Chapter 83.1

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The Farmer who Became the Top Scorer in the Palace Examination 11

The clan had been informed about the adoption of relatives, and the patriarch also relented and agreed to it.
When Yan Tao knew about it, there was no room for objection.

He did not know that this matter was proposed by Yan Chu.
He only knew that his parents had asked his grandparents for it.
Even if he was angry, he could not find the ignorant couple and tell them what kind of mistake they had made.

Adopting Fu Zhenzhen, the old couple Yan could not be said to be happy or unhappy.
The people in the second branch were very happy, and those in the main branch were gloomy, and it was not decent to pretend to be happy.

Yan Tao’s expression at this time was not conspicuous among the crowd of people in the main branch.
Liu Fuchun and Yan Changxue looked at the expression of their youngest son and felt that this son was caring for them.
They thought that they would go together, and they could not care about their sadness.
Instead, they had to comfort their youngest son.

“Second Treasure, don’t be angry.
Even if there is no Fu Zhenzhen, it can be someone else.
Don’t worry, in this family, no one can surpass you and your elder brother.
Even if Yan Chu is promising, I’ll let him work hard and give us money.”

Liu Fuchun said this ruthlessly, but, for a while, she could not think of anything to deal with Yan Chu.
Originally, she thought Fu Zhenzhen was the biggest handle.
Now Fu Zhenzhen could not be touched.
For other women, Yan Chu was not so stupid, so they could easily get into the trap.

These words were just words to comfort her little son.

Hearing Liu Fuchun’s words, Yan Tao frowned and suddenly felt that it was good now, at least there was not to worry about the incident after it happened.

He felt guilty for Fu Zhenzhen.
Finding a good husband for her in this life could be regarded as compensation.
As for Fu Yugui, he was a hot newly promoted general in the army.
It was good, but in officialdom, there was a difference between civil and military.
As long as “I” became the top scorer in the palace examination in this life, he would catch her husband.
If there was no princess, there would be other scholarly families, and the young lady who knew calligraphy and etiquette could tie a knot to have conjugal union with him.

After thinking about it this way, Yan Tao suddenly had nothing to worry about.

Liu Fuchun and Yan Changxue saw their son’s appearance, but they thought that their persuasion had worked, and they immediately put on a smile.

“Let’s ignore others, and soon, it will be the days when the provincial imperial examination begins.
These days, we should be careful about food, clothing, and housing, and don’t make any mistakes after entering the examination hall.”

In the beginning, Yan Tao gave them a county’s first-rank[1] in his second year.
The couple was proud.
Like Yan Chu, weren’t the county’s first-rank clinches to become Xiucai[2]? It was a pity that there were all kinds of accidents in the later provincial imperial examination.
Yan Tao did not finish a set of papers smoothly.
If he did not finish the examination, he would have no grades.
Even if there was a hidden rule that the county’s first-rank was Xiucai, it was not suitable.

It gave hope and disappointment again and again, but that was all.

If there was no achievement of Yan Tao’s county’s first-rank, maybe the couple had given up just as they did with the eldest son, Yan Duan.
But Yan Tao had become the county’s first-rank, and there was another example of Yan Chu, who was once the county’s first-rank, and now was Master Juren[3], making it not easy for the couple to give up.

In recent years, the money provided by the family has been getting less and less.
To let this son continue his studies, and the elder son who always refused to give up relying on scholarships to study, the savings saved by the family in the early years had almost reached the bottom.

Yan Changxue’s salary was quite high, but he could not afford to spend it like that.
For this reason, he secretly began to make false accounts.
He was both the shopkeeper and the accountant.
It was not difficult to make a book that fools the people above to check.

In the past two or three years, he had hidden dozens of taels of his master’s silver money.
According to the Jin Dynasty’s criminal law, once he was found, it would take him ten years to search in his family’s house and confiscate possessions.

Yan Changxue was fighting to win or die[4].
Yan Tao, the son whom he placed high hopes on, would succeed even if he did not succeed.

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“It doesn’t make sense.
Second Treasure eats and drinks the same as Eldest Treasure before every exam.
How can Eldest Treasure finish the exam smoothly every time, but Second Treasure can’t?”

