"I didn't say that he can't be filial. He can be filial even if the family doesn't split up," said Zhao Wei.
"I'm still here, why divide the family property?" Zhao Yi said angrily, "You're in such a hurry to divide the family property, are you trying to piss me off to death?"
The Zhao family members kept nodding and agreeing.
"Inseparable family!"
"We will never split up!"
Zhao Zheng was not angry either, and said, "It's fine if we don't divide the family. I spent ten taels of silver to support my mother, and you two have to pay ten taels of silver as well!"
"Also, I've paid this ten taels of silver, and I must pay it back. Please, Uncle Youde, write me a note so that I don't have to pay for my mother's food in the next few years. Of course, if my mother gets sick, I will also provide care for her."
"You want to buy it out with money?" Zhao Wei glared at Zhao Zheng.
"I spent ten taels of silver, why can't I?" Zhao Zheng said coldly: "In front of the villagers, I can pat my chest and say that I have never treated my mother unfairly over the years. You can't ask me to pay and let you be a filial son, right?"
"I told you, if you're not willing, return the money to me and I'll take my mother away. You don't have to worry about whether I can eat enough or not. As long as I'm hungry, you can take her away anytime."
"You just want to take the money!"
"What I want to take away is my son's pension, isn't it right?" Zhao Zheng insisted, either give the money or give it to the person.
Or buy out for a few years.
Zhao Yi pulled Zhao Wei aside and said, "Old Third must have someone behind the scenes, otherwise, with his brain, he wouldn't be able to come up with such a thing."
"Who cleans it?"
"Who else could it be? It must be the two jinxes in his family who are unlucky for their husbands!"
Zhao Yi gritted his teeth and said, "Those two jinxes look like foxy girls. They're not good people at first glance."
Zhao Wei agreed. "It's pointless to say this now. So many people are watching. The three village elders are still here. If it were up to me, I'd just buy them out for a few years. Paying them money is out of the question..."
Zhao Yi thought about it and nodded, "Okay, let's buy it out for a few years. If he encounters problems in the future, he will definitely come to us for help."
The two of them discussed it, and Zhao Wei walked over and said, "I'm used to living at home. The third brother's house is small and shabby, and I'll suffer if I go there. So I'll buy it out for a year."
"One year?" Zhao Zheng laughed. "Can you earn ten taels of silver in one year?"
The villagers watching the excitement also thought it was outrageous and said, "One year is too little. It should be at least three or four years."
"Ten taels of silver could have bought dozens of dan of rice in the past. Your mother would never be able to finish it all even if she died."
"The Zhao family boss is going too far. Isn't this clearly bullying his own brothers?"
Hearing this, Zhao Wei's face flushed. "Three years, at most."
"Five years, otherwise there's no point in talking about it." Zhao Zheng sat calmly on the Diaoyutai, with the village elders arguing for him.
Xu Youde said, "Two taels of silver a year is more than enough. We still have you two brothers, right? Counting your two brothers' contributions, my sister-in-law's annual pension of six taels of silver is more than enough."
The other two village elders nodded in agreement, "I think five years is enough!"
Zhao Wei glanced at Zhao Yi and could only nod helplessly, "Okay, five years is five years."
"Words are not enough. Please ask Uncle Youde to write a note and ask them to sign it." Zhao Zheng said.
"That's easy to say." Xu Youde looked at the old lady, "Sister-in-law, what do you say?"
The old lady was a little reluctant, "It's been too long..."
"Mom, if you are unwilling, just come to my place and I will take care of you in your old age and see you to the end of your life." Zhao Zhengdao.
The old lady kept shaking her head. Going to Zhao Zheng's place and going hungry for three meals a day?
I'm afraid that within two months my old bones will starve to death.
In the end, she agreed.
Xu Youde wrote a note and the three brothers pressed their fingerprints on it. The note was kept in Xu Youde's hands, and if there was any dispute in the future, they could use it as evidence.
Although Zhao Zheng did not get the silver back, he at least bought out the contract for five years.
Besides, his silver and rice are not so easy to get. We'll have to wait and see.
Including the matter of his adopted son, he will slowly get him back.
Seeing that the excitement was over, the crowd dispersed.
But the news that Zhao Zheng spent ten taels of silver to buy out the five-year contract spread.
"This third brother is so hateful. We must find a way to teach him a lesson." Zhao Wei said with clenched fists.
Zhao Yi said, "Forget it. His son is dead, so he has nothing to worry about. It's better not to push him to death. What if he really fights you to death?"
Zhao Wei was also a little scared. "Hmph, wait, this matter is not over yet!"
...
When Zhao Zheng returned home, he dug a cellar under the original wooden bed.
Yang Zhaodi and Zhang Xiao'e also learned what had happened. Seeing their father-in-law working hard, they helped him and comforted him, saying, "It's just ten taels of silver. Xiao'e and I will earn more money in the future to show our filial piety to our father-in-law."
"That's right. When the harvest is good, I will raise chickens, ducks and geese to sell. I guarantee that everyone in the village will envy my father-in-law."
Zhao Zheng smiled and nodded. "Let's not talk about those unlucky things. Let's finish cleaning the cellar today and move the salted duck eggs and canned persimmons in."
The father-in-law, daughter-in-law and their two children worked hard for an entire afternoon and actually dug out a square cellar.
It's not big, but definitely enough.
Zhao Zheng put the original bed board on top, filled it with soil, and found some wood as support so that it would not collapse.
I also found some stones of different sizes from outside and put them inside, and a simple cellar was completed.
Then he moved the canned persimmons and salted duck eggs into the cellar before walking out.
At Zhao Zheng's strong request, Yang Zhaodi boiled a bucket of water for him to take a bath, and he went to another room to take a bath.
The weather was too cold, so Zhao Zheng spent a dozen cents to buy a piece of plastic from the mall and clamped it on his head so that he wouldn't be too cold when hiding inside.
After taking a shower, Zhao Zheng felt relaxed all over.
After traveling through time for so long, this was his first bath.
After putting the plastic sheet into the system warehouse, he felt that taking a shower was too inconvenient and he had to find a way to build a bathroom.
Like Zhaodi and Xiao'e, they didn't take a bath after winter came because they were afraid of catching a cold.
Not only is it unhygienic, it is also prone to skin diseases.
He put on his padded jacket and the tattered dirty suit before going out.
"Father-in-law, get on the kang and warm up quickly. Don't catch a cold." Zhang Xiao'e was very nervous. She handed Zhao Zheng a pottery pot filled with hot water, covered Zhao Zheng tightly with the mattress, and handed him a bowl of soup. "This is the mugwort tea that my sister-in-law made for you. It uses aged mugwort leaves to drive away the cold."
Looking at the dark mugwort soup, Zhao Zheng couldn't drink it much, but he didn't want to disappoint the two people. He suppressed his nausea and poured the mugwort tea into his mouth in one breath, muttering to himself, "This is Chinese coffee, Chinese coffee..."
"There's still a little left." Zhang Xiao'e saw Zhao Zheng's reluctance and coaxed him like a child, "Be obedient, father-in-law, and drink it all."
Zhao Zheng took a deep breath and finished the remaining mugwort tea.
You know what, this thing really works immediately. After a while, he kept farting, as if he had a bomb in his pocket.
His forehead began to sweat, and his body felt warm. He sighed, "My daughter-in-law is still the best. She is much more considerate than my son. I feel like I have been spoiled like a child by you and Zhaodi!"