TATLC Chapter 90 — Old Man Lu Falls Ill

The Lu family was in an uproar for a while. Although Grandma Lu was reluctant to spend money, she couldn’t just ignore her husband, so she had no choice but to find a doctor for him.

After the doctor examined Old Man Lu, he shook his head helplessly.

Soon the news that Old Man Lu was paralyzed spread throughout the village.

When the news reached Lu Lin’s ears, he couldn’t help but be surprised. However, after thinking about it, he found it wasn’t so surprising after all.

Most people here were malnourished and overworked, so their lifespans were very short. Many people died in their forties, and living to sixty or seventy was already considered a long life. Old Man Lu wasn’t young anymore either, so it wasn’t strange that he would have a stroke and become paralyzed.

He just never expected the old man would actually end up paralyzed.

Lu Lin stood with his hands behind his back, feeling little sympathy for the old man. Although his grandmother was the domineering one who called most of the shots, if the old man had just spoken a few words in defense of the original owner’s father back then, his father wouldn’t have died outside.

Chen Xiaomi curled his lips and said, “Now that he’s paralyzed, he can’t work anymore.” From now on, someone would have to take care of his eating, drinking, and even using the toilet.

The Lu family had just added two little ones and was already in chaos. Now that the old man had collapsed at this time, it would probably be even more troublesome.

Lu Lin smiled and said, “Life can always go on.” A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. The Lu family had some foundation after all, and there were plenty of people in the village whose lives were worse off than them.

Grandma Lu’s psychological endurance was really strong.

Lu Lin thought that the old woman always looked angry at the world. Knowing that she had been cheated by the Li family, she must have took it hard, but it was the old man who collapsed instead.

Once the old man collapsed, Tang became worried. Now the family’s only income was from the fields.

The income from the fields was enough for food, but Lu Chengyu still had to go to school, and now the old man needed medicine, so naturally it wasn’t enough.

Wang was still stingy as ever. She called for the doctor once. But when she realized the doctor couldn’t do much, she sent him away.

Lu Ming stayed in the room and grumbled with dissatisfaction, “How did Chengyu fail the exam again? Didn’t the clerk pull any strings for him?”

Tang sighed and said, “It seems like the clerk can’t influence this exam either.”

“How is that possible?” Lu Ming stood up abruptly. If not for believing this daughter-in-law could help their son in the imperial exams, he would never have accepted her.

Tang muttered gloomily, “Her sister probably can’t say anything at all.” After all, she was just a concubine.

Lu Ming seethed with resentment. “How unlucky.”

Tang sighed. “Look, the old man is sick now. What should we do?”

Lu Ming was also troubled. As for the old man’s illness, there were some old men in town who had gotten this kind of disease. Those wealthy families spent huge amounts of silver but still couldn’t cure it.

Lu Ming felt that since it couldn’t be cured anyway, they shouldn’t treat it. Calling a doctor once was already expensive. Still, this decision was for his mother to make.

“It’s all sister-in-law’s fault. If it weren’t for her, the old man wouldn’t have been so upset.” Tang gritted her teeth. If the old man hadn’t gotten sick, he could still help with some work at home. Now that he was paralyzed, not only couldn’t he work, but he also needed someone to take care of him. This year, they would probably have to hire several more laborers to work in the fields.

No one would work without pay. The fields didn’t have much harvest to begin with, and hiring more people meant bigger expenses.

Lu Ming was also furious. “Sister-in-law really doesn’t know her place.”

Wang looked at the old man lying on the bed and wailed in frustration, “Why is my life so hard!” After the old man became paralyzed, he couldn’t even eat by himself and needed someone to feed him. Wang also had to bathe and wipe his body. This was fine at first, but after a long time, Wang felt overwhelmed.

Wang wanted Tang to take care of the old man, but Tang said it wasn’t proper.

“Look at what kind of daughter-in-law you married, completely useless.” Whenever Wang was unhappy recently, she would catch Tang and others to scold.

“Mother, I was also deceived.”

“You didn’t even check this kind of thing clearly and brought back a jinx who came specifically to curse me.” Wang raised her voice and scolded loudly.

At first, Wang always considered the connection with the clerk and was quite tolerant of Li Fangyue. But now, she had given up all pretense. Even though she knew Li Fangyue was in the next room, she didn’t care in the slightest.

How much silver did the family spend to marry her, and they only got back a cheap woman’s sister.

Before the spring exam, Wang had reluctantly taken out part of the silver to let Li Fangyue make connections. Just thinking about that wasted silver, Wang regretted it so much her heart was broken.

Li Fangyue had been scolded a lot recently, but because she was in the wrong, she could only endure it.

Wang looked at Tang and felt her anger flare up again. “You knew all along but still hid it from me.”

Tang gave an awkward smile. “I didn’t know either.” Even if she was just a concubine, as long as she had some influence, it would have been fine. Who knew it would turn out like this?

In the courtyard.

“Granny Shen, are you going to the village?” Lu Lin asked.

“Yes, Granny Li died. We were neighbors for decades, so I still have to go see.” Granny Shen said.

Granny Shen and the deceased Granny Li had a good relationship. Two mu of the land that she rented out were rented to Granny Li’s son.

Lu Lin nodded and said, “That can’t be avoided. I’ll have Qin Lang take you.”

Granny Shen shook her head. “No need, why make such trouble.”