Yan Changxue sighed, sometimes he could not help thinking that if only the eldest son and the youngest son could be swapped.

After all, his eldest son failed to pass the exam countless times, and his younger son was delayed by these illnesses.
He was the child who got the first-rank.
Wasn’t it very easy to pass a provincial imperial examination?

If it were not for the delay of those illnesses, perhaps the second branch family would not be well-regarded now.

Yan Changxue sighed, and Yan Tao thought deeply.

Before, he suspected that the soul of the original self that remained in his body was causing the trouble, but when he thought about it carefully, he had been attached to the other’s body for so long, and there had never been any problem.

People at that time believed in supernatural beings, and Yan Tao was no exception.
Especially after he returned to his nine years old, he believed that there were demons and ghosts in this world even more, as well as the existence of Gods and Buddhas all over the world.
This was why he suspected that his physical illness was caused by the other party’s ghost.

But several times, after asking for so many talisman papers and worshiping with so many incenses in the temple, Yan Tao felt that he should change his mind.

Now, he had his own suspicion.

“Second Treasure, eat it while it’s hot.”

This time, Liu Fuchun was worried and came over with Yan Changxue.

Yan Duan’s Xiucai young lady wife also came along.
The family rented a small courtyard.
The rent for 2-3 days was not cheap.
It cost 200 coins, but it was much better than living in an inn.

“These things are all made by your sister-in-law.
They are exactly the same as what your eldest brother ate.
Just now, Mother watched your eldest brother finish eating.
If there’s nothing wrong, you can eat at ease.”

Liu Fuchun was indeed afraid of her son’s habit of having an accident before the exam.
This time, she controlled what his son eats, wears and drinks.
She did not believe that his son could still be in trouble.

“Mother, leave it here.
I’ll eat it after finishing these books.
By the way, I want to drink tea.
Please bring me a cup of hot tea.
The tea in the room is already cool.”

After listening to her son’s words, Liu Fuchun touched the teapot in the room.
It was really cold.

“Mother is silly.”

Liu Fuchun patted her forehead.
She spent the morning watching her eldest daughter-in-law cook breakfast and staring at her eldest eating.
She was sure there was no reaction and forgot about her son’s tea.

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Fortunately, Second Treasure is clever for not drinking this ice-cold tea, she did not have to worry about his upset stomach again today.

“Mother’s going now.” Liu Fuchun took the kettle and went out.
After she went out, Yan Tao picked up the steamed bread on the table and put them under the bed.
He opened the window directly, poured the thin porridge on the outside, and then took out a sesame cake he bought from a small stall outside before, but he did not care about it, so he just chewed it on.

These days, he thought carefully about why everything went smoothly when he took the county examination for the first time, but after he was successfully passed as the first-rank, every subsequent exam did not go well.
Once he went no farther than Tongsheng[5], who would be the most affected.

Yan Chu could not understand himself?

Except for Fu Zhenzhen’s case, Yan Tao thought that he was a man of high moral character.
Naturally, he could not do such dirty things.
In this way, Yan Duan, his former older cousin, was the most likely one to attack him.

It had been more than ten years since Yan Duan became Tongsheng.
It was too much pressure for him to pass as the first-rank.
It was very normal for him to slip a drug into his diet to prevent his younger brother from rushing in front of him.

As for the character of the main branch family, Yan Tao could not believe it.

Although he did not know why the physician could not find out every time the other party gave him medicine, Yan Tao only thought that it was because the medicine used by the other party was relatively hidden, otherwise, he could not explain why he always ate and drunk the same things and nothing happened, but he had either diarrhea, vomiting, or high fever again and again.

This time, Yan Tao just wanted to have a try.
Without touching anything at home, would he be able to complete this time preliminary round of imperial examinations normally?

When Liu Fuchun came in with hot water, all she saw were the dishes that were eaten quickly.

“Eat too much, and still not drink water.
If you eat too much, it’s not good.”

Yan Tao did not dare to touch the water Liu Fuchun brought, and the other side would not be suspicious of his son.
If this water pot had been tampered with by Yan Duan, his previous efforts would be in vain.

