Struggle in Ancient Times

Liao Tingyu came back after borrowed cleaning tools from the neighbour next to him, he heard the fight inside the shop and quickly went inside to stop it, “Mother, what’s wrong with you? Who made you angry? Father, don’t do it too. If you have something to talk, sit down. Don’t fight among yourself.”
“What are you talking about? I have a nice talk; it was your father’s fault. If we buy a shop, aren’t we considered as the residents of the town? As soon as the matter was settled down, he argued with me.” Mother Deng said with bad face.

As soon as she started talking, she couldn’t stop herself,
“You are a fool too. You knew your father wanted to give it for your big brother but why didn’t you ask him to leave it for you? You paid more than half the money but your name isn’t on it. what do you want me to think? It can’t be justified no matter what. Do you know what your father said? He said that your big brother had helped you so much so he deserved this gift. But what about you? You have studied really hard every day for this scholar title. Your father only thought about his eldest son!”
When mother Deng thought about her youngest’s son hard works, even in the winter, he would study hard until his hands turned blue from the cold. She cried a little.

Her son’s hands were the most beautiful jade fingers in their whole village. When he was a child, those fingers were plump and tender. Anyone would praise her beautiful son.
But because they had no money, she couldn’t buy hand cream for him to heal his hands from the cold marks.
As she thought about it, Mother Deng cried more powerfully and called out ‘my poor son’ from her mouth. She thought about all the sad things that happened to her youngest son.

Liao Ming choked up and felt his nose was sore.
Liao Tingyu felt warm in his heart when he knew that Mother Deng loved him whole-heartedly. The greatest luck he had in this time-traveling was he had a mother who loved him greatly.
Liao Tingyu hugged his mother to comfort her, “Don’t cry, mother. What’s the big deal? It doesn’t matter if this house is under my big brother’s name. We are all still your children.”

“What do you mean nothing? This is your money; he didn’t even spend a wen for it. Why should he enjoy your blessing for no reason?” mother Deng retorted strongly.
“Mother, you can’t say that. All these years, father, mother and big brother have worked hard to support me. It was only right for me to pay it back.” Liao Tingyu replied.
“He helped you? You know he only worked part-time in the town for a year and took care of our fields. What did he help you for? It was you who taught him to read and write. You helped him to find a good job and now, he had business in the town because of you. You helped him a lot, you don’t owe him anything.”

Liao Tingyu was surprised when he heard Mother Deng’s words. Maybe this was what she really thought in her heart.
Among the children who were born from the same parents. One could study in the Scholl while the other had to run around looking for jobs.
Where did this kind of mind come from? Liao Tingyu smiled bitterly.

Mother Deng knew from her son’s face, he didn’t agree with her.
“Son, you have your own opinion since you were a child and you have learned a lot from your teacher. I am a country woman; I don’t understand much. But I know, you couldn’t get something out of nothing. You have been really good to your big brother, maybe it was out of guilt, I don’t know who taught you that. But mother wants to tell you that you owe him nothing at all.” Mother Deng said solemnly.
“Liao Tingyu listen to me. Do you remember why your father, a man who can write, lives in that village?”

Liao Tingyu blinked, yes, he didn’t know why his father who could do anything actually stayed in the village.
“All of this was thanks to your big brother. The house you live right now was built by your father without offending anyone. Back then, our family was rich and your elder brother went to school. But he was never as good as you. He fights all day long and something happened.” Mother Deng recalled those days when she was protecting her eldest son.
Liao Ming didn’t dare to say anything.
“Since then, our family had no money. Your father was implicated and couldn’t find a job. You know, I sold everything at home to repay his sins. Even the female sheep bought for you was sold too. Son, everything is fated. It was all done by him.” mother Deng thought if it wasn’t from her eldest son, why would her youngest son have lived so hard? She looked at Liao Tingyu earnestly,

“Your big brother might have changed over the years. But I hope you can tell the different clearly and settle the accounts between brothers fairly.”
Liao Tingyu listened to these old events and didn’t know how to react. No one was wrong, it was normal for a child to be ignorant. But because of it, the wealthy family turned dirt poor and mother Deng’s resentment grew on strongly on Liao Shi.
“I understand mother, I will listen to you.”

Liao Ming nodded his head. It was still a mistake in his mind but her wife couldn’t get over it.
Liao Tingyu took out the remaining money on his arms, “After listening to mother’s words today. I also want to say sorry. Mother always devoted her whole heart for me but I kept it secret. As a son, I have money but didn’t use it for my parents. I am ashamed of my status.” Liao Tingyu knelt down in front of her.
“Son, what are you doing? How could you be sorry for us? Look at what you are saying you passed the exam, who doesn’t think highly of our family now. You’ve made a lot of money for your parents. It was your father and mother who felt sorry for you. I can’t let you live in a better condition. In the end, you have to earn for yourself and support the family.” Mother Deng helped Liao Tingyu stood up from the ground. She didn’t look at the money but crying strongly.

