TATLC Chapter 92 — Internal Conflict in the Chen Family

At the Chen’s

“Dad, you can’t just stand by and watch him die!” Chen Shouxin said agitatedly.

Chen Shouren’s face was cold as he said, “Dad, I told you long ago that my eldest nephew isn’t cut out for studying. He barely managed to pass the Tongsheng exam, so how could he possibly pass the Xiucai exam? Becoming a Juren is completely out of the question.”

Chen Shouxin glared at his third brother with annoyance and said, “San-di¹, what do you mean by saying this kind of thing at a time like this?”

Chen Shouren shot back without backing down, “Da-ge, what Chen Jing owes this time isn’t just a few taels of silver, it’s a hundred taels! We’d have to sell more than half the family’s land to come up with that much money. But if we really sell all that land, what will we eat in the future? Da-ge, do you want to starve the whole family to death, starve Mom and Dad to death, just for your son?”

Chen Shouxin dismissed this. “It’s not as serious as you’re making it out to be.”

“A hundred taels isn’t serious? If you don’t think it’s serious, then you pay back your son’s debt yourself. Don’t come begging our parents.”

“Ah Jing is your nephew too. Are you really going to watch him get beaten to death? How can you be so heartless!”

Chen Shouren said resentfully, “Da-ge, your son caused this mess that’s going to kill the whole family, and now you’re saying I’m the heartless one?”

Old Man Chen looked at his two sons going at each other and sighed, “Enough, stop fighting. Why don’t we all contribute something!”

Chen Shouxin said bitterly, “Fourth sister is really something. She came to visit Dad and only brought two hundred wen.”

Chen Shouxin was still somewhat afraid of the butcher that Chen Chun’er had married, so he didn’t dare say it directly. He only suggested, “Dad is sick, so let’s ask Chen Chun’er to come back and see him.”

As soon as Chen Chun’er came back, they detained her. The whole family demanded money from her, but Chen Chun’er had only brought two hundred wen with her. In the end, she gave it all to them before she could get away. Chen Shouxin felt that Chen Chun’er did it on purpose.

“Dad, do you really want to sell the land?” Chen Shouren asked.

Old Man Chen sighed, “Let’s just sell a few mu. Then we’ll try asking Xiaomi for help.”

Grandma Chen said excitedly, “Chen Xiaomi has plenty of money. If he’s willing to help, we won’t need to sell the land.”

Old Man Chen glared at his wife. “Stop talking nonsense. Don’t you know what Xiaomi’s temper is like?”

“This is unbearable! If he won’t give us the money, I’ll hang myself right at the entrance of his shop. I don’t believe I can’t deal with him.” The old woman wailed.

Chen Shouxin nodded quickly and agreed, “Exactly!”

When it came to Chen Xiaomi, Chen Shouren could always see eye to eye with Chen Shouxin. Chen Shouren really didn’t want to pay this money for Chen Jing, but the family couldn’t really just watch him die. Besides, even if Chen Jing died, given the style of those loan sharks, they probably wouldn’t let it go easily.

So, in this situation, if Chen Xiaomi was willing to pay more, then the rest of them could pay less. If Chen Xiaomi covered the whole amount, that would be even better.

“Dad, what did Grandpa and Grandma say?” Chen He asked anxiously as soon as Chen Shouren entered the room.

Chen Shouren sighed, “They have decided to save Ah Jing.”

Chen He said unhappily, “Dad, Eldest Cousin owes a hundred taels of silver this time! A full hundred taels! Our whole family works so hard farming all year, and we barely scrape together twenty-some taels. What’s the point of all our hard work if Eldest Cousin can just go and rack up a hundred taels in debt?”

Chen Shouren sighed again. “There’s nothing we can do if your grandparents want to save him. Your cousin borrowed from loan sharks. If we don’t pay it back, they won’t let it go. Even if your cousin dies, those people won’t give up easily.”

Chen He gritted his teeth, and a flash of hatred passed through his eyes.

The news of Chen Jing being beaten up right outside his home had spread like wildfire.

Many villagers were curious about what kind of trouble Chen Jing had gotten into to be beaten up like that.

“I heard Chen Jing borrowed a hundred taels from someone.”

“Apparently, it was originally fifty taels, but with the interest piling up, it grew to a hundred.”

“Those people in town are really heartless. How long has it been? How did it roll up to a hundred taels?”

“What did Chen Jing even do to owe so much? Did he get addicted to gambling? There’s a gambler in the next village who doesn’t recognize his own relatives. He took his parents’ funeral savings to gamble and ruined his family!”

“Good heavens, a hundred taels! How are they going to pay that back?”

“I heard they called Chen Chun’er back too. They’re probably hoping she’ll help pay some of it.”

“But Chen Chun’er has been married off for so long. How can they expect her to pay?”

“They have no choice. It’s a hundred taels!”

After the Chen family incident, Tang felt a bit better. The Chen and Lu families had always been the two prominent households in the village, constantly competing in secret. Recently, the Lu family had been unlucky while the Chen family had been peaceful, which made Tang feel very annoyed. When she heard that Chen Jing suddenly owed a hundred taels, Tang felt a certain smug satisfaction.

