Mar 10, 2026
Chapter 67 — After Moving Out
The second branch of the Xiucai’s household—Ling Chenglong’s family—had split off to establish their own household. The news seemed to grow legs of its own and spread through the entire Lingjia Village in no time.
People said the old Xiucai had coughed up blood from anger, and the whole household had fallen into chaos. Quite a few villagers secretly felt a bit of schadenfreude, muttering that it served them right. Over the years that family had relied on the Xiucai’s status to bully and belittle others more than a few times. Now that misfortune had finally befallen them, there were plenty of people lining up just to watch the spectacle.
But all that no longer had anything to do with Ling Jingxuan and the others.
Although they had separated and established their own household, the biggest problem now was finding accommodation. Ling Jingxuan’s home only had three thatched rooms. With several extra mouths suddenly added, there simply wasn’t enough space.
In the end, Zhao Dalong and his husband proved to be kind-hearted. They took the initiative to offer their place for Ling Jinghan and his younger brother, along with the two little buns, to stay for the time being. Ling Jingxuan and Yan Shengrui would temporarily sleep in the room used for storing odds and ends, while the room theirs was given to Ling Chenglong and his wife. After all, Ling Wang-shi had just suffered a miscarriage—her body was weak and couldn’t endure any more strain.
“Jingxuan, we’ve wronged you. Your father and I have only dragged you down.”
By the time everything was settled, it was already afternoon. Lying on the bed, Ling Wang-shi spoke weakly. Her complexion was still terrible, and her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. Yet beneath it lingered a trace of lightness—the release that comes when years of oppression suddenly lift in a single day.
Although she had lost the child, at least they had finally separated from that household. From now on, they would no longer need to live by other people’s moods, nor swallow every grievance while being bullied.
“Mother, listen to yourself—what do you mean ‘wronged’? It’s not like we’ll live like this forever,” Ling Jingxuan said cheerfully as he held her wrist and checked her pulse. “Don’t worry. Tomorrow I’ll go into town and find a guarantor to buy some land and build a house. Once we’ve got our own place, we won’t have to worry about where to live. As long as our family sticks together and lives in harmony, life will only get better. You’ve just had a miscarriage—don’t trouble yourself with these things. Just focus on recovering.”
Even as he spoke, his mind was already planning ahead. If they were going to build a house, it had to be a proper brick house with tiled roofing. Otherwise, when winter came, the whole family would end up shivering again. Besides, he probably couldn’t buy land through the village head anymore. He would have to find Broker Liu that Han Fei had mentioned. Buying only one or two mu of land likely wouldn’t interest the man at all. This matter would require careful planning.
“Yeah, Mother, don’t be polite with Big Brother,” Ling Jingpeng added from the side, the gloom gone from his voice, replaced with unmistakable mischief.
Ling Wang-shi burst out laughing. “You’re the thick-skinned one!”
“What do you mean thick-skinned? What’s wrong with relying on my own big brother?”
“You rascal…”
“Hahaha!”
Hearing the utterly pointless banter between mother and son, the whole family couldn’t help laughing out loud. The last trace of gloom hanging over them seemed to vanish in that instant.
As long as their family remained like this—harmonious and united—even if the road ahead were rough and winding, it felt as though they would always have the strength to keep moving forward.
One of the little buns slid off Ling Jingxuan’s lap and climbed onto the bed, sitting at the edge. Imitating his father, he grabbed Ling Wang-shi’s hand and said in a childish voice,
“Grandma, does it hurt a lot? Daddy said bad people bullied you. Don’t be scared. Now that you’re living with us, the bad people won’t dare come anymore. Daddy’s really amazing, and Father is really amazing too! And Daddy said if anyone bullies us again, when we’re rich we’ll smash them to death with a hundred strings of coins!”
“Huh? When did I ever say something like that?”
“Hahaha!”
Ling Jingxuan was instantly dumbfounded. The rest of the family laughed so hard they nearly toppled over.
Ling Wen shot his seemingly innocent father a fierce glare, then walked over and said solemnly to Ling Wu with a small frown,
“Xiao Wu, be good. Don’t listen to Daddy’s nonsense. A hundred strings of coins is worth a whole tael of silver! How can we just throw that at people? That’d be too cheap for them. We can just pick up stones from the ground and throw those.”
That was very much Ling Wen’s style.
Ling Wu nodded with sudden enlightenment. “Right! Stones are free, and they’re everywhere. We’ll use stones.”
After saying that, he turned back to Ling Wang-shi.
“Grandma, don’t worry. Big Brother and I will protect you too.”
“Ah…” Ling Wang-shi’s eyes softened, her voice trembling slightly with emotion. “With such good grandsons caring about Grandma like this, what do I have left to worry about?”
