Su Yunhai’s previously gentle expression immediately disappeared, replaced by a cold look.
He gave Shen Yuehua a glance, signaling for her to reassure her parents, then strode over and stopped Old Madam Su.
“Mom, if you want to make a scene here, don’t blame me for taking all the livestock and grain from home and leaving your two precious sons to starve. You know me. I always keep my word.”
Su Yunhai looked at Old Madam Su with a dark, warning gaze.
For this journey, all the grain and livestock Su Yunhai had brought had been purchased outside over the past few days. He hadn’t taken a single thing from the family’s existing stores.
All the grain and livestock that had already belonged to the family, he had left behind without even mentioning them.
He hadn’t expected his parents not only to take that for granted, but to covet the supplies he had purchased separately and even try to interfere in his affairs.
They were truly impossible.
The moment Old Madam Su saw the undisguised anger in her son’s eyes, her towering fury instantly shrank to a fraction of what it had been.
She suppressed her anger and glared furiously at Su Yunhai, though her voice was not quiet in the slightest.
“But all of that belongs to our Su family! You’re taking the two of us with you on this journey but not your brothers, and you haven’t prepared anything for us either. You heartless wretch, are you going to be satisfied only after you’ve starved us to death?”
“How did I ever give birth to such a cold-blooded, heartless creature?”
“You’re a scholar, at least! Is this how all those years of studying taught you to behave?”
“Waaah! You might as well kill your old mother right now! At least then I won’t have to be starved to death by my own unfilial son!”
The moment Su Yunhai heard her wailing, his head started throbbing.
He grabbed Old Madam Su by the wrist and dragged her toward the ox cart belonging to the eldest branch.
Suppressing his anger, he lowered his voice and warned through gritted teeth, “Do you want me to uncover these carts and let everyone see exactly how much grain you’ve brought with you?”
“If you don’t want those who have no grain to constantly have their eyes on your supplies, then you’d better behave yourselves! Otherwise, I don’t mind taking back everything that belongs to me and leaving you without a single grain of rice!”
Old Master Su knew that his son meant every word.
He tugged at his wife, signaling for her to stop causing trouble.
Only then did Old Madam Su resentfully shut her mouth.
“Get lost, get lost! I don’t want to see you. Just looking at you makes my heart ache! Every time I say one less word to you, I’ll live ten years longer!”
Su Yunhai glanced at Su Dashan, whose face was bruised and swollen beyond recognition, and warned him, “I advise you not to provoke me or set your sights on my things. Otherwise, I won’t mind sending all of you to reunite with Great-Grandma.”
Su Dashan had been brutally beaten by Su Yunhai the previous day, and the experience had left him deeply traumatized.
This time, it genuinely wasn’t his branch that had encouraged their mother to cause trouble.
They hadn’t known anything about it either. Otherwise, they would have stopped her long ago.
“We… know…”
Su Dashan’s mouth was so swollen that several of his teeth had become loose. His words were slurred, and he kept his eyes down, not daring to meet Su Yunhai’s gaze.
Seeing her father once again teaching the old fleas of the Su family a lesson, Shen Shuli was in a rather good mood after watching the whole show.
She started looking around for something to do.
The sight of her three shameless brothers sitting around leisurely made her want to find them some work.
There were only four women in their household.
Her second sister-in-law was pregnant and had an unstable pregnancy, so no one dared ask her to cook.
Shen Yuehua was still reassuring her parents and hadn’t had time to come over and prepare food.
Shen Shuli wasn’t the type to wait on other people either, but she couldn’t exactly stand by and watch her eldest sister-in-law prepare food for so many people all by herself.
And so, she began her grand plan of disciplining the men.
“Su Chang’an, are you blind? Your wife is working all by herself, and you don’t even know enough to lend a hand? Hurry up and go gather some firewood and start the fire!”
“Su Ping’an, your wife is pregnant, so of course she has an excuse not to work. But look at the size of you! Are you planning to stand there and wait for someone to spoon-feed you? Come over here and help cut the meat and vegetables!”
