HLnovel Chapter 26 The Son-in-Law Eats Up His Inheritance, His Loving Father Image Collapses
Chapter 26 The Son-in-Law Eats Up His Inheritance, His Loving Father Image Collapses
They said the homeowner thought it was bad luck and refused to pay compensation.
Moreover, it was his own carelessness that caused him to lose his composure, so he couldn't extort a single penny from the master.
Mr. Shen and his wife, along with their second and third sons and the Liu mother and daughter, hurriedly ran to the village entrance.
Shen Qingchuan was leaning against a woodpile by the roadside, covered in cold sweat, pale-faced, and covered in blood. He looked shocking and pitiful.
Lin Shuisheng, a fellow villager who often worked with him on house repairs in town, collapsed next to him, panting heavily from exhaustion, his body covered in blood.
Upon hearing the news, the villagers gathered around.
Some villagers who had just gathered around to watch the commotion and were unaware of what was happening asked in surprise, "My goodness, isn't this the eldest son of the Shen family? What happened? Why is he covered in blood?"
"I heard he was repairing a house in town when he got distracted and broke two ribs. It makes me break out in a cold sweat."
"My God, two broken ribs in one fall? That must cost a lot of money!"
"Who knows? Shuisheng carried him back, carrying him for over ten miles in one go. He's a big, injured man, very heavy, it was quite a feat to carry him!"
"Huh... look at all this blood. What's wrong with the Shen family? It's been so long, why haven't they shown up yet?"
"I'm coming……"
Mr. Shen pulled his wife along and squeezed through the crowd first. When he saw his eldest son lying on the ground covered in blood, his face turned pale with fright.
"Qingchuan, what happened? You broke your ribs. Are you alright? Have you seen a doctor?"
Shen Qingchuan broke his ribs, making even breathing painful, and speaking extremely difficult.
“Father… I’ve seen… I’ve seen it, but the master refuses… to pay… the doctor’s fee… was paid by… Shuisheng… Shuisheng….”
Liu, holding her two daughters' hands, squeezed into the crowd and overheard her husband's words. She immediately rushed to his side, wiping away her tears and crying.
"Dad, how could you be so careless? You broke two ribs! How much pain must that have caused? Waaah... Not only are you suffering, but we don't have a single penny to our name. How are we going to pay Shuisheng back? Waaah..."
What?
The eldest son and his wife of the Shen family didn't have a single penny.
The crowd suddenly erupted in chaos!
"My goodness, the eldest son and his wife did all the work on the Shen family's twenty acres of land. They made tofu, sold eggs, raised pigs and chickens, and the whole family went to school, but the eldest son was the only one who didn't get to go to school and didn't get a single penny. Isn't that going too far?"
"This is more than just excessive; this is absolutely excessive!"
"The eldest son and his wife of the Shen family are so capable, taking on so much work. They should at least have some savings. Who can live their whole life without spending a penny? When disaster strikes, people have to spend money to treat injuries and illnesses, right?"
"Sigh, who can argue with that? That couple is known for their competence in our Osmanthus Village. They should have a few taels of silver on hand, but they don't even have a single penny. It's shocking. Apart from Old Master Shen teaching at the school and the eldest son farming, all the other men in the Shen family are studying at the school, preparing to take the imperial examinations and become the top scholar. The family doesn't seem to be poor. Why are they mistreating the eldest son?"
"If you have a stepmother, you'll have a stepfather too. They may be kind and loving parents when they're out, but who knows how they'll mistreat their stepson at home? Otherwise, how come such a capable couple can't even come up with a single penny?"
"Shh... Keep your voice down, or Mr. Shen will hear you saying your children don't want to go to school?"
Everyone was deeply saddened!
At first, they were just whispering, but as more people started talking, it became impossible to tell who was talking, so everyone just started talking freely.
Anyway, the law doesn't punish everyone, and you're not afraid of pain when you have too many lice.
"Yep……"
"The eldest son and his wife must be disliked; they're probably having a miserable time at home..."
"This Mr. Shen is a scholar who passed the imperial examinations and is also a teacher at the school. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would mistreat his eldest son. Could it be that his second wife is biased towards her own son and torments her stepson?"
Someone lowered their voice and said, "Tch, you can't judge a book by its cover. When this old Mr. Shen was young, before he passed the imperial examination, he married into the Lin family. The brick house they live in now is still the Lin family's inheritance. The sixteen acres of fertile land outside the east end of the village also belong to the Lin family. Their original house was at the west end of the village, and it seems to have been several acres as well..."
"My God, isn't this like eating someone's entire fortune?"
"..."
"..."
Everyone was talking at once, saying that the usually quiet village entrance was more lively than during the Spring Festival.
Shen Xiaotang and her younger sister knelt beside their father, crying their hearts out.
When Mr. Shen and Mrs. Sun heard the noisy discussions in the crowd, with all sorts of things being said, their heads exploded and they were completely dumbfounded!
Their reputation as loving fathers and virtuous mothers, which they had painstakingly maintained for over twenty years, collapsed because their eldest son suddenly broke two ribs and they had no money left to repay Shui Sheng's advances.
When Mr. Shen heard someone say that a son-in-law was taking advantage of a child's family fortune, he trembled uncontrollably, his face turned red, and he fainted.
Sun was so frightened that she screamed twice and cried out for someone to fetch a doctor.
The two sons of the Shen family, the second and third sons, had only ever studied since childhood and had never done any work or seen any big scenes. They were so frightened that they were completely at a loss. They were so panicked that they didn't know whether to carry their eldest brother, who was covered in blood, home or to take their unconscious father to see a doctor.
Shen Qingchuan and his wife Liu were completely dumbfounded, never expecting things to develop this way.
Rumors flew and the incident caused a sensation. Upon receiving the news, the village head led his men to handle the situation personally.
While Mr. Shen was unconscious, many people rushed to get a doctor to treat him and reported to the village head that Mr. Shen and his wife were exploiting their childless son and tormenting their eldest son.
Normally, the village head doesn't concern himself with these trivial matters, but since the villagers have brought it up, he, as the village head, has no choice but to do something fair and impartial.
Seeing that the doctor had arrived, the village headman asked the people on both sides to disperse a bit. He walked between Mr. Shen and his son Shen Qingchuan, first inquiring about their well-being before changing the subject.
"Eldest son of the Shen family, is what everyone's talking about true?"
Shen Qingchuan did not answer.
Although things took such an unexpected turn, the things people were discussing did not wrong his father and stepmother in the slightest.
It's one thing for him not to reveal the truth and embarrass his father, but it's another thing for him to lie and cover for his father against his conscience.
When the village head saw that Shen Qingchuan did not answer, he immediately understood.
It's a shame that Mr. Shen was a scholar. He not only used the property of the first wife to support himself and his second wife's children, but he also mistreated the son of the first wife, even though the first wife's property was no longer with him.
That's utterly heartless!
The play is right: the most righteous are often the lowly butchers, while the most ungrateful are often the scholars!
The eldest son of the Shen family was known in Guihua Village for his honesty, kindness, and competence. The village head had heard of him long ago, and when he saw him covered in blood and learned that he didn't have a single penny, he immediately felt pity for him.
He thought for a moment, then asked, "Eldest son of the Shen family, do you want to split up the family?"