“It was all mother’s fault. I can’t afford to let you live in the town. Those rich kids are used to eat and drink good foods, but you could only drool at the side. It was all my fault.”
Liao Ming listened to his wife, he turned back and wiped his tears with his sleeves.
He remembered, when he came to the town with a little child on his back. He was drooling and watching over the snacks on the stall. He looked at the beautiful clothes on other children, they were eating fat meat and candy, but his own child couldn’t even a steamed bun in the town.

As he was thinking more about it, he cried a little harder.
At first, he was angry that Liao Tingyu hid his own money but he thought if he was rich, everything would be different but their family was poor.
He could understand why Liao Tingyu kept the money on his own hands and didn’t dare to give it to the family.

His wife saw that their youngest son was suffering but what about their eldest one? He was suffering too. He used to think that as long as him and the eldest son worked hard, they could support Liao Tingyu as a scholar and slowly turned their life better.
At first, he was worried that his youngest son would be embarrassed to have brother like their eldest. But when he was Liao Tingyu powerfully defended his eldest son so much, he though their brotherhood was great.
So, when they bought a shop today, he used Liao Tingyu’s money to test him. The result was good, their youngest didn’t have any thought in his heart and he cared so much about his family.

Liao Ming didn’t tell his wife about it because he knew his wife preferred the youngest son and didn’t care about the other one.
She only saw all the good and bad things for their youngest son but she didn’t care about Liao Shi who had to work hard in the fields under the hot sun and cold winter. His originally strong back was bent down from the works and his smile was a little fade away.
Does he feel comfortable every time he sees his eldest son carefully to please him? Of course, that was his son.

“I know my mother loves me dearly. The greatest luck for in my life is you. Today, I give this money for you. I don’t want mother to be embarrassed because of money problem. I want to tell you that your son has grown up and can protect you.”
Mother Deng burst into tears as she listened. She looked at the money and smiled. Her hard life wasn’t in vain.
“Okay, mother will take it. This is my son’s filial piety. It took him only a few months to earn this much. Mother can enjoy great life.”

Mother Deng said while wiping her tears, she knew her son was no longer a baby bird to be taken care of. Now, he was a tall tree ready to give shades.
Liao Ming counted the money and found it was fifty taels. With the sixty he used just now, he actually owned more than one hundred taels. Among the scholar he had seen, none of them could be as amazing as his son.
“This is the money I earned from writing books. I have spent a lot of money for studying. I will give this to father and mother. You can live easier with more money, eat what you want and buy what you need.”

After listening to his son, Liao Ming divided the money into two parts, “According to the rules of our family. All the money would be divided in half, one for you and one for the family. You already gave us sixty taels to pay the shop which father needs to make up for my little money. Now, we have to buy new tiles for this new shop and small house. Although it could be done later, but it was better to do it now. I will take some money from this and you can take the rest. When I make money in the future, I will pay back those sixty taels.”
As Liao Ming spoked, he took out a small notebook and wrote it down.
Mother Deng didn’t object his approach, it was actually in line with her wishes.

But she still muttered, “Isn’t there some money left at home? Why do we have to take the money from our son?”
Liao Ming heard her and knew she was no longer angry, so he said in a joke, “Then, it was your son who was capable. When the eldest one makes money in the future, let him return the money for this shop and house. Now, there is only our youngest who was capable, he must help us a lot. That’s it, let’s keep this money for our coffins.”
“What coffin? I’m not old yet! This is the filial piety my son gave me. I’m going to buy gold hairpin to wear. Let me get some nice clothes and show the off to the villagers. Let’s see who dares to laugh at me!”

Liao Tingyu didn’t care. He had already handed over the money, it was up to them to use it. he only took his share from it.
“Mother can do whatever she says. If you dress up well, you will look like those rich ladies in the town.”
“That’s it, I’m the one with good genes. Look at this big eyes and good-looking face.”

Mother Deng felt that her hard work had been paid off, she felt relieved to give birth to a promising and beautiful son.
“Okay, stop it. let’s clean up this place. I need to think carefully about the decor. This place only has wooden boards. We spent so much money for this big loss!” Mother Deng smiled, she was obviously satisfied but still muttered about her loss as she directed Liao Ming and Liao Tingyu to clean.
Liao Ming did most of the work while Liao Tingyu just swept the floor.

Liao Ming knew that mother Deng must venting her anger on him, so he didn’t say anything and did what she told him.
After a whole afternoon work, they finally cleaned up inside and out.
Liao Tingyu was so tired that he couldn’t even stand up. Liao Ming looked at his weak son with no energy and shook his head, “You have to practice hard. You only done little work today, your mother could have done a lot more and still be lively.”

Mother Deng hated it when others criticized her son, “My son is a distinguished scholar. What are you? How could he be compared to you?”
“Hey, I didn’t compare him to me at all. I said I compared him to you; I didn’t even say anything about me.” Liao Ming said in a low voice.
But mother Deng had something blocking her ears.

Liao Ming threw a rag aside in disgust and walked away, he also told them, “I will go to the hospital and pick the others. I will also bring the ox cart here. Old lady, remember to buy something to feed it.”
Before the sun set, Liao Ming took Liao Shi and Wen Xiuer from the hospital. They arranged them to sleep on a simple bed made from several wooden boards.