Struggle in Ancient Times

“This shop of yours shouldn’t be worth that price at all. Don’t bully us, although we are villagers, we still understand some things. No matter what the shop was before, it has been empty for so long. There must be some things we need to replace when we moved in. if there is no one living there, it definitely won’t be in great condition. You said it was empty for months, God knows how the shop’s condition right now.” Mother Deng shouted.
“If you want to see it, I will take you there. You can see the house, whether it was dilapidated or not, as long as you wrote the contract with us, we will send someone to fix it.” the real estate agent felt that mother Deng was slacking some sense.

“You hire someone to take care of it, don’t think I didn’t know. You must make sure the house didn’t collapse; you don’t care about the inside.” Mother Deng said proudly, although she never worked in the town but her eldest son did odd jobs here,
“In my opinion, it must be filled with spiders and mice. I don’t know how long the house and shop could last!”
“No way. The shop and house were built with brick and tiles. It’s only a few months empty, it wasn’t as serious as you said. When you go there, at most you should replace a few tiles. Except those landlord’s family and noble relatives in this town, how could ordinary people have such good shop?” the real estate agent said unhappily. Where is the mouse and spider? There had been no one living there so long, why would a mouse stay there?

“Moreover, the well inside is worth several taels. It was built with bricks, a house using blue brick would cost ten taels in the village. It would be more expensive in the town.” The real estate explained to the two idlers because mother Deng seemed unable to understand him,
But the two idlers were looking around, didn’t even glance at the man.
Mother Deng didn’t know that the man disliked her. She still coming strong, this was a bargaining. She must receive the good price, “Do you mean, the small house behind is also made from blue bricks?”

The real estate agent felt mother Deng was a little delusional, “That was a place for the waiters to live in the shop. How could it be built by blue bricks? You really…”
“Oh! It turns out that the small house wasn’t from blue bricks. That means, only the shop is made from it. How can that house be worth it? it had been there for so long. In our village, ten taels could make up three houses from blue bricks.” Mother Deng caught the man’s mistake and stepped on it,
“Don’t tell me that the price is different in the town and villages. Let’s just charge the thing a little less, it hadn’t been used for so long.”

The real estate agent felt this old woman must have big status in the family. He looked at the two men, hoping they would stop this old woman but they didn’t look at him.
“Okay, okay. I admit defeat. I will charge you a little less. The old lady is a person who knows how to live. The guests have good sense. Let me give you seventy taels.”
Liao Tingyu didn’t think that in the ancient times, the real estate would allow people to bargain. Luckily, there was his mother who could casually done it.

He didn’t have much awareness about money, but when he saw Liao Ming looked motionless; he also turned to look at the street, watching people walked around.
“Fifty taels. That’s it.” as soon as she heard the man compromised, mother Deng immediately climbed up.
She continued, “Don’t look at them. I am in charge of the money in our family. That father and son couldn’t do anything.”

That was true but Liao Ming’s face was slapped by his wife.
Liao Tingyu saw his father squatting down, he admired him from the bottom of his heart.
Such a shame…

Liao Ming winked at him and asked him to learn from him. Liao Tingyu silently gave him a thumb up in his heart.
The real estate agent glanced at them and knew he had encountered a tough family. He thought about it and these fifty taels were impossible. He only bought it for forty taels back then, he didn’t dare to sell it for meagre fifty taels.
“I think you are so powerful. Let’s call it a day, I couldn’t give you any less. If you want to buy it, buy it or not. I will pay for the workers’ fee.”
Mother Deng saw the determined look on the real estate agent’s face, she knew she couldn’t bargain anymore. She looked at her husband.

Liao Ming didn’t hesitate, he held mother Deng’s hand and said, “Okay. Let’s go with the price. When will we go to transfer the deed?”
“Give me the money first. I will take you right away.” The real estate agent lamented in his heat that business wasn’t an easy thing to do.
“Do you need to prepare anything?” Liao Tingyu asked, he thought they might need ID card or something, “Don’t you need our household registration?”

“You are still from around here; your identification must be in the yamen office. You just need to sign the land deed.” The real estate agent shook his head.
Liao Tingyu felt relieved when he heard it. He thought the procedures were complicated, it was actually very easy. At first, he thought he might stuff some money to the yamen but now, there was no need for it.
It was nice to be convenient.

