Seeing that the matter was exposed, Zhang's mother collapsed on the ground and kowtowed, begging for mercy, "Madam, your servant knows her mistake. They were young at the time, and everything was my own decision. Please spare my family."
Madam Lin trembled with anger, "You ask me to spare your children, but did you spare my child? Before I came, I had thoroughly investigated the situation of Zhang Dahai's family. If it weren't for Gao Feixue's interference, I can't imagine what would have happened. You might have happily compensated your son as a treasure, while you mocked me behind my back for being foolish."
Zhang's mother quickly shook her head, crying profusely, "It's not like that. I just wanted my son to have a good life, so I resorted to this."
Madam Lin laughed angrily, "I misjudged you. I thought you were a good person, but it turns out you had predicted this day and started preparing from that time. We are both mothers, and my heart aches. I wish I could strangle you."
"Mercy, madam, mercy..."
Madam Lin truly wanted to punish her severely. If she guessed correctly, the birthmark on her son's body was cut off by her. The thought made her heart ache so much that she couldn't breathe, unable to imagine how helpless he must have been as a child at that time.
She felt that killing them would be too easy. So, she sent people to confiscate all the silver hidden in her home. Counting it, there was over a thousand taels. This time, not only Zhang Dahai was shocked, but all the Zhang family members found it incredible.
Then, she retrieved the land deeds of the Zhang family and wrote a transfer deed. Without even looking, Zhang's mother quickly put her fingerprint on it. At this moment, compared to their lives, nothing else mattered. As long as Madam was willing to spare their lives, let alone transfer the land, she would immediately agree to lose everything.
When the Zhang family was driven out, Zhang's mother couldn't come to her senses, disbelieving that her family could leave Gao Feixue's residence completely intact. While feeling somewhat relieved, she was also worried. The family had no money left at all. How would they live in the future?
However, she only dwelled on it for a while. As long as the family was safe, they could send a few people out to work, and she believed they could still survive.
Unfortunately, she had doted on the eldest and third sons too much. They always liked to shirk responsibility when problems arose. Before, Zhang Dahai had always covered for them, and with money in the house, they weren't panicked. She had turned a blind eye.
But times had changed. When Zhang's mother asked Zhang Dayang and Zhang Dajiang to go out and work, they shook their heads like rattles, "We haven't worked for a long time. What can we do out there?"
"Go to town and see if anyone needs odd jobs or manual labor. No matter what, you have to earn some money to keep the family alive," Zhang's mother said, looking at them with a headache. She didn't want them to suffer, but they had reached this point, and she had to be resolute.
The two brothers pleaded for a long time, but in the end, they were driven out by their mother. In fact, they held some resentment in their hearts. They genuinely didn't know their family had so much money. If they had known, why would they have sold the daughters of the second family? They didn't understand what their mother was thinking. The family was clearly so wealthy, and didn't care if they ate a little more, so why did they go to such extremes? If they had treated the second son a little better, everyone wouldn't be living such a miserable life.
Complaining aside, they knew the family had nothing and if they didn't earn money, the whole family would starve. There were quite a few places hiring in town, but every time people asked the two brothers to try, they were either too clumsy or accidentally broke things. They were kicked out every time.
The two brothers were also helpless. Since childhood, all the dirty and arduous work had been done by the second son. They had never done these things. Today, they had already been very proactive, yet they were still disliked.
In the village, they had heard many people going to the dock to carry goods. Although it was a bit hard, it paid quickly. The two decided to give it a try. When a hundred-jin sack of rice was placed on their shoulders, they almost collapsed. In the past, the second son had also worked as a laborer in town. Seeing him do it with ease, they thought it wasn't difficult. But when they tried it themselves, they realized it was not humanly possible.
While others had already made four or five trips, the two only managed one trip, panting and grunting. The supervisor saw their state and felt they were blocking others and being a nuisance, so he directly chased them away.
This time, the two didn't plead. They mainly felt that they were indeed incapable of doing such work. Finally, they returned home dejected.
Zhang's mother listened to their description of the day's experiences and felt a sense of disappointment in their lack of ambition. She could only hope that her eldest grandson would pass the imperial examination to become a scholar, so there would still be a way out for the family. With these people used to being lazy, she didn't know how they would survive.
When Wu Caiwei finished dealing with matters here and looked back at Zhang Tieshan and Zhang Tiahua, she was surprised to find they were gone.
"They really got off easy, disappearing so quickly. They probably won't return. What are your plans now?" Zhang Dahai looked steadily at Wu Caiwei, prioritizing her in everything. Sudan Novel Network.
"Do you want to go to the capital with Madam Lin? Anyway, I'll be wherever you are," Wu Caiwei said, hugging his arm and acting coy.
"Then let's go to the capital. We haven't explored the capital since arriving in this world. We'll stay there as long as we are happy, and leave if we are not."
Wu Caiwei nodded happily.
The two were very calm, but the four girls, leaving their small town for the first time, were amazed by everything they saw along the way, chattering incessantly.
Half a month later, they finally entered the city gates of the capital. Lord Lin, who had received the news, was waiting at the gate early. He was overjoyed upon seeing Zhang Dahai. He had already been informed that his son had become a farmer and had no high expectations for him. Unexpectedly, his son had better demeanor than he imagined. With a change of clothes, one couldn't tell he was from the countryside.
Old Master Lin stroked his beard and praised him repeatedly. Next was the family reunion. Wu Caiwei looked at the crowd in the large room, her ears buzzing. She really disliked such occasions and felt like going out for some fresh air. Since no one was paying attention to her, she did as she pleased.
The courtyard was empty. Perhaps everyone had gone to the main hall to watch the excitement. The scenery of the Lin mansion was quite beautiful. The more she explored, the more interested she became, and she wandered further without realizing it.
She arrived at a secluded spot and heard two old women whispering, "Alas, I heard our eldest young master is a farmer who can't recognize a single character."
"I heard that too. Our family is a scholarly household, how could such a person come out of it? Just watch, the master is overjoyed because he found his son again, so he's giving him some face now. After some time, when he realizes the young master is useless, the second young master will still rule the household."