It was said that shameless people were invincible and, now that Wang Changhe was gone, Chen Xiuxiu seemed to be the true embodiment of that phrase. She didn't hesitate at all before immediately beginning to spout off sarcastically at Su Yonggui.
Su Yonggui's face turned black, but he didn't respond. Instead, he turned to look over at Su Tang, only to find that she was still crouched over the snow-cat she had been working on all this time with a serious expression on her face.
'Ugh, it's so ugly! You haven't captured even a tiny fraction of the grace and magnificence of a Divine Beast!' On the side, the orange cat was practically hopping up and down with dissatisfaction at Su Tang's craftsmanship.
'Xiao Four, do you know what it means to know yourself? If you really think that you are graceful and magnificent, you have a very skewed view of the world!' Su Tang felt that her piece of abstract art was actually very accurate to the source material.
After exchanging barbs with a certain Divine Beast for a few moments, Su Tang finally looked up, met Su Yonggui's eyes, and said: "Brother Qiang has always told me the Su family is a family with rules, and I've never had any reason to doubt him. I've always felt that we members of the Su family are good people who all know right from wrong, but now that I've heard what Brother Gui has said today, ah…"
Su Tang finished her sentence with a realistic sigh, as if she were truly troubled. Su Yongqiang hadn't expected Su Tang to take the conversation in this direction, but he only frowned for a moment before playing along, "Tang girl, what do you mean by that?"
Su Tang finally tossed her twig aside and patted her knees before standing up. Then she looked up at Su Yongqiang, Su Yonggui, and the gathered villagers with a serious expression on her small face, "Well, I've been following Xiao Nuo while he has been learning from his master, and I've heard his master say that 'a centipede will go on wriggling even when it's dead'*. From what he explained, this should mean that, in the end, no matter how rich or noble a family becomes, internal decay is what inevitably ends up destroying them. Thus, in order for the family to prosper for a long time, the highest priority should be teaching the younger generations to learn and abide by the rules."
"Xiao Nuo's teacher said that, although our Su family can't be called a very powerful family, we can at least say that we are a big family in Sujia Village and even in the other villages nearby. On top of that, everyone knows that we used to be an even larger and more prosperous family. That's why, even if the Su family is currently at a low point, our members can still feel proud of their identity as a member of our Su family."
"More than that, he told me that, in particular, everyone knows that Su Yongqiang has been working hard to make the family more prosperous ever since he took on the burden of being the patriarch and, although he still hasn't had any amazing results, no one can deny that he has made a lot of effort."
When Su Yongqiang heard the topic turn to the state of the Su family, he nodded along enthusiastically and "En, it seems Brother Nuo's master knows what he's talking about!"
"When Xiao Nuo's master said all that, I took the opportunity to ask him what needed to be done so that the family could prosper for a long time into the future, and he told me two words in reply: Harsh discipline!"
Su Tang continued on, "He went on to explain that 'harsh discipline' isn't just being strict when teaching the rules, it means that you must be harsher on your own younger generation than you would be to an outsider. This is because once the younger generation has been corrupted and lost their rules, the battle is already lost. Soon, they will do things that negatively impact themselves, and from there it's only a matter of time before the whole family is implicated!"
At this point, Su Tang suddenly glanced over at Chen Xiuxiu, who was still standing there with an unhappy expression. Su Tang sent her a chilly smile, which caused Chen Xiuxiu to tremble and then quickly go and pick up the two bags of grain and turn to leave while saying: "Wow, the Su family is really amazing. I don't dare to provoke you guys, so I'm leaving now!"
"You can go, but don't you think you should leave my things behind?" Su Tang continued looking at her with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
Chen Xiuxiu raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean? I just gave my silver bracelet to you in front of everyone here for these bags, didn't I? Are you trying to go back on your word?"
Chen Xiuxiu was still thinking about the two pieces of satin in these bags, so she wasn't willing to back down. Satin was a precious fabric and she could definitely sell it for some money once she took these bags home and cut the satin out and washed it.
When Madam Qin and Madam Zhou heard her criticize Su Tang like this, they quickly retorted, "What kind of nonsense are you spouting? I've really never seen someone as shameless as you are."
"Yes, yes, I know. Your Su family is a big family, and I can't afford to offend you, but if I've already spent the money, doesn't that mean it's mine? Why won't you let me take it with me then?" Chen Xiuxiu's tone turned very sarcastic as she began to be unable to control her annoyance with the Su family.
.
"Of course, it's fine to take your things, but you only paid to buy two cloth bags, so why are you trying to take away my grain as well?" Su Tang said to Chen Xiuxiu, not backing down an inch.
Although it was true she had already blackmailed Chen Xiuxiu and taken her money, the fact of the matter was that Chen Xiuxiu had come over to steal her things, so Su Tang had no intentions of letting the other woman just waltz away so easily.
Chen Xiuxiu really didn't expect that Su Tang would keep being difficult at this point. Hadn't she already given away such a big silver bracelet? Wouldn't it be fine to let her just take a few grains? She really didn't think that Su Tang would be so brazen like this, suddenly jumping out to label her as a thief again! Although she hadn't said it out directly, it was obvious what her words were implying.
"What 'your grain'? I already paid you for the grain bag, right? What kind of person sells empty grain bags? Obviously, a grain bag comes with grain inside! Are you trying to scam people? Or are you saying that the grain in the grain bag you made for me is actually yours?! Is that how you do business, using the things you make for the customers?"
Chen Xiuxiu hugged the bags of grain even tighter. She would never admit that this grain was stolen! Even if you beat her to death she would only say that these were two grain bags that she had bought properly and uprightly. Also, to vent her dissatisfaction, she even smeared Su Tang a bit by saying that the girl had been using "her" grain bags for her own use before selling them.
