Chapter 38: Foolish Piety

“At that time, I went along to do some temporary work. I wasn’t very strong, so I didn’t earn much. I just happened to be more good-looking.”

As for Mo then, he was at school; and Ling was still a kid and had medicine to take, so there went our budget!” Ye Liu said very casually.

Both Liu Duo and Ye Ling wondered if Liu could take this seriously.

But Liu Duo was surprised. Someone as impulsive and short-tempered as Mo actually used to be a student? Was he any good?

“Oh, right, and Yang needed a wife, so that was more spending. Therefore that old woman, who couldn’t die, cut us out!”

Old woman who couldn’t die! Great use of words, Liu Duo thought in agreement.

He stepped over and sat beside her. “Whatever we had, we split. Heaven knows why mom died of anger like that!”

He sighed and went on, “If they had listened to me about splitting, perhaps everything would be different!”

At that time, he was twelve. Dad and Yang went hunting in the hills, and Mo went to school. His grandmother, uncles, and aunts did not take kindly to his mom and Ling. One day, he returned early after working in town and discovered what had happened by accident.

They left all the laundry to his mother alone. She had to do every chore by herself and could not even get a full meal. The cousins bullied Ling, and no one bothered.

He never knew that his mother and Ling had been suffering when they were not around. His mom would not say, and neither would Ling.

Liu became so angry that he roared at his mother, “Why didn’t you tell Dad or us? Dad and Yang work hard hunting, I’m working too, and all the money we earn we gave this family, but this is how they treat you and Ling? And you tolerated it? You were taken advantage of and didn’t say anything. When Dad comes back, we are leaving this place!”

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And yet his mother, his dear mother, actually said, we are a family, so it does not matter if one contributes more or less. Is splitting what young kids like you talk about? That’s not filial. Grandmother didn’t ask to split, so we shouldn’t simply say things like that. It destroys harmony.

When dad and Yang returned, he pulled his dad aside and told him everything. He also said that splitting was for the better, and dad actually repeated what mom said!

Thinking about this, Ye Liu kicked the bench beside him, and it flew across the yard, as he cursed, “Stupid piety!”

This made Liu Duo and Ye Liu jump in surprise. He had been talking like he usually did. This was the first time they had seen him express sudden anger.

“Liu?” Ye Ling called out weakly.

Liu Dup gently shook his shoulder, asking silently, what’s the matter?

Obviously, Ye Liu was quietly drowning in his own thoughts, remembering the past.

When he came to, Ye Liu grinned gently. “It’s nothing. It’s in the past. We’re doing fine now.”

Liu Duo was curious about what came next, so she asked, “What happened after that?”

Seeing her curiosity, Ye Liu chose to satisfy her, so he said, “After that we split! Yang’s wedding arrangement was canceled! This small yard, one mu of paddy field, and two mus of vegetable plots were divided to us.”

“Yang still went hunting, and I continued doing odd jobs. Mo stopped going to school, so other than tending the farm, his main responsibility was doing whatever it takes to care for Ling.”

Pffft, Liu Duo laughed upon hearing this. Whatever it takes to care for Ling? That wasn’t necessary for Ling though, right? He wasn’t a baby anymore!

Ye Ling sighed drily. Since when had he needed Mo to do ‘whatever it takes’ for him? He was ten then, and he knew better!