CHAPTER 135: CHAPTER 134: THE COST OF IGNORANCE

Yu Changhe’s shout made everyone in the courtyard freeze in place.

Seeing his parents looking at him with peculiar eyes, he wasn’t afraid of losing face and continued, "All the money in our family is earned by Chunfang, and she makes the decisions. If you want money from me, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I don’t have a penny."

Ever since she entered the courtyard, Yu Lao Tai turned a blind eye to Sun’s, intent on targeting her soft-hearted son, thinking that as long as her son agreed, Sun wouldn’t have a choice but to agree.

As a result, her son didn’t care about pride or reputation, trampling it all on the ground, and it was he himself who stepped on it.

Yu Lao Tai was speechless.

Could it be that she, as the mother-in-law, had to bow her head to her daughter-in-law?

She couldn’t do that!

This Sun was quick with her hands, and her cooking was better than that of Cao’s. With the same ingredients and oil, Sun’s dishes were just tastier than Cao’s.

When the two daughters-in-law alternated cooking, she would always leave the better vegetables for Sun to prepare, as it was a waste letting Cao make them.

But she had never heard that Sun could make pastries.

Moreover, back then, even coarse grains had to be consumed carefully, so making pastries likely required fine flour. Even if Sun claimed she knew how to make them, Yu Lao Tai would have never allowed her to waste the precious white flour.

But could making pastries really earn that much money?

Yu Lao Tai was a bit skeptical.

Yu Lao Tai leaned in closer to her younger son and whispered, "What kind of pastries does she sell that earns so much?"

Yu Changyu lowered his voice, "Who cares how she earns it, getting the money is what matters."

Yu Lao Tai rolled her eyes at her younger son, "Of course I know we need the money, but the question is, will she give it?"

"Then what should we do? We have to repay the money Qi’s borrowed from her family’s side eventually!"

Yu Changyu thought about how Qi had humbled herself, borrowing more than twenty taels from her family to put his mind at ease for the exams. Adding her dowry to it, she pieced together thirty taels of silver, allowing him to buy his way out of military service and then selling her dowry silver bracelet for him to go to the spring exam in Yangcheng, and he felt a pang of guilt.

Even though Qi’s was pregnant with his child, ensuring she didn’t run away, he was still feeling guilty over the wrongdoing he had committed.

"Didn’t you say you were sure to pass the exams and become a scholar this time?"

Once the third son passed as a scholar, their family wouldn’t need to pay land taxes or military service, and then he could become a private school teacher in the village, earning a stipend, sparing them from worrying about money.

By then, Qi’s family might even have to send gifts to curry favor with their son, so why would they need to repay the money?

Yu Changyu knew in his heart that he wouldn’t pass as a scholar because he never even went to Yangcheng, let alone participate in any spring exam.

He took the money meant for the exam and went to gamble in the town’s casino, losing it all in one night.

But considering the spring exam took nine days, plus the round trip to Yangcheng, he lingered outside for over ten days before daring to return home.

Luckily, he had some good friends in town, and he brazenly stayed a few days at one place or another, barely getting through. Otherwise, he would have had to sleep on the streets during those ten days.

Yu Changyu nervously avoided Yu Lao Tai’s scrutinizing gaze and mumbled, "Who knows if this examiner will find fault with me? No matter how well the essay is written, it still needs to look pleasant to his eyes."

Upon hearing what Yu Changyu said, Yu Lao Tai instinctively started praying silently to various immortals.

Oh Immortal, please let us not encounter those examiners who fail to recognize gold inlaid jade, and let my son successfully pass as a scholar this time.

Yu Changyu recognized instantly what his mother was doing when he saw her like that.

He had used this as an excuse every time he failed, and his mother always prayed to the same few old immortals. Couldn’t she pray to some other deities for a change?

Yu Laoda furiously glared at Yu Changhe, "I don’t care who earns the money, you’re my son, so I demand your elderly care payment."

Sun laughed, "You want elderly care payments? Alright, then give back the two acres of land that belong to Changhe. The village chief is here, let him judge fairly for us."

Yu Laoda, simmering with anger, roared, "You want the land? No way!"

Those two acres were worth twenty taels of silver, and after Yu Changhe left, they sold those two acres to afford the bride price for the third son’s marriage.

The silver was long spent.

Wang Lizheng said, "Old man Yu, even if your son has separated from you and moved out, the land should follow him. His share of the land rightfully belongs to him!"

"That two acres, I sold them for the third son’s marriage gift, it can’t be given," Yu Laoda stated, sounding as though daring anyone to act against him.

Sun sneered, "Father, you must be mistaken, when marrying off the third son, wasn’t it the third son’s share of land that should have been sold?"

Yu Laoda, stubbornly, "I say it was the second son’s share that was sold, do you not understand, or what?"

Wang Lizheng couldn’t keep silent, "In our Northern Land, most people calculate elderly care in terms of grain; two bushels of grain, if converted to silver..."

Sun Fengshou interjected, "No need to give him money, we have plenty of grain in our warehouse, just take two bushels as needed."

Last year’s rice harvest left us with some excess, and together with the coarse grain he bought and the white rice and flour sent by Yu Xiaolian, there was plenty left. It would be inconvenient to take it all to Yangcheng anyway!

Yu Laoda waved his hand dismissively, "I don’t want grain, I want money. I want Yu Changhe to pay all the elderly care funds for the next fifty years in one go."

"Fifty years?"

Everyone present gasped sharply.

"You’re a wretched old man in your sixties; do you honestly think you’ll live another fifty years?"

Yu Lao Tai shot a glare at the startled folks, "What’s the matter? Can’t we live a bit longer?"

Wang Lizheng said, "Reaching eighty already signifies longevity, isn’t calculating to live over a hundred a bit much?"

Yu Laoda figured this was a prime opportunity—a hefty sum now and who knew when they’d cross paths again? They likely wouldn’t return home, or upon seeing them, deliberately avoid them.

Yu Laoda firmly stared at Sun, "Pay the fifty years’ worth of elderly care in one go, and I’ll write a breakup letter for Changhe, severing father-son ties. How does that sound?"

Deal.

Yu Xiaolian subtly nudged Sun.

Sun raised an eyebrow, "Do you mean it?"

Yu Laoda pointed upwards, "Heaven as my witness!"

"Alright, I agree!"

Sun turned to look at Yu Changhe, "Do you agree?"

At the very moment his father mentioned a breakup letter, Yu Changhe felt the blood in his veins turn cold. He nodded vehemently, "You decide!"

Having said that, he turned and went inside, not wanting to lay eyes on his parents again.

Wang Lizheng calculated in his mind, given the current grain prices, he spoke, "Last year the grain yield was low, making prices slightly higher than usual—five wen per jin for rice, nine wen for brown rice. Typically, for elderly care, it’s hulled brown rice that’s given. Two bushels a year means seventy jin, six hundred and thirty wen. Calculated over fifty years, that totals thirty-one and a half taels of silver."

Yu Laoda assumed fifty years should amount to about a hundred taels, unexpectedly finding it was just over thirty taels, leaving him feeling short-changed.

It’s the price of being uneducated.

Yu Laoda glared at his educated son Yu Changyu—why didn’t you calculate in advance? What’s the point of spending money to educate you if you’re useless when it counts!

If I had known fifty years was so little, I would have said a hundred years.