Su Tang actually began to admire this shameless person a little bit. After all, not just anyone could do what Chen Xiuxiu was doing, acting so righteous despite being clearly in the wrong. Finally, she just asked with a wry smile, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
When Chen Xiuxiu heard Su Tang's tone had turned a bit softer, she immediately felt that she had the upper hand and grabbed her husband to leave, only pausing to roll her eyes mightily at Su Tang.
Seeing that, Madam Qin and Madam Zhou pointed at her angrily and sputtered, "S-she…"
Su Tang just idly watched as Chen Xiuxiu slowly disappeared before turning to comfort them, "My dear sisters-in-law, don't bother with her. Just forget it, take it as feeding a stray dog."
Madam Qin and Madam Zhou didn't look happy, but when they saw that Su Tang wanted to let the matter drop they hummed their agreement and said nothing more.
Now that Chen Xiuxiu and Sun Tiezhu had left, Su Tang turned back to Su Yonggui. "I don't know if Brother Gui still feels the same way now?"
"The Su family has quite a lot of people in it these days and, of course, I, Su Tang, am also a member of the Su family and want what's best for the family. However, it's precisely because I am a member of the Su family that I cannot be tolerant just because a criminal is a member of the family."
"Everyone knows what kind of person that Chen Xiuxiu is. Eventually, there will come a day when her reputation is destroyed and, when that day comes it will be a matter for the Sun family, not the Su family. By letting her go today, we have avoided any messy entanglements with her."
"As for Madam Zhang well, today, she saw that the roof of our house collapsed and directly came over to steal and rob. Of course, because I am a member of the Su family and also a member of her elder generation, I decided to be lenient. I had no plans to take the matter to the officials and smear our whole family's reputation and was perfectly content to handle the matter internally with the family rules."
"But in the end, having a person with such greed for petty gains is a hidden danger for our family. Today, it was fine because it was my roof that collapsed, but what about tomorrow? What if the Wang family's roof collapses? Or the Li's, or the Zhang's? Will she do the same thing and go to try to steal? And if she does, do you think that they will be willing to handle the matter so gently?"
"When that happens, everyone will point at us and ask 'Since the Su family dared to let such a woman marry in, what kind of place can the Su family be?', and what will we tell them then?"
When Su Tang saw that the Su family members who were gathered around had all begun to seriously ponder on her words, and she couldn't help but laugh in her heart. They probably felt her words were very weighty and solemn, with great truth inside, but what kind of person was she? What had she done in her past life? She was an editor, okay? Saying a bunch of flowery words without any substance was practically her entire career!
To put it simply, when it came to bluffing she was definitely a professional!
However, didn't they want some truth? That was fine, she could lay down some truths today. Su Tang slowly continued speaking: "What will happen when the children of our Su family go to the academy to begin their studies? What will happen if their classmates or teachers find out that such a woman is married into our Su family? What will they think of our family, and by extension, of our children studying there?"
"And to go further, if a child of the Su family studies diligently and manages to climb into officialdom what will their future be if their superiors know of our family? Or even higher, if His Majesty, The Emperor, knows? Do you think that they will trust a family that is prosperous, righteous, and upright or a family that has uncertain and possibly criminal elements?"
"An official won't have time to determine if each person in our family is good or bad, rather, if there is even a single bad apple, they will just throw out the whole bunch. If our family is investigated and found to have someone bearing the label of 'thief' that's more than enough to disqualify all members of our family from any important opportunities."
Su Tang's words were so firm and convincing that the rest of the Su family all fell silent. They all began to remember that, back then, it had been thanks to Su Yongqiang's father following and learning from a master which had catapulted their family to prosperity in the first place. Although the family had slowly declined for various reasons afterward, thanks to that experience the entire Su family were firm believers that, ultimately, studying and learning was the correct path for a person who wanted to change their own destiny.
That was why, even though the Su family had fallen to this point, they still kept sending their children out to learn as long as they had even a little bit of ability. It was because they all felt that this was the best way for them to change the current situation of the Su family. Su Yongqiang, as the patriarch of the family, had always encouraged the other family members to keep this mindset, however, unfortunately, many of the current generation of the Su family were the types without much foresight so, even with his reminders, they had slowly been slipping further and further from the family's ultimate goal.
So when Su Tang spoke the words she did, it really spoke to the hearts of the people in the Su family, and especially to Su Yongqiang. In fact, what she had said was exactly the reason why he had warned Su Yonggui so seriously just now about Madam Zhang. For this matter, his stance was firm, and if Madam Zhang continued on the way she had been then he would absolutely not allow her to continue to stay in the Su family. The Su family's reputation that had been built up over many years couldn't be thrown away because of such a woman.
Although expelling a person from the clan was a great punishment, if Su Yonggui really couldn't control Madam Zhang then, for the sake of the Su family's future prosperity, Su Yongqiang would have no choice but to expel her.
"Thus, by being harder on their own and always implementing strict discipline, a family will become more prosperous. I, Su Tang, will of course always think for the Su family, so how could I not want the family to prosper?"
"My brother and I have already been adopted by our father, and Xiao Nuo had already begun his studies, so how could I possibly behave muddleheadedly at this point? In the future, I will send Xiao Nuo to take the child exam, and then on to the adult exam. As long as he has the desire and the ability, no matter what I have to do, I will definitely send him down the road to becoming an offical."
"Because of his master's teachings, I've learned that only when the family is prosperous can the family groom excellent individuals and, at the same time, so long as an excellent individual is groomed, the whole family can prosper."
"We either proser or fail as one. This is my very simple understanding."
