Yu Fuling had rarely felt such intense hostility in public like this.
The conflicts she’d encountered at the Marquis’ estate were more like a bottomless ocean, calm on the surface most of the time, resolved with a few smiles and pleasant words. But if a real conflict ever broke out, it would be like waves crashing sky-high, leaving no survivors.
“She just had a baby, it’s not like she gave birth to a lump of gold, does the whole family have to revolve around the two of you?” Yu Zhuo’s chest heaved, breathing hard. “You know why I looked at so many girls before and still wasn’t willing to get married?”
“That you didn’t like any of them just means your standards are too high, what does that have to do with me?” Yu Heng said carelessly, even feeling annoyed that his second brother would talk back to him in front of their parents.
“It’s because I don’t want my future wife to live as stifled a life as I have!”
With that, Yu Zhuo kicked over the bench beside him and stormed off, flaunting his anger.
“What do you mean, stifled, did I stop you from eating, stop you from drinking? Yu Zhuo, come back here, explain yourself clearly…”
“Enough.”
Hearing all this, Yu Qingshan had actually already understood why his second son had suddenly flown into such a rage. “Yu Heng, this time you’ve gone too far.”
“Me, gone too far?”
Yu Heng felt wronged the moment he heard this. “Father, I didn’t scold him or hit him. You know better than I do what kind of character he has, if he really goes and starts some pickled vegetable business, forget about whether it makes money, what if he loses money on it? Can we just stand by and watch coldly? Let him fend for himself?”
“If Big Brother really didn’t intend to stand by and watch, then why didn’t you let Second Brother finish speaking just now?” Yu Fuling always managed to strike Yu Heng with a fatal blow at just the right moment. “Now that you’ve made him angry, even if he wanted to say more, he won’t feel like it anymore. And even if Second Brother really does ask for money, he’ll be asking Father and Mother for it.”
“He’s such a grown man, how could he have the face to ask Father and Mother for money? Isn’t that embarrassing?” Yu Heng gave a cold snort, privately puzzled, why did Yu Fuling always have to butt in?
“When you ask Father and Mother for money, it’s honestly and openly supporting your family, but when he asks, it’s embarrassing?” Yu Fuling deliberately mimicked the mocking tone her eldest brother had just used toward their second brother, looking at him with a smile. “Aren’t you just counting on Father and Mother being soft-hearted, always taking your side? But don’t forget, Father and Mother aren’t only your father and mother, they’re ours too. Lehuan, let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Yu Lehuan was still young, and hadn’t understood before why her eldest brother always argued with her second brother, but after her fourth sister’s explanation just now, she felt she understood a little better.
Yu Fuling had already laid out the problem clearly, as for what their parents chose to do about it, that was their own business. If she and her sister stayed, it would only make it harder for their parents to find a way down from this.
“Wait, what did I say wrong?” Yu Heng still hadn’t realized the problem lay with himself, and kept on shouting. “Aren’t we all one family, all pulling in one direction? A push here, a pull there, this family’s bound to fall apart sooner or later!”
“If this family falls apart, it’ll be because of the trouble you’ve caused!”
Their eldest daughter’s words just now had left Yu Qingshan’s heart deeply unsettled. It was true, over the years, he and his wife had always given too much love and attention to their eldest son and to Xie Leyi, and without realizing it, they had neglected their other three children. “While we can still move about and manage things, you’d better think hard about how to earn money and support your family, don’t wait until we can no longer move, and still have to figure out ways to help support your household.”
“Father, saying that makes it sound like we’re not really family, aren’t we all one household?” Yu Heng had never once considered starting his own household.
“I never said we weren’t family, but you have a wife and a daughter now, you can’t let your wife and daughter live under someone else’s roof, dependent on others!”
“How is it living under someone else’s roof? This is their home too.” Yu Heng grew desperate. “Father, don’t listen to what Yu Fuling says, she’s not a simple person, I’ve never seen anyone give up a life of wealth and comfort to come running back to live a hard life, she…”
Crack!
The slap Zhang Qiaofeng had held back last time finally landed on her eldest son’s face. “If I ever hear you say another bad word about Fuling, you can pack up your wife and child and get out of this family right now!”
With that, she stormed off, still fuming.
“That’s not…”
Yu Heng covered his stinging cheek, staring at his father wide-eyed. “Father, why did Mother hit me? I’m not a three-year-old child.”
“Even a three-year-old understands that much, why don’t you?” Yu Qingshan’s voice rose, drowning out his eldest son’s, his eyes full of disappointment and pain toward him. “You really need to do some serious self-reflection!”
He too had no wish to stay any longer, leaving Yu Heng standing alone in front of the dinner table, utterly baffled.
“Fourth Sister, are we going to the grove to pick matsutake again today?” The taste of the matsutake had left Yu Lehuan craving more, and the moment they got back to their room, she couldn’t help asking.
“Knowing Liu Meimei’s temperament, after she got home yesterday she surely told her family, and there might be someone keeping watch by the grove today, going now would be walking straight into a trap.” Yu Fuling walked over to the bed and dug out the bundle she’d brought from the Marquis’ estate, hidden under her pillow, she’d stuffed the silver her mother had given her inside it earlier.
“Fourth Sister, what are you doing with the silver?”
“I have a use for it.”
Yu Fuling tucked the silver into her clothes and patted her sister’s head. “I’m going to find Second Brother. You stay in the room and rest, we’ll go out and play in a bit.”
“Okay.”
Yu Fuling searched around the village and finally found her second brother sitting by a pond at the west end of the village.
“What are you here for?” Yu Zhuo’s resentment toward Yu Fuling was no less than what he felt toward his eldest brother. Seeing her sit down, he immediately put some distance between them.
“Do you know why Mother didn’t come find you last night?” Yu Fuling turned her head, her calm gaze landing on her second brother’s face. His eyes were red, as if he’d been crying?
“She can come or not, I don’t care…” Yu Zhuo sniffed, picked up a stone from the ground, and hurled it hard into the pond.
“Then how did I see you standing in the courtyard for a long while, then finally walk back to your room looking so disappointed?” The country moon was especially bright, and it had let Yu Fuling, who had been secretly watching from her room the night before, see her second brother’s expression clearly.
“You were spying on me?!”
Yu Zhuo shot up to his feet, stepping back several paces, his eyes full of wariness. “Yu Fuling, what exactly do you want?”
“The pickled matsutake Mother made yesterday was especially fragrant. I was thinking it would sell well at the market, and then at the dinner table I heard you wanted to start a pickled vegetable business, and I found it very interesting.” Yu Fuling slowly stood up, smiling.
“You… you want to do the pickled vegetable business too??” Yu Zhuo stared at Yu Fuling in shock, he’d finally found a trade that suited him, and it hadn’t even started, and already someone was about to beat him to it?
Yu Fuling lowered her head and took a piece of loose silver from her waist. “I won’t come to you for advice for free. If you’re willing, take the silver, and tell me what you’ve seen and learned. If you’re not willing, never mind, I won’t force you into anything.”