Qin Lang quickly said, “It’s no trouble. Granny, just listen to Brother Lin. It’ll save Ah Chi from worrying.”

Thinking of Shen Chi, Granny Shen smiled and agreed, “Alright then.”

As soon as Granny Shen returned to the village, she was surrounded by the villagers. She had rented out all her land and spent her days in town, out of sight, which made the villagers feel curious.

“Granny Shen, I heard they hired two new women at the shop. Didn’t that affect you?”

Granny Shen nodded. “Yes, we hired two people, but it didn’t affect me.” A few months ago, Lu Lin bought two female servants with slave contracts. Granny Shen guessed the villagers didn’t know the details and assumed the women were just hired help.

“Granny Shen, you look much more energetic!”

Granny Shen smiled and said, “Oh, not at all.”

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the conversation quickly turned to the Lu family.

“Granny Shen, the Lu family has been arguing nonstop lately. I heard Wang cursing her granddaughter-in-law as a money-loser all day long.”

“That old woman has no filter on her mouth. Isn’t she afraid of offending the clerk? Lu Chengyu failed the exam again this time, so she’s probably just venting her frustration.”

“Sigh, when it comes to the imperial examinations, you still have to rely on your own ability. Connections can only get you so far.”

“This Lu Chengyu has taken the exam so many times. Tang always guarantees he’ll pass, but he fails every time. Can he actually do it or not?”

“These exams, I tell you!”

Granny Shen wasn’t very clear about the Lu family’s recent affairs, but she had long known that Li Fangyue’s sister was just a concubine. Listening to the villagers gloating, she figured that the Lu family must have found out that Li Ru was only a concubine, which was why the old man got so angry he fell ill.

“The Lu family is really having a hard time lately!”

“Yes, it looks like they’re going to sell land again.”

“Again? Once you sell land, can you ever buy it back?”

Granny Shen frowned and thought, The Lu family is really bringing disaster on themselves! They’re actually going to sell land again. The more land they sell, the poorer they become. In the future, they’ll probably be no different from any ordinary family.

“Are they really going to sell land again? How many mu?” Granny Shen asked.

“About two mu, I think.”

Lin Xiu’er hid in her room, feeling very depressed.

She had been waiting for the right opportunity to expose Li Fangyue. She waited and waited, and finally the opportunity came, but she didn’t expect the old man to suddenly fall ill. Once the old man became bedridden, the family had one less person to work and one more person taking medicine, making life difficult again.

Lin Xiu’er looked at Lu An and asked, “How is it? Did anyone say they wanted to buy land?”

“The village head said mother’s asking price is too high. It probably won’t be easy to find someone to take it for a while.” Lu An said.

Lin Xiu’er grumbled unhappily, “We don’t necessarily have to sell land. We just need to increase income. Isn’t Chengyu a scholar? Let him copy books. I heard people say that copying books can earn quite a bit of silver. He’s been taking exams for so long without passing the exam. If this continues, the family can’t afford to support him.”

Literate people were rare in their village, and books were very expensive. Because of this, many poor scholars copied books to supplement their family’s income. It could bring in a decent amount of money.

Lu An thought about it and said, “Chengyu probably won’t agree.”

Lin Xiu’er snorted disdainfully, “This family has spent so much silver on him and his wife. He doesn’t get to act all high and mighty. Look at the state we’re in. Does he still think he can put on his young master act? He should take a good look at himself and see if he’s even got the fate for it.”

“I’ll go talk to mother about it.” Lu An said.

Lu An wasn’t sure what his mother thought. His mother doted on Lu Chengyu the most. No matter how difficult things were at home, she couldn’t bear to cut back on his food and expenses. But now the situation was different. The family had spent almost all their silver, and if Lu Chengyu wasn’t willing to earn money, the family could only keep selling land.

When Tang told Lu Chengyu about copying books, he was so angry he almost coughed up blood.

When Lu An suggested to his mother that Lu Chengyu should copy books to earn money, Wang agreed almost immediately. In her view, copying books would allow him to review his studies while earning some silver. It didn’t seem like a bad idea at all.

Lu Chengyu was already in a bad mood after failing the imperial exam again. Because there had been a lot of gossip in the village recently, he had been avoiding going out. But he didn’t expect that even at home he couldn’t have peace.

Lu Chengyu had a very high opinion of himself. In his eyes, copying books was something only unsuccessful scholars resorted to.

The competition among students was also very intense. Those who earned money by copying books were seen as poor by their classmates, so many students did it secretly.

Lu Chengyu never thought he would fall to this level, and his grandmother actually agreed.

Lu An didn’t have to persuade much before Wang gave her consent. Although Wang doted on her eldest grandson, she was really angry with the first branch. She never expected that the wife Lu Chengyu married would turn out to be such a worthless burden. The family had even sold several mu of land to marry that girl. Every time Wang saw Li Fangyue, she wanted to strangle her.

Tang looked at her son helplessly and said, “Son, the family really has no other choice now.”

Recently, whenever she went out, she kept hearing villagers compare Lu Chengyu to Lu Lin. Some people said that Lu Lin was now trusted by his big boss and could handle things independently, while Lu Chengyu had grown up without earning money or passing the imperial exam. Now it seemed Lu Lin was more promising.

Tang was so angry she was fuming. In her eyes, Lu Lin wasn’t even worthy of carrying her son’s shoes, but in the villagers’ eyes, he had somehow become the more accomplished one.