TATLC Chapter 96 — A Sudden Fall

At the Chen’s

Grandma Chen looked at the empty money jar and sighed sadly, “Why is my life so miserable?” Earlier, when she was rushing to solve Chen Jing’s problem, she didn’t have time to feel upset. But now that everything was settled, she started feeling sad.

Over fifty taels wasn’t a small amount. The old woman had taken out all her savings from the bottom of her chest, and now looking at the empty money jar made her feel like the sky was falling.

She had always favored Chen Jing the most, but now she felt nothing but resentment toward him. She thought Chen Jing was irresponsible for borrowing money from those vicious people. She also felt he had gone too far. Since he had borrowed money, why didn’t he say it earlier? He had to wait until the interest doubled before telling them about it. If only he had told the family sooner, they wouldn’t have been forced to sell their land.

Old Man Chen smoked his pipe, looking like he had aged several years all at once.

Grandma Chen looked at her husband and said, “Old man, how are we going to live now?”

The old man sighed, “How? We’ll live however we can. Everyone’s busy with spring planting now, so let Ah Jing get ready and go work in the fields too.” After such a big disaster hit the family, Old Man Chen was also exhausted.

His wife exclaimed, “Send Ah Jing to the fields? But he is going to be a high official!” Chen Jing’s studies weren’t great, but his ability to sweet-talk people was first-rate. He had often whispered to his grandmother about placing high in the imperial exams and bringing her glory.

The old woman heard it so much that sometimes she actually believed it.

Old Man Chen’s face darkened, “Enough! He’s been taking exams for so many years without any results. If this continues, will he drag the whole family down? We only has a dozen mu left now, and so many mouths to feed. We can’t afford to support him anymore.”

Thinking about the trouble Chen Jing caused this time, the Grandma Chen sighed, “Fine then. But that Chen Xiaomi must still have money. If only we’d known, we should have asked for more.”

When she had demanded thirty taels, she thought it was too much at first. But seeing how readily Chen Xiaomi agreed, she immediately regretted not asking for more.

The old man sighed again, “We’ve already signed the severance document. Stop thinking about it.”

He also felt some regret. Although many villagers said Chen Xiaomi had become successful and was making a lot of money in town, the old man didn’t really believe it. Chen Xiaomi was a Shuang’er, and the old man always felt Shuang’ers couldn’t accomplish great things.

Even if the big boss in town paid high wages, Chen Xiaomi hadn’t worked there for long.

The old man never expected that Chen Xiaomi actually had the capability to take out thirty taels of silver so easily.

Not only did Grandma Chen regret it, but Old Man Chen also felt uncomfortable. However, since they had already severed ties, it was too late for regrets.

Chen Ding stayed in his room, feeling rather gloomy.

Chen Xiaomi didn’t want trouble, so he left the matter of selling the house over to Chen Ding, the clan leader of the Chen clan. In a rush, Chen Ding had managed to sell the house for seventeen taels, which was actually quite a good price. However, Grandma Chen believed he had taken a cut for himself, which was why the house was sold so cheaply.

The villagers, on the other hand, thought Chen Ding had accepted money from the Chen family and bullied a young Shuang’er. They privately discussed how Chen Xiaomi had finally gotten his life together, but Chen Ding forced the young Shuang’er to sell his house. The trouble was clearly caused by Chen Jing, but Chen Jing seemed completely unaffected by the consequences. They felt Chen Ding was too unfair in handling the matter.

Because of the Chen family’s affairs, Chen Ding ended up pleasing no one and being blamed by everyone.

“Dad, the Chen family is a complete mess. You shouldn’t have gotten involved. Now look, you’ve gotten yourself into trouble for nothing. That old woman says the house should have sold for at least twenty taels, but it only sold for seventeen taels. She’s saying you pocketed the remaining three taels,” Chen Yang said.

Chen Ding sighed, “I just didn’t expect their family to be like this.”

