Chapter 27: The Stepbrother

Tang Yichen said calmly, “It’s too early to talk about these things now. As you can all see, there’s a pile of troubles at home I need to deal with; I really don’t have the mind to consider anything else. Let’s leave the future for the future.” Hearing this, the crowd finally remembered the mess his family was in.

No matter how outstanding Tang Yichen’s own qualities were—his father was weak, his stepmother was restless, the household was bare, his younger siblings were not only small, but his brother was also sickly. If someone were to marry a relative’s daughter to him, it wouldn’t be forging a family tie, but making an enemy. Forget it; scholars aren’t anything special anyway. Not to mention whether he could pass the exams, even if he did, it would take the whole family’s resources to support him. And by the time he succeeded, the family would have been dragged to ruin.

Take, for example, Scholar Wang from the neighboring village. He only passed the preliminary exam at forty and was still unwilling to give up, spending another ten years attempting the imperial examination, but failed every single year. Even his wife was worn to death in the process.

After the villagers left, Tang Yichen entered the courtyard and closed the gate behind him.

At that moment, Tang Dafu was still sitting on the ground. When Tang Yichen came in, Tang Dafu lowered his head in shame, looking utterly embarrassed and without dignity.

In recent years, Tang Dafu had grown increasingly intimidated by his eldest son. Yet, Tang Yichen rarely interfered with his father’s affairs, usually staying at the private school and not coming home, which allowed the veneer of a father-son relationship to be maintained.

Tang Yichen walked over and lifted Tang Dafu up.

He carried him in his arms.

Qin Huiyin, watching from the side, had a strange expression. She turned away so no one could see her contorted face.

“What’s wrong?” Li Peach Blossom noticed her oddity and asked.

Qin Huiyin shook her head gently, lowering her eyes. “It’s nothing, I was just thinking about how to earn that sum of silver.”

The scene was so absurd she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from laughing. If she burst out laughing in such a serious moment, the whole family would think she’d gone mad from anger.

“Tang Yichen, what do you propose?” At the mention of silver, Li Peach Blossom immediately pressed him. “As the eldest son of the Tang family, it’s your duty to share your father’s burdens.”

Tang Yichen set Tang Dafu on a bench.

He sat down beside him, looking at Tang Dafu steadily. “After your accident, you were unconscious for several days. I was busy at the time, and seeing you weren’t in mortal danger, I went back to the academy. That was my oversight, my fault. I should have clarified the situation sooner and made preparations in advance. We wouldn’t be so easily cornered now.”

Tang Dafu stared blankly at his eldest son.

He was only fourteen, yet there was a maturity about him, an authority between his brows that made his own father feel as though he was being chided by his elder.

No—he had never felt this cowed, even by his own father.

Tang Yichen’s voice was deepening with adolescence, and his deliberate composure seemed oddly out of place. Still, the Tang family had long grown used to seeking their eldest brother in times of trouble, and being lectured by him felt natural.

“Father, tell me in detail what happened—the dispute, your injury, borrowing silver for treatment. Leave nothing out,” Tang Yichen said.

Tang Dafu glanced at Li Peach Blossom, then answered guiltily, “I was working at the Chen family’s dye workshop as a temp. Since I did well, the steward promoted me to a regular hand. That day, I was working as usual. Su Li, who was working with me, ruined a freshly dyed cloth. I said a few words to him, and he quarreled with me. Somehow, we started fighting. I cracked Su Li’s head, and he pushed me. The cloth-drying rack nearby toppled over and hit my leg.”

“It was chaos—I couldn’t feel anything except pain… Later, the steward and Boss Chen came. They called a doctor, who said Su Li’s head was hurt and if he didn’t recover, he’d be left simple-minded. As for me, my leg was badly injured, and because I’m weak and lost a lot of blood, they said only ginseng could save me. Boss Chen asked if I wanted to live—I said of course I did. Then he said that would cost fifty taels of silver. I was in agony and desperate, so I agreed to whatever they said. While the doctor treated my leg, the pain was so bad I nearly fainted. They handed me something to drink, saying it was ginseng soup…”

Tang Yichen listened in silence. When Tang Dafu finished, he said calmly, “I understand.”

“So what do you plan to do?” Li Peach Blossom said. “If you’d come home a little earlier, you’d have seen how they threatened us. They forced my Huiyin to sign a contract: if we don’t pay fifty taels within a month, they’ll take my daughter away. That old lecher, at his age, still covets my girl. Tang Yichen, this is your father’s mess—you’d better not drag my daughter into it.”

“You married my father; you are his wife. Trying to distance yourself at a time like this—aren’t you afraid of chilling his heart?” Tang Yichen replied coldly.

“I did marry your father, but we agreed from the start—I can’t endure hardship or humiliation, and neither can my daughter. If there’s trouble, don’t come to us. I didn’t marry him to suffer,” Li Peach Blossom replied, perfectly self-assured.

Tang Yichen cast a mocking glance at Tang Dafu, as if to say: This is the woman you were so desperate to marry.

Tang Dafu’s face flushed.

He had known exactly what kind of woman Li Peach Blossom was before marrying her. Since his injury, she hadn’t shown him a kind face, and had even threatened to leave several times. He knew all this.

But he simply couldn’t help liking her.

He only blamed himself for being unable to give her a better life.

Back when she was with Song Yi, she never suffered the slightest grievance. If Song Yi hadn’t died, how would he have had a chance?

He was just too much of a burden to his family.

“There’s a young, thin, tall hand beside Chen Zhongyi. Today, when he handed me the contract, I noticed his handwriting was identical to that on Uncle Tang’s IOU,” Tang Yichen said, turning to Qin Huiyin.

Qin Huiyin replied, “If you want to investigate the details, you can start with him.”

“How did you know I wanted to look into it?”

“You asked so many questions—you can’t just be curious, can you?” Qin Huiyin answered. “If we want to resolve this, we have two options. One, work hard and earn the fifty taels to pay them back. Even if this is a setup, without evidence, we have no choice but to accept it. Two, investigate thoroughly. If it’s all Chen’s scheme and the fifty taels are extortion, we don’t have to pay. There’s a third possibility: we investigate and it turns out Chen Zhongyi really paid fifty taels for the ginseng, and your father’s injuries did require it; then we compensate them at cost. But from what we saw today, that third scenario seems unlikely.”

For the first time, Tang Yichen regarded Qin Huiyin with genuine attention.

She was calm.

Despite being directly involved, she remained composed, as if convinced this matter would not be beyond her.