Chapter 77

77 Green Mountain City, The Zhang Brothers

When Zhang Defa returned home with Zhang Decai, he shouted at Chen Zhaodi, “Chen, Second Brother is back. Hurry up and cook something to fill his stomach.”

“Oh.” Chen Zhaodi didn’t even greet Zhang Decai and went to the kitchen reluctantly.

Zhang Decai’s heart turned cold when he saw this. He didn’t see his wife and children. “Brother, where’s Madam Zhao and my two daughters?”

Zhang Defa smiled awkwardly. “Second Brother, I rented a small courtyard for them in the back alley since our house can’t accommodate them.”

When Zhang Decai heard this, he was a little angry. He propped himself up against the wall and said weakly to Zhang Decai, “Brother, I haven’t seen them for so long. I miss them. Bring me over to take a look.”

Zhang Defa also felt that he was in the wrong and felt sorry for Zhang Decai. He helped Zhang Decai back to his chair and said with a red face, “Second Brother, let’s eat something before going later. Your sister-in-law is already cooking the food.”

Zhang Defa comforted Zhang Decai and went to the kitchen. He lifted the pot lid and saw that there was at most a small handful of rice in the pot. He glared at Chen Zhaodi, grabbed some rice, and placed it in the pot. He grabbed some pickled vegetables and waited for the porridge to be ready before carrying it to the central room.

Zhang Decai’s mouth watered when he smelled the fragrance of the porridge. He took the bowl and didn’t care about scalding his mouth. He drank two bowls of porridge and wiped his mouth reluctantly. He smiled bitterly at Zhang Defa and said, “Brother, I made a friend when I was working as a slave. His family has relatives in Tongzhou who say that there are no locusts and no lack of water there. His family is going to escape to Tongzhou tomorrow morning to join their relatives.”

Zhang Defa looked at Zhang Decai and smiled bitterly. “He has relatives in Tongzhou. Who are we going to seek refuge with?”

Zhang Decai stood up. “That’s better than waiting for death here! Brother, bring me to see Madam Zhao and the children. I’ll discuss with them what they think.”

Zhang Defa led him towards the back alley. “Alright, go back and discuss with them first. I’ll also discuss with Guisheng to see if his father-in-law has decided where to escape to.”

Zhang Defa brought his brother to a remote courtyard and pointed at the closed courtyard door. “Second Brother, Sister-in-law and the others live here.”

Zhang Decai patted the door. When Madam Zhao opened it, she recognized the skinny Zhang Decai at a glance and shouted into the house in surprise, “Gui Hong, Guixiu, your father is back.”

Zhang Defa said to Zhang Decai, “I won’t go in and disturb your reunion. I’ll go back and discuss with Guisheng before coming to look for you tomorrow morning.”

“Alright, you can go back first!” After Zhang Decai entered the house, he realized that there were only two rooms in the courtyard. Zhang Decai was even more dissatisfied with Zhang Defa.

At this moment, the two children ran out of the house and shouted, “Father, you’re back!” The mother and daughter hugged Zhang Decai’s family and cried.

Madam Zhao cried as she complained to Zhang Decai, “You were a fool to help your brother. Look at what kind of life the three of us are living. Your brother took the silver from selling the fields and houses and said that he went to help you make some arrangements. When I have my meal with my two daughters, we still have to suffer their disdainful looks. In the end, he sent us to this little food. If we want to eat more, we still have to get it from him.”

Zhang Guihong also cried, “Father, Guixiang doesn’t like us sleeping in her house. She said that we smell like mud.”

Zhang Defa looked at Guixiu. Guixiu also nodded and said, “Father, I’ve long advised you not to join Uncle and Aunt in picking on Xiaoyu and her brother. Look, karma came quickly. Once you left, it was our turn.” Guixiu choked and wiped his tears. “Fortunately, you’ve only been gone for a year. If you don’t come back, I think they’ll sell us for money.”

Zhang Decai’s heart ached when he heard that. Zhang Guihong touched her stomach and cried again. “Father, go and get some food from Aunt. I haven’t eaten my fill in a long time.”

