Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Later, his parents found him a wife, and the following year he had a son, Changyun. Several nephews and nieces were also born in the following years. After Changyun was born, he truly felt the affection he had for his son, which was different from the affection his parents had for him and his two older brothers. Sometimes his mother looked at the three brothers with genuine disdain, scolding them for being good-for-nothings, saying that the combined intelligence of the three of them couldn't match that of the youngest brother.

To prove that he was no less capable, he wronged his wife and children. He knew that Changyun also wanted to study; he had seen Changyun secretly reading his fourth uncle's books. But for the sake of his parents' wish to support their fourth son's education, he pretended not to know his child's thoughts.

Thinking of all this, he felt his eyes welling up. He glanced at his mother, who was still jumping around cursing in front of him. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but he knew without a doubt that it was nothing more than ungrateful wretch, heartless, and things like he should have strangled her when she was born. He didn't say a word, just suddenly turned and walked away, his shoulders slumped compared to when he came, his back seemingly enveloped in gloom.

"Third son, third son, don't hold it against your mother. You know she's always been like this—sharp-tongued but kind-hearted. She really loves you all." Old Master Zhang watched his son turn and leave without saying a word, feeling uneasy as he called after him.

But Zhang Youtie seemed not to hear a word, and walked straight out without pausing. Wang and Li, who were in the kitchen, noticed that something was wrong with him and quickly came out to stop him: "Third brother, third brother, what's wrong with you, third brother? Third sister-in-law, come out quickly, I feel that something is wrong with third brother."

Hearing her two sisters-in-law's shouts from inside the house, Liu was so startled that she forgot about her mother-in-law who was cursing and her anxious grandfather standing beside her, and ran out immediately. The others in the house also rushed out to see what was happening, having heard Wang and Li's cries. Xia Yu, seeing her father's state and hearing her grandmother still howling and cursing inside, angrily yelled at Liu, "If you dare curse my father again, our family won't receive a single penny from my fourth uncle when he goes to take the exam next year!"

"You little brat, I think you're going to rebel! Does he dare not take it? If he doesn't take the money, I'll go to the authorities and sue him for being unfilial."

"Go ahead and sue us. Our family has already separated from the family. Over the years, the money we've given you has been more than enough to support your retirement. I don't think any government office would rule that the son who separated from the family should be responsible for supporting his younger brother's education." Xia Yu was furious. She felt that her grandmother was taking her blessings for granted and was being unreasonable.

Xia Yu, who was arguing with her father, stopped abruptly when she heard him call her name. She turned around and looked at him.

"Come on, let's go home with Dad." Zhang Youtie looked at his daughter, whose face was flushed with anger, and his heart, which had been a little cold just now, slowly warmed up again.

"We're here, Dad." Xia Yu didn't even look at Liu Shi, who was still raging, before running to his father's side, getting on the oxcart, and the family drove off.

“Oh dear… I don’t want to live anymore… Which granddaughter pointed at her grandmother’s face and cursed her… I’ve raised several sons for nothing…” This time, Liu was really angry at the Zhang Youtie family’s disregard.

"Just shut up already, you're ruining our family." Old Master Zhang hissed at Liu, who was still howling on the ground.

"How could it be that I messed them up? It's all your fault. If you ask me, I shouldn't have believed those big monks back then and separated them. Now they've all grown up and don't even respect this old woman anymore." Liu remembered how her third son hadn't said a single kind word when she cried earlier, and she started crying again.

"Sigh..." With a helpless sigh, Old Master Zhang pressed the throbbing veins on his forehead. He said to Liu, who was now truly in tears, "Come in, I have something to say to you."

After Liu entered the house, the old man told her about Changyun going to school and about how the third son's family would contribute sixty taels of silver if the fourth son took the exam next year.

When Liu heard that her third son had promised to give her fourth son sixty taels of silver for his exams, she was also taken aback.

"Where would they get the money? They wouldn't be trying to scam you, would they?" Liu didn't believe it, she really didn't believe it.

Seeing her like this, Grandpa Zhang knew that some things couldn't be kept secret, so he told her about how his third son's family had grown big watermelons and sold them for money.

"What? A watermelon? The one you got so angry about yesterday? It was grown by the third son's family? And they made a lot of money from it?" Liu was about to exclaim when she saw the old man gesturing to her and pointing towards the yard. She lowered her voice and asked.

“Yes, that watermelon was a seed that Changyun’s mother found by chance. She and Xiaxia planted it in their own vegetable garden. Before it grew, they didn’t even know what it was.” She then pointed to the few “weeds” that had been on the table earlier and said to Liu.

"Those weeds you just pulled up were watermelon seedlings. I thought it was Changyun's mother trying to see if they could grow in the wheat field, but you ended up pulling up all the watermelon seedlings in the whole row." Seeing Liu's shocked and distressed expression, he added...

“This one watermelon seedling can produce more than a dozen watermelons, and each watermelon weighs about 20 jin. This year, the third brother’s family sold watermelons for 50 wen per jin. You can calculate how much money you’ve wasted!”

Hearing her husband say this, the old lady silently started calculating in her mind. It would have been better if she hadn't calculated it. If these dozen or so watermelon seedlings could grow into mature plants, they would be worth more than a hundred taels of silver based on this year's prices.

A muffled thud.

When Grandpa Zhang looked up, he saw that Liu had fainted and fallen to the ground.

"Eldest daughter-in-law, second daughter-in-law, come quick! Your mother has fainted!" Old Master Zhang was so frightened that he quickly called to his two daughters-in-law.

The two sisters-in-law, who were talking in the kitchen, were startled by the old man's shout. They quickly put down what they were doing, stood up, and ran to the main room. When they got there, they saw the old lady lying on the floor with her eyes rolled back. The two sisters-in-law quickly worked together to move the old lady onto the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Father, Father, what should we do?" Li asked Old Master Zhang in a panic.

"Quickly go and fetch Doctor Liu from the village!"

"Dr. Liu isn't home. I heard he went into the mountains to gather herbs when I went to wash clothes by the river today, and he won't be back until tomorrow," Li said anxiously.

"Father, let's wake Mother up first. I heard that if she faints and we don't wake her up, it will get worse if it goes on for too long." Wang Shi was relatively calm and thought of a solution.

"Pinch the philtrum! Eldest daughter-in-law, quickly pinch the philtrum! Second daughter-in-law, hurry and call the third son back, have him drive the oxcart to take your mother to the town clinic!"

"Alright, alright, I'll go and bring my third brother back right away," he said, and ran out.