The villagers’ gossip also shifted from Lu Chengyu’s failure in the exam to Chen Jing’s debt.

“Chengyu, do you know why Chen Jing owes so much money?” Tang asked.

Lu Chengyu considered carefully before answering, “He probably went down the wrong path.”

Tang asked suspiciously, “Wrong path?”

Lu Chengyu nodded, “I heard someone was secretly selling exam questions before the spring exams. This scam isn’t new. Every time,a lot of people fall for it. Chen Jing probably trusted the wrong person and bought fake exam papers.”

Lu Chengyu had encountered a similar situation two years ago. He had a classmate whose grades were average but who loved to show off. He got drunk one night and boasted that he would definitely pass the exam this time, and if he was lucky, he might even get first place among the scholars.

Lu Chengyu found it interesting to hear him bragging and got the story out of his classmate, only to learn that the person had bought exam papers. After learning this, although Lu Chengyu looked down on his classmate’s behavior, he held the attitude of “better to believe it exists than not” and secretly looked at the exam papers his classmate had bought.

After entering the exam hall, Lu Chengyu immediately realized that the exam questions his classmate bought were completely wrong. After the exam, he noticed that his classmate was somewhat frantic, cursing under his breath, but when others asked, he was evasive.

His classmate had bought fake exam questions but didn’t dare make a fuss about it, so he swallowed the bitter pill in silence. That person’s family was wealthy, so fifty taels, while not a small amount, didn’t hurt them too badly.

Lu Chengyu discovered that every year someone seemed to secretly sell “exam papers.” This was already an old trick, but every year students fell for it.

This time when Lu Chengyu heard that Chen Jing owed fifty taels and it grew to a hundred taels, he suspected that Chen Jing had fallen for the same scheme.

When Tang heard Lu Chengyu’s guess, she couldn’t help but gloat, thinking that Chen Jing was someone who liked to have unrealistic fantasies, hoping to achieve success through underhanded methods. She completely forgot that her own son, Lu Chengyu, married Li Fangyue without pure intentions either.

“The Chen family is probably in trouble this time.” Tang shook her head. They will probably have to sell land this time. Recently, with the heated kang and embroidery work, it seems like many people in the village have made some money. If the Chen family wants to sell land, I wonder which family will end up with it.

Meanwhile, Chen Jing lay face down on his bed, filled with anxiety and silently cursing the person who sold him the fake exam papers.

“Dad, when will Grandpa and Grandma pay back the money for me?”

Chen Jing had really been beaten badly a few days ago. When he thought about those people threatening to chop off his hands, he felt terrified.

“Your grandparents are working on it,” his father replied. “But your Third Uncle keeps making trouble.” Because of Chen Jing’s debt, the conflict between the first branch and third branch had worsened.

A surge of resentment flashed through Chen Jing’s heart. Chen Shouren’s refusal to help made Chen Jing very angry.

“Why didn’t you investigate properly before casually buying fake exam papers?” That was a whole fifty taels! Although Chen Laoda felt sorry for his son, he was also furious that his son had incurred such a huge debt.

Chen Jing’s face darkened. The person who sold him the exam papers had said he had powerful backing, and that if he wasn’t short on money, he would never sell this stuff. The seller painted such a bright and promising future for him that Chen Jing became completely bewitched.

His decision to buy the exam papers was also partly related to Lu Chenyu. Because Lu Chengyu had married Li Fangyue, many villagers thought Lu Chengyu was sure to pass the imperial examination this time. When Chen Jing heard about the exam papers, he started imagining how glorious it would be if he passed while Lu Chenyu failed.

But in the end, neither of them passed.

Chen Laoda looked at Chen Jing and sighed, “That’s a hundred taels!” He was just a simple farmer who made his living from the land. To him, one hundred taels was an astronomical sum. But given the situation, there was no other way out.

Grandma Chen sat on the kang, quietly sobbing.

Old Man Chen looked at her and said, “Enough, what are you crying about?”

The old woman replied bitterly, “This is a hundred taels!”

“We’ll have to sell some land.”

“How can we just sell our land like that?” she exclaimed, growing agitated. Not long ago, the Lu family had been selling off their land, and she had been gloating about it. She never expected it would be their turn so soon.

Old Man Chen sighed again. “If we don’t sell the land, what else can we do?”

Grandmae Chen felt everything go dark before her eyes. To cover one hundred taels, they would have to sell at least ten mu of land. If they sold so much land, they would become one of the poor families in the village.

The old man grumbled gloomily, “How could Ah Jing be so reckless, causing a mess like this?”

He had always believed Chen Jing was the smartest of his grandchildren. If anyone in the family could make something of themselves, it would definitely be Chen Jing. So he favored the first branch in everything, and even when the second son died and the eldest wanted to sell Xiaocai, he turned a blind eye. But he never expected Chen Jing to cause such a huge mess for him.

Even so, he couldn’t just ignore it. Recently, the old man had overheard many villagers talking about Chen Xiaomi.

Chen Xiaomi was now working in town. Many families in the village relied on doing embroidery work for Huaxia Trading Company to earn money, so they thought very highly of Chen Xiaomi. Seeing his grandsons who had split off early living well, Old Man Chen didn’t know what to feel.