Chapter 27: The Third Master is Crazy!
When noon came around, Bailian went to the First Branch to get lunch.
If one wanted to ask why it was because Liu Meijun did not leave any meal in the kitchen.
Bailian felt that this was nothing but instead felt even more disgusted at the Li Family, becoming a little wary of Liu Meijun in her heart.
This Eldest Uncle’s wife was a person with a lot of thoughts.
At a quick glance, she saw two plates of stir-fried fresh vegetables, a plate of pickled radishes, steamed gritty cornmeal buns, steamed plump, white flour buns, and some translucent, warm rice congee, all sitting on the table.
It was a light and sumptuous meal, but it was a pity that the Third Branch never had the privilege to eat with the rest of the family, always having to fetch for the leftovers themselves.
“Eat, eat, eat, all you know is to eat, you shameless little wench!” Matriarch Wang aggressively bit into her white flour bun, spittle, and specks of food flying out as she cursed.
“You’re right, I am a cheap girl, my older sisters and I both are!” Bailian smiled knowingly and looked straight at Patriarch LI.
“How rude! Mother, beat this unmannered girl to death already!” Whenever she saw Bailian, Li Jinyu’s deep hatred would rise spitefully as she remembered that this girl had been the reason she fell flat on her face earlier.
“Hehe~” Bailian chuckled, “Okay, okay, anyway my life is worthless, then I when I take everyone for judgment in front of the Yellow Springs Monarch, if I can’t report to the Magistrate, I can always tell my grievance to the King of the Underworld right?”
With these words, the atmosphere felt gloomy, as if the temperature had dropped several degrees. Even Patriarch Li was affected, his scalp turning number from Bailian’s ominous claims.
“Shut up! If you’re not going to eat, scram!” Patriarch Li impatiently slapped at the table.
Li Jinyu, seeing that Patriarch Li had gotten angry, stopped talking, inwardly shocked by Bailain’s words just now.
During ancient times, the common people believed in the supernatural, like ghosts and immortals, so even Matriarch Wang had nothing to retort when Bailian said all this.
The Eldest Master pitifully peered into Bailian’s eyes, and gently persuaded: “Take an extra cornmeal bun! My Third Brother must be very tired.”
Bailian wordlessly glanced at him, feeling inwardly disdain for this uncle of hers.
Following his words, she directly took food according to the portion size of two cornmeal buns per person, then took another steamed white flour bun.
The corner of the Eldest Uncle’s mouth twitched, but he couldn’t just take back his words.
“You wench! Put that down! This belongs to your Eldest Uncle and Grandfather!” Seeing Bailian take so many buns from the food-laden table, Matriarch Wang’s greedy and miserly personality almost driving her crazy after seeing Bailian’s swift motions.
Bailian taking double the amount of cornmeal buns than usually had already made her feel like a knife had stabbed her heart. If it weren’t for her Eldest son and Patriarch Li repeatedly telling her not to criticize the Third Branch recently, she probably would have already thrown a fit.
Who would have thought, that Bailian who had taken a white-flour bun this morning, would actually dare to take more!
“My mother is just about to give birth to a younger brother, it’s better for her to eat more, and my Father is exhausted from working in the fields, so he also needs to eat it.” Bailian bluntly stated and innocently blinked in Patriarch Li’s direction.
On the outside, Patriarch Li looked like an elegant, dignified gentleman, but he really only taught a few classes at the Academy in town but was already throwing around this status as if he was truly an important, well-known scholar.
When he was home, his attire was carefully selected to bring out his scholarly bearing, looking extremely dignified. His long, well-made robe was very bright, making him look energetic and complimented his face so that he actually looked like a decent elderly scholar.
Unfortunately, his heart was inflexible and petty-minded.
“Give it to her!” Patriarch Li grimly instructed, his tone solemn.
Bailian smiled sweetly, laughing mockingly, and then picked up some pickled radishes and green vegetables before leaving.
On her way out, she glanced at Matriarch Wang, the old woman trembling.
This was out of anger.
She was not willing to give the Third Branch so much food to eat.
However, not only did Patriarch Li instruct her not to provoke the Third Branch, but even her precious and most adored son said so as well.
Therefore, she resisted.
But, this was really too painful ah!
Before, it used to be one cornmeal bun to one person!
“You are all now allowed to call her “wench” in the future, and you are not allowed to beat or scold the Third Branch. Otherwise, don’t blame this old man for being rude!” Patriarch Li admonished, his gaze pointedly seriously towards Matriarch Wang’s direction.