"If people feel that I am too cold-blooded or that I don't properly remember old affections, then I can only apologize. However, while I agree that feelings and affections are naturally important, a family cannot rely solely on these things. Our rules and our rationality are the foundation for our family's stability and ability to develop."
Although Su Tang had gone on this tirade mostly to embarrass Su Yonggui, none of what she was saying was actually wrong or against her beliefs. In fact, in this era, it was all especially true. Filial piety and family bonds were very important things in this time and place, so it was very difficult for a person to separate themselves from their family. Thus, if their family had a bad reputation, that would inevitably affect the career of any aspiring official.
Of course, it was also thanks to Song Yi's existence that she could say everything she was saying. Without him as an excuse it would be a bit inexplicable for Su Tang, an eight-year-old girl, to have these sorts of thoughts and insights.
But Su Tang could just conveniently say that she had learned it from her brother's master, and no one would find it strange. Scholars really had this sort of ability, or at least all of the members of the Su family believed they did.
"Feelings are important, but rules are the foundation!" However, some of these concepts were brand new to the Su family. For instance, after hearing those words from Su Tang, Su Yongqiang couldn't help but repeat them aloud with a tone as if he had made a great discovery. He nodded and said. "En, that's right. If the Su family wants to prosper, it must have rules."
On the side, Su Tang nodded along before looking at Su Yonggui, "Is Brother Gui satisfied with my answer?"
Su Yonggui really had never expected that after being adopted by Su Laochuan Su Tang's whole person would change, suddenly becoming vicious with a venomous tongue. Just facing her these days made him feel uncomfortable, and he could hardly believe that the quiet girl from before would dare to say such words.
Su Yonggui realized that since things had already come to this point, if he defended Madam Zhang again then he would be saddled with the crime of deliberately harming the reputation of the Su family, and no one would support him.
He suddenly realized that his, Su Yonggui's, face seemed doomed to be lost this time. Whether it was within the Su family or within all of Sujia Village, all of those people would be laughing at him.
Facing Su Tang's pointed question, Su Yonggui stared at her hard for a moment before saying slowly, "Who are you?"
Su Yonggui had realized that this little girl was nothing like she had been when she had been living under his roof so, taking advantage of her relaxed and complacent posture, he suddenly turned around and asked this question in hopes of shocking something out of her.
As the question fell, countless eyes landed on Su Tang and looked at her curiously. The whole time, Su Yonggui carefully watched her face, trying to catch any sign, but in the end, he was disappointed.
Despite the sudden question, Su Tang's expression stayed calm and serene, she just met his gaze with a questioning gaze of her own, "Who am I? Of course, I am Su Tang of the Su family, who else could I be? Why would you ask that, Brother Gui?"
Madam Zhao, who had kept silent all this time thanks to her husband's warnings, suddenly seemed to realize what Su Yonggui was getting at. She looked at Su Tang and shouted, "What kind of devil are you? Our Dani was never like this in the past, what kind of thing has possessed you?"
In fact, even before this, many people had thought that Su Tang and her brother might have been touched by some unclean thing during the time when they had been sacrificed to the River God, so when Madam Zhao suddenly blurted their secret fears out loud, they all felt a chill sweep through their bones.
However, Su Tang didn't show any anger at the sudden accusation. Instead, she replied in an unruffled tone, "Of course I'm different from the Dani you knew before. After all, thanks to you, my brother and I went into the Qing River and met the River God."
Seeing Su Tang affirm their fears so casually, everyone took another cold breath.
"The River God saw that we were fated to face adversity, so he didn't want us to stay and serve him. However, he also sympathized with the two of us, so he taught me a few things before sending us back. Moreover, he also told me that our Su family would be blessed and that we would certainly prosper in the future."
"Huh, really? Did the River God really say that?" Su Yongqiang asked fervently. Behind him, several other members of the Su family also looked over hopefully.
Right now, the Su family was in such a bad state that even the position of village head that should have been theirs was in the hands of an outsider. And, although Su Yongqiang had persisted all this time, he was obviously being suppressed by Wang Changhe to the point that even Su Tang could see it, so she wanted to offer a bit of hope.
After all, when it came to trying to learn and change your own destiny, in fact, a person's talent only accounted for a small part of things. The more important part was hard work, which was why people said things like 'hard work can make up for clumsiness'.
It was okay for a person to be down and out, so long as they never lost the firmness and tenacity in their bones. It was only when a person gave up on themselves that they would truly become useless. And, just as Su Tang had said before, the whole family was a unit that would prosper or fail together.
Apart from Su Yonggui's branch of the family, who could be considered bitter enemies, Su Tang had no issues with any of the other branches of the family and truly felt that helping them succeed would be like helping herself succeed. That was why she went out of her way to saw a few words that might reignite the hope deep down in their bones this time.
After all, another name for a 'miracle' was just plain hard work.
If the Su family could improve itself it could only be good news for Su Tang and her brother, and there were no potential harms at all. Of course, those words excluded Su Yonggui and his family, who should be gone from the Su family Su Tang wanted to build.
However, at the same time, Su Tang was in no hurry. When she looked at Su Yonggui and Madam Zhao, who both had sullen faces but didn't dare to speak, she smiled silently in her heart. In life, it was good to keep a few enemies around, otherwise, there would be nothing to do when a person got bored.
"Of course it's true. However, my memories from that time are still a bit muddled, and I only recall things every once in a while. But Brother Qiang, you can rest assured that our Su family isn't done for. From now on, we will only become more and more prosperous."
When he heard that firm reassurance, Su Yongqiang's eyes turned red with delight.
. "T-that's great news! If even the River God has said so, that means it's sure to come true!" Su Yongqiang said happily.
