Chapter 50: Are you willing to part with it?

But you haven't separated from the family, so you must pay money to the public fund—one hundred wen a month, one tael and two qian of silver a year. You haven't paid for four years, so give five taels of silver. Otherwise, don't come back in the future.

Yuan Jiaqi gave a cold snort. "Pay money to the public fund? I paid before, and how did you treat my wife? You wouldn't even hire a doctor when she was sick. Why should I pay money?

If you won't let me come back, then your son won't come back. Who cares about returning to this home? Parents aren't like parents, and sons aren't like sons. There is no meaning in returning to this home at all."

He turned around and left holding Chuan'er. He wouldn't even give them the things in his hand and just carried them away. His mother, Yuan Xushi, rushed forward and snatched the things from his hand.

"You don't show filial piety to your father and mother, and you want to take away the junk you brought? Give it to me, humph!"

She snatched it away in one go. Yuan Jiaqi wasn't angry. "Didn't you say it was junk? Then why keep it?"

"Fifth son, let me tell you, Matchmaker Zhao has arranged a marriage for you. Her family is a famous wealthy family in Tiannan Town, and the daughter is nineteen. If you agree to this marriage, you can come back to this house whenever you want in the future."

Yuan Jiaqi didn't even want to listen. He walked to the courtyard gate in a few steps. Chuan'er hugged his neck tightly, burying his head in his chest, not even looking at his grandparents. In his eyes, these two people were demons who bullied his father.

"The family doesn't seem to be poor enough to sell their son, right? Don't think I don't know what that family's daughter is like. If you want to marry her, you marry her; I won't."

"You ungrateful thing! We haven't separated the family, so we decide your marriage. It's settled; you have to marry whether you want to or not."

"Do you believe that I can make it so you never see me again, and in the end, you'll lose everything and get into trouble?"

"You, you, you've grown wings, haven't you? We can't control you anymore, right?"

"In the future, your son doesn't want to hear about this again, and you don't need to come to town to find me. Otherwise, your son will take Chuan'er and leave here forever."

"Then leave the silver for these few years, and you must pay silver to the public fund every year in the future."

"We haven't separated the family, but there is no silver, and the child and I haven't eaten or drunk at home."

"Parents are at home and the family hasn't separated, unless you are removed from the clan. Do you want to be removed from the clan?"

Yuan Jiaqi gave a cold laugh. "I would very much like to be removed from the clan. Are you willing to part with it?"

"You, get out of here, you unfilial thing."

"Humph, unfilial? Don't use the word 'filial piety' to talk to me. They say only a kind mother has a filial son. Have you been kind? If you aren't kind, where does the filial piety come from? I've never seen parents like you in the world, using the blood of your sons' families to support yourselves. Aren't you afraid that when you're old and can't move, they will turn around and suck your blood? Don't look at how proud you are now; be careful of a miserable end in the future."

"Get out!"

"Get out of here!"

Yuan's father and mother roared at him in the courtyard. Yuan Jiaqi's brothers were all hiding in the rooms, eyes filled with tears. They were the same as Yuan Jiaqi, suffering from the wear and tear of the two old people, only their situation was a little better than Yuan Jiaqi's.

At this time, after hearing their younger brother's words, they felt very regretful for their indifference toward their younger brother and sister-in-law in the past.

Yuan Jiaqi held Chuan'er and turned to leave the Yuan family. He walked to the ox cart, put Chuan'er on it, and jumped up himself.

"Let's go, back to Tianshui Town."

Every year they came, and every year it was like this. He had long since lost his temper.

He was good-looking, could read and write, and was diligent, so many women wanted to marry him.

So early on, Yuan Xushi had designs on him, specifically choosing wealthy families to propose marriage. Many families would refuse as soon as they heard there was no bride price, not even bothering to meet him.

There were also some families who didn't care about the bride price, as long as the person was good, and would just have their own daughter bring more dowry.

There were all kinds of families in this world. Chuan'er's mother was one such person.

A couple had only this one daughter, and the family was well-off. When the matchmaker went to arrange it, the couple thought about having a matrilocal husband.

