At this moment, everyone in the eldest branch was filled with regret.
The red fabric shimmered with a lustrous sheen. Anyone could tell at a glance that it was expensive.
The material of those shoes was also made from costly brocade, embroidered with subtle auspicious cloud patterns.
If they had known their new niece would be so generous, they would have prepared a red envelope no matter what. Even if they had only given a token amount, they might have gotten a whole pile of valuable gifts in return.
They were practically drooling with envy!
Madam Cui Yuhong, the wife of Su Dashan, exchanged a glance with her husband.
Then, with a broad smile, she stood up and strode toward Shen Shuli.
She reached out to grab Shen Shuli’s hand, but Shen Shuli promptly dodged her.
Cui Yuhong wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest. She continued smiling and said, “Niece, your uncle, I, and your cousins and their wives have already prepared your welcome gifts. They’re waiting in our room. We’ll go get them right now. Just wait here.”
With that, she led the entire family of more than a dozen people away in a noisy procession.
Grandpa Su and Grandma Su wore gloomy expressions. They wanted to stop their eldest son but couldn’t bring themselves to say anything.
The old couple knew very well that their eldest son merely wanted to take advantage of the situation and wasn’t genuinely welcoming the new granddaughter. Even so, they couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.
Before long, everyone from the eldest branch returned with their welcome gifts.
Every red envelope was suspiciously flat.
One by one, they lined up to give their gifts to Shen Shuli.
A barely noticeable sneer curled at the corners of Shen Shuli’s lips. Smiling, she accepted every single one.
Then, right in front of everyone, she opened all the red envelopes.
Good heavens.
Most of them contained only a single copper coin.
Even worse, some had stones stuffed inside to make up the weight, while others were completely empty.
This shameless little trick actually made Shen Shuli laugh.
The people from the eldest branch had never expected Shen Shuli to open the envelopes right in front of them.
Now, every one of them was burning with embarrassment.
Yet they still shamelessly waited for Shen Shuli to give them return gifts.
When Madam Cui Yuhong saw that Shen Shuli showed no intention of giving anything back, she couldn’t hold herself back any longer.
She shamelessly spoke up to ask for a gift.
“Niece, you’ve already given return gifts to Third Uncle’s family. Surely you should give something to your cousins from the eldest branch as well. That would only be fair. We’re all family, after all. We wouldn’t want any resentment to develop between us, would we?”
Shen Shuli looked at Cui Yuhong with eyes narrowed into little slits because of the swelling.
Then she tossed the stack of red envelopes in her hand straight into the air, sending them raining down onto Cui Yuhong’s face.
“Do you deserve one?”
“You—you—you! You wretch! How dare you humiliate me like this!”
Cui Yuhong’s cheeks flushed bright red with rage. She reached out, intending to claw at Shen Shuli’s face.
Su Yunhai and Shen Yuehua had been standing protectively on either side of their daughter. The moment they saw this, they immediately stepped in front of her and glared coldly at Cui Yuhong.
“Big Sister-in-law, stop making a fool of yourself here. If your family didn’t want to give anything, you should’ve simply not given anything. What was the point of handing over empty red envelopes to humiliate her? And now you even dare to lay a hand on my daughter right in front of me. Do you really think I’m dead?”
Su Yunhai showed his sister-in-law no mercy whatsoever.
He kicked her hard enough to send her crashing to the ground.
No one had expected Su Yunhai to actually attack her.
Everyone was so shocked that they froze in place.
It took Su Dashan a long moment to react. He hurried over to check on his wife.
Seeing her rolling around on the ground in pain, his eyes nearly bulged with rage.
He glared furiously at Su Yunhai and roared, “Su Dahai! How dare you kick your own sister-in-law! You’ve got some nerve!”
Su Yunhai snorted coldly, his entire presence suddenly radiating intimidation.
His plump face was so round that his eyes were nearly lost in it, yet his gaze was full of contempt as he looked down at Su Dashan.
“What? Do you want to experience what it’s like to be kicked too?”
Only then did Su Dashan remember that his second brother had long since become ruthless.
If anyone refused to go along with him, he would retaliate against them openly or behind the scenes—and often twice as viciously.
“I’m your big brother!” Su Dashan said, suppressing his anger.
“Only if I acknowledge you as one.”
Su Yunhai’s eyes were filled with disdain.
“You!”
Su Dashan was so furious that he nearly spat blood.
Seeing that the two brothers were about to start fighting again, Grandpa Su quickly stepped in to mediate.
“Enough! Eldest Son, hurry and take your wife back to lie down.”
