Chapter 5: The Candy's Wrongful Accusation

  Tang Dou also heard his brother's crying, and immediately ran over to look at the broken plate on the ground, looking at his crying brother, he felt very bad in his heart, and was afraid that Amu would scold his brother, seeing the pleading gaze of Amu, don't scare your little brother.

  Song Yun hastily intervened, asking on his behalf: "Fool, did you see who just broke the plate? Don't be afraid, Mu Feng and I are here, no one dares to bully you or Tang Guo."

  The fool can't tell the truth, but he directly points at Tang Jingrui, a five-year-old beside Lu Xin.

  Lu Xinyi saw the fool pointing at his son's hand, and immediately exploded in a loud voice: "What do you mean, fool? The thing was smashed by your son, and now you want to exonerate him? Are you still not completely foolish? Now you can even frame others, right?"

  When he heard Lu Xin's sudden loud voice, his other four children all gathered around, and his second son Tang Jingyang even clenched his fists with a fierce look.

  As for that fool, he had always been quite afraid of him. When he was a kid, he was scolded by Mu Feng for teasing the fool, so he was somewhat intimidated by Mu Feng's tall stature. However, as he grew older, Tang Jingyang was no longer as afraid of Mu Feng. He believed it wouldn't be long before he could surpass Mu Feng in height, and Mu Feng was just a stutterer after all.

  Mu Feng heard Lu Xin's words, he was furious and trembling with rage, his fists clenched tightly. Mu Feng looked up and stared at Lu Xin, who still wanted to throw a tantrum.

  Lu Xin was stared at by Mu Feng, and his whole body shuddered. He had forgotten that Mu Feng didn't look like a good guy at all. In the past, he was notorious for being fierce, and even heard that the local thugs didn't dare to mess with him. When Mu Feng got angry, he dared to fight people to the death. Even if his father were at home, one person wouldn't be able to control Mu Feng, let alone now when his son was only 15 years old. He suddenly felt a little afraid, what if Mu Feng really made a move, would anyone be able to stop him?

  Mu Feng looked at Lu Xin with a frightened expression, he didn't say anything either, and directly took Tang Guo to the stove, although Tang Guo was chubby, but he was very short, compared to five-year-old Tang Jingrui, he was shorter by more than half.

  Mu Feng lifted Tang Guo's arm, and Tang Guo's small hand could just reach the stove, but he couldn't quite get inside, his hand wasn't long enough.

  Mufeng never put the plate too far away, and Tangdou had been scalded two years ago, so Mufeng was very careful. He always had a habit of putting the stir-fried dishes on the platform between the two pots on the stove. Moreover, their stove was relatively high, and Tangguo couldn't reach the plates placed inside.

  Mufeng still didn't speak, he stuttered, and speaking would ruin the solemn atmosphere. Mufeng raised Tangguo's small hand, and everyone in the room could see that Tangguo's small hand was still very clean, but his sleeve was stained with soup, and it was more towards the back, making it impossible for him to lift his hand to grab anything.

  Everyone is not stupid, the situation at that time can be imagined without saying. Tang Guo stood by the stove and stared at it with eager eyes, while Tang Jingrui stood beside him to take the plate. The plate tilted down, and the soup splashed directly onto Tang Guo's sleeve.

  Mu Feng walked to Lu Xin's side, pulled up Tang Jingrui's hand, his right hand was clean and empty, but when Mu Feng pulled up Tang Jingrui's left hand, there was not only soup on the cuff of Tang Jingrui's left sleeve, but also a large scallion stuck to it that hadn't fallen off.

  Lu Xin was caught on the spot, but he didn't feel embarrassed. He just chuckled and said: "I didn't see who broke the plate either. When I came in, I saw Tang Guo standing by the broken plate crying, so I thought it was him who broke it."

  Tang Dequan saw that nothing was wrong, he stood at the door and knocked on his pipe: "Nothing's wrong, don't just stand there, go eat, it's just a dish, but you can make a big deal out of it and disturb the whole family."

  Lao Er's family, Chen Fang heard this sentence, he held the plate and chopsticks to leave the kitchen. Whatever can suppress the stupid family, he will not intervene, but Lu Xin is too foolish, unexpectedly even a fool and a stutterer cannot be defeated, and was counterattacked.

  Song Yunxi heard the old man's words, but in her heart, she muttered to herself: Since it was a matter of one dish, why didn't you speak up earlier? Isn't it because Tang Guo is a good son and Tang Jingrui is just a young boy? If it were really Tang Guo who did it, he would at least get a beating. But if it were Tang Jingrui, it wouldn't be a big deal, not even worth scolding.

