Seeing that he couldn’t persuade Jiang Baozhen, Chen Huaiyuan gritted his teeth and stormed out of the room.
Jiang Baozhen sneered.
In her previous life, when Chen Huaiyuan wanted to send Chen Tianhao to school, the family had no money.
Jiang Baozhen had gone around borrowing from everyone she knew.
Chen Huaiyuan had just watched her hit wall after wall with utter indifference, absolutely determined not to take out the silver he had secretly stashed away.
In the end, when Jiang Baozhen was completely out of options and Chen Tianhao was on the verge of missing his chance at an education, only then did he finally reveal his hidden silver.
Now, if Chen Huaiyuan thought he could use the silver hidden in the pigsty as his backup plan, he was dreaming!
Lin Yingxue was just about to head into Jiang Baozhen’s room when she bumped right into Chen Huaiyuan.
Seeing him covering his nose in such a sorry state, she guessed he had been beaten by Jiang Baozhen again.
A smile couldn’t help but surface on her face.
This smile irritated Chen Huaiyuan.
He pulled a long face and scolded her, “You are getting more and more unruly.
If I had known, I would have let you starve to death out there instead of picking you up and bringing you home.”
Lin Yingxue just couldn’t understand it.
She wondered where Chen Huaiyuan’s malice toward her came from.
From the very day he brought her back to the Chen Family, he had spoken to her with nothing but cold sarcasm and was always making up faults about her in front of Jiang Baozhen.
Lin Yingxue immediately turned around, rushed into the room, and said to Jiang Baozhen pitifully, “Mother, Father is scolding me for no reason.”
This was unacceptable.
Jiang Baozhen’s heart ached for the girl.
She shot out of the room with a SWISH and pointed right at Chen Huaiyuan’s nose, cursing, “You shameless old thing!
If you want to send our fourth son to school, go make the money yourself!
If you don’t have the money, why take your anger out on Yingxue?
“Is it Yingxue’s fault that the family doesn’t have the money for his education?”
Chen Huaiyuan was speechless.
He hadn’t expected Lin Yingxue to learn how to tattle behind his back.
Hearing the commotion, Chen Gensheng and the others rushed over in a swarm.
Over the past few days, Jiang Baozhen had been constantly scolding Chen Huaiyuan at the drop of a hat and forcing him to do chores.
Her sons—Chen Gensheng, Chen Tiansheng, and Chen Chunsheng—saw it all.
They ached for him but kept their complaints swallowed down.
They couldn’t help but feel that Jiang Baozhen was bullying Chen Huaiyuan.
Chen Gensheng spoke up, “Mother, that’s enough.
Why must you harp on this endlessly?”
Jiang Baozhen slapped Chen Gensheng across the face.
“Your father is forcing me to cough up silver so the fourth boy can study, and I can’t afford it.
Since your heart aches so much for your father, why don’t you pay for his schooling?” What an unfilial son.
Every time she had a dispute with Chen Ergou, he always took Chen Ergou’s side.
Ignoring the stinging pain in his cheek, Chen Gensheng instantly fell silent.
Deep down, he was entirely against sending the fourth son to school.
When they were up in the mountains, the fourth son had spent all day studying with their father and never did any chores.
He had harbored grievances about that for a long time.
After the chaos of war settled, his parents planned to send the fourth son to a private school in town once they moved back down the mountain.
Back then, when he had briefly questioned where the money would come from, his mother had scolded him for being selfish.
She claimed that the whole family needed to pull together, and once the fourth boy found success, all his brothers would bask in his glory.
He hadn’t dared to talk back then, but he had thought that it would be years before his younger brother ever made something of himself—if at all—while they were the ones who had to suffer right now.
If he had known that his mother was arguing with his father because she didn’t want the fourth son to go to school, he wouldn’t have blindly joined the fray.
Seeing their eldest brother get hit, Chen Chunsheng and Chen Tiansheng shrank their necks, trying to make themselves as invisible as possible.
When it came to the fourth son’s education, they shared Chen Gensheng’s attitude.
Jiang Baozhen sneered, “You blame me without even knowing what’s going on, but the moment I ask you to help your father figure out a way to pay for the fourth boy’s schooling, you want no part of it.”
Chen Gensheng and the others broke out in an awkward sweat, terrified that Chen Huaiyuan would take those words to heart and make them come up with a solution.
Lin Yingxue watched coldly.
Among Jiang Baozhen’s three older sons, aside from the second son, Chen Chunsheng, the other two had always been closer to Chen Huaiyuan since childhood.
They always resented Jiang Baozhen’s fiery temper and felt it was unfair that the even-tempered Chen Huaiyuan had married such a shrew.
They took Jiang Baozhen’s sacrifices for granted and turned a blind eye to Chen Huaiyuan’s coldness.
Both Jiang Baozhen and Chen Huaiyuan favored Chen Tianhao, yet the sons only hated Jiang Baozhen while showing Chen Huaiyuan every ounce of filial piety.
In reality, in the original book, even though Jiang Baozhen favored Chen Tianhao, she still bought houses and land for her other three sons after her business took off.
Once Chen Tianhao entered officialdom, she even handed her business over to her first and third sons.
On the other hand, Chen Huaiyuan—who truly didn’t give a damn about them—managed to reap the devotion of several dutiful sons just by smiling and offering lip service.
