After forcing himself to eat half a bowl, he fell back into a deep sleep.
Yu Li went to the kitchen and ate her breakfast. The thick, fragrant white porridge paired with salted duck egg tasted exceptionally delicious to her.
It was indeed better than she had imagined.
—
By noon, Da Zhuang finally brought the doctor over.
The doctor, surnamed Xu, was around fifty years old, with graying hair and beard. He was a physician from the Huichuntang clinic in the county and a frequent visitor to the Fu family. Every time Fu Wenxiao fell ill, it was Doctor Xu who was called. The last time Fu Wenxiao regained consciousness, it had also been Doctor Xu who examined him.
After examining Fu Wenxiao, Doctor Xu quickly prescribed the necessary medicine.
He instructed, “Pay extra attention in the next few days. I’ll prescribe three days’ worth of medicine for now. If the fever persists, have someone call me again.”
Zhou Shi hastily agreed and handed silver to Da Zhuang, asking him to make another trip to the county with Doctor Xu to fetch the medicine.
—
Meanwhile, early in the morning, Old Madam Yu and Yu Laosan, along with his mother, set out with grain on their shoulders.
Yu Jin stood at the doorway of the kitchen, watching them leave. She knew that Grandma and Third Uncle were most likely delivering grain to the family of the eldest uncle who lived in the county.
But usually, the grain was delivered at the beginning of the month, and there were still many days left until the start of next month. Why deliver it early?
Frowning, Yu Jin thought it over carefully and quickly realized that this trip to the county was definitely related to her eldest sister’s affairs.
They were going to seek advice from the eldest uncle’s family.
Understanding this, Yu Jin couldn’t help but sneer.
Her eldest sister was much easier to understand now. She operated on the principle of “fairness.” Since they were family, things should be fair. Whatever someone else had, she should have as well.
What the other branches of the family had, the second branch should also have. The Yu family’s preference for males over females didn’t work on her.
Of course, in Yu Li’s way of doing things, fairness required sufficient strength.
The strong set the rules. She was stronger than anyone else in the Yu family, so she didn’t think her demands were unreasonable.
If they disagreed, they only had to beat her in a fight, and she’d be willing to follow their rules.
If they couldn’t beat her, then they had to follow hers.
It was that simple.
Yu Jin, being quick-witted and sharp, had firmly aligned herself with Yu Li’s way of doing things after figuring out her principles. She faithfully executed the rules Yu Li set.
Even if the eldest uncle returned, she wasn’t worried.
The eldest uncle was a scholar, and scholars cared most about appearances. At most, he might use underhanded tactics in private, but such schemes were unlikely to work on her eldest sister in her current state.
—
From Qingshi Village to the county, one could take a boat, an ox cart, a mule cart, or walk.
Boats were the fastest. The river in front of Qingshi Village connected directly to the county, and there were many boatmen offering rides. However, taking a boat was expensive. Unless there was an urgent matter, the villagers usually chose ox carts or simply walked.
Naturally, Old Madam Yu wasn’t willing to spend that kind of money. Even the two coins for an ox cart ride were too much for her to part with.
Two people would cost four coins, not to mention the grain they were bringing, which counted as half a person’s fare, bringing the total to five coins.
Thus, the two of them walked, with Yu Laosan carrying the grain on his shoulder.
By the time they arrived in the county, it was almost noon.
The sun was blazing hot, leaving them parched, exhausted, and desperate to find a place to rest.
They made their way to the house rented by Yu Laoda in the county, located in a narrow alley.
The houses in this area weren’t large and were all similarly designed. Upon entering, there was a small courtyard leading to a two-story wooden building with several cramped rooms partitioned inside.
Even such modest housing wasn’t cheap to rent.
Old Madam Yu knocked loudly on the door, her bangs echoing against the wood. However, no one answered.
Yu Laosan set down the grain he had been carrying, wiped the sweat off his face, and said, “What’s going on? Is Sister-in-law not here?”
Every so often, Sister-in-law Chen would bring her youngest son and daughter to the county and stay for ten days or half a month.
Her reasoning was perfectly valid: she worried that her husband and son in the county had no woman to take care of them and might not even have a hot meal to eat.
The Yu family had no objections to this, as studying was considered the most important priority, and everything revolved around Yu Jingde and his son’s education. If not for the high costs of living in the county and the limited space in the rented house, which couldn’t accommodate too many people, Sister-in-law Chen might have moved there permanently.
This time, for some reason, Chen Shi and her children had stayed in the county for an unusually long time. More than half a month had passed, and they still hadn’t returned.
Old Madam Yu was naturally displeased, but due to Chen Shi’s father being a scholar, she couldn’t openly complain.
A neighboring resident, hearing the noise, poked their head out to inquire. Upon learning they were looking for someone, they informed them, “Sister in law Chen isn’t home. She left early this morning, saying she was taking the children back to her parents’ house.”
Hearing this, Old Madam Yu became even more upset.
