Farming and reading family

Chen Fancai turned his back to Chen Jie and almost gritted his teeth, cursing Chen Ke that he would never pass the exam, and that sooner or later someone from his eldest brother's family would come to beg him for help.

Chen Jie had no idea about his uncle's hatred for their family. In his impression, his uncle was very selfish. Even after the family was divided, he still wanted to get some benefits from his family.

Only after seeing his uncle and his son return home did Chen Jie drive away.

If I don’t catch something to take home every day, I feel like the day has been wasted, so I have to go fishing at night.

"Dad, my third cousin is going too far." Chen Baolai said angrily after hearing Chen Jie leave.

"There's still a long way to go." Chen Fancai's eyes darkened. "There will be a time when they will beg us for help."

Chen Baolai felt a little better after hearing his father say this.

Chen Jie returned to his second brother's house and excitedly told about his visit to his uncle's house. Lei and the others were all laughing happily, only Chen Qing was a little helpless, but seeing that his second and third brothers were so happy, he didn't say anything.

"Brother, what are you worried about?" Chen Ke looked at his elder brother.

"You know our uncle is a vindictive person. This time we took the initiative to cause trouble for him, so he will definitely hold a grudge against us." This is what Chen Qing was worried about.

"Oh, it seems that if we don't take the initiative to look for him, he will calm down." Chen Jie didn't care at all.

Chen Ke didn't dare to take it lightly, as his uncle was indeed a problem.

We didn't go to buy food today. After dinner and resting for a while, Chen Jie and his friends decided to go fishing, and Chen Qing went with them.

He is not as good as Chen Jie at catching fish, but he has no problem carrying fish back.

There was no horse-drawn carriage today, so I had to be careful of people I met while walking on the road.

Gao E saw that Chen Ke was worried after talking with his elder brother, and thought that Chen Ke must be worried about something that would happen in the future.

She poured a cup of chrysanthemum tea for Chen Ke: "What are you thinking about?"

Chen Ke tilted his head and glanced at the chrysanthemum in the teacup: "My uncle is indeed a vindictive person. Besides, we are still a family."

"Are you worried that if something happens to your uncle in the future, it will affect our family?"

Chen Ke was a little surprised, but nodded.

"Dad and my uncle separated a long time ago. Besides, there shouldn't be many crimes to implicate family members. As long as there is no punishment under the court law, the relationship will remain as a family." Gao E analyzed.

Chen Ke frowned, knowing that his uncle's crime would not affect his family.

"To put it bluntly, when it comes to family matters, people's words are scary. As long as we are right, no one will say anything." Gao E said with a smile.

Chen Ke thought about it seriously. If he didn't want to be criticized by others, he had to make everyone think that it was natural for them not to help his uncle.

"I understand." Chen Ke nodded slightly.

Gao E didn't say anything more and went to peel bamboo shoots with her sister-in-law and others.

The eldest brother and his friends came back in less than two hours. The three of them carried two baskets of fish and one basket of shrimps. They poured the fish into the pond and put the shrimps in a large basin of cold water.

Their clothes were all wet and they were drying themselves around the fire.

"I think the rocks by the water are much wetter than usual. It might rain soon, so we'd better not go fishing." Chen Qing suggested.

"It's okay." Chen Jie said nonchalantly.

"Safety comes first. Since big brother said so, let's not catch him." Gao E did not discuss it with Chen Jie.

She knew that the Wangba River would flood, but no one knew what would happen before the flood.

Chen Jie wanted to struggle, but Lei elbowed him in the ribs and he kept silent.

A few people dried their clothes and went downstairs.

In the morning, Chen Jie went to check the traps, and Lei came to help peel fish and fry shrimps without having breakfast.

These are all familiar routines now.

"When will Master An deliver the long table we ordered?" Chen Ke took out some of his books.

"Is it almost time? Why don't you ask when you go to the city this afternoon?" Gao E also thought of this matter.

"That's fine. It should be delivered when it's done."

Everyone who can do the work at home is busy. After all, even children can do things like picking bamboo shoots and collecting acorns.

Only the trash nearby has been picked up. If children want to go somewhere farther away, they must be accompanied by an adult.

Today, two traps caught three wild boars. The three of us had experience, so we got them down the mountain after lunch.

Another point is that as the weather gets colder, fewer and fewer people go into the mountains, so they don't need to avoid people.

This is the perfect time to send the wild boar to Peng Can, and then buy some food.

Peng Can knew that the Chen family was up to something. No matter how good a hunter was, he couldn't hunt wild boars so frequently. But he didn't ask any questions. As long as the Chen family sold the wild boars to him, it would be fine.

"Will you bring a big one?" Peng Can pulled Chen Jie aside and asked with a wink.

"What big thing do you want?" Chen Jie also became excited.

"There are bears in our Hexian area."

"That won't work." Chen Jie refused directly.

Everyone knows that bears are valuable, but you have to be lucky enough to catch one.

"A monkey would be fine too," Peng Can said, his voice agreeable. "It's best if it's alive."

"Why?" Chen Jie was suspicious.

"Some people buy it at a high price, one can only be sold for two or three taels." Peng Can said in a low voice.

Chen Jie rolled his eyes and said, "I don't have any monkeys at home."

He felt that he had to discuss this matter with his second sister-in-law and could not agree to it casually.

Peng Can wanted to roll his eyes at Chen Jie, but he was pretending.

The three brothers sold the wild boar and got a little more than six taels of silver. Chen Ke exchanged it for some copper coins and then went to buy food.

It was dark by the time they left the city.

This time they were more cautious. When they arrived at the village entrance, Chen Jie first went to the door of his uncle's house to see if there was anyone in his uncle's yard. Then he walked to the front to make sure they would not meet anyone along the way.

After they put the food away, Chen Jie was speechless.

"If we could convince our dad, we wouldn't have to be so secretive," he complained.

Chen Qing knew it was impossible to convince his father.

Immediately, several people took 200 coins each according to the previous agreement, and the rest was deposited in the account.

Chen Jie felt that these days were very promising. In just a short period of time, he and his brothers had saved more than ten taels of silver, which was something they had never dared to imagine before.

"Oh, right, sister-in-law." Chen Jie suddenly remembered Peng Can's suggestion. "Peng Can said he would buy live monkeys for 20-30 taels each."

Gao E turned her head and looked at Chen Jie: "What else do you want to collect?"

"He said he wanted to buy a bear, and I refused directly." Chen Jie answered honestly.

Gao E was thinking about the feasibility of this matter: "Did I tell you why I collected the monkeys?"

Chen Jie shook his head.

Chen Ke hesitated for a moment and said, "I heard that some wealthy families like to eat monkey brains and serve them alive."

Both Yang and Lei felt a chill down their spine when they heard this.

During famines in rural areas, people would burn mountains and catch wild animals, including monkeys. However, for them, these were just food for survival, so it wasn't that cruel.

"Just reject it directly." Gao E didn't even think about it.

She knew that some wealthy families were no longer satisfied with ordinary food and wanted to eat something new and strange, and all of these things were associated with cruelty.

"Okay." Chen Jie was not disappointed.

We are not going fishing tonight, so they divided these and went back.

Gao E thought about it and felt that her life was now back on track, and at least there would be no accidents when she gave birth.