyong said angrily,

“Mom, are you still going to buy Eldest Brother a job? Why? That’s the whole family’s money. I have a share too. If you’re buying Eldest Brother a job, you have to buy one for me too.”

Dong Zhizhi said anxiously,

“Mom, I’m a woman. I’m the one who needs a job the most. One of my classmates went to work at the supply and marketing cooperative, and the person she found is a fitter at the machinery factory. His conditions are excellent.”

One of these two was twenty, lazy and slippery, earning only five work points a day while constantly running off to play with bad friends.

The other was eighteen. After graduating from middle school, she had stayed home doing chores, but she found everything hard and tiring and was always dreaming of marrying well.

Both of them were anxious.

The second brother had a decent job and had already married and had a child. The eldest was the firstborn and had even given the family an eldest grandson, so of course he could get all the good things. Only the two youngest suffered losses. How could they not be anxious?

They were afraid Yun Xi would take all the family’s money and give it to the eldest.

Yun Xi said,

“With the three of them shouting at me like that and acting so unfilial, why would I buy him a job? Am I bored out of my mind? I’m going to handle my own business. With Eldest Son’s rotten character, if he enters the city, he’ll immediately leave us behind and despise us as poor relatives. This family will not pay for him. He’s destined to scrape a living from the fields.”

Dong Zhihong’s face flushed red with anger. His hands clenched into fists as he strode forward and glared at Yun Xi.

“Mom, have you gone senile? I’m the eldest son of this family. I’m the pillar of the household. If I can get a city job, that means smoke is rising from our ancestors’ graves in blessing. When I retire, the job can even be passed to your eldest grandson. From then on, our old Dong family will change its status and eat city grain.

Don’t blame me for saying this, but you really are a woman with long hair and short insight. No wonder my dad always disliked you for being illiterate and uneducated. You…”

Yun Xi casually grabbed the broom leaning by the wall and began beating him over the head and face.

“I’m illiterate and uneducated? Go ask whether the brigade leader’s wife can read. Go ask how many people in this village are educated. I have long hair and short insight? You’re an unfilial ingrate! A piece of trash like you thinks you deserve smoke rising from the ancestral graves? Bah! An unfilial thing like you only deserves to be struck from the ancestors’ registry!

And that little ingrate you gave birth to, even if he got to eat state grain, he wouldn’t share a bite with me. Why should I care whether he lives or dies? You shameless thing. You even dared tell your son I’m a shrew. Today, this old lady will show you exactly what a shrew is!”

The word “shrew” was something the eldest son’s family had said inside their room just now. No one had expected that even though they had spoken so softly, she had still heard them.

For a moment, the others began criticizing him too.

“Eldest Brother, you’ve lost your conscience. How can you call our mom a shrew?”

“You dared curse our mom. That makes you unfilial!”

“What are you clenching your fists for? You still want to hit our mom back? Even if you’re the eldest, I won’t let you off!”

As they shouted, Dong Zhiyong’s fist landed on Dong Zhihong’s face.

Dong Zhihong could not hit his mother back, but could he not hit his younger brother?

In an instant, all his anger turned toward Dong Zhiyong.

The commotion grew louder, and sure enough, several neighbors came running over to watch. Some even held rice bowls in their hands, eating while they watched.

“What’s going on? What’s happening? How did they start fighting?”

Yun Xi said heartlessly,

“It’s all because of Eldest Son. He insisted on buying a job in the city and emptying out the family all at once. How could the others agree to that? It’s unfair. So the brothers started fighting!”

Dong Zhijie’s expression changed slightly. He hurried over to break up the fight.

“Stop fighting! Haven’t you embarrassed yourselves enough?”

No one had expected Yun Xi to blurt everything out so openly.

Was it pleasant to hear that brothers were fighting over money?

In the time it took to eat one meal, this would spread through the whole village. For years to come, it would become gossip and a joke people brought up whenever they were chatting. It was utterly humiliating.

Wang Huijuan’s face looked ugly as she tugged Dong Zhihong back into the room.

Dong Zhiyong shouted irritably,

“What are you all staring at? Go back and eat. What’s there to see?”

“You child, everyone was just worried.”

“Exactly. Once a fight gets out of hand, of course we have to come over and break it up.”

Dong Zhijie quickly dragged Dong Zhiyong into the room too.

Dong Zhizhi and the second daughter-in-law, Wang Xuefen, were thin-skinned and had long since hidden in the kitchen.

Only Yun Xi remained in the courtyard.

An elderly neighbor woman tentatively asked,

“What exactly is going on? Buying a job? There’s a connection in the city? How much does it cost?”

“Eight hundred! Tell me, isn’t that deadly?”

Yun Xi walked over and stood with them by the gate. Leaning against the wall, she began chatting.

Once everyone saw that she was willing to talk, they crowded around her even more enthusiastically.

The core of what she said was simple.

Once children grew up, they all developed their own schemes. Every one of them wanted to pull the family’s money into their own pocket. Every one of them wanted to find a chance to run to the city. But how could ordinary rural families have that much money? Supporting such a large household was already difficult. There was hardly anything saved. Yet the children still felt they had suffered losses and did not understand their elders at all. They wished they could dig out even the money meant for the old people’s coffins.

They were all elders around the same age, and they all had several children and grandchildren to look after.

This topic resonated with them far too much. Once they started talking, they could not stop.