"However, the River God did not say when our family would prosper. He only told us that, so long as the descendants of the Su family worked hard it would definitely make that time come a little sooner. Of course, if those descendants don't work hard then the process will naturally take a longer time."
"Also, I've recalled that the River God told me to have Xiao Nuo go out to study and learn so that he could begin to work hard for the Su family sooner. Since he said that, perhaps Xiao Nuo will be able to achieve something and bring the Su family to prosperity!"
As she finished speaking, Su Tang reached up and patted the back of her neck in a gesture that was childish and awkward, looking much less like a serious little adult and more like an ordinary child for a moment.
When Su Yongqiang and Su Yongshun saw Su Tang suddenly behaving like a child, they both smiled, "En, Tang girl, you're right. We must work hard and succeed early. The hope of our Su family lies with the children!"
Originally, Su Yonggui had wanted to remind everyone that Su Tang had become strange recently. His hope was that his reminder would deal a blow to her and, with a bit of luck, cause the other members of the Su family not to trust her anymore and maybe even have them rally to send her to be sacrificed to the River God again. Whatever the method, he wanted to drive her out of the Su family. So he couldn't help but grind his teeth when he saw Su Tang use his words as a springboard to casually say a few platitudes and suddenly win a wave of favor from all the other elders of the Su family.
And as for Su Yonggui and Madam Zhao's reminder about Su Tang's strangeness, it didn't actually cause anyone in the Su family to doubt her. Since the beginning, no one had really doubted her despite being aware of her oddity because, after all, the experience of meeting the River God was already something very unique from the start. It was expected that meeting the River God would change a person. So, even if she had suddenly gotten a bit smarter, it wasn't really anything strange in their minds, it just proved that the River God truly wasn't an ordinary existence.
Before this, some of the family members had thought that this new Su Tang wasn't an easy character to get along with, and that perhaps she had even been tainted by evil after meeting the River God, so they hadn't dared to get close with her. But now that they saw how considerate Su Tang was of the Su family, and how she had selflessly saved Zhou Xiaocao's life, they began to feel that, although she was fated to face adversity, in the end, she was still a good and kind person.
And in any case, the people who would supposedly be affected by Su Tang's adverse fate were her direct relatives, but right now those people were all doing fine, so nobody thought too much of it. In fact, after today's events, the Su family's impression of Su Tang had definitely changed for the better.
Su Yonggui and Madam Zhao suddenly felt that they had come out to steal the chicken only to lose the rice. They had completely failed to achieve their goals and, instead, had allowed Su Tang to benefit.
When Madam Zhao saw everyone laughing along and speaking kindly to Su Tang, her blood began to boil and she shouted, "All you do is spout nonsense! I think the truth is that you are a wandering ghost who has come to deliberately ruin our family!"
Madam Zhao was full of anger. Since when were these two brats so popular? She really couldn't stand to see this!
"You shut up. When did Tang girl ever ruin our family? Ever since she was adopted, she has been properly mourning her father, Su Laochaun, and continuing to hold up his household. She's saved people's lives and learned a bit from her brother's master… you tell me, which sentence just now was not said for the sake of the Su family?"
Su Yongqiang couldn't stand to listen to Madam Zhao try to turn black to white, so he directly reprimanded her.
"I think you just have black heart. Who can't see that Sister Tang and Brother Nuo are good folk?" Madam Zhou added on for her husband.
Madam Qin also spoke up, "Heh, you want to come here and talk about Aunt Tang trying to ruin the Su family, but have you forgotten what your daughter-in-law did today? Could it be you think Aunt Tang forced her to do such a shameful thing?"
The two women spoke one after another, eager to jump out and protect Su Tang.
In fact, sometimes it wasn't necessary to say too much. People who weren't ignorant would be able to understand just by looking at the situation. Although some people here still felt that Su Tang and her brother had been touched by something supernatural and changed in some way, they were also certain that the two children had never done anything to hurt anyone.
On top of that, everyone had clear memories. As for how these two children were treated at Su Yonggui's house, who didn't know? Which side was more black-hearted, everyone knew clearly in their hearts.
Moreover, the two children hadn't done anything wrong, while Madam Zhang really had come over to steal their iron pot when their house collapsed, that was an undeniable fact.
Thinking to that point, many eyes landed on the bodies of Su Yonggui and his family, their gazes piercing like needles.
Su Yonggui had long realized that he had lost all momentum and that the rest of the Su family was standing on Su Tang's side. He knew saying anything more would be useless, so he ignored Madam Zhao, and looked at Su Tang, "So what is it that you want?"
Seeing him finally break down and ask this question, Su Tang smiled thinly, "Brother Gui, you've asked the wrong person. Our Su family's patriarch is still here. Although you may not believe me, since you've already mentioned all the 'care' my brother and I have received from you over the years, I don't plan to go and report this to the officials and damage the whole Su family. That being the case, this matter will naturally be left to the patriarch to deal with."
Su Tang just put on her most innocent expression and tossed the whole matter to Su Yongqiang. In fact, Su Tang knew she couldn't really say anything herself at this juncture because, at least in the eyes of people around the, she and her brother had been taken care of for many years by Su Yonggui and his family, so it wouldn't be appropriate for her to completely trample on the 'old feelings' between them.
If she said anything more at this point, even if no one said anything about it now, they would definitely feel that she was too cold and ruthless in their hearts. However, if she just passed it off to Su Yongqiang with the excuse that she was respecting the patriarch as a member of the Su family then everything would be fine.
Also, she had already said so much so, knowing how Su Yongqiang had always hoped to lead the Su family to prosper, she was confident that he wouldn't just gently let go of Madam Zhang's matter.
