"What nonsense are you talking about? How can we afford to eat meat and vegetables every day? This silver is enough for us two to live on, rice, flour, vegetables, and clothes, the second son has also been filial for many years, and they're all new. You just love to drink that meat pie soup, three or four taels of silver can't even cover your meat expenses for a year? If you weren't always causing trouble, would the second son be like this? You still aren't satisfied?" The old man stopped Tian Shi's nonsense, afraid of embarrassing Zeng Ruiqing. Later on, if the two sons pushed and blamed each other, they'd lose face."

  "Father, mother, let's just say it like this. For the next five years, I, the eldest son, will take care of you both. You can either live separately with your own money or live together with us, whichever you prefer. Let's settle on this today so that I won't be put in an awkward position by my younger siblings later. Rest assured, I always keep my word." Zeng Ruiqing said.

  Tian looked at Old Master and said: "We still need some silver, we want to eat something ourselves, it's also convenient."

  "What can these few pieces of broken silver do? What's the use of raising two sons? Won't they just marry and forget their mother? I still don't agree. Ah, right! You people did sign a contract, didn't you? How many taels of silver were you supposed to give us each year? It's only been a few years and you're already going back on your word?"

  "Mother, at first we signed the contract, but it was my elder brother who went back on his word. When we divided the family property, as the eldest son, he got to choose everything first. Can't he support you all for a few years? Mother, if you do this, it will be hard for him to live in the village. People will think that I'm not willing to fulfill my duties as the eldest son, but actually, it's because you're being too soft on me and my money. Isn't this ruining my reputation? What about our descendants in the future?"

  "That's right, wife, you're just a woman with long hair and short sight, what do you know? Just listen to our two sons, this matter is settled." The old man said, slapping the table.

  Zi Qing let out a sigh of relief. Unexpectedly, this time Old Man Wang hit the nail on the head, and Second Brother really took on the responsibility, saving their family from a lot of trouble. Will Grandma still dare to bully them in the future? What will she use to spoil her several daughters now? Isn't it always said that their family is no good? This time, find someone to teach her a lesson.

  "Will we really have to support our parents from now on? What kind of life will we lead then?" asked Zhou Shi with a bitter face.

  "How can you get through it? You won't hang yourself by the neck, will you? Just get through it as you should. Eat your meal and that's it." Zeng Ruiqing shouted.

  Everyone had their own thoughts while eating. Zi Qing and a few others were savoring the food, but as for Tian Shi and his group, they looked like they were eating without any taste or enjoyment.

  "On the second day of the new year, are you still treating us to dinner? It's not easy for several sisters to come back and gather together, can't you even spare one meal?" Tian suddenly asked.

  "This is the second day of the Lunar New Year. We still invite a family to gather together, I guess my elder brother hasn't prepared anything yet, so it's up to him now? Otherwise, we can take turns hosting like at Second Sister's house, I think this way is better, being close brothers, let's be clear about things and avoid saying who loses or gains from whose house. Elder Brother, what do you say?"

  "What's wrong with that? I can say it's fine, whatever you eat, and I'll just be responsible for one day. Don't think about anything else." Zeng Ruiqing said in a low voice.

  "That's settled then," said Zeng Rui Xiang. "Father, mother, is there anything else you'd like to add?"

  Mrs. Tian looked at her youngest son with some unfamiliarity, she really didn't understand, in the past when she said one he wouldn't dare say two, today not only did he push them out, but also refused to give his sisters a reunion dinner that they had once a year, even if he didn't like Chunyu, weren't there still Xiayu and Qiuyu? How could he suddenly be so heartless? With Zhou's strict temperament, how would they spend the rest of their days? She really didn't have any confidence in Zeng Ruiqing. She looked at Zeng Ruixiang again, then looked at Old Master, Old Master was silent, not knowing what he was thinking at this moment.

  As usual, the old man would play mahjong after dinner, but this time he didn't say anything and just wanted to leave with his hands behind his back. Zeng Ruiqing naturally also wanted to take his wife and children away, and Zeng Ruixiang didn't insist on keeping them either. Anyway, today's goal had been achieved, and they all needed time to sort out and digest everything.

  Zeng Ruixiang and his son Zifu personally saw them off at the door. On their way back, Zifu said: "Dad, I really think you've changed over the years. If it were in the past, you would never say such things."

  Zeng Ruixiang was taken aback, probably not expecting his son to ask such a question. He didn't know what to say for a moment, then thought for a while before speaking: "In the past, I always tried to be good to everyone. I considered the feelings of my parents and siblings, but in doing so, I neglected your mother's feelings and our children's feelings. I would rather sacrifice my own children than let my parents be heartbroken and say that I'm unfilial and have no conscience. However, as time went on, I realized that the more I did this, the more they took it for granted and became increasingly demanding. In the end, I couldn't even protect my own child. The matter with Qing'er has been like a thorn in my heart, and your uncle has always scolded me for being too soft-hearted. So, I've come to realize that if I continue down this path, who knows how many more children will suffer? I don't want to make the same mistake again and let your mother and you all continue to suffer."