“Just because of her?!” Matriarch Wang laughed and huffed angrily, opening her mouth to spew off a chain of curses, before being stopped by the Eldest Master.
“Mother!” The Eldest Master hurriedly pulled at Matriarch Wang’s sleeves, “You don’t want my sister and the twins to be regarded as cheap girls too right? In the eyes of others, they are all the Li Family’s girls, if one girl has poor conduct, everyone will think that the LI Family doesn’t educate their daughter well!”
Jinyu was her heart’s precious darling girl, in the future, she would marry a rich landlord in the future!
“Mother!” The Eldest Master quickly coaxed his Mother by rubbing her temples and explained patiently, “Mother, we need to focus on the overall situation, otherwise, all my work to become an official might go to waste. Then how will the younger sister find a good family to marry into then?”
“Hmph, if she dares to block my way, then we’ll just sell her!” Hearing her older brother’s words, Li Jinyu fiercely shot back, a malicious sneer contorting her chubby face.
Matriarch Wang’s eyes darted around, but no one could tell what she was thinking.
“Don’t even try selling her with so many eyes on us right now! My Li Family can’t afford to lose them, if you end up dragging the Eldest Master down with you, don’t blame me for driving you all out!” The Patriarch Li had instantly understood Matriarch Wang’s greedy expression, warning her with a strict scolding.
Liu Meijun, using her chopsticks, softly set some fresh, green vegetables on Patriarch Li’s bowl with a soft face. The corners of her mouth were slightly raised in barely contained glee.
Can’t sell in the public?
Ah, Patriarch Li looked to be such a gentle, refined old gentleman, but in fact…
The Fourth Master glanced at Matriarch Wang, inwardly thinking that he must succeed tomorrow.
Otherwise, if Matriarch Wang got her hands on Bailian first, he would lose more than ten taels of silver ah!
Thinking to this point, the Fourth Child despised Er Gouzi.
Just for the chance to play around with Bailian a little, he actually was willing to spend a couple of taels, what a waste!
What was this little girl worth?
Nothing but a taste like the young girls in a Flower House…
The Fourth Master didn’t even know that Er Gouzi, whom he was currently mocking, had already cheated him out of fifty taels, which only came from the money to sell the unborn child in the future.
On the other side of the house
Yuhang and Yuyang happily devoured some of the white flour buns, feeling extremely contented.
Not only did they get to eat steamed buns made of white flour, but they also got to eat grilled, tender fish, which their sister had brought over.
What a blessing ah!
It would be nice if it was always like this.
On the other side of the table, The Third Master silently ate his meal, looking a bit absent-minded, as if he was troubled with something.
Everyone had ignored him today because they were very dissatisfied with his performance earlier today.
The Third Master wolfed down his meal in a few bites, a habit developed over the years. Only by eating everything quickly could he have the time to finish working in the fields.
After eating the last gritty morsel of the cornmeal bun, the Third Master jumped up to his feet with a loud bang, and then stomped towards the direction of the First Branch.
“Father, where are you going?” Yuhang was a little confused seeing his Father not immediately heading back to the fields.
The place the Third Branch was most afraid to go near in the entire residence was the main house, where the First Branch resided. This was because once the Third Branch entered, their dignity would be trampled on, and they would even receive beatings.
Bailian grinned, “Maybe it’s to ask Grandfather to let you two study.”
“Ah?” Yuhang’s eyes lit up, his little body suddenly becoming restless as he got excited at Bailian’s remark.
Grandmother Ciying and Madam Zhao were momentarily shocked, and then worriedly looked in the direction of the main house.
They knew the others’ personalities, how was it possible they would agree?
Sure enough, it didn’t take long before a ruckus coming from the main room, a string of insults sharply reverberating through the air.
“Pei! How much money do you think you can earn from farming/” Matriarch Wang’s loud voice screeched and her tone full of disdain scolded, “Hurry up and go back to work, you just standing here is hurting my eyes!”
When the people in the Third Branch caught wind of the commotion, they all ran to the doors of the main room and observed worriedly, looking at the flustered, red-faced Third Master.
“Father, I will definitely think of ways to make more money in the future, so can you please allow Yuhang and Yuyang to study like Yuwen?” The Third Master wasn’t good with words, so he could only express what he meant very straightforwardly, with no subtlety.
The people gathered around the table looked at the Third Master with a baffled, idiotic expression. Obviously, everyone thought that the Third Master had gone crazy.
If you weren’t crazy, how could you make such an excessive request then?
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