Or, to put it simply, when you have to step back, just take a step back. This was called 'quitting while she was ahead'.
A certain Divine Beast was very moved by Su Tang's little show: 'Too cunning!'
'Thank you. Thank you' Su Tang snorted at the orange cat's complaint. 'I've decided to reward you with a statue that truly matches your image, you don't need to thank me too much.'
The orange cat felt a cold shiver run up his spine when he saw her smile. "Oh, come on! Master, you need to have a sense of humor!"
Su Tang sighed theatrically, 'I understand that you have always hated having me as your master. It's okay, I understand, if you want to leave, I will be strong and endure. If you have another master you would rather go to, I will let you go and fulfill your wishes!'
The orange cat's fur stood up on end, 'I was wrong! Master, you are the best! Master, you are the most beautiful, lovely, charming, and kind-hearted master I've ever met! The very best in the world!'
The 'Divine Beast' stopped just short of getting down on his two front paws to grovel on the ground.
'Hmm, you aren't lying to me?' Su Tang asked.
Orange cat: 'Absolutely not! Just look at me! See the sincerity in my eyes!'
Su Tang looked for a long moment before saying: 'I don't see it…'
The orange cat collapsed!
It began to lament inside. Why was his life, the life of a Divine Beast who was had been entrusted to be the Guardian of a Space, so difficult? It was really too difficult, okay! Why hadn't he noticed that his master was such a person at the beginning? But it was all already too late! Now he was already bound to her, and unbinding would cause him to fall into hibernation for at least another hundred years… he didn't want to fall into hibernation again, so he could only endure!
Su Tang looked at the orange cat, who had slumped into the snow depressedly, and somehow her mood turned a bit better. Sure enough, whenever the orange cat was sad, she would feel happy.
While Su Tang was busy bullying her pet and feeling happy, Su Yongqiang was also happy when he heard Su Tang turn this problem over to him. After taking a moment to collect himself, he looked at Madam Zhang sternly.
"Madam Zhang, since you have already married into the Su family, you are subject to the rules of the Su family. Just now, Tang girl made it clear that this should be your first offense, so I hope you can remember your lesson this time and never do anything like this again."
Then he glanced at Su Yonggui, "Do you have anything you would like to add?"
He asked this because, after all, Su Yonggui was still Madam Zhang's father-in-law and also the head of his family, so it wouldn't be too appropriate for Su Yongqiang to directly go over his head and hand out a punishment. He had to give his brother some face.
However, even though Su Yongqiang was trying to give him face, Su Yonggui didn't feel much better. He just replied in a bland tone, "You are the patriarch of our Su family, so whatever you decide on I will have nothing to say."
Su Yonggui's words were obviously filled with resentment, and Su Yongqiang was a bit surprised. He hadn't expected for the other man to be so muddleheaded as to put the interests of one woman over the interests of the whole Su family but, as the patriarch, Su Yongqiang eventually decided to just put up with it and do what he needed to do. He turned away, not planning to say anything more to Su Yonggui.
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"Anyway, now that your father-in-law has agreed, we will go according to the usual rules of the Su family. Madam Zhang, you have committed immoral acts. However, out of consideration for you Aunt Tang's tolerant and generous heart, we will settle on ten boards as a lesson this time. However, make sure that you are very clear, it won't be a matter of a small ten boards if you continue to make mistakes like this in the future."
Su Yongqiang directly announced the punishment.
But when Madam Zhang heard that she was going to be beaten again this time, she quickly became very unhappy, "What right do you have to beat me, ah? Do you think my husband will agree!"
Madam Zhang looked to Su Sanshou for help, her eyes urgently flashing. Just how many things has she had to do for him over the years? Would he really just ignore her now?
As the patriarch of the Su family, Su Yongqiang had presided over many affairs for the Su family over the years that were both large and small, and every day he struggled to think of ways to bring the Su family to prosperity. However, in recent years, he hadn't interfered as much in the family affairs because of his exhaustion but, as a result, it seemed that even the younger generation dared to question him now.
Su Yongqiang's face quickly turned ugly. "I am the patriarch of the Su family, and you are a woman who has married into the Su family! I have every right to settle you!"
When Su Sanshou received his wife's desperate look, he wanted to open his mouth and speak for her. However, before he could even say anything, he noticed that Su Yongqiang had already taken the initiative to look over at him and, without waiting for Su Sanshou to open his mouth, Su Yongqiang said, "Many thanks to Madam Zhang for your reminder. Su Sanshou, you also have a responsibility here. You did not properly educate your wife this time, and it's clear that you have failed to fulfill your responsibilities as a husband. You will also receive ten boards! Engrave today's lesson into your heart and don't make such mistakes again in the future!"
Su Yongqiang had long been the respected patriarch of the Su family, and no one would go against him on normal days. On top of that, it just so happened that there were many boys and young men from the Su family at the scene right now who had gathered to help dig up Su Tang's collapsed house – which was to say that they had all heard Su Tang's words about how, if Madam Zhang didn't change her ways she would inevitably drag down the reputation of the whole Su family. All that was to say that, when they heard Su Yongqiang's order to beat the two people with ten boards each, none of the young Su family members hesitated at all.
In fact, rather than hesitating, these young men all very proactively stepped up to quickly carry out the patriarch's instructions. Su Sanshou had never expected that, not only would he fail to beg for mercy for his wife, but somehow he actually got wrapped up in everything and now he was going to be beaten as well. He hurriedly shouted, "Dad… mom… help!"
Of course, Su Yonggui loved his youngest son and wanted to help, but he had to remember his face. After all, Su Yongqiang had already asked him just now if he wanted to interfere and he had told the other man that he would listen to his decisions, so he couldn't just immediately turn around and change his mind. If he did that, wouldn't it just be slapping his own face?