  As they spoke, they had already entered the door and heard Zi Qing asking: "Mother, why didn't Grandma bring up Father? What does it mean? Every time my grandma doesn't mention that she raised Father with great difficulty, what's going on?"

  "I'm not very clear about this either, I think my third aunt mentioned it before, it's because the old lady and your mother didn't get along well, your mother was dissatisfied with the old lady only doting on her daughter and moved the whole family to that side, afterwards..."

  "Let me tell you, I think after hearing your grandmother's words today, you'll all be a bit curious. You're all grown up now and should be able to distinguish right from wrong, so I'll tell you the whole story, that way you won't have to ask others." Zeng Rui Xiang said.

  Originally, Zeng Ruixiang had told Zi Qing that Tian Shi and the old lady's mother-in-law relationship was not good because Tian Shi was spoiled at home and did not do anything in her husband's family. Even when she went to the vegetable garden, she would always say that her skin itched all over, so Old Master pitied her and naturally didn't want her to do anything. However, the old lady had only one son, whom she treasured like a precious gem, and couldn't bear to see him suffer or work hard while his wife was idle. The contradictions between them grew bigger and bigger. Tian Shi did have one good point - she never quarreled and always pretended to be weak. Of course, this was just Zi Qing's guess; Zeng Ruixiang had originally said that Tian Shi's body was not good and she would faint whenever she got excited. So naturally, Old Master became more and more biased towards his wife.

  The old woman could still say a few words when the old man was alive, and when she saw her little grandson being clever and lovely, she took him in and raised him with great care for several years. Moreover, she tried every means to send both grandsons to school, so naturally, the family's life became more difficult. Tian Shi even lost two children because of this, at that time, Xia Yu had not been born yet. Zeng Rui Xiang enjoyed a few years of good fortune because of this, and naturally, he got all the good things first. Unfortunately, good times did not last long, after the old man passed away, Tian Shi's life became better and better with her husband's support, but the old woman could only rely on her daughter and son-in-law for help.

  Later, with more children in the family, life became even harder. Tian wanted Zeng Rui Xiang to drop out of school, but both Zeng and his grandmother disagreed. The grandmother borrowed some money from her son-in-law to continue supporting Zeng's education, which made the relationship between Tian and the grandmother increasingly tense, and as a result, Tian also began to dislike Zeng.

  Zeng Ruixiang had just passed the imperial examination and become a Xiucai, and was about to go to the provincial academy. Unfortunately, his elderly grandmother had passed away. Zeng Ruixiang fell seriously ill in school, reportedly due to bleeding in the stomach. With Xia Yu also falling ill, this added insult to injury for the impoverished family. Fortunately, Zi Qing's third aunt had always been on good terms with Zeng Ruixiang and not only helped him with his medical expenses but also introduced her younger sister to marry into the Zeng family.

  She always thought that one day Zeng Ruixiang would be able to take the imperial examination and leave, so she wanted her younger sister-in-law to marry over and help take good care of Zeng Ruixiang for a few years. Because she also knew that Shen Shi had excellent embroidery skills, which could support Zeng Ruixiang's studies. Probably Old Master and Tian Shi also agreed to this marriage because of the dowry, of course, this was Zi Qing's guess.

  But little did they know, things took a turn for the worse. Tian naturally didn't like Zeng Rui Xiang and Xiao's family getting close, so he forced Zeng Rui Xiang to go out and find work to support his family. And so, Zeng Rui Xiang's life fell into Tian's planned path. It can only be said that fate plays tricks on people.

  "Dad is telling you all this today, also hoping that you won't blame your grandma too much. The right and wrong of the older generation are not for us younger ones to judge. Actually, I'm not necessarily trying to push your grandma and grandpa out, mainly because in recent years, your grandma and big aunt have been doing things a bit foolishly. Your big aunt is so calculating with money that she's lost all sense of morality, and your grandma can't tell right from wrong, only knowing how to protect her. So, I want to take this opportunity to let your grandma reflect on herself, haven't the things dad has done in the past been good enough?"

  "I think, I'm afraid Auntie doesn't reflect on herself, she only knows how to complain that we've been treating her badly. In her mind, there's only one understanding: our family is well-off, not lacking in money, so why can't we help out Big Sister? Aren't you siblings? She won't consider whether Big Sister's calculations are wrong or not, if anything is wrong, it's that we didn't give Big Sister the money first, and instead waited for her to come and calculate, how troublesome. We should just hand over the money to Big Sister." Zi Qing couldn't help but laugh at the end.

  "I also agree with Zi Qing's view." Lin Kangping and several others including Zifu expressed their stance.

  Zeng Ruixiang sighed and said: "We can only take it one step at a time, as for your aunt, when it comes to spending money on flowers, I won't be paying either."

  "Right, Father, why didn't you take the opportunity to get Uncle to sign the contract today? What if he regrets it later? It's not easy to get him to agree to support Grandpa and them." Zi Qing suddenly thought of this question.