“If you’re full of food, don’t drink any more water.
Now I’m going for a walk.”

Now Liu Fuchun was in a state of turmoil[6].
Hearing what Yan Tao said, she immediately blamed herself for bringing so much breakfast to him earlier, and never mentioned that her son was allowed to drink water.

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On the way from the rented courtyard to the examination room, it went smoothly, and after the dragon door opened, all the examinees were checked and entered in order, and they were also safe.

The couple, Liu Fuchun and Yan Changxue were standing outside the examination room, for fear that this time, their son would have another accident.

But this time, perhaps it was God’s blessing.
On the first day of the exam, including every subsequent exam, Yan Tao truly completed it safely.

When he came out after the final test, Yan Tao’s face was tired, but his eyes were unprecedentedly excited.

Yan Duan, Yan Duan, what kind of animal is he.

Yan Tao yelled in his heart.
What he guessed was right.
It was the other side’s work on him.

Yan Chu practiced the large characters calmly.
Ever since his parents recognized Fu Zhenzhen as their daughter and hosted a banquet for the neighbors, the two had not been so taboo about getting along with each other.

At the moment, Fourth Sister Yan Lanhua and Fu Zhenzhen were both in Yan Chu’s study.
One was looking at the travel notes with paintings in relish, and the other was setting a small table to copy the calligraphic style on the copies Yan Chu gave her.

The atmosphere was very harmonious.
Sometimes when Yan Chu stopped writing and took a break, the three of them could still talk and laugh.
Fu Zhenzhen, who could not let go at the beginning, now could calmly call Yan Chu Third Brother.

Whether she was sad or not, at least after recognizing her as their relatives, the other party had begun to try to change her attitude towards Yan Chu.

Wrote a sharp-edged character for forbearance, and then watched the water traces slowly dry on the fine writing paper until the character disappeared.

Yan Chu calculated the time, but he did not do it himself this time.
If he was right, that family over there should bite themselves.

“What are you talking about? It’s impossible.”

Before Liu Fuchun and Yan Changxue could wake up from the joy of their youngest son’s passing the provincial imperial examination as the supernumerary candidate, they heard that their son suspected that every time he fell ill and could not take the preliminary round of imperial examination normally, it was the eldest son Yan Duan who framed him.

The eldest son and the youngest son were siblings.
Why should he have to frame the youngest son? Was it good for him?

“I don’t want to doubt Elder Brother, but I’m afraid you don’t know.
I haven’t drank water or eaten a bite of food at home from the beginning to the end of this preliminary round of imperial examinations.
In those days, what I used to eat was the sesame cakes bought by street vendors.”

Yan Tao was not even disappointed that he did not take the first-rank, not even Bingsheng.
But it was not his fault.
After all, he was very worried about the whole exam.
Besides the test questions, he had too many things in his mind.
In addition to this year’s preliminary round of imperial examinations, there were many scholars with real skills.
It was already very good to be able to pass the exam.

They were all scholars, and there was a big difference between Bingsheng, Zengsheng, and Fusheng[7].

It was said that Xiucai was poor, but Bingsheng Xiucai was not poor.
They had the monthly grain provided by the government.
Also, for every county and prefectural examination, the exam candidates needed to have one or two Bingsheng consultations to find surety.
If a candidate found a guarantor, they could receive one or two silver.
If there were more exam candidates with a guarantee, one year’s worth chewing would be enough.
So when people said poor Xiucai, Bingsheng was not among them.

As for Zengsheng and Fusheng, they did not have the benefits of Bingsheng, but they could also take part in the subsequent triennial provincial imperial examinations.

Therefore, if Yan Tao failed to pass the following triennial provincial imperial examination and got the title of Juren, his reputation as a Xiucai would sound good.
If he wanted to open a school, he would not necessarily receive students.
All the expenses of his future study would have to come from home.

However, for Liu Fuchun and Yan Changxue, whose eldest son failed the imperial exams repeatedly, their younger son was already determined not to fall short.
He was only 13 years old.
Was such a young Xiucai afraid that he would not become Juren or Jinshi[8] in the future?

Anyway, the couple was confident in their youngest son.