But the Yuan family didn't agree, saying they wouldn't let Yuan Jiaqi go no matter what. He himself didn't care and was actually looking forward to leaving the Yuan family.

But ever since Chuan'er's mother met him, she wouldn't marry anyone else.

There was no other way, so the family agreed to her, and the couple prepared a generous dowry for their daughter.

When she first entered the house, her father-in-law and mother-in-law treated her okay. Once her mother-in-law had tricked and cajoled the dowry in her hands bit by bit, she became a servant of the Yuan family.

Yuan Jiaqi naturally treated her very well. When he was there, Yuan's father and mother would put on an act.

Once Yuan Xushi sent him away to work, she would start beating or scolding her. Chuan'er's mother had suffering she couldn't speak of.

The husband she chose was quite good, but his family was not. She suffered grievances but didn't dare to go back to her parents' home to complain. Her parents had raised her with difficulty; it would be too unfilial to make them worry.

Besides, she was the one who insisted on marrying in back then, and she didn't have the face to go back to her parents' home to complain. She just persisted like that, persisted, and only a year after marrying into the Yuan family, she was persisted to death.

Leaving Chuan'er and Yuan Jiaqi to depend on each other, it was from that time on that his heart turned cold toward the Yuan family.

After burying her, he held Chuan'er and went to Tianshui Town.

There, he rented a house with others. Fortunately, he wrote a good hand and went to various bookstores to take on work copying books, bringing up his son as both father and mother. Life was still manageable.

There were quite a few women who took a fancy to him, but for Chuan'er's sake, he gritted his teeth and persisted until now.

Someone asked, wasn't he the biological son of the Yuan family?

The answer is, he was indeed the bloodline of the Yuan family, no faking.

Why did the Yuan family only treat him like this? No, the Yuan parents didn't only treat him like this. The eldest branch of the Yuan family had a daughter earlier, and before she reached the age of fifteen, she was sold by Yuan's father and mother to a wealthy family as a maid.

The second, third, and fourth branches were the same, all working as maids in nearby wealthy families. One was so the family could save some food, and the second was because there was a monthly wage for being a maid, which they could go and demand regularly every month.

When it came to Yuan Jiaqi, they saw he had a good appearance, and in order to get rich, they set their sights on him.

They wanted to use marriage to extract money from it. Compared to the Tian family and the Qiao family, it was really worse than them.

Fortunately, Chuan'er wasn't a girl; otherwise, they would have set their sights on him long ago.

On the way back, Chuan'er looked at Yuan Jiaqi silently.

"Father, you're sad, aren't you?"

Yuan Jiaqi held his son tightly in his arms, sighed, and explained to his son.

"Father isn't angry. Your grandparents have always been like this, so I'm not sad. I'm just worrying about how we father and son can leave that home."

"Grandpa and Grandma don't like us, but they still cling to us."

"Because we two still have utility value. They think they can still get money from us."

"Do they like money that much?"

"Mm, everyone in the family is their tool for making money."

Yuan Jiaqi looked into the distance. In the past few years, he had copied books for others, not just to earn money, but also to be able to see all kinds of books.

He loved reading, liked the current affairs and politics in them, and also liked the poetry and songs in them. He even more wanted to be like the characters described in the books in his lifetime, to contribute to the imperial court and achieve a career.

But things went contrary to his wishes. He had a child, and he was still too young. He had to raise him up, at least until he could take care of himself.

He didn't dare to remarry, fearing the child would be abused by a stepmother, fearing his wife would be worn to death again. All his energy was spent on reading and the child. To him, women were no different from men; he really had no needs in this regard.

But if he didn't remarry, the Yuan family would always have designs on him.

In his mind, he couldn't help but think of Lady Qiao. As soon as this thought appeared, it was immediately dispelled by him.

How long had they known each other? How many words had they spoken? There was basically no interaction; how could he think of her?

Yuan Jiaqi hurriedly shook his head. Chuan'er nestled in his arms.

"Father, what are you thinking about?"

"In a while, we'll buy some things in town. Remember, when you go to someone's house as a guest, you can't go empty-handed."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 51 =====