“Dad, Chen Jing borrowed all that money to buy exam answers for the spring examination. If the authorities find out about this, it’ll be big trouble,” Chen Yang said gloomily.

In this era, they believed in collective punishment. If Chen Jing was caught cheating, in serious cases, no one from the Chen clan could take the imperial exams anymore. Chen Ding frowned, “Are you sure?”

Chen Yang shook his head, “I don’t know for sure, but that’s the rumor going around the village.” Originally the village was keeping this from the Chen clan members, but once the clan meeting was held, it couldn’t be hidden anymore. “That old woman was being so secretive, so it’s probably true.”

Chen Ding’s face darkened, “Chen Jing really went too far.”

He had originally thought Chen Jing was addicted to gambling. There were villagers who had been tricked by gambling houses in town before, but he hadn’t expected it to be like this.

Back at the Chen’s, Chen Jing looked at Chen Shouxin. “Dad, Grandpa wants me to work in the fields? How can that be? I’m a scholar.”

Chen Shouxin sighed, “We have no money to support your studies anymore. From now on, you’ll work in the fields with everyone else.”

“But Dad, how can I stop studying?” Chen Jing said, agitated.

Chen Jing didn’t actually like studying at all. Every time he saw those messy characters in books, he felt dizzy. However, being a student came with many benefits. He could occasionally use his academy teacher’s name to ask his grandparents for money. Plus, as long as he was studying, his grandparents wouldn’t make him do manual labor, so his life was much more comfortable than the village farmers.

Chen Shouxin looked at his son with a heavy heart. “We don’t have the money to support your studies anymore.”

Although he felt sorry for his son, after Chen Jing caused such big trouble, Chen Shouxin was also heartbroken.

Chen Jing said excitedly, “Doesn’t Chen Xiaomi have money? Go ask him for it!”

“This time because of your issue, we even had to sign a severance document with Chen Xiaomi. From now on, we have nothing to do with him,” Chen Shouxin said.

Chen Jing muttered, “How can it be like this? I’ll go find Grandpa and Grandma.”

“Enough,” Chen Shouxin said impatiently. “Your grandparents are already upset. Because of your mess, our family even offended the clan leader. The clan leader’s son came and said that from now on, we shouldn’t look for his father for our family matters. His father won’t get involved anymore.”

Chen Jing said gloomily, “How did we offend the clan leader for no reason?”

Chen Shouxin shook his head, not wanting to explain further. “Hurry up and get up!”

Chen Xiaomi had already cut ties with the Chen family before this. Because of Chen Jing’s situation, they called him back and forced a young Shuang’er to sell his land. Many people said Chen Ding acted unfairly as clan leader. The parents of the second branch were both dead. It was already hard enough for a young Shuang’er like Chen Xiaomi to raise his two younger brothers, and now they forced him to sell his house too

Chen Ding had originally thought Chen Xiaomi was doing well for himself, and that since the Chen family was facing difficulties, he should help out. But when all was said and done, Chen Ding ended up being criticized by everyone.

He was the one who handled the sale of Chen Xiaomi’s house. If they had waited a bit longer, it could have sold for twenty taels without a problem.

However, loan sharks couldn’t wait, so Chen Ding handled the sale urgently. The villagers probably knew the Chen family was in a hurry to sell the house, so they kept the price low, only offering seventeen taels. This was already considering Chen Ding’s reputation, otherwise the price would have been even lower.

But Grandma Chen didn’t think this way. She thought the clan leader was taking advantage of their misfortune, kicking them while they were down, and had sold the house at a rock-bottom price while pocketing a commission.

The old woman had long had her eye on that property and already considered it hers.

She couldn’t keep her thoughts to herself, and those who enjoyed stirring up trouble quickly spread her words around.

When Chen Ding learned about Grandma Chen’s accusations, he got so angry he fell ill. After that, he declared that if the Chen family had any more problems, he absolutely wouldn’t get involved.

Old Man Chen knew he had offended the clan leader and personally went to apologize. However, Chen Ding refused to see him, and the old man had to leave in embarrassment.

