Chapter 43: Scold Him to Death
Translator: 549690339
“How many times have I told you not to do this, how dangerous it is! Why won’t you listen? I told you to learn carpentry with me but instead you keep persisting in this dung business. At this rate, you’ll become so smelly you won’t be able to find a wife. Who would want to marry such a stinky man? You’ll put out the Tang Family’s lineage. How will you face our parents in the afterlife?”
Tang Zhinian was berated to the point where he could only stand there, looking like a wronged little girl. As he wiped the sweat off his head, he realized it wasn’t easy to endure such scolding. His eyes started wandering aimlessly.
“Where did that little girl go? Why isn’t she here to save her uncle? At this rate, your uncle’s face will be bleeding from all the yelling.”
However, Tang Yuxin’s tiny head popped out from behind her father. Then, with her small hands resembling tender ginger, she began massaging her little face.
Tang Zhijun felt like vomiting a liter of blood on the spot.
Usually, the kid was cute, but now, her behaviour was like a knife in the heart.
Meanwhile, Tang Zhinian was still ranting. He is a generally amiable person, but once his bottom line is crossed, he spares no one.
“You tell me, if one day you’re killed by dung, don’t you dare admit we’re brothers in death. I’ll be too ashamed of your disgrace.”
“Bro, if I die, who would even care that I smell?”
Tang Zhijun’s mouth twitched. They had been arguing for half an hour. Couldn’t we stop mentioning the word dung?
“Our parents in the underworld.”
Tang Zhinian was genuinely upset with his brother’s lack of aspiration. And then he thought about the incident earlier. If Tang Zhijun had died from being buried in dung, he would never be able to face their parents again.
“You are not allowed to deal with dung anymore!”
Tang Zhinian shouted at Tang Zhijun, “If you continue, I’ll break your damned legs.”
He found it awkward to say these words.
Dung. Just dung.
He was about to dip his head under the table when he saw Tang Yuxin clinging to their father’s leg. Tang Yuxin, to his surprise, bended her crescent-like eyes upwards and scratched her petite face.
Frustrated, Tang Zhijun wanted to ruffle her hair so much that it would look like a bird’s nest.
The news of the collapse of the dung heap in the village caused people to become very cautious. In this age, life was fragile. One small mistake could cost a life. Hence, it was best to avoid dangerous tasks. Like the village’s dung pit, no one dared to find dung now, for the money was not worth risking a life, especially not being buried alive by dung. It would be embarrassing and a disgraceful way to die. The villagers were superstitious and nobody wanted that.
“Uncle Zhong, thank you for your help,” Tang Zhinian left his daughter with Chen Zhong. Tang Yuxin liked the aroma of medicinal herbs at Chen Zhong’s place. Therefore, whenever the Tang brothers were busy, they left their young sister Yuxin here.
“It’s no problem, I also enjoy spending time with her, she’s quite precocious.”
Precocious? Tang Yuxin nibbled on her own fingers. Being a woman in her 30s who had lived a full life, pretending to be a child was a disservice to herself.
Once Tang Zhinian left for work, Chen Zhong pulled Tang Yuxin’s hand and began teaching her about medicinal herbs, even testing her on the lessons from the previous class. It seemed as if he was purposely training her, yet she was only three years old. No matter how precocious she might appear to him, she was far from being a prodigy.