Farming and reading family

It's been ten years.

The Chen family was happy only once, when the second brother passed the imperial examination and became a scholar. Almost everyone in the village gathered at their house to congratulate them, and even the second uncle who had always been at odds with his family came to please them.

My second brother married the daughter of a wealthy landowner, and everyone was jealous of her dowry.

But since then, their Chen family has been getting worse and worse.

Until now, I have to sell my house and land.

"I spent money to send you to school so that you could teach your wife to talk back to me." Chen Fansheng scolded Chen Ke.

Chen Ke turned and saluted his father, wanting to say that this was not what he taught him, and that he could not teach him. "Although Father doesn't like to hear it, the truth is correct. If my family lives in misery because of me, I have no face to seek fame and fortune."

Chen Fansheng was choked by his son: "Didn't you say you wanted to move out? Move out now!" After he said that, he went back to the house.

Jiang felt that these words were too harsh, and what she said in the morning was just an angry remark.

She gave Chen Ke a reassuring look and hurried into the main room.

Chen Qing and Chen Jie came over.

"Second brother is too impulsive." Chen Qing looked worried. "Where can you live now?"

"Yeah, why don't you go and apologize to Dad. At least our family can be together and take care of each other." Chen Jie nodded.

"No, your sister-in-law bought three cave dwellings in the old village. Let's move there first." Chen Ke said directly.

"Ah?" Chen Qing and Chen Jie were surprised at the same time.

"No one has lived there for many years. How can you live there with your children?" Chen Qing felt that it was not possible.

"We've already checked it out. The cave house is clean. We can move in and live there after cleaning it up." Chen Ke said firmly, "I just need you to help me move."

Chen Jie was not used to his second brother's sudden politeness. "Moving is no problem, it's just..."

Yang and Lei listened, but they could do nothing.

"Thank you for your help." Chen Ke said with a smile.

Seeing that Chen Ke was so determined and seemed to have made up his mind, Chen Qing and Chen Jie didn't know what to say.

The old couple stayed in the main room and did not come out, so the three brothers started to get busy in the yard.

The large items were carried by the horses, and the small items were placed in baskets and carried by Chen Qing and Chen Jie.

Gao E was packing up the remaining things in the house.

She distributed the extra things to the first and third rooms, and only kept enough for daily use.

"Second sister-in-law, the food you bought is still locked up by mother." Lei reminded in a low voice.

"In order to raise money for your second brother to go to Beijing for the imperial examination, our family sold some grain. The grain is left for you to eat first." Gao E did not plan to take the grain with her.

"Even if we leave it here, we won't be able to eat it." Lei muttered softly.

"Should we catch the chickens today or catch them after the shed is built?" Yang thought about the chickens.

Now most of the chickens in the Chen family chicken coop were brought by Gao E, but she has never looked at them since then.

"No more catching." Gao E thought it was not convenient for her to feed it now.

"That won't do." Mrs. Lei objected directly. "Second sister-in-law is too heavy and needs to eat some eggs to replenish her body. Besides, when she gives birth, we'll have to kill the old hen to produce milk."

"Yes." Yang nodded. "My second brother needs to study, and he's still young. We should save a few eggs for emergencies."

Gao E didn't know what to say. Although the Chen family seemed scattered, they would always think of each other when something happened.

"I can't feed her now." Gao E spread her hands.

Yang and Lei looked at each other and thought about it.

Chen Fansheng sat on a chair in the room without saying a word, while Jiang sat on a low stool beside him.

The darkness around them seemed to lock them in, and the sounds in the yard were like the sound of chains.

"The second brother's family...really left?" Chen Fansheng said slowly.

"The second son is a scholar. How can he bear it if you keep saying this to him?" Jiang grumbled.

Chen Fan was silent for a long time. He wanted his son to go to high school so much, but he was afraid that he would not be able to wait for that day.

He was also very angry. He had passed the examination to become a scholar very early on, so why did he fail three times? This time he simply didn't want to take the exam.

The villagers' gossip made him unable to hold his head up.

"I'll go see how they spend tonight." Jiang said as she walked out.

It's a little brighter outside than inside, but only a little brighter.

The three sisters-in-law in the room subconsciously shut up when they saw the mother-in-law coming.

Jiang felt a little embarrassed: "Have you almost moved everything?"

"Well, there are still some odds and ends. We can move them all in two more trips." Gao E saw that Jiang's tone was soft and she looked a little regretful, so she didn't bother with her.

"Although the cave is open, no one has lived in it for many years. I'll get you some mugwort to fumigate it." Jiang looked at Yang and said, "The eldest daughter-in-law will go and help."

"Okay." Yang agreed immediately.

Lei turned away and rolled her eyes, thinking that you two old people forced my second brother's family away, and now you come here to pretend to be good people.

"Thank you, mother." Gao E stopped while she was ahead.

Jiang smiled awkwardly, and left when she saw there was nothing she could do to help.

When Gao E arrived at the cave above, all the things had been moved up and the bed board was propped up with stones.

There was a fire outside, lighting up the cave.

"Have you looked inside?" Gao E looked at the cave that had been almost cleaned up.

"Not yet." Chen Ke wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Light a torch and check every corner of the cave." Gao E instructed.

Although this is a cave dug by humans and people have lived there before, there should not be a problem with high carbon dioxide content.

But still be careful.

"I'll do it, I'll do it, and fumigate some mugwort at the same time." Lei took the job.

Lei went to check the cave, and the rest of the people started to organize things.

"It's not a good idea to leave the cave door unsealed." Chen Qing frowned.

In fact, until now, Chen Qing is still very worried that Chen Ke and the others are not living well here.

"Let's block it with wooden boards today and we'll deal with it tomorrow." Chen Ke also knew that this was too compromised.

Lei seemed to be a carefree person, and he did things very decisively. He quickly checked all three caves and found that there was indeed no problem.

"We bought some food in the city today. You can eat something before going back." Gao E took out the things she bought.

Chen Qing immediately refused: "You haven't started the stove yet, keep these for yourselves, we will have food when we get back."

Everyone agreed and refused to eat what Gao E took out.

Gao E felt a pang of sadness in her heart. She actually felt a sense of family affection. "It's okay. We still need to buy things here. We still have to go to the city tomorrow."

Even so, everyone still refused. Seeing that everything was almost put away, they left together.

Chen Ke stood at the intersection and watched them go down the mountain before he felt relieved.

When he came back, Gao E had already prepared food for the four children and was boiling water in a kettle hanging over the fire.

Gao E looked up and saw Chen Ke coming back: "Hurry up and eat something. After that, we will discuss how to clean up this cave."

"Okay." Chen Ke sat aside with a heavy face.

"What's wrong?" Gao E looked at Chen Ke in confusion.