The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 113 Reminder

Chapter 113: Chapter 113 Reminder

"You ungrateful children! One does not divide the family estate while the parents are still alive; this is the rule in Qilidun—you—"

Li Dagui never imagined that, at the crucial moment, his two unfilial sons would deliver him a blow.

"Father, I know I am not of your blood, I am the child my mother brought with her! No matter what, I still want to thank you for raising me! I have no other choice, my wife is pregnant, and I need to leave something for my own lineage! Rest assured, we don’t want anything from the family home! We will not take anything except for Xiufang’s dowry; we will leave everything else for you and mother and my little brother!"

Li Jinhu said as he kowtowed again and again to Li Dagui.

Following that, Li Jingou also kowtowed: "Dad, I also don’t want anything, it all stays with you, the old folks! I will go and live with Big Flower at her mother’s house! Please take good care of yourselves in the future!"

Although Li Jingou usually didn’t stand out or talk much, he certainly wasn’t stupid. Why would his elder brother willingly leave everything behind and sever ties with his parents? It was all because of the fear that without dividing the family, living at home would reduce one to a life of servitude to the Wang Family and a lifelong inability to repay the debt of a human life. But even more so, he feared the entire family, including his future children, would never be able to raise their heads in Qilidun again.

Better to leave the house with nothing and be a live-in son-in-law at his wife’s home than to end up in such a sorry state.

Li Dagui felt a rush of blood stuck in his throat. He had seen cuckolded men, but never sons rushing to cuckold their own father.

Who said his eldest and second sons were not of his seed? It was he who had dallied with Wang Daxiu, and the eldest was conceived before marriage, prompting their hasty wedding.

Now, this had somehow become the reason his sons refused to acknowledge him?

Li Dagui felt waves of darkness before his eyes, opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t make a sound. As a blur of shocked cries surrounded him, he became unconscious of everything.

Li Dagui fainted, and the Li Family Patriarch immediately seized the chance, adopting an embarrassed demeanor: "Brother Laozhu, look, Li Dagui has fainted from anger. There’s a limit to everything, we shouldn’t push people too far, right? Let’s take a rest for tonight, and discuss this again tomorrow?"

If they continued to push too hard, they might invite resentment. The Wang Family Patriarch was worldly-wise and would surely not allow his family to make this mistake, so he gave Wang Laozhu a meaningful glance.

Wang Laozhu understood, nodding, "Alright, but we must take Li Jinlong with us tonight!"

"Don’t you dare take him away! No one’s going to take my Jinlong—"

Wang Daxiu, hearing that her son would be taken away, immediately charged over.

The Li Family Patriarch looked toward Wang Laozhu and tried to mediate: "How about this, in consideration of my face, let Li Jinlong stay with the Li family for now? Where can he run off to in the middle of the night? How about I have someone watch their family tonight?"

Wang Yongzhu sneered, a lot could be done in one night, and by morning, Li Jinlong might have found a scapegoat.

Her own elder brother’s undeserved disaster, along with her own ten points, were all on Li Jinlong. To think he could escape so easily was out of the question.

As a woman in this situation, it wasn’t appropriate for her to speak up, so she just tugged on Wang Laozhu’s sleeve and signaled him to lean closer, whispering a few words to him.

Wang Laozhu nodded, and the Wang Family Patriarch, standing next to him, took an unexpected look at Wang Yongzhu—the Wang Family’s second daughter was quite interesting.

Wang Laozhu flatly refused the Li Family Patriarch’s suggestion: "I don’t trust leaving him in the Li house! Li Jinlong must come with us, we won’t take him to our home, but lock him in our Wang Family’s ancestral hall. Our Wang Family will stand guard, and if your Li Family doesn’t feel at ease, you can also send someone to watch. However, no one is to approach or speak to Li Jinlong!"

As soon as the proposal was made, the Wang Family Patriarch immediately expressed his agreement, followed closely by the Song Family Patriarch.

Having no other choice with the situation being two against one, the Li Family Patriarch, even with his various thoughts, dared not stir up any more trouble.

Reluctantly, he agreed but, not feeling at ease, he sent a few young men familiar to himself, who also had a good relationship with Li Dagui’s house, to follow behind Wang Yongping, Jindou, and Jinhoo who were escorting Li Jinlong to the ancestral hall.

After all the commotion of half the day, it was now late into the night and the onlookers were unable to persevere, one by one they returned to their homes to sleep.

After the patriarchs agreed on a time to meet outside the Li household the next day, they bid farewell with cupped fists, all of them old and unable to withstand the half night’s disturbance.

Wang Yongping, Jindou, and the others had gone to the ancestral hall earlier, and now, at the entrance to the Li house save for the wailing and cursing of Wang Daxiu coming from the courtyard, it was terrifyingly silent.

Wang Laozhu, with faltering steps, led the way with a torch in hand, followed by Jinhua and Wang Yongzhu supporting Old Granny Zhang.

After taking a few steps, Jinhua turned back and spitefully spat on the Li family’s door, before catching up again, looking at Wang Yongzhu with great admiration, "Auntie, you were so impressive today! With just a few questions, you got that harmful spirit, Li Jinlong, to confess everything! If it wasn’t for you, auntie, Li Jinlong definitely wouldn’t have admitted to anything!"

Wang Yongzhu shivered, pain wrenching at her heart.

Indeed, even Wang Laozhu, who was walking ahead, paused before he asked in a softer voice, "Yes, girl, what method did you use to get Li Jinlong to confess everything?"

Could Wang Yongzhu say, "Thanks to the almighty Farming System, Xiao Tiantian, thanks to the Primary Hypnosis provided by the System’s store, thanks to the psychology courses I learned in my previous life"?

That’s how she used language, environment, and a bit of taking advantage of the situation, filled her words with inducement, and broke through Li Jinlong’s already flimsy psychological defenses, forcing him to confess all his deeds.

But could she really say all that?

Of course not! If she didn’t want to be drowned in a pond or made an example of with a sky lantern, she couldn’t let slip a single word.

Wang Yongzhu took a deep breath, forced out a bit of bewilderment, a bit of confusion, and mixed in three parts gratefulness and five parts pride, feeling utterly at her wits end. Of all the talents that could have been enhanced by her transmigration, it seemed her acting skills were the ones that had improved the fastest!

The System owed her an Oscar statuette!

"I didn’t expect Li Jinlong to be so useless. I simply said a couple of intimidating words to scare him, how could I know he would be so easily frightened? Indeed, there’s a saying ’Scholars are good for nothing’; he always talked about propriety and decency but carried out such vile and shameless acts. To get ahead in exams and become an officer, he even schemed against his own sister. His heart must be rotten to the core! Thank goodness he didn’t take a fancy to our family, or else we would have been struck with great misfortune! Having such a relative cling to you is like a booger you can’t shake off. Who knows how many more of our family he would harm in the future!" she tried hard to deflect the topic.

Old Granny Zhang strongly supported her daughter’s act, "Exactly, that little beast Li Jinlong is so corrupt, he’s oozing pus from his head. All those years of studying and all he’s learned is how to be venomous."

Song Chongjin, who had been following in the shadows, pressed his lips together, absolutely certain that Wang Yongzhu was once again talking nonsense, amusing her parents.