Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

The whole family was silent during the meal, and you could almost hear a pin drop in the house.

Ye Changyan, the last one to put down his bowl and chopsticks, looked at Erniu with confusion, who looked indignant. However, Erniu received a message from her mother and remained silent.

Ye Changyan turned his gaze to Wulang again, and Wulang looked at his father with frustration.

Seeing this, Ye Xiaozheng knew that there was no way to avoid it, so he spoke.

“Your grandmother is here today.”

Ye Xiaozheng threw out this sentence and looked around at everyone. He saw that everyone had an indignant look on their faces, except for his eldest son who had an expectant look on his face. Then he continued.

"Your grandmother said that now that you have passed the imperial examination and are living in this farm, she is afraid that people will look down on you, so she asked us to move back. She also tore up the documents on the division of the family property in front of us, and also tore up the documents in our hands, saying that she would not divide the family property anymore."

"You gave the paperwork away?"

As expected, those people in the old house had bad intentions. Ye Changyan sneered in his heart, but turned to look at Erniu and asked.

"No, brother, I'm not stupid. I just said that you kept the document."

When Ye Changyan heard this, he nodded secretly in his heart, but turned to look at his father.

"Your grandmother said that you can't write two characters for the character 叶 with one stroke. Even if you break your bones, they still connect your tendons. She promised that we would still be a family in the future. I said that I would ask you where you put the documents when you come back."

When Ye Changyan heard this, he didn't expect Ye Xiaozheng to be such a soft-hearted person. But seeing that Lian and Erniu were looking angry, Ye Changyan guessed that the matter was not just that, and there might be something even more infuriating.

"It's okay. I'll take care of this. Dad, I don't want to move back to the old house. I don't know what you think."

Ye Changyan was not in a hurry to ask what else was going on. Instead, he began to make his attitude clear to Ye Xiaozheng.

“I don’t want to move back either!”

"Me too!"

"If you want to go back, go back by yourself. None of us, mother and daughter, are going back."

When Ye Xiaozheng heard his youngest son and daughter refuse so bluntly, and heard his wife say so, his face looked a little ugly. In his heart, he actually wanted to move back. In the old house, his two sons could concentrate on their studies, and his wife and daughter would not have to do rough labor in the fields all day. He himself was not in good health and could not help much, but he did not expect that no one was willing to go back.

"Dad, the reason why I don't want to move back is that, first of all, the people in the old house don't really treat us as a family, otherwise they wouldn't have separated us. Now they just want to take advantage of me because I passed the exam and they just want to take advantage of me."

Seeing his wife and children nodding, Ye Xiaozheng had to admit that the people in the old house had some such thoughts.

"Secondly, I said when we split up the family that the old house is now stagnant. Going back will not only do us no good, but will drag us into the quagmire. Given the temperaments of the eldest and second uncles, will they go out and do something inappropriate under my name? Do you really want me to cover for them then?"

Hearing Ye Changyan say this, the whole family suddenly became nervous and looked at Ye Changyan anxiously.

"I heard that Second Uncle often cheats with people for money. There are few decent people among those he contacts. When Grandfather was alive, he could control him a little bit. Who can control him now?"

Ye Xiaozheng had heard something about his second brother. After hearing his son say this, he didn't know what to say for a moment.

"I heard that my uncle was injured last year because he was jealous of a prostitute and was beaten."

Lian and her two children were all very shocked when they heard this, but Ye Xiao knew about this matter. He learned about it from his second brother when the old man and his second brother went to bring his eldest brother back.

But Ye Xiaozheng could never have imagined that Ye Changyan also knew about this matter. He did not expect that his own son knew all about the scandals of his two brothers.

"I think this has happened more than once. Although I passed the exam, my grandfather has just passed away, so I can't take the autumn exam next year. I have to wait at least three years. Although I have become a student of the prefectural and county schools, how can we afford to arrange things? Even if we move back, how much money can the old house give me to arrange things for me?"

Ye Xiaozheng was speechless after hearing his son's words. He was a little dejected. He lost his biological mother when he was young. Although Guo didn't treat him as well as his two brothers, he still had his father around. On the surface, Guo didn't blame him too much and still had some affection for this stepmother in her heart.

"As the saying goes, when you are poor, you can take care of yourself. Now we are like the clay Buddha crossing the river. The future is uncertain, and the old house is not at the end of its rope, so our top priority is to find a way to be self-reliant as soon as possible and build this family up."

Lian, Erniu and Wulang nodded in agreement. Ye Xiaozheng understood the truth behind his son's words, but he still couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart and could only remain silent.

After a long silence, Ye Xiaozheng seemed to feel that countless pairs of eyes were staring at him. Then he came to his senses and saw that his wife and children were staring at him.

Seeing his father's embarrassed face, Ye Changyan couldn't bear it and asked.

"But what else happened?"

Seeing his wife and Erniu staring at him, Ye Xiaozheng had no choice but to speak.

"Even today, your aunt came to our house to congratulate us."

Seeing the way his wife and daughter were looking at him, Ye Xiaozheng's tone became a little depressed and he was unwilling to continue.

Seeing this, Ye Changyan was unwilling to force her, so he cast an inquiring look at Erniu, but saw that Erniu's face turned red in an instant.

Ye Changyan didn't know why for a moment, but seeing Lian's face full of indignation, he cautiously turned to look at Wulang inquiringly.

"My eldest aunt wants to marry cousin Yitong to you, and she also wants my second sister to marry cousin Yiming, saying that they want to strengthen the relationship."

Ye Changyan's brain seemed to freeze for a moment and he was unable to react for a moment. Then he heard Erniu suddenly sobbing.

"Mom, I don't want to marry Sun Yiming, that pockmarked face!"

Hearing Erniu's crying, Ye Changyan quickly searched in his mind and finally knew who the cousin Yitong and cousin Yiming that Wulang had just mentioned were.

The beloved daughter of old lady Guo, the eldest aunt of the Ye family married into the county town. Her husband’s family opened a small grocery store in the county town. The eldest aunt has a son and a daughter. The cousin, Sun Yiming, is three years older than Ye Changyan and is about to reach the age of coming of age. The cousin, Sun Yiming, is one year younger than Ye Changyan and has just reached the age of marriage.

The picture that came to his mind surprised Ye Changyan a little, because although the brother and sister were both fair-skinned, their faces were covered with freckles, which they obviously inherited from their father. No wonder Erniu said that Sun Yiming had a pockmarked face.

There are very few scenes of this pair of cousins in the original body's memory. The only memorable one is the day of grandfather's 60th birthday, when the brother and sister had a conflict with the eldest girl because they stole the snacks that the eldest girl loved, and were beaten black and blue by Dalang, Erlang and Silang.

Ye Changyan looked at his father with a somewhat amused look and asked.

"Dad, did you promise Auntie?"