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“You didn’t eat the home’s food.”

Liu Fuchun was stunned, how did she not know?

“Because in the beginning, I wasn’t sure whether my suspicions were true or not, but the facts proved it.
I believe that my parents would not harm me.
Then, who else in my family could have access to the food and tea I wanted to eat?”

What Yan Tao said was heartbreaking.
The reason why he did not expose Yan Duan at the end of the imperial examination was that he wanted to wait for his grades to be accepted as a Xiucai and increased his weight in the hearts of Yan Changxue and his wife.

It was a pity that he was not the first-rank, otherwise, the effect would be better.

He sighed in his heart, but it did not matter.
Compared to the eldest son in his early twenties, who was seemingly always on the run still, he believed that Yan Changxue and his wife would make the right choice.

Seeing the certain and yet heartbroken appearance of their youngest son, Liu Fuchun and Yan Changxue opened their mouths, but they said nothing in the end and went back to their house in despair.

“Baby, his father.”

Liu Fuchun wanted to say that it might not be her eldest son’s manipulation, maybe it was the people in the second branch, but this time including the previous exams, the people in the second branch of an extended family never interfered in her son’s preliminary round of imperial examinations.
She did not believe that these people from the second branch still could know everything.

But it was indeed her eldest son, and she could not believe it.

Regardless of how she and her husband calculated the second branch, on her own, she hoped that their two sons could work together and get along with each other.

The family fortune that the couple had saved would not be the brothers in the future. Both had equal importance[9].
Liu Fuchun could not bear to hurt anyone.

“I’m afraid what Second Treasure said is true.”

Yan Changxue’s face was sad, and he had not thought about it before.
If the two brothers were indeed able to live peacefully, and no one was jealous of anyone.
Whoever was in trouble, the other would give a hand.
Why should he keep scheming with the second family for fear of being taken advantage of by them? Seeing that the other party’s life was better, he was frustrated and could not sleep the whole night.

How could the eldest son do what he could not do by words and deeds?

For the first time, Yan Changxue had some regrets in his heart.

“We have to talk to Eldest Treasure.”

Yan Changxue sighed.
As his youngest son said, there were too many coincidences, so it was not a coincidence.

[1] 案首 [ànshǒu]: a candidate who ranked first in the imperial examination on prefecture or county level (in Ming and Qing dynasties)

[2] 秀才 [xiùcai]: a person who has passed the county-level imperial exam (historical); scholar; skillful writer; fine talent

[3] 举人 [jǔrén]: graduate; successful candidate in the imperial provincial examination

[4] 背水一战 [bèi shuǐ yī zhàn]: lit.
fight with one’s back to the river (idiom); fig.
to fight to win or die

[5] 童生 [tóngshēng]: a candidate who has not yet passed the county-level imperial exam

[6] turmoil = combined from 风声鹤唳 [fēngshēng hè lì]: lit.
wind sighing and crane calling (idiom); fig.
to panic at the slightest move; to be jittery and 草木皆兵 [cǎomù jiē bīng]: lit.
every tree or bush an enemy soldier (idiom); fig.
to panic and treat everyone as an enemy; to feel beleaguered

[7] 禀生 [bǐng shēng]: lit.
gifted candidate; one of the group names of the scholars with a fixed number in the ancient imperial examination system, the group of the best scholars, initially provided with food every month to subsidize their lives by the government

增生 [zēng shēng]: lit.
supernumerary candidate; one of the group names of the scholars with a fixed number in the ancient imperial examination system, the group of the second best scholars, not provided with food by the government

附生 [fù shēng]: lit.
attached candidate; one of the group names of the scholars in the ancient imperial examination system, who has just enrolled

[8] 进士 [jìnshì]: successful candidate in the highest imperial civil service examination; palace graduate

[9] 手心手背都是肉 [shǒuxīn shǒubèi dōushì ròu]: lit.
both the palm and the back of the hand are made of flesh (idiom); fig.
to both be of equal importance; to value both equally

Chapter 83.2

The Farmer who Became the Top Scorer in the Palace Examination 11

“Nonsense, aren’t that kid Yan Tao and you suing me?”