Zhang Decai thought to himself that he had saved more than 20 stones of food. Even if Madam Zhao and his daughter ate freely, they could be sustained for at least two years. He had only been gone for a little more than a year, but the children were starving. Now that it was a barren year and he had no food, his family could only starve to death.

Zhang Decai stood up with a livid expression and said to Mrs. Zhao, “Guixiu’s mother, I’m weak all over now. Come with me. Let’s go to my brother’s house to get the food.”

Chen nodded happily. The couple went to Zhang Defa’s house with dark expressions. When Zhang Decai saw Zhang Defa, he went straight to the point and said, “Brother, please get Sister-in-law to return my family’s food and the money from selling my house and fields.”

When Zhang Defa heard this, he kept apologizing with a red face. “I’m sorry, Sister-in-law and Second Brother. I never knew that that old woman didn’t return the food to you. I’ll get her to return it to you now.”

Madam Chen curled her lips as she looked at him. Zhang Defa’s face was red as he shouted at Chen Zhaodi, “Madam Chen, quickly bring out Second Brother’s food and return it to him.”

Chen Zhaodi came out and shouted at Zhang Decai, “There’s not much food left. I’ll take out the rest for you.”

Seeing that Zhang Defa did not talk about silver, Zhang Decai thought to himself, Let’s talk about it after we get the food. We can’t buy food with silver now.

The few of them stood in the courtyard. After half an hour, Chen Zhaodi came out with most of the bags of food and threw them in front of Madam Zhao. “Sister-in-law, you can take these back!”

Zhang Decai looked at the food in the bag and sneered at Zhang Defa. “Brother, I saved more than 20 stones of food. Sister-in-law said that my wife and child finished it in more than a year. Did I hear wrongly?”

Zhang Defa looked at Chen Zhaodi with a livid expression. “Go and move all of them out. Otherwise, get lost.”

Only then did Chen Zhaodi go with Zhang Defa to carry our eight bags of food.

Zhang Defa looked at Zhang Decai and begged, “Second Brother, this is really all I have. I only kept two bags for myself. Look, your brother still has such a big family!”

Madam Zhao ran to the woodshed and dragged out a handcart. She said proudly to Chen Zhaodi, “The handcart belongs to my family. I’ll drag it back.” Madam Zhao happily carried the food onto the handcart.

Zhang Decai looked at Zhang Defa in disappointment. “Brother, we’re biological brothers from the same mother. You know very well why I went to jail. I won’t say anything about half of the houses in the village being yours. Just return the money you sold my fields for.”

Zhang Defa looked at Zhang Decai and knew in his heart that the brothers would not be able to go back to the time when they worked together. He thought to himself, I’ll bet if he still has feelings for Guisheng.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Zhang Defa smiled bitterly at him. “Second Brother, I only have ten taels of silver left at home. I was saving it for Guisheng’s county examination. Why don’t I give it to you?”

“Alright, give it to me now. I’ll go back and pack up. I’ll go to Tongzhou with that friend tomorrow morning. If you want to go, meet me at the north city gate.”

Zhang Defa had no choice but to go into the house and take out the ten taels of silver. He handed it to Zhang Decai reluctantly. “Second Brother, I’ve let you down. I didn’t know that bitch actually had the guts to lie to me. We’re still good brothers. Ah!”

Zhang Decai nodded. “Of course.” With that, he handed the silver to Madam Zhao and pulled the handcart away with her.

Chen Zhaodi looked at Zhang Defa and started crying. “Look, there are only about ten stones of food left. We don’t know how long the drought will last. What will we eat then?”

Zhang Defa looked at Chen Zhaodi in disgust. “Cry, cry. You only know how to cry. It’s all because of you, bitch, that our brotherly relationship was strained .”

“Stop pretending to be confused. If you didn’t agree, I won’t dare to treat them like this!” Chen Zhaodi wiped the tears off her face and shouted at Zhang Defa.

Zhang Defa, who had been exposed by Chen Zhaodi, hurriedly covered her mouth and scolded in a low voice, “Do you want everyone to know?”

Zhu Qiaoyu looked at the two in-laws in the courtyard with disdain. Madam Jiang stood in front of the window and thought to herself, “What family did Master choose for Miss?”