  Song Yunxi looked at Lu Xin and wanted to pull Tang Jingrui away, opening his mouth: "It's unjust, Tang Guo just wants to leave like this, doesn't he know how to apologize?"

  When Song Yunxi spoke, Lu Xin hesitated for a moment and gave Song Yunxi a resentful glance before saying to Tang Guo and Mu Feng: "I didn't see your uncle just now, I wronged you, sorry." After that, he didn't wait for Mu Feng and Tang Guo to respond, and took his son to go eat.

  Today's meal is not bad, it's been a month since I've had one like this. If the second family eats it all up next time, I'll be out of luck.

  Song Yun Xi looked at Lu Xin who walked away with a nonchalant expression and muttered: "What kind of virtue is this, not even a bit of upbringing."

  Tang An'gui looked at his wife who was in a bad mood and said helplessly, "Alright, don't be angry, let's go eat, the food will get cold if we don't." He also understood the current situation of this family, but as a family of brothers, he couldn't help anyone, so he just hoped that the wages from his work could make life at home a little better.

  Song Yun Xi looked at Mu Feng and his family, sighed in her heart, and said: "Tang Guo is fine now, it's all Brother Jing Rui's fault. Mu Feng, take Tang Guo to change clothes, the silly child must be hungry too, hurry up and come over for dinner, we're waiting for you. Douzi is going with Fourth Uncle to eat."

  "Fourth Uncle, you go first, I'll stay with Father and them," Tang Dou said to Song Yunxi, pulling on Tang Guo's arm.

  Mu Feng nodded at Song Yun Xi, picked up Tang Guo, pulled Tang An Wen, and Tang Dou followed him back to the room. Along the way, Tang Guo finally stopped crying, only sobbing intermittently.

  As soon as they entered the room, Mu Feng put down Tang Guo, took off Tang Guo's wet coat, and Tang Dou had already taken out an old cotton-padded jacket. Mu Feng helped Tang Guo change into it, looked up to see Tang Dou crying silently with tears streaming down her face, and even the foolish Tang An Wen was also shedding tears along with the two children, with big drops of tears falling to the ground.

  Mu Feng stretched out his hand to wipe away Tang Dou's tears and said with a pained expression: "Douzi, don't cry, you're my younger brother, my role model."

  "Mom, mom why do they all bully us... waaahhh... waaahhh..." Táng dòu couldn't help but burst into tears, he was already six years old, and although he didn't fully understand many things, he knew that their family was being ostracized and bullied, and the only one in this household who treated them relatively well was Fourth Uncle.

  "Douzi, it's okay, don't cry, be strong." Mu Feng tightly hugged the two children and said intermittently, his heart aching for them. He didn't care about his own grievances as long as they could live in peace and have a good life together as a family.

  Tang Dou looked at his brother and was about to cry again, he quickly wiped away his tears. What Amu said was right, he had to be a role model for his brother, he couldn't cry. Tang Dou gently wiped away the falling tears of his brother, and with a smile on his face, he said: "Don't cry, little brother must be strong, Dad must also be strong."

  Tang Anwen looked at this family and couldn't help but feel a deep sorrow. Their life was truly too difficult, if he really had the good fortune to control his body, he would definitely let this family live a good life.

  After calming down, Mu Feng gave a gentle kiss on the foreheads of the two kids, stood up and rubbed Tang An Wen's head, then took the three to eat, no matter what, he couldn't let the kids and An Wen go hungry.

  Fortunately, the family went to the main room, where there was still food for the four of them because Song Yunxi insisted. The others had almost finished eating, and several children were staring at the remaining half bowl of braised pork belly on the table, which Song Yunxi had specially left over.

  Mufeng gave two children a few slices of pork liver, then stir-fried the remaining pork liver with scallions and poured it into Tang Anwen's bowl, stirring it with the lumps in the bowl, so that these kids wouldn't keep staring.

  Chen Fang looked at several people who had finished eating, and glanced at Lu Xin. Their eldest daughter, Jing Hui, was already 16 years old this year and must get married, but there were no extra rooms in the house, so they could only rely on the fool's family to vacate a room. It wasn't that he was cruel and wanted to bully the fool, but the situation at home was like this. His son was his own flesh and blood after all, and he didn't want to have to pay dowries for the fool's two children in the future.

  To drive Third Brother out, something drastic needs to be done, but Chen Fang can't do anything too excessive, or else her husband will get angry, so she can only rely on Lu Xin.

  Chen Fang looked at Tang Dequan and said, "Dad, Jinghui is 16 now. My mother's family told me about a boy two days ago. I know the child too, he's good. Since childhood, there was no mother, taking care of his younger brother, being in charge of both home and outside, and looking good. For just two taels of silver as betrothal gift money, although he is one year older than Jinghui, I think he is a man who can love deeply. So I want to arrange the marriage for the two children first. If we miss this chance, it won't be easy to find another good boy from a good family with just two taels of silver."