When signing and stamping in the yamen, Liao Tingyu stepped aside but Liao Ming handed him the pen.
Liao Tingyu shook his head and asked Liao Ming to write it. Liao Ming confirmed Liao Tingyu’s idea and was hesitate a little bit. Then, he wrote down Liao Shi’s name with himself as the donor.
Mother Deng felt something was wrong. Why did they write two pieces of paper? She quickly pushed Liao Tingyu aside to ask him and see what was going on.

But Liao Tingyu grabbed her hand and shook his head.
Mother Deng’s eyes widened and looked at the paper, her face was bad. She thought it was a public space with official in the yamen office, so she didn’t dare to mess around but her expression was really ugly.
Liao Ming held the new deed in his chest, it was a piece of paper changed from seventy taels. His dream for most of his life had come true.

Mother Deng’s face turned cold as soon as they left the yamen office. She didn’t say a word and the two men were silent on their way to the shop.
.
Once they arrived, Liao Ming pushed the dusty door open and a large puff of dust came over his face. The real estate agent didn’t lie, this place was empty for months. There were dust and spider webs everywhere.

“Let’s clean up now. When it’s done, we could take our eldest son here.”
Mother Deng’s eyes flashed when she heard about the eldest son.
There were a lot of fire in her stomach, she looked at Liao Tingyu who held his nose and took care of the chairs and tables silently.

Liao Tingyu looked at her mother’s dark face, “Mother, don’t be upset. You see, our family has purchased a property now. We should be happy.”
Mother Deng looked at her son who was smiling happily, she felt she was worried over nothing for this stupid young man.
Such a filial son, very kind and respectful. If she didn’t help him fight, what could he do in the future?

Mother Deng remembered it and said it gentle voice, “Come, son, you go and borrow cleaning tools from the neighbour.”
Liao Tingyu wanted to say something but Liao Ming stopped him with his eyes.
.

When Liao Tingyu was gone, mother Deng said loudly, “What do you think you have done? Old man, whose name did you write on the deed?”
Liao Ming said indifferently, “It was our eldest son.”
It was enough to spark the fire inside mother Deng’s heart and stomach, “Old man, what were you thinking? Most of the money came from our youngest son. Why did you give it to our eldest one? He didn’t even pay for anything. He is so stupid; how could he keep such a big property?”

Mother Deng’s cried and continued, “My poor youngest son, he wracked his brain to study and earned the scholar title. He made so much money but he gave it to his eldest brother like it was nothing. And you, as the father, didn’t even try to stop him!”
She thought about her thin youngest son, no matter how much he ate, there was no weight on his body. People said they wanted to have the same son like Liao Tingyu but they didn’t know the hard work behind her son’s success.
“You think I was biased? Our eldest son is a bit stupid, if we didn’t provide a way for him, will he just live in the fields for his whole life? You have to let him a way to live nicely. Besides, Liao Tingyu is a capable person. In short period of time, he wrote a few books and earned hundreds of taels. Does he need to care about these small money? His da-ge had helped him so much these years, why couldn’t he gift something for his eldest brother?”

Liao Ming felt what he did was right and he argued with good reasons.
“I know you don’t like our eldest son. But he is your son and mine, they are doing serious business now. Unlike you and I, back then we were working with our backs bent down to the sky. Such a hard living, can you bear him to be like us?”
Mother Deng flicked the rag in her hand, “Are you saying that I am cruel? Our eldest son has no future, who is the one to blame? Was it the blood and flesh of his little brother? How come my youngest have to pave a way for him, Liao Tingyu is capable and can make money, why does it have to be given to his da-ge?”

“They are the same blood brothers. If he wanted to give something to his da-ge then let him. my youngest son will have family in the future, he knows what to do. You can’t take care of him all his life.” Liao Ming showed the mighty aura as the head of his family.
“What does it mean to know what to do? Look at him now, isn’t it was you who make the decision? Don’t think I didn’t see it today; you use my youngest son’s money!” mother Deng said angrily.
Liao Ming actually wasn’t a fierce person, he didn’t like to make too much trouble, “What’s wrong with using his money? That’s just how family works, I supports him all his whole life, why can’t I ask him for a little money? He is my son and I am his father.”

Mother Deng was unhappy when she heard it, how could such a thing be said like that. A man who was a father actually took his son’s money by force.
The two of the were so thick-skinned that once they fought, the topic changed direction.