Originally, because he failed again, and his younger brother was unhappy after being admitted to the Zengsheng[1], he was thinking about going to the Spring Breeze House to find Xiao Cui to relieve his worries and touched his purse to see if there was money in it.
Now he came back and heard that his parents had been accusing him wrongly, but Yan Duan was not wholly angry.

“It has nothing to do with your little brother.
It’s just that Father and Mother want to ask you why your brother always got sick when he ate at home.
This time, he secretly went out to buy something to eat by himself, but he finished the whole exam safely?”

Yan Changxue watched his eldest son’s fierce anger expression, and thought it as a guilty conscience, just like what he did to his younger brother before.
He was especially experienced in this kind of thing.

Just because he was such a person, Yan Changxue was not particularly surprised by his youngest son’s statement.
Although he could not accept it for a moment, he thought more about it and believed it.

“I’m to blame for his poor health? In that case, why don’t you say it’s Mother’s hand?”

Yan Duan was in a bad mood, and now he was even more furious.

He felt that everyone looked down on him.
Ever since he had a younger brother who could study, they did not care about him anymore.
When did he lack money before? But now when he just wanted to ask for a few hundred coins to go to the Spring Breeze House to relieve his worries, his parents were reluctant to give it.
What did they hide that money for? It was not for their promising little son.

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Yan Duan felt that it was too unfair.
He was the eldest son of the family.
According to the usual practice, at least 80% of this family’s property belongs to him.
He was just spending his money early.
Was he wrong?

They were indeed father and son.
What is the difference between what Yan Duan thought at this moment and what Yan Changxue thought at that time when he learned how to scheme?

“Eldest Treasure, how can you talk to your mother like this?”

Listening to her son’s sophistry and attacking her, Liu Fuchun could not be more heartbroken.
She thought she was totally devoted to both sons.
She had never favored anyone, even because Yan Duan was the eldest son, and was better for him many times.

But how did this son treat her? He made a mistake, but he put all the blame on her.

Liu Fuchun breathed heavily and felt dizzy.

“Let’s split up.
You’ve been married for so many years.
If we split up as soon as possible, everyone will be happy.”

Yan Changxue, as a man, was more shrewd and bolder than Liu Fuchun in some aspects.

For example, at this time, Liu Fuchun was indeed thinking about helping his son to excuse him, thinking that maybe it was indeed just a coincidence, but Yan Changxue had already begun to calm his mind and seek a more appropriate solution.

Whether it was the scheme of the eldest son, Yan Tao had already separated from this elder brother.
One was the eldest son who was destined to go no farther than Tongsheng[2], the other was the youngest son Xiucai[3] with a bright future.
Yan Changxue thought that he should choose between the two.

When choosing the eldest son, the younger one was destined to feel that they were biased and gradually alienated from them, the husband and wife.
They managed to cultivate the other to be an honorable Xiucai with great difficulty.
Yan Changxue was begrudged to give up like this.

When choosing the youngest son, the eldest son would not be convinced, but he still had a beautiful dream of the preliminary round of imperial examinations.
Maybe the best way to deal with him was to let him fully understand the reality.

No money, no food.
It was time for the other party to learn craftsmanship to support himself.

Since he thought he had made the best choice, Yan Changxue said the division of a large family into smaller groups words.

Even Liu Fuchun was stunned.
She did not understand why they were going separated and lived apart without asking it clearly?

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“Eldest Son, Eldest Son’s wife, you all think about it clearly?”

Old Man Yan put his smoking pipe down and looked at the others in disbelief.

It was a happy event that these two grandsons became Xiucai, so how did it get to the point of division of a large family into smaller groups?

“I’ve already figured it out clearly.
This time I invite all the elders in the clan to be a witness.” Yan Changxue nodded and said.

In the Yan family’s hall, all the men in the family were here, and the married daughters also got the news to return home.
Also, there were the patriarch and several elders in the clan.

“Since everyone is here, then your and Changxi’s family will be separated and lived apart altogether.
You have to give Eldest Treasure and Second Treasure what you have on your hand first then.”

Old Man Yan coughed a few times.
What he said surprised both Yan Changxue and Liu Fuchun.

