Chapter 21
The show begins
In this era, the village chief could not decide to separate from the family alone. It had to be witnessed by everyone and acknowledged by the clan leader so that the relationship could be broken.
When the five clan elders finally arrived, groups gathered before the village chief’s house to listen to gossip.
“Fellow elders! Jiang Fu and I are not dead yet, and Jiang Chuan is already considering separating from the family. What do you think we should do!” Wang Fen started complaining even before the village chief could speak.
“Elders! Jiang Fu and I have spent so much effort raising Jiang Chuan since he was a child, but this brat no longer wants us! Why is my life so hard!” Wang Fen continued.
Although Wang Fen’s surname was Wang, she was not originally from Tong Shan village.
When Wang Fen was young, she called everyone “big brother” and “little sister.” She was attentive to several clan elders and always wanted to get some connections, which led to many people knowing her. It was also the reason why she spoke first today.
The elders heard what Wang Fen had to say, but seeing that she didn’t say anything useful, they turned to Jiang Chuan and asked, “Jiang Chuan, why do you want to separate from your family?”
Jiang Chuan maintained his dense expression and said, “I felt that I would be a burden with my wife and two daughters, so I wanted to leave.”
An elder with a beard glanced at Jiang Xia and Jiang Gu and saw the two girls looking down timidly. He continued to ask Jiang Chuan, “Your little girl looks like she’s six or seven years old. Why only think about this now?”
Zhou Lan glanced at the old man and said in a low voice, “Xiao Gu is already nine years old,”
The old man didn’t ask any more questions but waited for Jiang Chuan’s answer, “I used to think that as long as I worked hard, I would be able to support everyone. Now, I realized that I couldn’t do it.”
“What’s the meaning of this?” Another elder asked.
It wasn’t just the curious elders. Even those who were close to the Jiang family were. Not to mention their personalities, Jiang Chuan and Zhou Lan were extremely capable in work. With the addition of the first and second brothers from the Jiang family, how could they not support their family?
Jiang Fu felt that something was wrong when he heard this, and he sensed a disaster coming.
“If I could support my family, why would mother keep considering selling my second daughter? I went up to the mountain because my mother said that if I couldn’t find food, she would send my second daughter to Qian Li from the neighboring village. My mother has already sold my eldest daughter, and I really don’t want to lose another daughter. She’s only 13 years old.” Jiang Chuan cried as he spoke. His sincere words and emotional performance made everyone sympathize with him.
He didn’t answer the question directly, but he made everyone understand that he wanted to separate from the family because he didn’t want his three daughters to be sent away one by one.
“Jiang Chuan! Don’t spout nonsense! What do you mean by selling your daughter! Your mother found a good marriage for your eldest daughter and married her over!” It was Jiang Gui who said this.
He wanted to interrupt Jiang Chuan for quite some time now, but he was shocked by the sudden change in his brother, which gave Jiang Chuan the chance to finish his sentence.
Jiang Chuan gave his brother a bitter smile, “Big brother, you said that mother picked a good marriage for Xiao Qing? But I didn’t even see the person who came to fetch the bride! The only thing I knew about the marriage was that it was to someone living in the mountains!”
“I wanted to visit her and asked mother for an address. However, our mother said that a married daughter is like water poured out and asked me to pretend that I never had this daughter. I admit that I’m not a good father, but how can mother marry my daughter off without a word, and while I was working? Big brother, if you think this is a good marriage, how about letting your mother treat your daughter like this?”
Jiang Chuan’s words left Jiang Gui speechless, and he stared at his brother with wide-open eyes.
Jiang Chuan continued, “Now that mother is preparing to sell Xiao Xia, is Qian Li a good marriage in big brother’s eyes?”
“Alright, that’s enough!” Jiang Fu slammed the table, which startled everyone present.
Jiang Chuan shifted his gaze from Jiang Gui to his father with disdain in his eyes.
Jiang Xia also thought to herself that the old man finally couldn’t take it anymore.