Chen Shi’s father, Scholar Chen, lived in the neighboring village of Qingshi.
After passing the provincial exams and earning the title of scholar, he had rented a house in the county for convenience while continuing his studies. Unfortunately, after years of trying, he never passed higher exams. As he grew older and finally gave up, he bought a house in the county and opened a private academy. Yu Laoda had studied under Scholar Chen back in the day, leading to his acquaintance with and eventual marriage to Chen Shi.
Yu Laoda and Chen Shi’s two sons were also studying under Scholar Chen.
Because Scholar Chen was their maternal grandfather, Yu Jingde and Yu Jingli were exempt from paying tuition. This was the only way the Yu family could afford their education. Otherwise, as a rural farming family, they wouldn’t have been able to support two scholars.
Learning that Chen Shi had taken her younger son and daughter back to her parents’ house, Old Madam Yu and Yu Laosan had no choice but to head to the rice shop to find Yu Laoda.
Yu Laoda worked as an accountant at a rice shop and stayed there during the day, with the shop providing him lunch.
When the two arrived at the rice shop, the shop assistant, upon learning they were Yu Laoda’s mother and brother, delivering grain from the countryside, gave them a second glance. Inwardly, he couldn’t help but speculate.
This Yu accountant often carried himself as a refined scholar, boasting a wife who was the daughter of a scholar and displaying an air of aloofness.
Everyone assumed he was a local from the county, given his refined taste in food and clothing. Who would have thought his mother and brother were country bumpkins, and that his brother would personally deliver grain from the village?
No wonder Yu accountant never bought rice from their shop; they had assumed he sourced it elsewhere.
Unaware of the shop assistant’s subtle gaze, Old Madam Yu and Yu Laosan were directed to the shop’s backyard, where they found Yu Laoda busy at work.
Upon seeing them unexpectedly, Yu Laoda frowned, his expression showing a hint of displeasure.
Suppressing his annoyance, he asked, “Mother, Laosan, why are you here?”
Seeing her most accomplished son, Old Madam Yu couldn’t hold back her grievances and began to pour out her complaints.
“Laoda, you have no idea! Something happened at home. Li Niang, that wretched girl, she actually…”
The shop assistant who had been leading the way was about to leave, but upon hearing Old Madam Yu’s words, stopped in his tracks and perked up his ears.
Noticing this, Yu Laoda quickly interrupted Old Madam Yu and led them into a small room in the backyard, pouring them each a cup of tea.
As the rice shop’s accountant, he had a small resting room in the backyard, though it was cramped.
Parched, Old Madam Yu gulped down several cups of water before launching into her accusations against Yu Li, recounting all her supposed misdeeds.
Yu Laosan chimed in to support her, the mother and son united in their outrage.
If Yu Laoda had previously held a neutral or indifferent view of his second brother’s daughters, his opinion had now soured completely after hearing their stories. He now harbored intense resentment toward them, especially toward Yu Li, the chief troublemaker. He wished the old patriarch would deal with her harshly once and for all.
What made things worse, in their eyes, was the incompetence of Yu Li’s parents. The second branch’s husband and wife were utterly useless and incapable of disciplining their daughter. They couldn’t be relied upon.
As their complaints continued, Yu Laoda’s frown deepened, and his face grew increasingly displeased.
Sensing his mood, Old Madam Yu pressed on, asking, “Laoda, don’t you think they’re absolutely detestable?”
Yu Laoda neither agreed nor disagreed with their complaints and instead asked, “Where is Lao’er? As the father, why doesn’t he discipline her? How can he allow his daughter to disrespect her elders?”
This was what displeased him the most.
He didn’t want to stoop to arguing with the younger generation. To him, Yu Li’s outrageous behavior stemmed from the poor discipline of Lao’er and his wife.
“Don’t even bring him up!” Old Madam Yu’s face was full of disdain. “He’s completely useless. How could he possibly control her?”
In truth, they had tried to get Lao’er and his wife to discipline those rebellious girls, but it had been in vain.
Not only were Lao’er and his wife timid and ineffectual in front of their parents, but they were equally powerless in front of their children. No matter how much Old Madam Yu scolded them, they would respond with trepidation and assurances that they would properly reprimand their daughters once they returned home. But when they did, they barely said a word.
Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate—they did reprimand them, but it was just a few words. The girls would agree obediently on the surface but would go back to doing things their own way as soon as they turned around.
There was no change whatsoever. Clearly, they didn’t take their parents’ words to heart.
This enraged Old Madam Yu to no end.
She had come to realize that her second son and his wife were nothing more than spineless weaklings—so spineless, in fact, that they couldn’t even command authority over their own children. They lacked even the basic dignity of being parents.
In the past, Old Madam Yu had been pleased with how easy it was to manipulate her second son and daughter-in-law. But now, she resented how pliable they were, to the point where even their daughters could walk all over them.
Yu Laoda furrowed his brow again. He knew the nature of Lao’er and his wife well, so he wasn’t particularly surprised.