“Second Son, even if your sister-in-law’s welcome gift was a little small, it was still a token of goodwill. How could you lay hands on her?”
“You’re a scholar, after all. If word gets out, don’t you care about your reputation?”
Grandpa Su couldn’t resist lecturing and threatening him.
“Enough. Stop talking nonsense.”
Su Yunhai was thoroughly fed up with these people.
Now he finally understood.
These people had exactly the same faces as his parents and siblings from the modern world. Why, then, were their values and personalities so drastically different?
It turned out that the dog of an author had deliberately designed them this way just to disgust people.
In the past, he had been willing to give them some respect because they looked exactly like his parents and siblings from his previous life.
But now?
They were nothing more than fictional characters.
He had already come to terms with it.
“I have something else important to tell all of you. Sit down.”
Su Yunhai led his wife and daughter to their seats and looked from a distance at the people from the other branches.
The other two branches said nothing. They silently sat down.
Looking at the dishes that were already beginning to cool, especially the two fragrant meat dishes—roast chicken and braised pork—everyone wanted to eat, but no one dared touch them.
“My daughter brought back some important news from Qingzhou.”
“The upper echelons of Qingzhou’s powerful families have already received confirmed news that the Great General Who Guards the North has been killed in battle. News of the deaths of his nine sons has also arrived one after another. Hanshan Pass has been breached and occupied by the Northern Barbarians.”
“Taking advantage of the situation, the northern feudal lords have been conscripting soldiers recklessly. They aren’t even sparing ten-year-old children. They’re also coming up with all kinds of excuses to increase taxes.”
“On top of that, there’s a severe drought. Nothing can be grown, and the common people have been driven to the brink of starvation.”
“Recently, many desperate refugees have been flowing south from the northern territories into various parts of Qingzhou. It’s likely that large numbers of refugees will soon flood into our area as well. When that happens, they’ll certainly come after our food and homes.”
“The weather is too hot. The ground itself is scorching. Seeds planted in the soil are literally being cooked before they can sprout. No matter how much water we pour on them, they won’t germinate. There won’t be a harvest this year.”
“Food prices outside have nearly increased tenfold. We’re almost unable to afford grain anymore. And even if we can afford it, there’s barely any grain left to buy. If we remain in the village, there’s simply no way to survive.”
“Not to mention other places—even here, it hasn’t rained for more than half a year. The small river outside the village is almost completely dried up, and of the three wells in the village, only one still has water. Even its output is decreasing day by day.”
“I don’t intend to wait until the water sources completely dry up and then sit around waiting to die with my wife and children.”
“I’ve already decided to take the people from our branch south to escape the famine. If any of you want to leave as well, you can travel with us.”
“If anyone thinks I’m talking nonsense or deliberately trying to frighten you, you’re free to stay here.”
“Our family will leave in seven days at the latest. You can take a few more days to think it over before giving me your answer.”
“All right. Eat.”
After saying this, Su Yunhai completely ignored the shock on everyone’s faces and simply served food to his wife and daughter.
Normally, the Su family wouldn’t have paid any attention to Su Yunhai’s expression before eating.
But after seeing him display his temper today and frightening them, they didn’t dare reach for their chopsticks first.
Now, however, the members of the Su family had already been hungry, yet after hearing Su Yunhai’s words, they were too frightened to eat at all.
No one touched their chopsticks.
“Second Son… are you telling the truth?”
Grandpa Su was so frightened that even the hand holding his chopsticks was trembling.
Everyone at the table stared at Su Yunhai.
Su Yunhai remained as steady as a mountain. He didn’t even look at his father, though he still answered.
“Would I joke about something like this? Besides, do I look like someone who would joke around with you about something like this?”
“Tomorrow, I’ll go to the surrounding county towns to buy some grain. If you don’t believe me, go see the situation in town for yourselves.”
No amount of explanation could compare to seeing the truth with one’s own eyes.
At present, most of the grain shops in Qingyun County had already closed. The few shops that remained open didn’t have enough grain to satisfy even the residents of the county. Anyone who managed to buy grain could consider themselves lucky.
For years, Su Yunhai had been in charge of the family’s food supplies. The people from the other two branches had no idea what was happening outside.
They were like frogs at the bottom of a well, believing that as long as their own family had grain, the outside world must still be enjoying favorable weather and peace.
Even with two exceptionally rare meat dishes on the table, everyone ate this welcome-home dinner without any appetite.
“Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!”
Before they had even finished eating, the village was suddenly filled with the rapid ringing of a copper gong.
It was the village chief’s signal to gather the entire village.
Every household was required to send at least one person to the threshing ground for a village meeting.