EBE Chapter 304 It seems everyone has almost forgotten about this person number 1!
Chapter 304 It seems everyone has almost forgotten about this person number 1!
His finger trembled as he pointed at his son, his lips shaking with anger.
The second brother retorted, "Big brother, that's not right of you. He's still our father, so what's wrong with saying a few words and giving him a lecture? Even if you've made money in business, you can't forget your roots!"
Shen Xiaochuan immediately chimed in, "That's right, how can one forget their roots?"
Lin Qingchuan frowned, his expression displeased.
"What are you two talking about? What do you mean by forgetting your roots? If Dad wants to hit my daughter, can't I protect her? How old is Tang'er? You think you're forgetting your roots if Dad just throws a broken shoe at her and breaks her bones? Dad is an elder, but I'm still your older brother. You can say whatever you want about me, but I've never seen you respect me as your older brother."
Over the years, he and Feng'er have done all the hard work inside and outside the house. Everything they eat, drink, and use was earned with their blood and sweat. They have spoiled a bunch of lazy people who then turn around and complain.
Thankfully, he and his wife listened to their eldest daughter and divided the family property. Now he regrets more and more that he didn't wake up sooner and divide the property when they got married, so he wouldn't have had to work for these heartless people for so many years.
The second brother didn't expect his eldest brother to react so strongly, even retorting to his words. Usually, when he spoke up for their father like this, his eldest brother would remain silent.
He was stunned for a moment and said, "Brother, I...you...I didn't mean that either. How can you talk like that? We're brothers, isn't this making us distant?"
Lin Qingchuan's lips curled into a mocking smile. He said self-deprecatingly, "It seems we've never really been close. It's just you few who are not strangers. If we have to accuse someone of being heartless, then it should be your sister Jinzhu, who shares the same mother with you."
If we don't mention Jinzhu, it seems like everyone has almost forgotten that she even exists!
Since Jinzhu got married, her life has become increasingly prosperous. The family moved to another place to do business and never came back. After the Shen family owed Juxian Restaurant several hundred taels of silver, Mr. Shen wrote ten letters to his daughter, but did not reply to a single one.
If his daughter received his letter, then there's no reason why she didn't reply at all. If she didn't receive his letter, then why hasn't she come back to visit the elderly couple even once in all these years?
Therefore, the one who has no conscience the most is Shen Jinzhu, and the one who should be blamed the least is Lin Qingchuan.
When Lin Qingchuan uttered these words of rebuttal, everyone blushed and couldn't find any words to refute him.
Because it's a fact, and there's no way to refute it!
Mr. Shen and his sons originally intended to reprimand their eldest son, but unexpectedly, he used Shen Jinzhu to ridicule them. Feeling humiliated, and as if his lungs had been pierced, he continued to roar, "You scoundrel, you can't even be scolded for saying a few words to you? What's the point of bringing up Jinzhu? She's a married daughter, like water spilled from a cup. What does it matter if she comes back or not? We'll just pretend she never existed."
Shen Xiaochuan, never one to shy away from stirring things up, chimed in, "That's right, Dad's right. Once Sister marries into her husband's family, she belongs to that family. Who cares if she comes back or not, or if she's filial? We're talking about us brothers now. You've made money in business and are living a good life, so you look down on us poor brothers and dads. We're just unloading sacks to sell turmeric, and you're already criticizing us. What's wrong with that? Isn't that how people unload? Carrying such heavy sacks over here is exhausting. Aren't bumps and knocks inevitable?"
He stood with his hands on his hips, one leg propped up and shaking. Despite having studied for several years, he still looked like a scoundrel, with an air of self-righteousness that made people want to slap him.
Lin Qingchuan said, “I’m trying to reason with you, but you bring up filial piety. I’m trying to reason with you, but you’re not being reasonable. It’s ridiculous. It’s getting dark, so we need to hurry up and load these turmerics onto the truck and get them away. If you don’t want to sell them, you can send them to Feng’s Pharmacy in town.”
He has no time to waste here any longer!
The third brother saw that his eldest brother was truly assertive, unafraid of anything his father and the others said. He thought that if he continued to argue with his eldest brother, they wouldn't get any benefit. And most importantly, if things escalated and they couldn't back down, his family didn't have a horse-drawn carriage like his eldest brother. They even had to rent an oxcart from their uncle's family and pay for it. They still owed Manager Zhang a lot of money. His parents certainly wouldn't be willing to spend money to rent an oxcart. They would have to carry the turmeric to town to sell, and by the time they got there, their shoulders would be crushed from the weight.