But Madam Zhao was different. As soon as she heard Su Yongqiang say that her youngest son would receive boards as well, she immediately jumped out to protect him. She got in the way of the men preparing to beat her son while screaming, "What are you talking about? What does any of this have to do with Su Sanshou? You can't hit him!"
When Madam Zhou and Madam Qin saw her trying to interfere, they directly went over and began to pull Madam Zhao away. Surprisingly, even though the both of them worked all year long and were very hardy women, they still weren't able to pull the hysterical Madam Zhao back at all. Seeing them struggling, Madam Wen and Madam Tong hurriedly came over to help and, finally, the four women managed to drag Madam Zhao away.
As soon as Madam Zhao was out of the way, a few young men from the Su family appeared and to hold Su Sanshou down, while some young women from the Su family appeared to hold down Madam Zhang. In short order, both people were pressed down and ready to receive their beatings.
Once they were both pinned down, they both started howling and wailing like a pair of ghosts before anyone even had a chance to hit them.
"Ahhhhhhh…"
"Mother, save me, ahhhhhh…"
Su Yongqiang felt a headache coming on just listening to their annoying cries, so he hurriedly waved his hand to directly instruct the people to start the punishment. He knew that this matter wouldn't be solved until they were punished, so there was no need to hesitate.
Of course, with the two people howling like this, it wasn't just Su Yongqiang who felt they were being too noisy, the people wielding the boards felt the same way. They wanted to hurry and shut these wailing ghosts up, so they quickly began beating them without holding back their strength at all. Thus, in the blink of an eye, the young members of the Su family finished doling out all ten boards to both people.
After being beaten, the two continued to howl and scream. Madam Zhao was very distressed and rushed forward to try to help Su Sanshou. At the same time, although she was unwilling, Madam Wu also went forward to help Madam Zhang.
"With this, today's matter is settled. However, I hope that all of the members of the Su family will remember today's lesson and not make this kind of mistake in the future. Most importantly, the River God has spoken to us and said that our Su family will prosper in the future, so we must all work hard. Maybe the beginning of a new era for our Su family will begin with one of you here today. Everyone, head home for now, but remember to always work hard."
Su Yongqiang finally ended the matter by saying a few words to the people of the Su family who had gathered. As for the various onlookers, they all began to disperse happily once they realized that the fun was over. These gossipy people were all smiling widely as they walked away, after all, today's event would be enough for them to gossip about for a long time to come.
Su Sanshou and Madam Zhang had already been beaten and now they were reduced to just crying mournfully. Madam Zhao loved her sons more than her life, so she didn't care about anything else and just directly began to take her son back. At the same time, having heard Su Yongqiang's last words warning the Su family not to make mistakes like this again, Su Yonggui could feel that everyone was looking at him strangely.
He knew that he had really lost his old face this time, but he also loved his son, so he ignored those gazes and, together with Madam Zhao, he picked up Su Sanshou and helped him leave.
However, after Madam Wu pulled Madam Zhang upright, she really didn't want to take care of the other woman any further than this. Madam Zhang had helped her out of a pinch last time, but ever since then she had always been coming around and trying to get benefits for Madam Wu because of it. Thanks to that, Madam Wu had long lost all of her patience with Madam Zhang.
On top of that, she had even learned today that all of the jewelry she had 'lost' before had actually been stolen by Madam Zhang and exchanged for money. In the past, she had always wondered how Madam Zhang had been able to live so extravagantly even though her maternal family shouldn't have been any richer than Madam Wu's. In the end, she had always just assumed that her father and mother-in-law were just biased and gave benefits to their youngest son and his wife privately. She really hadn't expected to learn that the reality was like this.
But even as she was thinking, Madam Zhang was thinking too. Despite how she had been beaten and was in severe pain, Madam Zhang could see the crafty look in Madam Wu's eyes and knew what she was thinking about, so she hurriedly stumbled forward to latch onto her, not letting the other woman escape at all.
Of course, Madam Wu wanted to just leave Madam Zhang to fend for herself, but before she noticed Su Yonggui and Madam Zhao had already directly left, leaving only her and Madam Zhang behind. Right now there were still many people watching, so if she just left on her own everyone would think she was very shameless for not helping a family member in need. In the end, pressured by the eyes of the surrounding villagers, Madam Wu had no choice but to help Madam Zhang by half-carrying the other woman to leave.
But just when Madam Wu turned around she happened to see Su Tang standing next to Su Yongqiang and holding some strange snow-sculpture in her hands, and who could tell what it was for or what the brat was trying to do. Seeing that, Madam Wu gritted her teeth fiercely. She had really underestimated these two brats before.
But then Madam Wu's eyes flashed craftily as she recalled what she had gone and found her brother and asked him to do. Soon, that brat's good days would be coming to an end. Comforted by that thought, Madam Wu snorted and turned to leave.
'That woman is full of evil thoughts!' Although he was still feeling aggrieved from his master's bullying, when the orange cat sensed Madam Wu's malice he immediately spoke up to warn Su Tang.
'It's fine, I know. After all, the enmity between us isn't something that was born after just a day or two. And, at any rate, life is more interesting when you have someone to fight against, right? For now, let's just say that the days between us two are still long.' Of course, even if the orange cat hadn't warned her, Su Tang had long sensed Madam Wu's evil gaze.
In truth, Su Tang was only somewhat acquainted with this stepmother of Su Dani and Su Dalang. However, things had already reached this point between them, so there was no need for her to think too much. Madam Wu had wanted the two children to die in the past, so it stood to reason that she would only want them to die even more now.
