Chapter 1649: Chapter 1649: Tragic (4)

That day, Yang Ruxin wrote two long letters, carefully detailing the two pieces of news, and then called over Xiaohei and his wife, entrusting them to deliver the letters for the safest option.

Once the letters were sent off, Yang Ruxin didn’t dwell on them. After all, New Year’s was a time for eating, drinking, and celebrating—a joyful, carefree period.

The village was bustling with an air of celebration everywhere.

Even the Wang Family had shaken off their past gloom and started buying meat and wine; they even planned to purchase two acres of land. It was said that ever since Wang Wen got married, he’d become more ambitious, working part-time in Lin County and earning two taels of silver a month.

Lin Yue’e, who had kept her head down for such a long time, finally began to puff herself up with pride again. “So what if Yang Ruxin doesn’t use anyone from my family? We don’t care! Without her, we can still make money and buy meat.”

Even the Ma Family had steadied themselves. Ma Gouzi ended up tagging along with Wang Wen, and when he returned a few days ago, he brought back one tael of silver and even bought Wang Baozhu a silver bracelet.

Of course, not every household was basking in happiness—for instance, the Yang Family’s old residence.

The more glorious it had been, the more miserable it was now.

Yang Peili squatted at the base of the wall, puffed on his tobacco pipe twice, and then let out a sigh. When he had nothing to do, he would think about the past.

Once upon a time, he had five sons and two daughters—the very picture of a prosperous household. Back then, who didn’t envy the Yang Family? Wherever he went, people would eagerly call him “Uncle.” But now? His reputation had been so tarnished that his spine felt like it might snap from all the blame.

Out of five sons, one was dead, one disabled, and one still missing, leaving only one whole, yet even he refused to acknowledge his parents…

And as for the two daughters? One of them was married off—the less said about her the better—but the other, spoiled rotten by her mother, remained lazy and gluttonous, still unmarried to this day…

Yang Peili closed his eyes briefly. Could it be that his family’s fortunes were simply too shallow?

“Grandpa.” At that moment, Yang Rusong stepped out of the house carrying two couplets in his hands. “It’s the New Year; we need to hang spring couplets. I wrote these myself. My teacher always said my handwriting is pretty good.”

Trailing reluctantly behind him were Yang Ruohuai and Yang Ruban, each holding a pair of couplets as well.

Yang Ruban used to be wild and unruly; Yang Ruohuai had grown accustomed to being the dictator at home, always having the final say but capable of little else. Yet somehow, their eldest brother had started behaving strangely. Ever since returning home after failing the imperial exam, he had taken to lecturing—no, disciplining—the two of them. If they didn’t listen, they got beaten.

At first, the two tried resisting. But to their surprise, Yang Rusong turned out to be far stronger than them. They couldn’t even fight back effectively, and whenever they rebelled, the next beating was even worse.

Now, the two brothers were like mice before a cat whenever they saw their eldest brother.

Adding to their plight was the fact that, during Yang Rusong’s lecturing sessions, their parents and grandparents wouldn’t lift a finger to intervene. That was the true tragedy.

What the two younger brothers didn’t know was that this whole idea had been suggested by Yang Ruxin, and Yang Rusong had carried out his elder cousin’s instructions to the letter—yielding unexpectedly great results.

Yang Peili glanced up at his eldest grandson and then stood. He hadn’t realized until now that his grandson had grown to be as tall as him. A smile crept onto his face. “Alright.”

“Mom, hurry up and start preparing the New Year’s meals,” Yang Rusong called out. “Elder cousin prepared quite a lot of holiday goods. Let’s keep lunch simple—just noodles. Tonight, we need to hold the year-end rituals, so we’ll make dumplings in the afternoon—white-flour dumplings.”