If that's the case, it would be better to sell it to my older brother as soon as possible, so I wouldn't have to suffer anymore.
He quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "Hey, big brother, second brother, you two should say less. Xiao Chuan, why can't you keep your mouth shut? There's nothing for you to do here. You should go back and see if Mother has finished her work."
The youngest son rolled his eyes, scoffed, and turned to go home.
Carrying this sack over there, he was so tired his back was about to break; he needed to go home and rest in bed as soon as possible.
Seeing his youngest brother about to leave, the second brother initially considered following him home to rest, but then he thought better of it. He couldn't leave; he had to stay and see how much silver he could get from selling the turmeric, so he could calculate how much he owed Manager Zhang.
Mr. Shen snorted coldly, stopped himself from scolding his eldest son and granddaughter, and followed his third son's words to step down the steps.
Shuisheng, standing to the side, didn't dare to interrupt. These were all family matters between Brother Qingchuan and the Shen family, and he shouldn't try to persuade them. If he spoke up for Brother Qingchuan, his brothers would definitely not miss the chance to criticize him. After all, they hadn't been able to do business with Brother Qingchuan, and instead, they had let him, an outsider, take advantage of them. It would be strange if they didn't blame him.
He wouldn't try to smooth things over for the Shen family, since it was the Shen family who were being unreasonable, and Qingchuan had already been bullied. He couldn't help them, and he wouldn't make things worse.
Lin Xiaotang's heart sank completely. She never expected that her grandfather would actually lay a hand on her. Even if she had spoken impulsively, it didn't warrant taking off his shoes and hitting her.
Dad is right. Grandpa was really going all out just now. If Dad hadn't protected her behind him, her face would have been swollen and she would have lost two teeth if the shoe had hit her. Even if it had hit her body, with her young and small body, a broken bone would have been the least of her worries.
It is clear that her grandfather never treated her as family. Since she was born into the Shen family, she has never felt a trace of his care in the past six or seven years. It was as if they were strangers living under the same roof, without any affection whatsoever.
If that's the case, then let's just treat each other as strangers!
Without expectations, there will be no resentment!
She whispered, "Dad, let's weigh and collect their turmeric first. If we keep going like this, we'll have to sneak home in the dark."
Moreover, she and Uncle Shuisheng had not yet returned the silver they brought back to the villagers who had given them IOUs.
She certainly wouldn't dare remind her father of this in front of those oddballs in the Shen family. What if they heard that they had brought back dozens of taels of silver? Wouldn't those oddballs start plotting something again?
It's just that what you fear most is what happens!
The second brother, Shen Jiangchuan, rolled his eyes, seemingly having something on his mind again.
He asked, "Brother, you pay two coins for every ounce of turmeric you take from outsiders, you must be making a lot of money, right? Do you also pay two coins for the turmeric from our own people?"
“Yes, brother, everyone outside says that the village head’s family grows the most. You gave them forty taels of silver all at once. We only grow this little bit. If you give outsiders the same price, wouldn’t that be slapping our own family in the face?”
He doesn't care whether it's embarrassing for his own people or not. If he gives his own people a higher price than outsiders, how will he and Shuisheng ever be able to do business again?
Besides, it's not his fault that he planted so few. When he was selling turmeric seeds, the village head personally helped promote them. Didn't his father and the others know that?
They just couldn't bear to spend the money and didn't want to buy it. The fact that they planted such a small amount of turmeric seeds was because they instructed the fourth brother to come and ask for them.
Lin Qingchuan said expressionlessly, "The purchase price is fixed, regardless of whether you are close to us or not. Moreover, Shui Sheng also has a share in this business. If word gets out that we are raising the price to buy from you, half of the villagers in Guihua Village will come to make trouble for us."
Mr. Shen scoffed, "What nonsense! We're all on the same side. You bought it at a high price, are you going to spread rumors about it?"
"Exactly, if you don't want to raise prices, just say so. Why make up such excuses?"
Is he making excuses?
Lin Qingchuan was speechless and wanted to retort, but Shui Sheng stopped him.
Shui Sheng smiled and said, "Uncle Shen, you don't understand. The profit margin for turmeric is very low. Back then, no one dared to plant it because they were afraid that they wouldn't make any money and would waste a season's worth of grain. In order to encourage everyone, we sold the seeds at a low price. Now, Feng's Pharmacy is buying them for less than two coins. We're trying to earn as little as possible so that everyone can make money and live a good life."