The child’s innocent words carried a clear and sincere concern. Hearing them, Ling Wang-shi felt a rush of warmth surge up into her eyes. As she stroked the little bun’s head, she choked back sobs.
Ling Wu, copying the way his father usually comforted them, crawled closer and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Grandma, don’t cry. A kiss will make it better.”
“Alright, Mother, you need rest. You can’t keep crying like this.” Ling Jingxuan quickly scooped the little bun into his arms when he saw Ling Wang-shi on the verge of tears. Then he turned to Ling Chenglong, who was still standing there grinning foolishly. “Father, go to the backyard, catch an old hen, and stew it for Mother so she can nourish her body.”
They had only just separated from the old household; it was normal for everyone to be a little overwhelmed with excitement. But if it went too far, that wouldn’t be good. What if someone ended up with something like a stroke? In a place without any modern medical equipment, even he wouldn’t be able to save them.
“The hens still lay eggs every day. Killing one would be such a waste,” Ling Chenglong said immediately, pained. “How about I go check the market at the village entrance and see if there’s any meat left? I can buy some for your mother.”
At the mention of killing a chicken, his heart ached.
And it wasn’t just him—Ling Wang-shi and the two brothers, Ling Jinghan and Ling Jingpeng, also looked reluctant.
Among farming families, who would casually slaughter a laying hen? If the family was a bit better off, the eggs were kept to nourish the body. If times were tighter, the eggs would be saved and taken to the market to sell for a little extra money. Unless there was some urgent need, most families would never sell a hen that laid eggs, let alone kill one.
Just as expected.
Ling Jingxuan rubbed his forehead helplessly but patiently explained, “At this hour, what meat would still be left to buy? Father, stop trying to save money for me. Mother’s health is more important than anything. If the chickens are gone, we can always buy more later.”
A woman who had just miscarried was no different from one who had just given birth—both had just come back from the gates of hell. Especially in such a backward era, there was no room for carelessness.
He hadn’t even mentioned his real thought yet: ideally, he’d slaughter a chicken every day for his mother until she recovered.
Of course, if he actually said that out loud, this entire family would probably drown him in their collective spit.
“But…”
“Grandpa, Grandma’s body is weak right now. Just listen to Father,” Ling Wen suddenly spoke up.
To everyone’s surprise, the usually stingy little boy stepped forward and tugged Ling Chenglong toward the door as he spoke.
“This… this…”
His grandson was being unusually generous today, yet Ling Chenglong still hesitated, his face full of heartache.
Seeing that, Ling Jingpeng stepped forward and gave him a gentle push. “Father, even if you won’t listen to Big Brother, at least listen to Xiao Wen. Our Xiao Wen isn’t generous very often.”
“Little Uncle!”
While persuading his father, he couldn’t resist teasing Ling Wen as well. The boy instantly bristled, baring his teeth and glaring at him. The sight made everyone laugh again.
Lying in bed, Ling Wang-shi smiled weakly. “Alright now, just listen to your son.”
“Alright!”
With her word given, Ling Chenglong no longer hesitated. He took the two little buns by the hand and headed to the backyard.
Ling Jingxuan shook his head helplessly before turning back. “Mother, get some rest. Jinghan, Jingpeng, and I will step outside for a bit.”
“Alright. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be better in a couple of days.”
After the brief commotion, Ling Wang-shi’s mood had improved a lot, and her speech was steadier.
The three brothers exchanged a quiet glance and then left the room one after another.
Once outside, Ling Jinghan lowered his voice.
“Big Brother, I’m certain Ling Chenghua knocked Mother down on purpose. Everything was chaotic at the time, but I caught a glimpse of the vicious look in her eyes for just a moment.”
Yan Shengrui had been running around with them all day and had already gone to rest in the next room. The wound on his head had only just healed.
The three brothers gathered in the main hall. As soon as Ling Jinghan sat down, he told Ling Jingxuan what he had witnessed earlier. That was also the fundamental reason why he had delivered that final, decisive blow to the old master. Even if they had no proof that Ling Chenghua had done it on purpose, the fact remained that she had knocked their mother down and caused her miscarriage.
In an ordinary family, how could such a thing be ignored?
This time, the Ling family had truly chilled his heart to the core.
“Hmph. I already saw through it,” Ling Jingxuan snorted coldly. “Ling Chenghua thought she did it secretly and no one would notice, treating everyone like fools. What she doesn’t realize is that no matter how well a person hides things, their eyes can’t lie. Her eyes already told me the truth. And the one who tried to take advantage of the chaos to finish Mother off—if my guess is right, it was Ling Jingwei.”
“What?!”