At noon, Old Man Chen sat at the dining table, waiting for the meal to be served.

After Chen Shouxin and the others sat down, a series of crashing noises erupted from another room.

The old man frowned, “What now?”

When they rushed into Chen Jing’s room, they found him fighting with Chen He and Chen Qu. Chen He and Chen Qu were younger than Chen Jing, but with two against one, Chen Jing was losing.

The old man looked at the three fighting and said angrily, “What are you three doing?”

Chen Jing cried out heatedly, “Grandpa, look at Ah He! He’s gone crazy! He wants to kill me!”

Chen He, his eyes red, shouted, “You should have died long ago! If you were dead, our family wouldn’t have to pay your debts! You bastard! You spent so much of the family’s money and it still wasn’t enough! You had to borrow loan shark money and lost all my wedding money too! I’ll fight you to the death!”

“Grandpa, look at him! He wants to harm me over some girl!”

The old man sighed, “Enough! What’s done is done. Let it go.”

Old Man Chen was also disappointed in Chen Jing. Although he had paid off Chen Jing’s debt, he still felt a knot of resentment whenever he saw him.

Grandma Chen looked at Chen He and Chen Qu and felt bad too. Their family had originally been well-off, with no shortage of matchmakers coming to propose marriages. But after this incident, it was likely no one would come to propose anytime soon. She was also worried that if Chen He and Chen Qu kept being delayed like this, it would lead to bigger problems.

Chen Qu was still okay, but Chen He was already seventeen and would have to pay taxes soon.

Chen Jing sat on the bed, covering his bruised and bleeding lip, feeling extremely depressed.

He watched his grandparents’ expressions and felt very disappointed. He had been waiting for them to stand up for him, but after they came in, they didn’t say a word for him and even seemed to blame him.

After getting into a fight with Chen He and Chen Qu without gaining any advantage, Chen Jing felt so frustrated that he refused to eat.

But when Chen Jing said he wouldn’t eat, Old Man Chen didn’t bother with him.

Chen Jing lay in bed for a while, but no one came to comfort him. Instead, he grew hungry and went to check the kitchen, only to find that everything had been eaten clean.

He was suddenly struck by an indescribable sense of loss. Before, even if he came home late, they would always save him some food, and his grandmother would always save him an egg. But now, there was nothing left.

He felt like everyone in the family had changed. Chen He and Chen Qu, who used to be polite to him, now dared to fight him. Even his grandfather, who had always favored him, now looked at him with disappointment.

As the saying goes, no secret can be kept forever¹. The news of the Chen family brothers fighting spread throughout the village.

“Weren’t the Chen family’s problems already resolved? Why are they fighting now?”

“It seems Chen He’s engagement is off. The old woman took Chen He’s betrothal money to make up for the payment of Chen Jing’s debt.”

“That makes sense. The Chen family is relatively well-off in the village, but what Chen Jing borrowed isn’t a small amount. Paying that debt must’ve really hurt them.”

“I heard Chen Jing borrowed fifty taels, and the interest alone was fifty-five taels. Those loan sharks are really ruthless.”

“That’s why you should never get involved with those shady stuff! Chen Jing was even educated, but he was so reckless.”

“With Chen Jing causing all this trouble, Chen He and Chen Qu’s marriages are definitely a problem.”

“They sold five mu of land all at once. They must be having a hard time.”

“If it weren’t for Chen Xiaomi covering half the debt, they would have been in real trouble this time.”

“Old Man Chen is really something. Chen Xiaomi separated from the family so many years ago, and now when there’s trouble, he still wants a young Shuang’er to come solve it.”

“Exactly! When Chen Xiaomi first left the Chen family, he even had to live in a cave.”

“The Chen clan leader must be losing his mind in his old age.”

“He must have taken bribes. Why else would he be so eager to help?”

“Now that Chen Xiaomi sold his house, is he not planning to come back to the village?”

The villagers couldn’t help but sigh as they talked about Chen Xiaomi.