Chapter 138: The Shi Family’s Past
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Fortunately, when she entered, Madam Zhou had just started cooking.
Chen Liang was a little surprised to see her. “Why are you here at this time? Are you looking for me?”
“I want to ask Uncle Chen about something.”
Chen Liang walked to the central room and sat down. He pointed at the chair opposite him. “Ask away.”
“It’s about Shi Dashan’s family. 1 met them selling oranges in the city today. They looked big and sweet. Auntie Dong said that the couple is very good at planting fruit trees. 1 won’t hide it from Uncle Chen. I want to plant some fruit trees, but I don’t know much about this.”
Chen Liang was a little surprised. “You want to plant fruit trees?”
“Yes.” In any case, the village chief would know if she bought land later.
Chen Liang lowered his eyes and thought for a moment before saying, “The older people in the village know what’s going on with the Shi family. It’s fine to tell you. Don’t think that Zhuangzi is so unreasonable, but his parents are good. If you want to ask them for help, look for them. They’re reliable.”
Gu Yundong was surprised. From the sound of it, there seemed to be more to it?
“Everyone in the village says that Shi Dashan and his wife are timid and weak. They will only lower their heads and admit their mistakes when they are bullied. Sigh, actually, they were not like this in the past. When the two of them first got married, they were energetic every day. In the beginning, they even bought a piece of land and planted fruit trees. Not to mention, they planted fruit trees better than the villagers. Not only were there oranges, but there were also pears, dates, persimmons. When those fruits ripen, they looked really good hanging on trees.”
“What a pity.” Chen Liang shook his head. “At that time, there was a landlord in the neighboring village who took a fancy to that fruit forest and insisted on buying it. He even offered a low price. How could this person be willing to sell the fruits that he had painstakingly planted?”
Gu Yundong was puzzled. “The landlord of the neighboring village had such a long reach?”
“At that time, I wasn’t the village chief yet. The person before me was a greedy person. He took some benefits from the landlord and helped the landlord force the Shi family to give up the fruit forest. Shi Dashan was still a little hot-tempered at that time. He argued with the landlord and chased the servants of the landlord out. After a while, the commotion became bigger and bigger. In the end… Shi Dashan’s parents died.”
Gu Yundong’s eyes widened. “You mean…”
Chen Liang sighed and nodded. “The landlord got someone to do it. The entire Shi family was beaten up. Shi Dashan and He Ye were young. They would be fine after resting for a while. His parents were old. They fell sick every other day because of the previous incident. After suffering again, they didn’t make it.”
His parents had both passed away, and the fruit forest had not been saved. His family was in a mess, and Shi Dashan had collapsed.
His vitality seemed to have been forcefully sucked away just like that. At that time, Zhuangzi had just been born.
Before his parents died, they reminded him not to resist. Their family had no background or backing, and those relatives did not dare to help them offend the landlord and village chief. For this family and for the newborn Zhuangzi, they should tolerate it if they could. They would retreat if they could and try not to become enemies with others.
Since then, Shi Dashan and his wife’s temperament had changed drastically. They did not argue with the landlord again. From then on, they did not walk around outside much and mostly stayed at home.
As for Zhuangzi, he became more and more rebellious because he was dissatisfied with his parents.
Especially after he discovered that after hanging out with Hu Liang, those people who bullied his family did not dare to cause trouble again. It was as if he had found a way to survive and became even more uncontrollable.
Gu Yundong could not help but sigh. It was no wonder that his parents had passed away.
“What about the landlord?”