We were already losing money back then, and now we're not making any money at all, just a delivery fee. You can't bear to see us lose money, right?
Mr. Shen said irritably, "We only have a few sacks, how could we make you lose money? We've already collected this much in the yard, just distribute it evenly, alright, alright, hurry up and weigh it, three copper coins for an ounce of turmeric is fine."
What?
Should we ask them to give us three coins for every one tael?
This person is acting too fast, hasn't woken up yet, and is just daydreaming.
The forced smile on Shui Sheng's face instantly crumbled.
He said, "Uncle Shen, we really can't give you this price. Don't bother asking around in town. Go directly to the county and ask around. See which pharmacy is willing to pay three copper coins for an ounce of turmeric. We'll go with you to sell it. If there really is such a high purchase price, we'll give you that price no matter what they ask for, even if we don't make a single penny."
Mr. Shen was surprised that Shui Sheng would say such a thing. This was a clear attempt to put him down. He knew that Shui Sheng had neither a horse-drawn carriage nor an oxcart and would have to pay to rent one to go to the county. If he came back after asking around and couldn't find a high price, the money he spent on renting the carriage would be wasted.
He said irritably, "You kid, how come you've become so bad after doing business with me for a while? What kind of talk is that? I'm so old, and you guys don't even bother to find out prices when you're doing business? If I did your job, what are you young people doing?"
What rudeness!
His eyes were contemptuous; he didn't take Shui Sheng, an outsider, seriously at all, especially since he was a junior. Shui Sheng had never been to school and had little education, so he had never caught his eye.
Shuisheng had known since childhood that Mr. Shen looked down on him. When he met Mr. Shen as a child, he would greet him, but Mr. Shen would just glance at him and ignore him completely. So he stopped greeting him. Later, he and Qingchuan got along well. Qingchuan was not well-liked at home, so the two of them visited each other frequently. Mr. Shen didn't like either of them.
However, it doesn't matter. His relationship with Brother Qingchuan is none of anyone else's business.
Lin Xiaotang watched as her grandfather finished scolding her father and berated Uncle Shuisheng, acting as if he were an elder who would not tolerate anyone disobeying him.
She said, "Grandpa, it's getting dark. Are you still going to sell? If you are, it'll be two coins. If you're not, you can take it to town to sell when your second and third uncles go to work at Juxian Restaurant tomorrow. I heard that Feng's Pharmacy is offering a lower price. It's not worth it for you to sell it there."
Old Mr. Shen glared at Lin Xiaotang and said through gritted teeth, "Get out of the way. How dare a little girl like you speak when your elders are talking?"
Ha ha……
She probably knew why her aunt hadn't come back after getting married and going to another place to do business with her husband's family. She guessed it was because she couldn't stand his chauvinistic and sexist temper.
They've finally gotten rid of their troubles, so why would they want to go back to their parents' home to invite bad luck?
She said, "I am a maid, that's true, but what I said is also true, isn't it? It's getting late, and we have to go home. Look at this house, it's all empty, there aren't even any beds or blankets. If we can't go home, where will we sleep? There's no food to cook here, so will your family provide us with dinner?"
Of course, we don't care!
Mr. Shen realized he was in the wrong, but he was still unwilling to admit defeat. He said, "What's the rush? It's not like we can't get home. You have a horse-drawn carriage. It's only a short distance to town. We can't get lost in the dark."
Lin Xiaotang rolled her eyes. They weren't going back to town, but to Dushui County. But since no one in Guihua Village knew they had gone to the county to do business, they decided to let everyone think they were still in town, which would save them a lot of trouble.
If the Shen family found out that they went to the county to do business and even opened a shop, they would probably stick to them like a leech, impossible to get rid of.
Lin Qingchuan said, “Father, you make it sound so easy. If we don’t move all this turmeric in the yard, what will we do when we go back tonight? Are we just waiting for thieves to target us? How about this, we’ll lose a little money. We’ll give you three coins for every ounce of turmeric. You can have my second and third brothers stay here and help us carry all this turmeric onto the cart. We’ll transport it to the village head’s house first.”
Old Mr. Shen frowned and said unhappily, "Why did you send it to the village head's house? Why not store it at our own home instead of at someone else's? Is your brain made of mush? How can you be so confused?"
Is he confused?
If we store it at the village head's house, Uncle Lizheng is an honest man who wouldn't embezzle. If we leave it at the Shen family's house, it's uncertain whether we'll get half of it back tomorrow.
Only a fool would store it at Old Shen's house!