Unfortunately, she met Su Tang this time, so all of her little tricks would be in vain.
Once he saw that Su Yonggui and the onlookers had all left, Su Yongqiang quickly told his wife that he was going to go with Su Yongshun and organize the young people of the Su family to go clear snow and open up the road.
They were the largest family in Sujia Village, which meant that they had the largest number of strong working-aged men and boys. Now that the road to the town had been blocked by the heavy snowfall they had no choice but to quickly go and help clear the road.
"Sister Tang and Brother Nuo, I know you two are going to town today, but you'll have to wait for the road to be cleared to leave anyway, so why don't you come back to our house and wait until then? It's too cold to be wandering outside." Madam Qin had been worried ever since she heard that the roof of Su Tang's house had collapsed and the two kids were planning to head to town, but because of all the excitement, she hadn't been able to say anything until now. However, now that things had calmed down, she quickly offered to have Su Tang and her brother wait at their house until the road was clear before they left.
But when Madam Zhou heard Madam Qin's offer, she hastened to speak up as well, "Your family already took care of them last night, why don't you let Sister Tang and Brother Nuo come over to our house to eat lunch for now? When my husband left just now he told me to make this sort of arrangement, so it's no trouble."
The two finished talking and looked to Su Tang and her brother for their decision. Su Nuo didn't seem to intend to say anything, content to listen to his sister for this matter.
Su Tang thought for a moment before saying slowly, "Well, we've already troubled Brother Shun and Sister-in-law Qin last night…"
Before she could finish speaking, Madam Qin cut in, "This sort of thing isn't any trouble! Our two families have always been close, so this sort of little thing is just what we should do."
Her stance was clear: They all belonged to the same family, so it was only right to help each other.
Quick Reminder:
Madam Zhou = Su Yongqiang(aka the Su family patriarch)'s wife
Madam Qin = Su Yongshun's wife
After hearing Madam Qin's persuasion, Su Tang still said, "Well, even so, Xiao Nuo and I are both very grateful to Brother Shun and Sister-in-law Qin."
But hearing that just made Madam Qin more upset, feeling that Su Tang and her brother were really being too polite.
However, Madam Zhou just assumed this meant that Su Tang wanted to head back over to Madam Qin's place, so she opened her mouth to say, "Aren't Sister Tang and Brother Nuo planning to head into town soon? Our house is closer to town, so it will be less of a trip later if you come to our place instead."
"You should know that ever since last time when your nephew and his wife tried your jujube pastries, his wife has been thinking of making some cakes for you to try. But in the end, you've always been so busy that she never had the opportunity. So today is a good chance for you to come and have a taste of Laiwang's wife's craftsmanship. "
Madam Zhou pressed on with her invitation and, seeing how sincere and polite the older woman was being, Su Tang looked to Madam Qin and said, "According to common sense, my brother and I really shouldn't let a matter like this bother the elders of the Su family, right? Also, in the end, it really is more convenient for us to head into town from Brother Qiang's house, so…"
Madam Qin understood that Su Tang had made her decision, and she didn't try to insist any further. Anyway, she knew that even if Su Tang and her brother went to Su Yongqiang's place instead they would still be taken good care of, so she smiled and graciously withdrew, "Oh well, I suppose I'll let Sister-in-law Zhou win this time."
Madam Zhou laughed along, "What are you talking about, winning and losing? As family members, this is just what we should do. Anyway, let's go!"
Su Tang somehow felt that Madam Zhou was even more anxious about this matter than she was, but she still said firmly, "There are still some things left in our house here that we need to retrieve. Let Xiao Nuo and I stay here to clean up a bit first and then we'll come over to your place by ourselves in a bit."
Of course, Madam Zhou could clearly see Su Tang's house for herself, and her words weren't an exaggeration. Things really were a bit of a mess, with the iron pot still laying on the floor where it had been tossed aside earlier, so she understood that Su Tang's words were very reasonable. "Well, why don't we help you clean up here …"
"No thanks, it's fine. How could we let you do this for us? My brother and I will be enough." Su Tang quickly refused. In fact, there really wasn't much left inside the house right now because Su Tang usually put most things into her space anyway. All that was in the house were her and her brother's two sets of bedding, as well as a few bowls, some pairs of chopsticks, and the larger pieces of cookware.
She really only wanted to try to retrieve the bedding. After all, if she left the bedding exposed to the elements it would quickly become unusable, and that would be a terrible waste.
Seeing how insistent Su Tang was, Madam Zhou and Madam Qin didn't say anymore and left first. Before leaving, Madam Zhou said that she would definitely go back and tell Laiwang's wife that they were coming, so the siblings should be sure to come over as quickly as they could to have a taste of her cooking.
Su Tang agreed and sent them all off with a smile. Then, once everyone had gone far away and there were only her and her brother left in the yard, Su Tang looked at the completely collapsed house and sighed, "What a mess!"
Su Nuo saw his sister looked worried, so he walked forward and grabbed her hand with his own. Then he muttered in an anxious tone, "Sister, what should we do about the River God?"
The little guy had actually been silent for a long time, but Su Tang hadn't noticed because she had been busy settling those thieves. But now the little guy, who looked carefully all around them as if afraid that someone might overhear him, suddenly whispered these words to her while staring at a certain crushed bamboo basket that Su Tang had placed in the corner of their house with uncertain eyes.
Su Tang suddenly remembered that she had told the little guy before that the bamboo basket had been put there so she could give offerings to the River God and he had always believed it. Obviously, now that the roof of the house had collapsed and the bamboo basket had been crushed, it was no wonder he was worried that the River God would be angry.
