"Mother, please don’t worry. It’s just a bit of exclusion; it’s still better than us going hungry and cold. Chan’er is about to marry, and I don’t want her to suffer like you did, doing embroidery to support the family," Li Bin said firmly. "If you want to reconcile with Father, I’ll cancel my engagent with the Su family to prevent Chan’er from suffering."
As a man, he couldn’t bear to let his wife endure hardship.
Madam Li panicked at his words, quickly grabbing Li Bin’s sleeve and shaking her head. "No reconciliation, no reconciliation! I’ll listen to you."
If he canceled the engagent, her son would remain single indefinitely.
She was looking forward to having a grandson!
Both Nanli and Chu Shuo felt relieved. Thankfully, at a critical mont, Li Bin was clear-headed.
After all, they were outsiders and couldn’t say too much.
Elder Cao was furious, his beard twitching as he pointed at Li Bin and shouted, "You... you... how can you be so unfilial! I gave birth to you... raised you..."
Li Bin interrupted him, "It was Mother who carried , gave birth to , and raised ! How can you have the face to say such things?"
"You would rather teach other children to read and write than teach ! It was Mother who scrimped and saved, using her dowry to hire a renowned teacher for !"
"If it weren’t for the bit of your blood in , I would have kicked you out by now and wouldn’t tolerate your words!"
Elder Cao’s face turned even paler.
He didn’t mind being criticized by relatives, but the fatal blow was the glances from the young master who had just supported him, making him feel uneasy.
Zhixi said, "Senior Sister, I finally understand why you said that those without sha are invincible. This old guy is worse than my father. My father is just lazy and can’t support , which is why he sent to Xuanyue Temple, but he never expected to support him."
His father felt guilty later, sending so local specialties but didn’t dare to see him.
Elder Cao, on the other hand, had no silver and thought of his wife and child when tis got tough.
"How can you speak like this, young master?! Regardless, I am his father, his biological father!" Elder Cao argued.
"True, but they’ve supported you for many years. You can’t keep sucking their blood, can you? And you’re a second-rank official—what books have you read?" Zhixi rolled his eyes at him.
Chu Shuo laughed, "Sixth Sister, this young master is good! His tongue is much sharper than Master Zhi Mi’s."
Zhixi proudly bowed, "Thank you for the praise. Mainly, I’m soone who hasn’t read much but understands more than he does. I really can’t tolerate him bullying others."
"Exactly! He’s a typical bully who talks about filial piety but doesn’t even consider how he treats his wife and children. Now he’s getting his couppance. He’s been starving for so long, and none of his students even brought him food, did his laundry, or gave him money. This just shows that heartless and ungrateful people can’t teach good disciples."
Chu Shuo and Zhixi bantered back and forth.
"You little rich kid, how dare you humiliate like this!" Elder Cao was thoroughly enraged and charged forward, wanting to hit soone.
But he was too hasty, still weak, and accidentally stepped on a stone, twisting his ankle and stumbling forward.
Chu Shuo didn’t react quickly enough, but Zhixi, who had carried water up and down the mountain at Xuanyue Temple, had so skills. He hurried over to steady Elder Cao.
Even so, Elder Cao’s ankle was twisted, and he cried out in pain.
Out of the corner of his eye, he kept staring at Madam Li, who showed no sign of sympathy and wore an extrely disdainful expression.
She took out a silver ingot, exactly ten taels, and threw it in front of Elder Cao. "I will never reconcile with you. If you keep pestering , I’ll expose how you’ve used my dowry all these years. Let’s see who is truly shaless. Take this silver and leave!"
"Madam Li, how can you humiliate like this?!" Elder Cao looked weak, "You don’t rember our twenty years of marriage?"
Madam Li felt nauseated. "Whenever I think of the past, I regret it deeply! If I could do it all over again, I would never marry you!"
Unfortunately, there are no ’ifs.’
But it’s never too late for a person to turn back.
Elder Cao was stunned, looking at Li Bin in hopes he could give him so hope.
But Li Bin was the sa. "Lord Cao, don’t co to my house anymore; you’re not welco here."
Not only that, but the forr servants in the household also chid in, shouting, "Yes! If you co again, we will definitely beat you up!"
Elder Cao felt heartbroken and dejected.
He couldn’t understand why, despite his sacrifices for the country and the people, he couldn’t earn the understanding and support of his family.
At this mont, Nanli said, "Elder Cao, since your leg is inconvenient, let Zhixi take you back out of kindness."
Better not to embarrass himself here.
"Yes, Senior Sister!"
Before Elder Cao could respond, Zhixi had already shouldered him and started walking.
"Wait, wait!"
Everyone thought Elder Cao wanted to say sothing more.
But he turned back to glance at the silver and said, "Pick up the silver! That’s mine."
Due to the snow disaster, the national treasury had used a lot of silver, and his salary had been delayed. He needed to take this ten taels; otherwise, he would go hungry again.
Everyone fell silent.
However, Zhixi, wanting to do a good deed, picked up the silver for Elder Cao and continued to carry him away.
After the commotion Elder Cao caused, Madam Li and her son felt rather unhappy.
Chu Shuo comforted them for a while before pulling Nanli away from the Li residence.
The black wooden cart was used to send Elder Cao away, so Nanli could only ride with Second Brother.
Chu Shuo’s cart was unique in the mansion.
It was made from the finest wood and was a four-horse cart—spacious and luxurious.
After sitting down, Nanli sighed, "Second Brother, thankfully you didn’t decorate it with any gold or gems; that would be so tacky."
"Tacky?" Chu Shuo didn’t think so. "It’s just embedded; otherwise, it would either poke my waist or my backside. I didn’t let the craftsn add any."
Nanli pursed her lips and decided to change the subject, asking about the situation in the capital.
Since his family had people in court and the military, plus he was in business himself, he summarized the recent circumstances from three aspects.
In short, the court had spent a lot of silver, and his business was not doing well.
However, the situation in Qi Nation was similar, so the officials of Mu Nation weren’t overly worried.
But their family knew the real situation; as long as Qi Hong was still the emperor of Qi Nation, there would be no war between the two countries.
After listening, Nanli nodded, "That’s good."
Suddenly, Chu Shuo rembered sothing. "By the way, Master Zhi Mi used a Transfer Talisman several days ago. Before he left, he said he was going back to Xuanyue Temple. I rember you ntioned he couldn’t leave the capital. He still hasn’t returned and hasn’t sent any news. Do you think sothing has happened to him?"
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