  Dropping a heavy bombshell, Chen Fang shut her mouth and stopped talking.

  Two taels of silver is naturally impossible, but another two taels of silver have been promised by the maternal family as a dowry. If it's not settled now, Old Master Tang's daughter-in-law will be talked about, and a dowry must be given. It's better to settle it early for the son, lest there be many dreams in the long night. Old Master Tang's second son, Tang Jingyang, is also going to propose soon. The family's harvest has been poor in recent years, and a lot of money was spent on the fool, so the family's savings are almost depleted.

  Lu Xing heard Chen Fang's words, and was suddenly struck by a thunderbolt on a sunny day. He immediately opened his mouth anxiously: "How can that be? Jue Er is several months older than Jing Hui, and now Brother hasn't even mentioned it, but if I were to marry first, wouldn't that be ridiculous? What would people say when they find out? How could Tang Jue face others in the future? You two should say something about this!"

  Chen Fang knew that Lu Xin would be anxious, but his matter was not urgent, the Mu family had already agreed, and they could get engaged in autumn, so Chen Fang was not anxious, as long as Old Master Lu's Lu Xin was anxious.

  When anxious, it's easy to make mistakes. How can Lu Xinkan take the old three families as a thorn in his eye? After tonight's incident, the old master will hate the old three families even more. I hope he remembers the story he told two days ago, otherwise, this matter won't work out.

  Tang and the others fell silent for a moment before Tang spoke up, "Uncle, what everyone said is right. Ju Hua is already 16 years old, if we don't discuss her marriage now, it will be too late after the new year. What Er Ye's family said is also correct, two taels of silver is already considered little, nowadays most betrothal gifts are four or five taels."

  Tang Dequan took a deep drag on his dry tobacco, raised his head and swept his gaze over the family, finally landing on Tang Anwen. This child was a great disappointment to him. He had originally thought that he would have great prospects and be able to help the family, but in the end, he only dragged the family down.

  Tang Dequan slammed the door, attracting the attention of everyone in the family. After clearing his throat, he said: "The second family's, since we've already agreed, let's discuss it with them and decide later. Tell them that the silver is ready. We can help Ju'er find a husband first, she's 16 now, it's time for her to get married. If we let our brother's wife enter the house first, it wouldn't be reasonable. Once Ju'er settles down, we can immediately send the betrothal gift to Jinghui."

  Mu Feng became somewhat worried upon hearing this, as there were two marriages about to take place in his household and the rooms would definitely be insufficient. This was also one of the reasons why his elder brothers' families had been targeting them all along.

  It was Song Yun who curled up the corner of his mouth, with a sarcastic tone, he knew that his home would never be peaceful again. His several brothers at home were good to get along with Mu Feng, but the other two would only keep making trouble, and they would not stop until it was fierce enough. If it weren't for this, he wouldn't have to stay in this small courtyard.

  That night passed in a flurry, Tang Anwen moved his head slightly, he felt that he was initially able to control some parts of his body, such as turning his head, or lightly moving his fingers, which was quite a good phenomenon.

  His mind is much clearer now, and the fool's affairs appear in his mind. Of course, his good feelings towards Mufeng are also increasing day by day. He knows that this is not his emotions, but completely the fusion of the fool's soul with his feelings for Mufeng.

  Mufeng helplessly looked at Tang Anwen's dizzy head, not knowing what was going on. Mufeng felt that Ah Wen had changed a bit in the past two days and wasn't very cooperative when doing things. For example, he would refuse to do things at night, which was the first time in all these years. Mufeng smiled as he looked at Tang Anwen and said, "Ah Wen, don't move around, be good, wash your face quickly, it'll be fine soon."

  After dinner, Mu Feng took Su Dou to work, and Tang Guo still followed behind his father. Just as Tang Anwen was about to go for a walk, they passed by the entrance of Tang Hua's house. Chen Fang suddenly said to Tang Anwen: "You fool, your nephew is grown up now and will be married soon. You'd better not always linger around other people's doors, it's not good."

  Chen Fang looked at Tang Anwen's puzzled and uncomprehending gaze, he didn't care at all. It didn't matter if the fool didn't understand, as long as the two people inside understood, it was fine. He hoped that the two of them would be a bit smarter, if they were too foolish, his plan wouldn't work out, and his son's house would have no future.

  Tang Anwen was chilled to the bone by Chen Fang's gaze, feeling that something bad was going to happen. He felt annoyed - couldn't these two people just let him live a peaceful life for one day?