Splendid Twins

Lu Yuan came over and said one word to Si Yao:

"beat."

"I know, I will definitely beat him next time!"

Si Yao smiled and said, this bastard Si Yao deserves a beating!

Lu Yuan liked to see Si Yao smile. Seeing that her mood was not disturbed, he pursed his lips, took out a package wrapped in a handkerchief from his arms and handed it to her.

"what is this?"

Si Yao took it and opened it. The handkerchief was the one she dropped when she was roasting chicken in the mountains last time. Inside was a roasted sweet potato that was still hot.

“Did you bake this?”

Si Yao peeled off the skin and took a bite of the red and yellow sweet potato flesh. The tempting color increased her appetite. The sweetness of the sweet potato and the delicate and residue-free taste made her sigh with squinting eyes:

“The only thing you can’t miss is delicious food.”

Lu Yuan was in a strange mood. He had eaten about seven or eight raw sweet potatoes. Now the smell made him feel nauseous. He silently moved one or two steps to the side...

As soon as Si Yao returned home, Wang blocked him at the door and asked him in a low voice:

"Where have you been?"

"Go out and take a walk, Mom, what's wrong with you?"

Wang Shi was scratched on the face by Liu Niang and couldn't tell her son, so she just sighed and said:

"Your grandfather can't move now. I don't know what your father and your third uncle are discussing. Go to the upper room and listen."

"I'm not going. I'm tired and need to take a nap."

Si Yao started to undress and prepare to go to bed. Wang glared at him and left the room. Zhang was picking vegetables in the yard. When she saw her coming out, she looked at her with contempt and turned away. Wang saw it but didn't get angry. She just pretended not to see anything and walked over to help:

"Sister-in-law, what do you think we are going to do in the future?"

"We live the same way we lived before!"

Zhang retorted with confidence, don’t think she didn’t know what her sister-in-law meant, didn’t she just want the third son to come back home and serve the old man?

"Well, look at what you said. We are all family. Now that something has happened, we have to support each other..."

"Sister-in-law, I don't agree with what you said. In the past, everyone in the family saved money to support Yao Ge'er. I took my two daughters to my parents' home to raise them. Now you want us to pay money and work hard? Don't treat others as fools!"

The more Zhang spoke, the angrier she became. She dropped the food in her hand, stood up and started shouting.

Wang also got angry when she saw this, she stood up suddenly and pushed Zhang:

"You're here to laugh at my brother Yao now? You should understand that only when my brother Yao becomes successful can you two girls have a good life!"

Zhang laughed angrily when she heard this, and she put her hands on her hips:

"Bah, he can only be a poor scholar in this life and still want to be a backer for others? If it weren't for him, would my daughter have been delayed until now?"

"You still have the nerve to blame me, Brother Yao? Who said that you would wait until Brother Yao passed the imperial examination before introducing him to our two daughters?"

"You were the ones who first said that he would marry a daughter of a wealthy family when he became famous, fearing that my daughter's poor marriage would affect his bright future. Now you are actually turning the tables on me!"

The two women in the yard were talking to each other and exposing each other's shortcomings. The eldest and the third son of the Si family in the house were silent, and each of them had his own thoughts.

Old man Si was lying on the bed. He could hear and see but he couldn't speak. He was so angry that his eyes turned red and his whole body was shaking.

"Dad, don't get excited. The doctor said to take good care of him."

Si Lao San reached out and pulled the quilt for his father. The old man looked much older overnight.

"How can he not be excited? Listen to what your wife said!"

Boss Si looked at the third brother with a sullen face. This younger brother has always been a coward and only listens to his wife.

"Brother, what Zhang said makes sense. Sister Jing is about to get married, and I have a lot of work to do. Our father..."

"What! You said this because you want me to come back and serve Dad? My shop is very busy as the New Year is coming to an end. Why don't you come back and serve Dad after serving your father-in-law?"

Boss Si took the initiative. He didn't want to come back at all. Besides, he had important things to do...

"Then, let's let sister-in-law and Zhang stay at home to help, and let mother take care of dad. Let's finish the work at hand and then discuss it."

Si Lao San thought of a compromise, but he was afraid that Zhang would lose her temper again...

"That's fine, let's talk about the rest later."

The eldest brother Si stood up, glanced at Old Man Si and left. The third brother Si also wanted to leave but couldn't bear to look into his father's tearful eyes:

"Dad, why are you...ah..."

The tears that Old Man Si had been holding back for a long time suddenly slipped out and fell into his temples, and his eyes were filled with a desolate look.

Si Yao couldn't sleep because of the noise, so he got up and left the room. Seeing his mother being bullied to the point of being speechless, he said to Zhang with a sullen face:

"Don't be so harsh, Third Aunt. I am still a scholar after all. If I go to my cousin Jing's in-laws' house and say something, how do you think my cousin will live in the future?"

"How could you be so shameless!"

Zhang was so angry that she was speechless. She used to praise Si Yao for his knowledge and insight, but now she saw how despicable this bastard was!

Furious with the mother and son, Zhang shouted angrily into the house:

"Third brother, come out!"

Si Lao San hurriedly lifted the door curtain and said:

"I'm here, let's talk it over. Where's our mother?"

When Zhang saw that he was trying to smooth things over again, she turned around and went back to the house in anger. Wang was also called into the house by Boss Si. Si Yao was packing his things.

"Why are you and your father leaving?"

Wang frowned as she looked at her husband and son. Si Yao glanced at his father. Boss Si took a deep breath.

"I'm busy in my shop, and Brother Yao has things to do, so I'll leave the house to you for now. We'll make arrangements once Brother Yao has a place to go."

The father and son went out together with their bags. On the way, they met Mrs. Si, who had gone to Doctor Xin's place to pack medicine for the old man. Seeing the two of them leaving, she couldn't help but feel anxious:

"Why did you leave? Your father hasn't even..."

"Mother, is your grandson's future more important or is it serving my father at home? Wang and Zhang will stay to help you, and they will come back when their son is done with this period of work."

Si Yao took out ten taels of silver and put them in Si Po's hand:

"Grandma, take the flowers. When your grandson makes a lot of money, I'll buy you a big gold bracelet."

Hearing this, Mrs. Si felt relieved. She thought that it didn't matter if her grandson didn't pass the exam, as long as he knew how to be filial to her. She held the silver tightly and smiled:

"Okay, grandma's waiting. You and your son should go now."

The two walked to a deserted place. Boss Si looked at Si Yao with a gloomy face and a stern tone:

"Tell me, where did you get the money to spend these days?"

Si Yao knew he couldn't hide it from his father, so he had to tell the truth:

"Dad, I recently met a few good friends from Shangjing. I have a vague feeling that they have connections in the imperial examination, so I took a few of them to drink some wine and play dice. I won this money by luck, really by luck..."

Boss Si's expression softened. He was also worried about his son's future, but he was just a rice shop owner...

"Then you take control of it yourself and don't do anything indecent to me!"

"I know dad."

Si Yao lowered his eyes to hide the disdain in them. What his father said sounded nice, but he still kept a mistress outside without his mother's knowledge!

He now understood that no matter how much he studied, it was of no use. At the critical moment, he had no gold and silver to pave the way and no powerful people to support him. Even if he passed the imperial examination, he would still be a poor scholar and would inevitably be abandoned as a pawn by the court and political parties!

He's been lucky lately and won a few times. It would be nice to have a lot of money and live a leisurely life as a rich man!