As Yun Xi spoke, her tongue slipped, and she spilled out all the usual conflicts and frictions among the brothers at home.

It was not until Wang Xuefen could no longer bear it and poked her head out of the kitchen to call them to eat that Yun Xi reluctantly let everyone disperse.

The moment everyone left, Wang Xuefen immediately complained,

“Mom, really. Even if you’re angry, you can’t say everything outside. Zhijie is a teacher. As someone who teaches others, he has to consider his image. If this spreads, what will the students and their parents think?”

Yun Xi sneered.

“We all grew up in the same village. Who doesn’t know who? If you’re really afraid of ugly rumors spreading, then do more work normally and properly show filial respect to this old lady. I guarantee that whatever spreads will be nice to hear. If you aren’t that kind of person yourself, why are you still thinking about a good reputation? Dream on.”

These words made the expressions of the three brothers, who had just come out, look even worse.

Yun Xi glanced at the shredded potatoes that had been served and said in surprise,

“Oh? Second daughter-in-law, your knife skills are almost as good as a chef at a state-run restaurant. So why have you always said you can’t cook? This level can’t be practiced in just three to five years.

Hurry up and try it, all of you. Normally, you don’t get to eat food made by Second Daughter-in-law.”

Her sarcastic words made Wang Xuefen’s face flush red.

From the moment she entered the family, Wang Xuefen had not wanted to work from dawn to dusk. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. She deliberately pretended she could not do anything well, always making a frantic mess and causing trouble.

Later, they only had her sweep the floor, feed the chickens, and cut pig grass.

Afterward, Dong Zhijie used connections to get her the job of scorekeeper. From then on, she went to the village school every day and secretly cooked extra meals with Dong Zhijie, doing even less at home.

Today, she had been intimidated by Yun Xi’s outburst. Then the family fought. Listening to her mother-in-law say all those things outside had left her mind in chaos. For a moment, she had not paid attention and cut the potatoes according to her normal skill level.

By the time she realized it, it was too late. She could only brace herself and cook.

She forced a smile and explained,

“Sometimes I help out at the village school too. I learned from others there.”

Yun Xi sat down, filled a large bowl with shredded potatoes for herself, took two cornbread buns, and began eating.

“Hurry up and eat. After eating, whoever needs to go to work, go to work. Whoever needs to do chores, do chores.”

In the past, she was always the one who divided the food.

Now she did not care.

The others looked at one another. As the eldest sister-in-law, Wang Huijuan stood and divided the food evenly among everyone.

In an era of scarce clothing and food, a large family never ate until full. They only ate until half-full.

Since Yun Xi had taken so much for herself, what remained for them was even less.

The scene at the dining table was very strange.

The old lady was eating so much, yet there was not much in the little grandson’s bowl.

Dong Zhihong had been slapped, beaten with a broom, and had fought with Dong Zhiyong. Now his whole body hurt. The corner of his eye was bruised, and the corner of his mouth was split. Even eating hurt so badly that rage surged through him.

His gaze kept falling on Yun Xi, full of anger.

But he did not make trouble again.

He was afraid that while the old lady was still angry, she would shout nonsense again and attract the neighbors to laugh at them. He decided to wait until this mood passed before saying anything.

As Yun Xi ate, she frowned and could not help complaining to the Qiankun Mirror.

【This cornbread bun tastes awful. According to the original owner’s memories, I’ll have to keep eating like this for many more years.】

The Qiankun Mirror helped her think of a solution.

【Master, we can go to the city and buy delicious food to hide in the space. Then you can secretly eat it later.】

Yun Xi did not respond.

Make her, a great demon lord, hide away to secretly eat?

She could not do something so degrading.

If she wanted to eat, she would eat openly and honorably.

After the meal, Yun Xi called Dong Zhiyong again to borrow the bicycle.

Dong Zhihong frowned.

“Mom, you don’t even know how to ride a bicycle. Can you stop making trouble? If you make it fall and scrape off someone else’s paint, how will you compensate them?”

“If I don’t know, then I’ll learn. All of you know how. Why wouldn’t I be able to learn? Who are you looking down on?”

The city was so far away. Yun Xi had no intention of walking there herself.

Once she learned about bicycles from the original owner’s memories, she had already made up her mind to get one.

Wasn’t it just riding and moving forward?

She even knew how to fly on a sword.

The most important things for riding a bicycle were courage and balance.

As it happened, Yun Xi had both.

Once she touched the bicycle, she wobbled a few times and then rode off!

The Dong family stared at her back in astonishment.

Dong Zhizhi anxiously chased after her for a few steps and shouted,

“Mom! Mom, you still haven’t said what you’re going to the city for! Wait for me! Take me with you! Mom!”

Yun Xi pretended not to hear.

This bicycle was truly interesting. With two wheels, once she pedaled, it could run forward.

Although the road was bad and rather bumpy, it was fun.

Yun Xi rode against the wind onto the city streets.

Rows of brick-and-tile houses lined the road. Occasionally, she could even see a tube-shaped apartment building.

The people coming and going on the street were all clean and tidy, their faces bright with smiles. Their entire spirit was completely different from the people in the village.

The Qiankun Mirror asked curiously,

【Master, what did you come to the city for?】

Yun Xi curled her lips into a smile.

“Of course, to get myself a job. Who wants to stay in the fields scraping food from the dirt with that pack of ingrates?”

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