Both brothers shouted in shock and anger, disbelief filling their eyes.
Ling Jingxuan glanced at them calmly and raised his hand to pour each of them a cup of tea.
“No need to be so shocked,” he said lightly. “Ling Jingwei is selfish and gloomy by nature. People like him share a typical trait—they never think they’re in the wrong. If something goes wrong, it must always be someone else’s fault. I told Shopkeeper Zhao about his congenital infertility, which led to his divorce and turned him into the village’s laughingstock. It’s only natural that he’d resent me for that.”
“Maybe today he only acted on impulse instead of planning it out beforehand,” Ling Jingxuan continued. “But the fact that he wanted Mother dead is undeniable. This isn’t over. Once I think it through… I’ll make sure those two regret ever being born.”
If someone dared touch his people, he might still consider sparing them depending on the circumstances. But anyone who harmed his family—
He would make them regret coming into this world.
“If it’s really like you say, Big Brother, then we absolutely can’t let Ling Jingwei off,” Ling Jingpeng said after calming down. Anger and worry were plainly written on his face. “But you have to be careful. Don’t let the Ling family catch hold of any evidence, or there’ll be endless trouble again.”
“Are you stupid?” Ling Jingxuan rolled his eyes. “Who told you revenge has to be done with your own hands?”
A faint smile curved his lips.
“The Ling family values their reputation and family honor more than anything, right? Then we’ll attack them from that angle. Ending things in one blow would be letting them off too easily. People like that should be played with slowly—until living becomes worse than dying.”
His tone was gentle, his smile mild. Yet the words he spoke carried a chilling, blood-cold ruthlessness.
This time, Ling Jingxuan was truly angry.
“You two don’t need to worry about revenge,” he added, his expression turning serious as he changed the subject. “Just wait and enjoy the show. Tomorrow I’m going to town. While I’m gone, keep an eye on Father. He’s soft-hearted. I’m worried the Ling family might use the old master coughing up blood and fainting as an excuse to ask him to go back. Make sure you stop him. We finally separated—we can’t jump back into that pit ourselves.”
He didn’t want his younger brothers involved in too many dark schemes. The Ling family was shameless enough to do anything. Although they had officially separated and established their own household—meaning they were no longer connected in principle—the old couple were still Ling Chenglong’s parents. And their father was a simple, dutiful son. Better safe than sorry.
“Alright, I understand.” Ling Jinghan nodded. After a moment of hesitation, he asked somewhat awkwardly, “Big Brother… if money allows, could you buy me some books and writing supplies? Brush, ink, paper, inkstone…”
A faint blush spread across his pale, handsome face.
The books he used before all belonged to the Ling family, so he couldn’t take them with him. Now that his health was improving, and with several months still before this winter’s tongsheng examination, he wanted to give it one final push. If he could earn a scholarly title, the villagers would no longer dare look down on their family.
“Haha… that’s a good thing!” Ling Jingxuan laughed. “No need to be polite with your big brother.”
Then he turned to Ling Jingpeng.
“And Jingpeng, later I’ll give you twenty taels of silver. Take it to the village head. As for that military conscription nonsense—our family isn’t going.”
How could Ling Jingxuan fail to see what his second brother was thinking?
Truthfully, he was delighted from the bottom of his heart. In life, poverty and hardship weren’t the scariest things—what mattered most was having ambition. His two younger brothers might not look particularly capable for now, but the second brother could study and was diligent and hardworking. As for the third brother, there was even less to say—he followed him up the mountains and into the rivers, never uttering a word of complaint no matter how hard or exhausting it was.
With such worry-free younger brothers, let alone buying them books or paying the military exemption fee, even if it meant emptying the family’s entire fortune, he would be willing.
“Alright!”
Both brothers nodded excitedly at the same time. It felt as though better days were already waving to them from just ahead.
Meanwhile, over at the Ling family residence, things had completely descended into chaos.
After the old master regained consciousness, he didn’t even bother resting. The first thing he did was summon Ling Jingwei and scold him so fiercely it was like drenching him in a storm of curses. The eldest branch of the family was dragged into it as well, and before long the entire household was suffering under the tirade.
In the end, the old master even made a direct decision—Ling Jingwei would be the one to go serve in the army.
Ling Chengcai and his wife immediately refused, and the whole household erupted into a scene of utter pandemonium—chickens flying and dogs jumping.
The third son, Ling Chenghu, on the other hand, was secretly pleased. As long as it wasn’t his own son being sent off to die, he was perfectly happy.
This entire family really was something else—each one more selfish and vicious than the last.
The future probably held nothing good in store for any of them.
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Translator: LazyHermitGa
Author: LazyHermitGal
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