Chapter 603 - 223: Hometown Affairs
Chapter 603: Chapter 223: Hometown Affairs
Chen Bai shared a few more details, mentioning that whenever the old lady was upset, she would sit by the door and hurl curses.
She cursed her three sons for being unfilial, claiming they would all go to hell when they died. She cursed her grandsons, saying raising them was worse than raising a dog, because at least a dog would wag its tail when it saw her. Her insults were so vile that even the villagers couldn’t stand to listen. Only when the old woman living across the street tossed a basin of water at her would she finally shut up and slink back into the house in embarrassment. However, her quiet periods never lasted more than a few days before she started up again.
Chen Bai felt sorry for himself, and equally sorry for his nephew. Hearing these words, Chen Song felt the exact same way. He felt a twinge of regret for his earlier rashness. He shouldn’t have hit Li’an. No matter how useless Li’an might be, he was a good person at heart. Although he was timid and shirked responsibility, he still had a sense of basic human decency.
Why had he beaten Li’an over that old couple? He wondered if the physical distance had made him forget their wickedness, causing him to blame everything on Li’an’s inaction.
Overwhelmed with guilt, Chen Song reached out his large hand and rubbed Li’an’s head. "It was my fault. I shouldn’t have hit you so rashly without asking for the whole story first. I apologize. Please don’t be mad at me."
The pent-up frustration Li’an had been holding onto suddenly dissipated. He slumped over the table and burst into tears.
"Uncle, I didn’t have a choice," Li’an sobbed. "I tried to intervene, but she didn’t just curse at me; she cursed at Chunyue’s parents as well. What did Chunyue do wrong? What did her parents do wrong? It breaks my heart to see Chunyue suffer grievances because of me."
Crying like a child who had finally found a protector, Li’an continued, "What am I supposed to do? No matter what I do, I’m always the bad guy. Why was I even born a human in this life? I’d be better off reincarnating as an animal in the next!"
Watching Li’an bawl his eyes out made De’an feel a pang of sympathy. He patted Li’an’s back and consoled him. "Come on, stop crying. You’re going to be a father soon. Sigh, even though none of us are going to laugh at you, we still have servants in the house. It wouldn’t be good to let them see you making a fool of yourself, right?"
Sure enough, Li’an stopped wailing, but he kept his head bowed, silently shedding tears.
Chen Bai ignored him and continued, "Dad’s body won’t hold out much longer. His will to live is gone, and now he is just waiting to die."
If the old man had just died outright, there wouldn’t be so many issues. Instead, he was dragging things out in a half-dead state, merely torturing his children and grandchildren.
Chen Bai repeated, "He wants to return to his old home in Guanzhong. He wants to be buried in the ancestral tombs."
Chen Song let out an exasperated laugh. "So the ancestral tombs in the Zhao Village don’t count as ancestral tombs?"
"I asked him the exact same thing," Chen Bai said. "Even Uncle Chang and Uncle Sheng tried to talk some sense into him. But it was no use; he is dead set on returning to Guanzhong. Brother, I’ll follow your lead on this. Whatever you say goes. If you want to send Dad back, you don’t even have to show your face—I’ll escort him back myself."
"I don’t need you to do that. You’ve already married into your wife’s family; our family’s matters shouldn’t be your responsibility anyway," Chen Song replied.
Chen Song gripped the armrests of his chair, his brows knitting into a tight knot. The old man had been quiet his entire life, acting almost like an invisible person. Yet now, in his final days, he was pulling such a stunt. Was he truly just seeking to be buried in his ancestral homeland, or was he deliberately trying to make trouble for his unfilial descendants?
But Guanzhong was simply too far away.
He had heard from his clansmen that when they first fled the famine, it took them two whole months of non-stop walking day and night to reach Qingshui County. To travel back from Qingshui County now, even by horse-drawn carriage, would take at least twenty days. Twenty days was not a short time. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford the travel expenses, but given the old man’s deteriorating condition, could he really hold on to his last breath until they reached Guanzhong?
Even if they made it to Guanzhong without any hitches, whether the branch of the family that stayed behind would still acknowledge them, and whether they would be permitted to use the ancestral tombs, was an entirely different matter. If he died halfway through the journey, it would be even more troublesome.
Chen Song pondered it over and over but couldn’t come up with a solution.
While no one was looking, Zhao Jing leaned in and whispered a few words into De’an’s ear.
De’an immediately turned around and spoke up. "This is a simple matter. My grandfather is old and confused, but as his descendants, we can’t just let him throw a tantrum. Later, we should just ask him straight: Does he want to die quietly in his ancestral land in Guanzhong, or does he want a grand funeral here, one that will make all his old friends and relatives from the surrounding villages envy him for having such capable descendants? Once we lay out the facts, my grandfather will figure it out."
An awkward silence fell over the room as Chen Song, Chen Bai, Xu Su Ying, and Chen Wanqing were all left completely speechless.
Chen Wanqing cast a glance at Zhao Jing. While others might not have noticed him whispering to De’an earlier, she had caught it. She knew this rotten idea must have been Jing’s doing.
She couldn’t resist placing a hand on his thigh and giving it a light pinch. She wondered how his brain was wired for him to come up with so many wicked ideas.