bookrebus Chapter 12 Farewell Dinner
Chapter 12 Farewell Dinner
Wen Yuxia sneered inwardly. Wen Dashan's affection for his children seemed utterly ridiculous in the face of self-interest. To help his eldest son gain benefits, he actually wanted them to live with the eldest son's family.
Heh, you think she can hunt and earn money to support the eldest son's family? Don't even think about it. It's better to take this opportunity to return Wen Dashan and Wen Linshi to the eldest son's family, to prevent any future trouble.
Wen Yuxia said softly, "Uncle, I know that since the family has separated, Grandpa and Grandma should stay with the eldest son's family. Now that Hong'er and I are capable of supporting ourselves, Grandpa and Grandma can live peacefully with you from now on."
In addition, my family's land will be handed over to my third uncle to cultivate from now on. After taxes, give me 40% of the annual harvest. Grandpa, Grandma, you should pack up and go back to my eldest uncle's place!
These words left Wen Dashan, Wen Zisong, and Wen Zihua speechless.
Wen Dashan was thinking to himself, "I've raised Daya for nothing. She's not close to me or my wife at all."
Wen Zisong was thinking, why didn't Daya come to his house with her parents? Things weren't going as he expected. He wanted Daya to come to his house.
Wen Zihua never intended to take advantage of Daya. Today, Daya handed over the land of the fourth branch to him, and for a moment, his mind went blank.
Before anyone could react, Wen Yuxia pulled Wen Yunhong out of the house.
"Grandma, you can take anything in the house that you like to the main house. Don't take all the grain. As we agreed before, you can take 80% and leave 20% for me."
"Grandpa, Hong'er and I are going to take a walk in the mountains to see if we can catch any pheasants. We'll have a farewell dinner together tonight, okay?"
Wen Yuxia's voice rang out from outside the courtyard. She deliberately shouted loudly outside the courtyard to let the villagers know that Wen Dashan and his wife had gone to the main house.
Old Mrs. Li from next door had been eavesdropping by the courtyard wall early in the morning. When she heard Wen Yuxia's voice, she quickly ran to the gate and whispered:
"Da Ya, Da Ya, your grandpa doesn't want you anymore. You're still so young. What will you do in the future?"
Granny Li's original intention was to get firsthand information so she could gossip with other women under the big tree at the village entrance. However, she became worried when she thought about how Wen Yuxia and her brother were 7 and 5 years old, respectively.
The siblings politely greeted Granny Li, then Wen Yuxia wiped away imaginary tears from the corners of her eyes and said:
"Grandma Li, when the family divided, Grandpa and Grandma should have stayed with Uncle... Now that I'm all grown up and can go hunting in the mountains to earn money to support Hong'er, it's time for Grandpa and Grandma to move to Uncle's house to enjoy their retirement... Goodbye, Grandma Li!"
Wen Yuxia vaguely mentioned that the incident started because she was afraid the mutton smell would affect her uncles' families, so she sent the sheep to her maternal grandparents' house and asked them to help raise the sheep.
Finally, she pitifully told Granny Li that in order to appease her uncle's anger and to reassure her grandparents that they could live with him without worry, she planned to hunt several pheasants in the mountains to give to him.
Hehe, Granny Li is the queen of gossip in Dawan Village. Wen Yuxia believes that within half an hour, every household in Dawan Village will know about the Wen family's troubles.
"Sister, are we really going into the mountains?" Wen Yunhong had no intention of bringing his uncle the pheasant; he just wanted to go to his maternal grandparents' house in Xiaowang Village to see the ewes.
He's never been to his maternal grandparents' house in all his life, and he's only seen his uncles once, at his parents' funerals. He's never met his maternal grandparents or his cousin.
Wen Yuxia smiled slightly and said softly, "The word has been spoken; we must catch some pheasants and rabbits to take back."
There was one more thing she didn't say aloud, for fear of setting a bad example for the children: she had to carry the prey she caught around the village so that the villagers could see it before she could go home.
In the afternoon, Wen Yuxia and her brother came down from the mountain carrying three pheasants and four rabbits. Along the way, they encountered many older men, uncles, and grandfathers carrying hoes, returning home from working in the fields.
The siblings, with identical expressions, greeted the villagers warmly with smiles, explaining that the game they were carrying was a gift for their uncle, Wen Zisong.
Seeing Village Chief Ding carrying a hoe and walking towards them from afar, Wen Yuxia quickly went to greet him, saying with a grin, "Uncle Village Chief, I just caught a rabbit on the mountain. I'll have my aunt cook it for you to have with your drinks when we get home."
"Da Ya, Uncle doesn't want it, take it home. By the way, these game are all for your uncle." Village Chief Ding quickly waved his hand in refusal.
After some back and forth, the strong-willed Wen Yuxia gained the upper hand, and the rabbit successfully got stuck on the handle of Village Chief Ding's hoe.
"Three rabbits for Uncle, and three chickens for Grandma to cook tonight, for a farewell dinner," Wen Yuxia said with a helpless expression.
Village Chief Ding sighed. Da Ya was worried the sheep's smell would upset her aunts, so she entrusted the sheep to her maternal grandparents for help. It wasn't like she gave the sheep away to them. That clueless Wen Dashan actually considered abandoning Da Ya and her siblings because of this.
"Da Ya, if you ever have any problems you can't solve, just come to your uncle," said Village Chief Ding, his words now carrying a hint of sincerity, as Wen Yuxia insisted on giving him a rabbit hanging from the handle of his hoe.
Wen Yuxia smiled broadly, bid farewell to the village chief, and ran home with Wen Yunhong.
Wen Yunhe, the fifth son of his uncle's family, had been peering out from the courtyard gate. Seeing Wen Yuxia and her brother returning with their game, he immediately turned and shouted towards the main house, "Mother, Daya and Xiaoqi are back! They really caught something!"
In the Wen family, apart from Wen Yunhong and the three children of the third uncle's family who would call Wen Yuxia "younger sister" or "older sister," the boys of the eldest and second uncles' families would call her by her given name, "Da Ya."
Aunt Yang greeted them with a smile: "Da Ya, Xiao Qi, you must be tired. Go back to your room and rest. Your aunt will bring you the food when it's ready."
Knowing that Daya, who knew how to hunt, was a great asset to their family, Yang was naturally unwilling to let go of the opportunity to manipulate the siblings and decided to put in even more effort.
Wen Yuxia said with a faint smile, "Aunt, the three wild rabbits are a gift for Uncle, to thank him for letting Grandpa and the others stay in the fourth house to take care of us siblings back then. The three pheasants have all been cooked, so let's all have a farewell dinner together tonight."
"Da Ya, do you mean all four branches of the family should have a farewell dinner together?" Aunt Zhang asked, poking her head out from the kitchen.
Wen Dashan and his wife are both under fifty years old. They can help with farm work and household chores, and they also receive pension money from the other families every year. Whichever family they live with benefits from that family.
Now the elderly couple has moved to the main house, and Wen Yuxia has handed over the family's land to her third son's family to cultivate, giving them 60% of the harvest each year.
The second wife didn't get any benefits this time. So, when she heard there was chicken to eat, Zhang quickly made sure the farewell dinner was a reality.
Wen Yuxia didn't care whether she ate dinner with the eldest branch of the family or with the first, second, third, and fourth branches of the family. So she smiled and handed the decision to Yang: "How we have our farewell dinner is entirely up to Aunt."