Thinking of Jiang Baozhen’s ending in the book, Lin Yingxue felt it was completely unjust for her.
“Seeing how useless the lot of you are, I think your father is right.
The fourth boy really should go to school,” Jiang Baozhen suddenly changed her tune.
Lin Yingxue looked up at her, and Jiang Baozhen secretly shot her a reassuring glance.
Chen Huaiyuan looked thrilled, not even bothering to wipe his bloody nose.
Hiding in his shed, Chen Tianhao perked up his ears.
“Our family is still waiting for the fourth boy to elevate our social standing.
When he makes something of himself, you three brothers will benefit as well, won’t you?
Since that’s the case, everyone must do their part for his education.”
Jiang Baozhen’s gaze swept over Chen Gensheng, Wu Qiaoqiao, and the others one by one.
She spoke with impassioned righteousness, “Right now, the family has no money, and the fourth boy’s studies cannot be delayed.
Your father just discussed this with me.
He suggested that we pawn the bracelets and hairpins I gave your wives when they married into the family, and we’ll compensate you all once he succeeds.
I felt that pawning my daughters-in-law’s jewelry was far too disgraceful, which is why your father and I started arguing.
“But thinking about it now, it’s the only way.
We are all one family; we should help each other.”
Hearing this, Wu Qiaoqiao and Huang Qiuju nearly fainted from anger.
Jiang Baozhen cared deeply about face.
Back when her sons got married, not only was the bride price exceptionally high, but the bracelets and hairpins she gave her daughters-in-law were made of solid, pure silver.
She treated all three daughters-in-law equally: each received a pair of solid silver bracelets and a silver hairpin.
Even during the hardest times hiding from the war in the mountains, Jiang Baozhen had never thought of touching her daughters-in-law’s jewelry.
Now, for the sake of the fourth son’s education, their father-in-law was actually targeting them!
Unable to bear seeing Jiang Baozhen put in a difficult position, Chen Chunsheng agreed without a second thought.
“All right.” As soon as his voice fell, Liu Yinhua had already gone into the room and brought out her jewelry box.
Jiang Baozhen took Liu Yinhua’s jewelry box, opened it to inspect the contents, and then glanced at her first and third daughters-in-law’s wrists and hair.
Unlike Liu Yinhua, who kept her jewelry safely tucked away, Wu Qiaoqiao and Huang Qiuju had been wearing theirs ever since they came down the mountain.
At this moment, their silver bracelets and silver hairpins were glinting conspicuously.
It was too late to hide them.
Chen Huaiyuan had initially harbored complaints about Jiang Baozhen dumping the blame of pawning their daughters-in-law’s jewelry on his head.
But the moment he thought of Chen Tianhao’s future, he didn’t care anymore.
He urged the two daughters-in-law, “Hurry up and take off your jewelry.
The fourth boy’s future cannot be delayed.”
Wu Qiaoqiao and Huang Qiuju hated Chen Huaiyuan to death.
They hated him for stubbornly insisting on Chen Tianhao’s schooling despite the family’s dire financial situation.
They hated his blatant favoritism, only having eyes for his youngest son.
For the first time, they wondered why their mother-in-law didn’t just beat their father-in-law to death.
Under Chen Huaiyuan’s urging, Wu Qiaoqiao and Huang Qiuju reluctantly took off their bracelets and hairpins and handed them to Jiang Baozhen.
The moment the jewelry left her hands, Huang Qiuju let out a WAIL, covered her face, and ran off crying.
The corners of Jiang Baozhen’s lips curled up slightly.
In the past, whenever Chen Huaiyuan played the magnanimous peacemaker to outsiders, it had always infuriated her, yet her sons and daughters-in-law would only complain that she was being petty.
Now that the rod was hitting their own backs, they finally knew what pain was.
She stroked the jewelry.
She had finally managed to claw back a fraction of what she had spent on her sons.
She planned to give all of these pieces to Lin Yingxue.
“All right, the frozen soil in the fields has mostly thawed.
It’s time for the spring plowing.” Having put away the jewelry, Jiang Baozhen was in an excellent mood as she assigned tasks to everyone.
“Eldest, from today on, you boys will go down to the fields and prep the ridges.”
Chen Gensheng grunted in agreement, his guts green with regret.
He blamed himself for unnecessarily meddling in his parents’ argument, which ended up costing him his wife’s jewelry.
His resentment toward Chen Tianhao only deepened.
Chen Huaiyuan stepped forward happily, trying to curry favor with Jiang Baozhen.
“Dear, I’ll go down to the fields too.”
Jiang Baozhen raised an eyebrow.
“You can follow them to the fields today, but starting tomorrow, you’ll be carrying manure.”
Chen Huaiyuan’s smile froze on his face.
How could he, a scholar, carry manure?
But to keep Jiang Baozhen appeased, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree.
“Um.” Seeing Jiang Baozhen pick up a hoe, clearly ready to head to the fields, Chen Huaiyuan couldn’t help but step forward and ask, “Aren’t you going to town to pawn the jewelry?”
Jiang Baozhen waved her hand dismissively.
“What’s the rush?
Spring plowing comes first.”
With that, she grabbed her hoe and headed out the door, with Lin Yingxue following closely behind.