Chapter 29: Ah Yong's Family

  "Father, your unfilial child has returned." When Old Man brought Old Lady and Yang Heng to see Ah Wong, Old Man knelt down in front of Ah Wong and kowtowed three times. Behind him, Old Lady and Yang Heng naturally also knelt down.

  "You are unfilial, if you were really filial to your father, you shouldn't have come back. Now that you're back, I still have to worry about you. You said you went to the forest to clear land for farming, even if you can't grow any crops, don't expect me to bail you out." This is indeed a father-son relationship, both of them are people with cold faces but warm hearts.

  Yang Heng just glanced at Ah Weng with the corner of his eye, and saw that the old woman was pinching Ah Weng's hand on the side, and Ah Weng said such insincere words with a twisted mouth.

  "Ah, so it's the eldest son bringing his wife and grandson back. Don't listen to your grandfather, how can we not help you? I'd rather my wife and younger brother go hungry than our big grandson go hungry." This was said, but Yang Heng found that this old woman wasn't one of those unreasonable people, she just looked a bit weak due to malnutrition, and her tone also seemed somewhat insincere. It seemed like they were all struggling with poverty.

  Yang Heng suddenly remembered that his cheap uncle had a rather stingy look on his face, and he probably didn't treat his sister well either. Otherwise, given his connections outside, it was possible for him to find some land for the old man and his family to move out of this small poor village. After all, this was during the early days of the Tang Dynasty, when there were many abandoned fields. But he had actually tied the old man down in this small village, and even arranged for Yang Heng's family to take over some of the abandoned land, which wasn't done with good intentions either. He must be one of those narrow-minded people who didn't benefit himself or others. Initially, Yang Heng thought he would consider his own nephew, but now it seemed like he didn't care about anyone.

  "Grandfather, grandmother, don't worry, our days are good now. We have already opened up more than 30 mu of land, and after the snow melts, we will quickly open up the rest of the land. Also, we can still go hunting. Come on, kid, bring out the gifts you brought for your grandfather."

  "Is the gift still pork?" A young man about Yang Heng's age shouted from the side. "Don't give the pork to Uncle's family this time, I want to eat it."

  "You child, without your uncle, can you marry a wife?" Grandma was unhappy and scolded her younger brother-in-law, "Isn't it that she hasn't even entered the door yet? Moreover, you guys can't afford to pay out so much money. If we don't send the meat to Uncle, maybe selling it would be enough for us to get married." The younger brother-in-law muttered on the side.

  "This young man is still so young, and he's already thinking about getting married. "What nonsense are you talking about? After you get married, you'll still have to rely on your uncle, won't you? It's just a few kilos of wild boar meat." A few kilos of wild boar meat, front and back, Yang Heng had his uncles bring over hundreds of kilos of wild boar meat. Yang Heng estimated that in this mountain village, even if he were to marry a woman from the outside village of his uncle's family, it would still be more than enough. Of course, this excludes nobles, especially those with ancient traditions. Even if you had all the money in the world, you wouldn't be able to get a wife from their families."

  "What's going on? I heard Lili say that she didn't ask my family for any betrothal gifts, it was all her uncle asking on their behalf. Apparently, her family owed my uncle's family a lot of money, and they said as long as the betrothal gifts were enough, they would let her marry me." At this young age, there are also advantages, I reckon that future little aunt-in-law is also very young, which is why she revealed the secret inside.

  "Really? I remember Lili's family was doing alright, what happened?" Ah Po seemed to have heard about this for the first time, and from her expression, it could be seen that her brother doing such a thing should be normal.

  Yang Heng suddenly remembered that during this time with his uncles, he had inadvertently heard that Ah Wong was able to marry Ah Po because of the war. Ah Po's brother had sold her to Ah Wong. If not for the war, Ah Wong and his father would have still been living a good life. It seemed that Ah Po had grown up in her brother's and sister-in-law's home, where she was treated as a strong laborer by her brother, which delayed her marriage. Without the war, she wouldn't have married Ah Wong either. Yet Ah Po still trusted her brother so much. What was this? Foolish filial piety? In Yang Heng's eyes, Ah Po was actually a great protagonist for a transmigration novel.

  "Don't speak ill of your uncle, he's good to you." The old lady continued to scold the young uncle. Yang Heng believed that this was their true nature and not just an act in front of him, because he noticed that the faces of both the old man and woman, as well as the young uncle, looked very unhealthy, with a malnourished appearance that couldn't be faked. If they had eaten a hundred pounds of pork, although they wouldn't have a rosy complexion, at least they wouldn't look so malnourished. Looking around, he saw that the table only had some dried wild vegetables and millet rice, which was unbelievable during the Chinese New Year. Was this village really so poor?

  "Big brother, does your family need help with the farm work this year? If not, I'll go too." "Ah, no way, An'er, how can you do such rough work? Besides, your big brother doesn't need you." The old lady was anxious, how could she let her own son go and work for that cheap son? She couldn't say it out loud, but in their hearts, they always thought that Yang Heng's father would never be better off. If there were difficulties, he would definitely come to ask his father for help. They didn't think about the pork Yang Heng had brought over this time, or how much better the lives of those four uncles had been for the past few months. Once someone enters the Cow Horn Village, it's hard to get out.

  "Come on, or else your uncle will be worried. Why don't you come back with us today?" Yang Heng quickly took over the conversation when he saw his father wanting to refuse. His mother reacted swiftly as well.

  "Yes, young uncle, you and Heng'er are about the same age, why don't you go keep your nephew company?" "How can this be, how can this be, An'er? You haven't slept soundly yet, aren't you going back to sleep?" Ah-weng was getting anxious, as if Yang Heng's family was trying to take advantage of young uncle in some way. But what advantages could a poor family like theirs possibly have?

  Perhaps Yang Heng really wanted to take advantage of the situation, that is, he didn't want his father's moral integrity to be compromised. Otherwise, once his father became famous, it would be easy for political enemies to seize on this and use it against him. As for filial piety, who can say what is true or false? Superficial displays of filial piety are enough to pass muster.