Sold immediately after wearing it? I took my family and fled the famine.

Jiang Dazhu squatted on the ground for a moment, then stood up and patted the dirt off his knees.

"Chief, this won't work." His tone wasn't harsh, but every word he spoke was firm and clear, without the slightest hesitation.

Jiang Caimao was stunned for a moment. He had expected Jiang Dazhu to hesitate and try to bargain with him, but he did not expect the other party to refuse so decisively.

"What did you say?"

"I said, no." Jiang Dazhu repeated, looking him straight in the eye without flinching.

Zhou was still trying to persuade Jiang Qingyue, but upon hearing this, she sat up abruptly.

The swelling on her face hadn't subsided, and she could only open her eyes a crack, but her ears were very sharp. She used her arms to prop herself up and flipped off the cart, limping towards Jiang Caimao.

"Jiang Caimao, how dare you!" Zhou's voice was shrill and loud, audible throughout half the threshing ground. "How many times have your family freeloaded off us on this journey of fleeing famine? Every time, wasn't Dazhu running errands and carrying things for you? Our past favors? We've already repaid them all! Now you see we've gotten some grain and silver, and you want to come and freeload again? No way! I'm telling you, not a chance!"

Jiang Caimao's expression changed, and he instantly dropped his previous obsequious attitude.

He straightened up, his eyes glaring at Zhou Shi, his finger almost poking her nose: "Zhou Shi! How can you say such a thing without a conscience? Back in Jiangjia Village, if it weren't for me covering for you in the clan, would your eldest son's family have gotten so many advantages? Who helped you hold back Jiang Laosan's few acres of land from the second son's family? When Jiang Qingshan went to school, the clan gave him an extra three dou of rice every year. Who stood up for you, braving the elders' gossip? And now you're telling me it's all paid off? Can you even afford to pay it back?!"

"Bullshit!" Zhou retorted without backing down, taking a step forward and spitting almost onto Jiang Caimao's face. "You're helping our family? You just want to benefit yourself! Do you really think we don't know? You're hoping Qingshan will pass the imperial examination so your family can be exempt from taxes too. What are you plotting? Do you think no one knows? Now that your family is wiped out, you suddenly remember us, wanting us to take care of you in your old age? Keep dreaming!"

"You—" Jiang Caimao trembled with rage, his fingers shaking wildly in the air, "You shrew! Unreasonable!"

"Who are you calling a shrew? Try saying it again!" Zhou grabbed Jiang Caimao's collar. "You old geezer, you used to be the clan chief and acted like a tyrant, now that you're all alone, you think you can cling to our family? You're dreaming!"

The two of them talked back and forth, each one louder than the last, attracting people from several surrounding villages to crane their necks and look in their direction.

Some people squatted on the ground with bowls of porridge, drinking it while watching; some covered their mouths and whispered to the people next to them; and some even stood up and took a few steps over, afraid of missing any good show.

Hearing the commotion, Jiang Qingshan glanced over and saw Jiang Caimao being pulled back by his mother, his face red and his neck thick.

"Qingshan!" Jiang Caimao saw him like a drowning man finding a piece of driftwood. He broke free from Zhou's hand and rushed to Jiang Qingshan in a few strides. "You're a scholar! You tell me what's going on! Back when you were studying and getting into university, wasn't it me who arranged your tuition? Wasn't it me who spoke up for you in the clan, allowing you to study peacefully all these years? Now that you're Chen Xiucai's protégé, having climbed the social ladder, you want to turn your back on me?"

Jiang Qingshan stopped, glanced at him, then looked at Zhou Shi, who was trembling with anger beside him. He was silent for a moment, then spoke.

"Clan Chief." His voice was not loud, and his speech was slow, with the refined tone unique to scholars. "Qingshan remembers everything you just said. You arranged tuition for Qingshan back then and spoke up for Qingshan at the clan chief meeting. Qingshan will never forget these kindnesses."

Jiang Caimao's expression softened, and he was about to speak when Jiang Qingshan continued.

"But clan chief, the Qingshan family fled south all the way from famine, and your family traveled with them. Every time we stopped to rest and cook, if your family ran out of rice, my father would share it. If your family's cart broke down, my father would help repair it. Don't you count the food and effort you put in?" He paused, looking calmly at Jiang Caimao. "If we have to weigh everything that happened in the village before, shouldn't we also calculate everything that happened along the way? Kindness is kindness, and affection is affection. If we calculate it too clearly, it will only make us seem distant."

Jiang Caimao opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

He never expected that his grand-nephew, who usually bowed to him when he saw him, would say such things, each word of which did not offend him but left him with no way out.

Jiang Qingshan took out a silver ingot from his sleeve, exactly ten taels, and placed it in Jiang Caimao's hand. The silver ingot was cool and felt hard against his palm.

"Clan leader, please accept this ten taels of silver. Use it to buy food and clothes on your journey. It's a small token of my appreciation. As for the matter you just mentioned, I'm sorry, I cannot agree to it."

Jiang Caimao looked down at the silver ingot in his hand, his expression changing repeatedly. First, it was disbelief, then embarrassment, and finally a complex look that was hard to describe as either anger or humiliation.

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something tough, but his fingers involuntarily tightened their grip on the silver.

Ten taels of silver was enough for him to eat for several months, so he couldn't utter a sound of complaint.

Zhou, watching from the side, felt a pang of heartache and reached out to snatch the silver ingot, but Jiang Qingshan calmly stopped her.

She opened her mouth, but ultimately swallowed her words. The hundred catties of coarse rice and thirty taels of silver were all earned by Qingshan. He said he would give her ten taels, and she couldn't very well refute her son's offer in front of so many people.

Jiang Caimao stood there clutching the silver, his expression as if he had been slapped in public and then given a piece of candy.

He wanted to curse, but couldn't bring himself to do it; he wanted to leave, but couldn't move his feet. In the end, Zhou spat and turned back to the cart, and he took advantage of the opportunity to slink away to the back of the crowd.

Aunt Wang, holding an empty bowl, nudged Granny Zhao next to her with her elbow: "Did you see that? Even the clan chief has his day."

For once, Granny Zhao didn't embellish the story; she simply pursed her lips and said, "When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Who will still recognize him as the clan leader?"

Shen Dehou stood on the outer edge of the crowd and glanced at it twice. He didn't go forward to persuade him or say anything. He had long seen through Jiang Caimao's character and was not surprised by this result at all.

Only one person didn't watch the spectacle.

Jiang Qingyue huddled in the corner of the cart, hugging her knees, her eyes fixed on Jiang Qingshan's back.

Her gaze never left Jiang Qingshan, her lips slightly downturned, not because she was about to cry, but because she was clenching her teeth.

The scene from last night resurfaced: the burly bandit grabbed her waist and dragged her backward, her feet leaving bloody marks on the frozen ground. She screamed for her brother to save her, while her own brother dragged Chen Zhilan toward the soldiers, running so fast that he didn't even turn his head back.

Now he was riding high. Scholar Chen took him on as a student, and he received 100 catties of coarse rice and 30 taels of silver. His parents treated him like a god of wealth, and outsiders praised him for his success.

But what were these things obtained in exchange?

Jiang Qingyue buried her face in her knees, her nails digging into her palms, gripping them tightly.

……