“Su Ding’an, what are you spacing out for? When we fought the bandits, all you did was hide behind the door. You’re useless at everything, but you’re number one when it comes to slacking off…”
“Ahem, Sister Shuli, I’ve got plenty of work to do. I need to feed and water all the livestock in our family. We can’t let these heroes of ours go hungry or thirsty.”
Su Ding’an had already figured out that his little sister wasn’t planning to let a single one of them off the hook.
He hurriedly found himself a job.
The three brothers were deeply unhappy about it, but they could only keep their resentment to themselves.
They had personally witnessed their new sister slaughter bandits as easily as chopping vegetables.
They absolutely did not dare offend this woman.
She was terrifying!
Originally, the three brothers hadn’t believed what their new sister had said and had not planned to flee the famine with their parents.
But when the bandits actually came down from the mountains to rob them, they proved themselves sensible enough. They knew the bandits wouldn’t spare the people of Peach Blossom Village, so they had packed their belongings and prepared to leave without even waiting for their father to urge them.
Who could have imagined that on the very first day after leaving home, this little sister would already start finding excuses to make things difficult for them and work them to the bone?
She was actually making them do women’s work!
Sure enough, she had been sent here to torment them!
Their little sister Wanwan was still the best.
She had never ordered them around or made them do this and that.
They wondered whether Wanwan had received their letter.
If Wanwan found out that they were leaving Qingzhou, they might never see each other again in this lifetime.
Would she cry her eyes out in sadness?
*
Qingzhou.
Two days passed.
Lin Wufeng finally received a letter from his second younger brother, Lin Wuya.
Lin Wuya served as the Minister of War in the imperial court and held a second-rank position. He was the Lin family’s strongest support in the capital.
The letter stated bluntly that Hanshan Pass had already fallen, and the imperial court had no capable general it could send to defend the northern border.
The Northern Barbarians would reach Qingzhou within half a month.
On top of that, the northern border princes were also planning to take advantage of the chaos to raise an army in rebellion.
Qingzhou was a place they absolutely had to seize.
As the foremost family in Qingzhou, the Lin family would certainly be targeted.
At best, they would lose their wealth and property.
At worst, they would be forced to take the rebels’ side, and if they refused, they would certainly meet a miserable end.
Lin Wuya urged Lin Wufeng to liquidate the family’s property as quickly as possible and move the entire Lin family south to seek refuge.
Lin Wufeng’s entire body trembled as he held the letter.
He couldn’t tell whether he felt more excitement or anxiety at that moment.
“Hanshan Pass really has fallen…”
“Fortunately, I listened to Wanwan and stocked up on a huge amount of grain in time!”
“Right. I have Wanwan!”
Lin Wufeng immediately ordered someone to bring Lin Wanwan to him.
At this point, everyone in the Lin family had temporarily moved into the private residence of the third son, Lin Wuzhou.
Compared with the main Lin residence, this house was much smaller, barely large enough to accommodate the entire Lin family.
“Father, you called for me?”
A faint smile played at the corners of Lin Wanwan’s lips.
She had known that her father would summon her in the next few days, so she had been preparing for it all along.
“Mm. Come here. This is tea I brewed myself. Have a taste and see if you like it.”
Lin Wufeng personally brought Lin Wanwan a cup of tea.
His attitude said everything.
Seeing that her father had personally brewed tea for her, Lin Wanwan’s heart finally settled.
She gratefully accepted the cup and took a sip.
She knew very little about tea, and all she could taste was something vaguely like tree leaves.
But not the slightest trace of that appeared on her face.
“Father’s tea is indeed fragrant and mellow. It has quite a unique flavor.”
Lin Wanwan couldn’t help flattering him before asking, “May I ask why you called Wanwan here?”
Lin Wufeng’s feelings were complicated, though happiness outweighed everything else.
He looked at Lin Wanwan gently.
“Wanwan, have you happened to foresee anything else recently?”