Transmigrated as A Farm Girl Making Her Family Rich

Chapter 63: Chapter 62: The Wronged Father

Hongji was baffled when asked, and his gaze briefly wandered to the latrine work area, where he saw that the wooden Bodhisattva statue was not there.

“Accused by my sister and again by my mother, I felt so wronged,” he shook his head and pointed to the work area, “When we left the house, the Bodhisattva statue was still there.”

“Big brother, stop lying to us. Second Sister and I came in and searched the entire house, if it were there, we would have found it long ago,” Ye Shuzhen said hurriedly, putting herself before their mother.

Hongji was puzzled; he hadn’t taken it, nor had he hidden it. How could he produce something he hadn’t taken?

“I’m truly not lying to you, if you don’t believe me, ask the kids. I locked the courtyard gate when we left. We didn’t have it on us, Little Sister searched my room, and it wasn’t there. Where could I possibly bring out the wooden Bodhisattva from?”

“Hongji, I can’t believe you’ve become so unreliable, you even lie to your mother now,” Mrs. Lai was feeling very mixed at the moment, disappointed by the missing item and saddened by her son’s deception. She used to pretend to cry in front of her son, which would make her dutiful son compromise.

“Mother, you’re truly wronging your son. Am I really that kind of person? If I had really hidden it, wouldn’t I tell you?” Hongji felt even more wronged than Yuan E, under his sister’s distrustful gaze and his mother’s tearful eyes, his heart ached intermittently.

This time, Mrs. Lai was genuinely heartbroken, sitting abruptly on the ground, kicking soil beneath her feet, careless of the clothes she had just washed and changed into. Where was her concern for dirtiness now?

As long as her son returned the item, it would be a gain. Thinking of the money gone, her tears fell, she wiped her nose, and cried out loud,

“Hongji, ever since your wife entered this household, you’ve changed,” she cried, “taking her side, favoring the kids, and now you’ve even started deceiving your mother, oh my heaven, Old Master! I only have this one son, how could he be so unfilial? What are we to do in our old age?”

Seeing his mother crying and creating a scene on the ground, Hongji reached out to help her up, comforting her,

“Mother, please get up, it’s cold on the ground. If the wooden Bodhisattva is gone, your son can just make another one tomorrow. Please don’t cry, your heartache pains your son too.”

“I won’t get up, you’re surely deceiving me,” Mrs. Lai pushed her son’s hand away, continuing to cry incessantly.

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Ye Shuzhen stood aside, her expression somewhat schadenfreude. Big brother, if mother scolds you a few more times, it comforts her heart. Why did she feel this way?

She also believed her mother was right; ever since his wife came, big brother hadn’t treated her as well as his own kids.

Ye Shuzhi was still silent in the room, mentally supportive of their mother’s crying act, yet dared not voice it. With her wedding day approaching, a fear crept into her heart. Would her mother-in-law treat her like she did her big sister-in-law?

Would her husband be like her big brother, a foolishly dutiful son?

All sorts of questions whirled in Ye Shuzhi’s mind, making her a bit fearful of how depressing life might be after marriage.

“What’s going on now? Staying up late, what mischief is this old woman up to? You’ve barely kept quiet for a day or two, huh…”

Just as he entered the courtyard, Hongji’s father, who had been working hard all day and was now exhausted, was frustrated with the continuous disturbances throughout the day. Hearing his wife’s noisy crying, his first thought was that she was making a fuss.

“Old man, we’ve raised a dutiful son, yet he has hidden the wooden Bodhisattva and refuses to admit it!”

Mrs. Lai slapped the ground with her hands, unaware of the mud on her hands, wiped her face with its mucus and tears, leaving streaks of dirt like paint on her face.

Seeing the ugly state of his wife, Hongji’s father felt a bit disgusted and turned his eyes away, then said to his son,

“Hongji, didn’t you promise your mother to let her sell the wooden Bodhisattva? Why then have you hidden it away? Isn’t it the same whether your mother or you sell it?”

“Dad, how many times must I say it before you’ll believe me? Son, I really didn’t hide the wooden Bodhisattva, Mom is falsely accusing me, sigh… how come no matter what I say, you all don’t believe me?”

Hongji sighed and shook his head; he felt so upset, having carved that wooden figure all day, and losing it made his heart bleed.

Shiqi was carried back to the room by Daya, Er Ya and Sanya took Siwa back to their room and shut the door. They only dared to watch from the window, not standing out in the yard for fear their grandmother and aunts would vent their anger on them over the missing wooden Bodhisattva.

Shiqi hesitated, unable to decide whether to take the wooden doll out or not.

Seeing her father being wrongly accused, she couldn’t bear it in her heart.

Yet she felt reluctant to bring out the item to sell for her grandmother, knowing that her father and they wouldn’t receive a penny from it, so she fiercely decided not to bring it out.

Hiding it in the future would likely become more difficult; any item her father made would surely be closely watched from then on.

She couldn’t reveal her secret ability to keep items either. After much consideration, she opted for silence.

“Really, you aren’t deceiving us?” Hongji’s father stared steadily at his son, this father did not want to be deceived by his own child.

“Dad, why would I deceive you? I really didn’t hide it, son doesn’t know why the wooden Bodhisattva has gone missing either.”

Despite Hongji’s assurances to his father, Mrs. Lai didn’t believe him and continued to wipe her tears, still crying.

Hongji’s father, however, chose to believe his son this time, nodded at him and said, “The item is missing, you carve another one tomorrow!”

“Yes, son understands.” Hongji promised, then went to help his mother up.

“Old man, those were four wooden Bodhisattvas, you know, they could have sold for a lot of money.” Mrs. Lai, while being helped up by her son, twisted her body a bit reluctantly, but ultimately allowed her son to help her up.

“Why bring it up again? Didn’t son say he’d carve again tomorrow? Just keep an eye out to make sure no one else takes them. Look at you, getting into bed so dirty, you might as well sleep in a pigsty.”

Hongji’s father glared at his wife and then went back to his room, hands behind his back.

“Whimper, old man, are you despising me because I am old and have turned ugly? Do you really want to take a concubine like son mentioned?”

Mrs. Lai felt heartbroken after being spoken to by her husband. No woman wants her husband to call her dirty and ugly.

With his mother looking set to make a scene, Hongji, annoyed, decided to go back to his room to sleep first. Out of sight, out of mind. At this moment, he thought how fortunate he was that his wife, Mrs. Li, was not such a pestering character, and felt thankful indeed…

Hongji’s father had just entered the room when he heard Mrs. Lai speaking about him in such a manner; anger reddened his face, and he spun around to scold her:

“Do you even want to sleep tonight? If you don’t want to sleep, go sleep in the pigsty, did I say anything wrong about you? Take a mirror and look at your own face, aren’t pigs cleaner than you?”

Mrs. Lai, feeling indignant at being scolded, quickly ran into the room and grabbed her small mirror. Under the dim oil lamp, she saw her face clearly.

“Ahh… is this me?”

Mrs. Lai, after hearing Ye Shuzhen’s complaint, glared at Hongji, believing her younger daughter’s words, and said, “Hongji, didn’t you say you would give it to mother to sell? I have spread the word tonight, everyone is thinking of coming tomorrow to see the wooden Bodhisattva, please hand over the Bodhisattva statue!”