“Father, Second Brother and I have a different family.”

What a joke.
Now that Yan Chu had good prospects, he just wanted to get rid of them.
Over the years, a lot of the money he spent on his studies came from the collectively owned.

Yan Changxue was indignant.
In fact, at the very beginning, his brother-in-law wanted to pay for this nephew’s study, but Yan Chu himself was unwilling.
He took some work of copying books outside and drew some calligraphy and paintings of Bodhisattva and Buddha to sell to those who believe in Buddha to earn some paper and brush money, saying that it could cover his study expenses.

He did not believe it.
The old man and the old lady certainly had given the second branch’s child money.
Otherwise, if the money was so easy to earn, why did the other scholars still have a miserable life?

“You can separate your two sons, but I, your father, can’t separate my sons?” Old Man Yan asked his eldest son: “Besides, you are all grandfathers.
It’s time to divide this family.”

Generally speaking, parents did not divide their families, but there were also elderly people whose children were married who chose to divide what they could when they were still alive.
The other children who left out would wrestle over those things for a lifetime.

Old Man Yan now saw his second son’s family who became more prosperous with each passing day with his bright eyes, and the eldest son’s family seemed to have other thoughts.

He wanted to divide the family when the eldest son’s family did not make things too much trouble and would be far away in the future.
Maybe the little grandson still had a little affection for his uncle’s family and could support his cousins in the future.

Moreover, the second grandson of the eldest son’s family had become a Xiucai.
Although he might not be as good as the youngest grandson, he was also a promising one.
It was good for everyone to divide the family while the whole family was still in harmony.

Nowadays, the emperor attached great importance to filial piety.
In front of his family, no matter how bold he was, he dared not refute Old Man Yan’s words.
He was half-dead in his heart.
He did not know whether he was right or wrong to propose the idea of family separation.

Yan Chu had become Juren[4], and the second branch was not short of money.
Therefore, when the family was separated, Old Man Yan chose to be partial to his eldest son.

In their family, there were 2.14 acres of high-class paddy fields, which the eldest son got 1.65 acres and the youngest son got 0.49 acres, 1.15 acres of medium-class paddy field, which the eldest son got 0.82 acres and the youngest son got only 0.33 acres, and the remaining 3.96 acres of granule field was not divided for the time being.
The rest of the land was for the old couple’s pension, and after their lifetime, the eldest son got 2.64 acres and the younger son got 1.32 acres of it.[5]

The division of land property was too biased.
It must not forget that at the beginning, the family paid for the main branch to buy a house in the town, and then emptied the remaining savings to help Yan Duan, the eldest grandson of the eldest son, married his wife.
He spent 80 taels on these two deals alone.
However, Old Man Yan seemed to have forgotten these two things and still chose the custom of sharing more money with his eldest son.

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Yan Changxi and Li Qiuyue were honest, and their son was also promising.
They did not lack the old man’s money, so they did not say anything.

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They also had children.
They understood their parents’ feelings.
They always thought that not every child had an easy time.
When they saw which family had a good life, they wanted to help those who were not so good.
Although this kind of behavior would make those who were not biased unhappy, sometimes they still could not control it.

Although Yan Changxi had never been favored, he still empathized with his parents.

The Yan family’s main branch was completely overjoyed, although there was still a bit of distress for the fields that were divided for the second branch, looking at the things that were about to be handed over, the little pain was no longer a concern.

The rest of the livestock were divided equally, and those that could not be divided equally were converted into silver money.

Because Yan Changxi’s family would still live in the countryside for a long time, the livestock assigned to the eldest Yan Changxue were also converted into silver and bought.
It was equal to that of the chickens, ducks, and cattle in the family, which were both in the second branch, and the main branch would take the money.

As for the old house, it was supposed to be for the eldest son, but because the old man and his wife planned to follow their second child Yan Changxi later, this courtyard would be given to Yan Changxi later.

The house in the country was worthless.
Yan Changxue and the others lived in the town and did not come back often.
Thinking about whether their parents did not depend on them for their old age, they had no opinion on this treatment.

Old Man Yan’s separation passed quietly.
It was not so easy for him to separate his two sons.