In fact, Su Nuo hadn't originally thought of this at all, but hadn't Su Tang brought up the River God herself when speaking with the others just now? With that reminder, the little guy remembered everything and got nervous. He asked in a small voice: "What if the River God gets angry?"
Su Tang herself hadn't thought of this at all, because she was very clear about what was really going on and knew clearly that there was no River God in their house. In reality, all of the 'offerings for the River God' had been eaten clean by the orange cat, that so-called Divine Beast, and all of the things 'given to them by the River God' were really just produced in her space.
So seeing how worried the little guy was, Su Tang was completely dumbfounded for a moment. But she quickly recovered and replied in a low voice, "Don't worry about this Xiao Nuo. Actually, the River God is very satisfied with your sister's cooking and he has even promised to start coming to town to get the offerings again once we've moved there. The River God is an immortal, so he can fly there in a blink without any trouble, you don't need to fret."
It was mysterious, but Su Tang seemed quite happy as she coaxed a small child and blamed everything on the River God. Meanwhile, the only adult in the room, the orange cat, could only give poor Su Nuo a sympathetic look and 'tsk' inside. The poor little two-legged beast that was being fooled all the way from childhood… hopefully he wouldn't grow up to doubt life in the future.
Speaking of their objectives in staying here though, because the bedding had already been crushed under the roof it was, in fact, impossible for Su Tang to dig out alone. But then again, why would she dig it out alone in the first place? If she did that, what would be the meaning of keeping this so-called Divine Beast around, right? Thus, Su Tang impolitely 'asked' the orange cat to help, and in short order, their small house was swept clean, the bedding, bowls, and chopsticks all thrown into the space one after another.
As for the iron pot that had almost been stolen by Madam Zhang, she, unfortunately, couldn't sneak it away inside her space after it had already been seen by so many people. That thought in mind, Su tang reluctantly put the iron pot aside before going to go and dig out some of the fish she had 'buried' from the snow.
Ever since the Qing River froze over, Su Tang had stopped providing fish balls for Jiang He and his wife's noodle stall. However, fortunately, while the river was still unfrozen, the couple had taken the initiative to freeze some fish and store them themselves. Of course, doing it this way caused the fish balls to no longer be as delicious as the fresh ones delivered by Su Tang every day, but it was still better than nothing.
So like this, the work that had been keeping Su Tang busy for so long had temporarily come to an end. However, last night, when Su Yongshun's family had all come over to help immediately after their house had collapsed, Su Tang had come out here and pretended to dig around before bringing back two crucian carps from the space to make fish balls for them. After all, even though her relatives were willing, she couldn't just let her and her brother stay with them for nothing.
And now that she had agreed to go to Su Yongqiang's house to have a meal, of course, she couldn't just go over empty-handed. Thus, she threw a grass carp from the space down into the hole where the fish were 'buried' and left it there for a moment to let it properly freeze over from the snow and ice. This way it wouldn't be suspicious when she brought it out later.
Su Tang was planning to take it to Su Yongqiang's house and, if there was a chance, she could use it to add a dish to the table. Of course, even if no chance presented itself, she could just borrow their kitchen and make one. After all, it wasn't like earlier this morning when Su Yongshun and his family were all still sleeping and Su Tang had been forced to tiptoe around.
After judging the fish to be sufficiently frozen, Su Tang put it inside the iron pot and then took a rope and wrapped it around the iron pot itself. Last night it had snowed heavily and now the sun was out and warming the surface of the snow and, in addition to that, many people had been walking back and forth in this area just before, forming a clear path in the sun-warmed snow. Thanks to that, Su Tang had no trouble using a rope to drag the iron pot along behind her, and she and her brother set off to Su Yongqiang's house together without delay.
However, as they were passing by Su Yongshun's house, Su Tang stopped and asked to leave the iron pot with them. After all, such a big pot was too heavy to drag all the way to town.
Of course, the key point was that, even if she really took it to town, it would end up being useless to them there since their courtyard was already fully furnished and had no need for an extra iron pot. But it also wasn't like she could just throw it away, after all, their small family of two didn't have the finances to just get rid of the iron pot and buy a new one later, so Su Tang hoped to leave it with Su Yongshun's family for now and then come back to retrieve it once the new house was built after the new year.
In any case, Madam Zhang hadn't been wrong about the pot's value. And since it wasn't broken or anything, there was no reason not to save it so they could use it again later on.
Madam Qin naturally agreed to keep the pot for Su Tang without saying so much as a word of complaint. However, because the weather was so cold, Su Tang and her brother only stayed long enough to drop off the pot and exchange a few words before hurridly setting off again for Su Yongqiang's house with the fish.
"Aunt Tang, Uncle Nuo, you're here. It's so cold outside, hurry and come in." When Su Tang and her brother finally arrived and knocked at the door, it was opened a 24-or 25-year-old woman. As soon as the woman saw who it was, she smiled and quickly let them in.
The woman who answered the door was Madam Miao, the wife of Su Yongqiang and Madam Zhou's second son Su Laifu. As soon as Su Tang and her brother came inside Madam Lu, who had been working busily in the kitchen, heard the commotion and came out to say, "Aunt Tang, Uncle Nuo, you're finally here. Come in, sit down!"
At the same time, other people began to come in from different rooms in the house. There was a young woman holding a little girl's hand, followed by two little boys, one that looked to be about seven and the other about five. This young woman was the wife of Su Yongqiang and Madam Zhou's eldest son Su Laixi, Madam Luo.
The two boys and a girl were all Su Laixi and Madam Luo's children. After this group had all entered the room, Madam Miao quickly came in right afterward with her and Su Laifu's two little boys, a five-year-old and a three-year-old who were both blinking curiously at Su Tang and Su Nuo.
