Chapter 7: Sarcasm and Irony

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Ning Dalang naturally heard the scolding and beating from the neighboring Wu family. His hand holding the charcoal paused slightly as he sighed helplessly.

Beating all day long will only breed resentment sooner or later.

“Huinang, come take a look. What do you think if we build it like this?”

Mrs. Meng stepped forward, looking at the rough layout Ning Dalang had drawn of the courtyard.

After a moment’s thought, she said, “Just build three to five rooms, but the plot needs to be large. We have to leave space for growing vegetables, raising pigs, and chickens.”

She wanted to raise them now, but unfortunately, the place was too small and there was no extra land.

Without land, we can’t grow many vegetables or sweet potatoes.

Ning Dalang furrowed his brows.

Buying land is tricky; whether to allocate more or less is all decided by those officials above.

The village headman and local elders have to be bribed properly, and then there’s the county officials, who won’t be appeased with trifles. But the family had nothing valuable to offer, and giving money hurt his heart just to think about it.

“You should go tell Mom and Dad first, then come back and bring the things for the village headman and elders.”

“What to give?” Ning Dalang asked anxiously.

“One catty of salt, one catty of sugar, and two catties of polished rice.”

“That much...” Ning Dalang was already feeling pained.

So many good things, it would be better to feed the children.

“If you don’t endure hardship for your children, you can’t trap wolves. Compared to buying a large piece of wasteland, what weighs more?”

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Mrs. Meng gave Ning Dalang a sharp look, then told Ning Wen and Ning Wu to take their younger brother away to play “ants moving house,” and to carry the firewood stacked under the eaves into the kitchen. She went inside to pack the grain.

She hated to part with it too, and felt the same pain over the grain.

While packing, she almost wanted to pour it back out.

“Endure the pain for the children, to raise pigs, chickens, and ducks...” Mrs. Meng muttered over and over.

Before leaving, Ning Dalang told his third son not to run outside, and closed the courtyard gate as he went out.

He was heading to his fifth brother’s house.

In the countryside, after brothers marry, they usually separate households, with parents living with the eldest son. But his family was different—his parents favored the fifth son, so when they separated, the four brothers were split off.

Besides buying tiles for the house, they received two acres of farmland and two acres of mountain land, and a few household items, but not a single coin.

They had to cut wood and build the house themselves. Luckily, they had many brothers and cousins; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to build the house.

There was no real resentment.

Ning Dalang was actually happier with the separation and preferred that his parents not live with him.

Huinang would be in charge of the household and wouldn’t have to endure daily nagging from the mother-in-law.

The children wouldn’t be scolded or get cold looks for eating an extra mouthful of meat.

Thinking of this, Ning Dalang chuckled softly.

Ning Wulang’s wife, Mrs. Mu, was a niece from Old Mrs. Mu’s natal family, essentially a cousin to the Ning brothers.

Old Mrs. Mu had always favored her youngest son and had him marry a niece from her own bloodline, which only deepened her partiality.

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Ning Wulang and Mrs. Mu had one daughter and two sons. Their eldest daughter, Ning Yao, was nine years old this year. Unlike the eldest son’s children, who went to the mountains and rivers every day, she was fair and clean.

“Uncle.”

Ning Dalang smiled at Ning Yao, “Ah Yao, has your grandfather woken up?”

“He has,” Ning Yao answered obediently, then asked, “Uncle, has Sister Axin gone to the mountains again?”

“Yes.”

Ning Yao tilted her head, thinking for a moment. “Uncle, Sister Axin is about to get married. Why does she still go running to the mountains? Won’t that make it hard for her to marry out?”

“...”

Ning Dalang’s temper flared up instantly.

But Ning Yao was just a child; no matter how rude, he couldn’t be harsh with her.

If Ning Wulang had said that, he would have smashed his mouth.

“Sigh, Uncle’s family is poor. Now the house needs repairs. If your older brothers and sisters don’t help, there won’t even be enough food, let alone build a house.”

Ning Dalang said this and strode quickly into the courtyard.

He walked fast, afraid that if he slowed down, he would lose control and give Ning Yao a proper scolding for her sharp tongue.

No matter how kind he was, she learned all her snarkiness from her mother and grandmother.