Chapter 119: The burden of 119 is all on oneself
Ye Qinghua didn’t notice, but the more she talked, the uglier Ye Wenqing’s face became.
By the time Ye Qinghua finished speaking, Ye Wenqing’s entire face was dark.
“Does Dad know that the one hundred taels of silver that little aunt had actually cost her her life?” Wenqing said.
Ye Gaoshi’s eyebrows knitted tightly, clearly in disbelief.
Wenqing let out a cynically laugh. Originally, little aunt didn’t want to reveal the truth, but if it wasn’t revealed, Dad, Mom, and uncle Gaosheng would simply take the money that little aunt paid for with her life for granted.
“In little aunt’s hands there was medicine, but how could the physicians believe that two children would have some ‘Divine Medicine’ on them? That’s why they not only refused to accept the medicine, but they also drove me and little aunt out. By a twist of fate, just when we were about to leave, an injured noble was helped in. Those few men were fierce and vicious, brandishing swords at the slightest provocation, and spoke of taking lives as they wished. Little aunt and I nearly died. This hundred taels of silver, we almost paid with our lives for it…” Looking back at it now, Wenqing still felt frightened, his legs still weak.
As Wenqing spoke, the guilt already present in Gaoshi’s heart deepened, and even Mrs. Zhang and Qinghua, who were previously happy about the division of the household, felt uncomfortable.
After Gaosheng had taken the fabric back, the family began to bustle about, not leaving old man Ye and Mrs. He idle either.
The fabric was originally intended for making handkerchiefs, and although it was of better quality, there wasn’t much of it.
Mrs. He cut the fabric into squares the size of handkerchiefs, whilst Ye Jiu and Gaosheng were responsible for wrapping up the soap. Old man Ye then packed the wrapped soap into boxes.
There were only fifty bars of soap in total, so it didn’t take long before everything was ready.
Old man Ye and his wife went to wash their faces and sleep, while Gaosheng stayed up alone, continuing his work. He carefully arranged the packed soap boxes in the carrying basket, preparing for an early departure the next morning.
By the time everything was done, the first and second households had already finished their dinner.
After the division of the household, life wasn’t as good as Qinghua had imagined, because the distributed grain was limited. Although Mrs. Zhang no longer rationed the amount each person could eat as before, the amount of food cooked was less, and the family definitely couldn’t get enough.
It was only then that Qinghua realized that it wasn’t that Grandma was stingy and unwilling to let them eat their fill, but rather the family’s grain was limited, and they had to be strategic with it to last until the next harvest season.
Early the next morning, while it was still dark, Gaosheng got up.
Now that the family had split, although he was still under old man Ye and Mrs. He’s roof, Gaosheng understood that his parents were getting old. In the future, the burden of the family would fall entirely on his shoulders.
Therefore, more than ever, he had no right to be lazy. He had to work harder if he was to shoulder the responsibility of the household.
Gaosheng had just finished dressing when Wenqing also sat up. “Uncle, let me accompany you to the town!”
Wenqing said as he was about to get up, but Gaosheng refused, “No need. We just divided the family yesterday, and today you surely also have a lot of things to be busy with. It’s just a basket of goods; I can carry it myself. No need for your help.”
All in all, although Gaosheng understood the first and second households’ decision to divvy up the family assets, deep down there was still a knot. He felt that they were eager to leave the household because they thought his marriage would be a burden to them.
The sixteen-year-old teenager, though not very capable, still wanted to maintain his dignity. The more he was looked down on, the less he wanted others’ help.
Now, in Gaosheng’s heart, only he and his parents and little sister constituted a family. The first and second households might be brothers, but after all, they were not that close anymore.