Yan Tao did not care about the money from his family.
In his opinion, as long as he could participate in the imperial examination normally, one day he could earn it back sooner or later.
But as long as he thought about what Yan Duan did to him, he did not want to make that vicious and mean man take advantage of it.

Similarly, in Yan Duan’s heart, it was Yan Tao who framed him.
He was the eldest son, so why couldn’t he ask for more land and property?

The two men fought each other.
Yan Tao was a little better.
He could not let go of the pride of being the top scorer in the palace examination and the emperor’s son-in-law his previous life.
Yan Duan could do a lot of words and deeds, but he could not do it and suffered a lot of losses.

Yan Duan seemed to give up and stop bothering.
When the family was separated, if his parents and other clan members had not stopped him, he could directly punch Yan Tao.

These two brothers stared straight at the patriarch and other elders.
Old Man Yan did not understand why his two grandsons were like this all at once.
It was no wonder that the eldest son had to separate his family.

As a result of the final separation, Yan Changxue was fairer than Old Man Yan.
Except for the house in the town and a small amount of cash, all the things he had on hand were equally divided.

As for the house in the town, both sons could live in it now.
After once in their lifetime, the house would belong to the eldest son Yan Duan.

Yan Duan was supposed to take advantage of it, but looking at the ratio of his grandfather’s separation of his father and his second uncle, and at the ratio of his, the eldest son and his younger brother, Yan Duan felt that he was at a disadvantage and it was unfair.

The same was true for Yan Tao.
He unmistakably talked to Yan Changxue and Liu Fuchun about the things that Yan Duan did.
But the two couples still divided so much money with Yan Duan.
Obviously, the things he said before were regarded as tricks[6].

He really could not believe the words of such a sinister and poisonous couple.

Fancy that Yan Changxue and his wife felt that they had done a good job in this family separation, but their two sons were still dissatisfied with them and hated them in their hearts, which was also their own sin to live.

After dividing the family, several elders in the clan would do the notarization.
All the males of the Yan family were signed by fingerprints on the separation agreement, and this family was also considered to be divided.

Logically, the whole family should have a meal together, which meant that even after the division, they would still be close relatives and would complement each other in the future.
However, Yan Duan obviously did not think so.
After receiving the money, he ignored his wife and left angrily.

The patriarch and other clan elders present looked ugly at his rude and unreasonable behavior.

“My elder brother, ah, Little Treasure, I only recognize you as a brother now.”

After eating, several elders inside the room smoked in a long-stemmed pipe, while the women cleaned up the messy kitchen and washed dishes and chopsticks in the back kitchen.

Yan Chu was not used to the choking smell of cigarettes, so he came out of the courtyard to take a breath.
Yan Tao just watched him walk out and followed.

Facing “himself”, he narrated the heinous evil deeds that Yan Duan had done to him, and sighed, sure enough, in this world, all he could believe was “himself”.

Yan Chu looked at the other party’s affectionate confession, not knowing what expression to make.

After all, the real “villain” was him.

But the better the original self treated him now, the greater the blow he would suffer in the future.

It seemed that the other party was very complacent to verify as Zengsheng, so let him be happy for a while.

In his life, that was it, cherished this last happiness.

增生 [zēng shēng]: lit.
supernumerary candidate; one of the group names of the scholars with a fixed number in the ancient imperial examination system, the group of the second-best scholars, not provided with food by the government

[2] 童生 [tóngshēng]: a candidate who has not yet passed the county-level imperial exam

[3] 秀才 [xiùcai]: a person who has passed the county-level imperial exam (historical); scholar; skillful writer; fine talent

[4] 举人 [jǔrén]: graduate; successful candidate in the imperial provincial examination

[5] mu to acres conversion:

13 mu = 2.14 acres, 10 mu = 1.65 acres, 3 mu = 0.49 acres 7 mu = 1.15 acres, 5 mu = 0.82 acres, 2 mu = 0.33 acres 24 mu = 3.96 acres, 16 mu = 2.64 acres, 8 mu = 1.32 acres

[6] 唬鬼 [hǔ guǐ]: bluffing ghosts; tricks