The Son of a Farmer Side Character Becomes the Chief Grand Secretary

Chapter 47 of 50

Chapter 47

While the Zhao daughters-in-law argued endlessly, the Zhao brothers remained silent.

But their attitude was obvious.

This time, Old Madam Zhao had clearly gone too far.

How could she keep squeezing her other sons dry like this?

If she had said she wanted to support one of the other sons' children, that might have been understandable.

Someone among the villagers spoke up.

"Old Madam Zhao, think this through properly."

"Zhao Yang is still young. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"It won't be too late to teach him after Zhao Yongchang passes the examinations."

The village chief and several clan elders had also arrived.

"Old Madam Zhao, what exactly is going on in your household?"

The village chief asked.

With even the clan elders present, Old Madam Zhao could no longer simply insist on getting her way.

She started explaining herself.

"No, listen. The books Yongchang used when he first began studying are still at home."

"We spent several taels buying those books back then. Wouldn't it be a waste to just leave them sitting around?"

"I'm not saying we have to make another grandson take the Imperial Examinations."

"I just want him to learn some characters."

"At his age, what does he even do sitting around at home all day?"

"What's wrong with letting him study a little?"

"And among all the grandsons, Xiaoyang is the cleverest."

"That's why I thought he should be the one to study."

"If we send some other child and he learns nothing, wouldn't that just be wasting money?"

Old Madam Zhao made it sound perfectly reasonable.

But Second Sister-in-law Zhao and the others weren't convinced in the slightest.

"Mother, you're saying now that you only want him to learn a few characters."

"But later, won't that turn into letting him study continuously?"

"And what exactly makes Zhao Yang so clever?"

"He only looks clever because Fifth Brother's family secretly taught him characters."

"Did the rest of our children ever get that kind of blessing?"

"If we're being fair, Zhao Yang isn't the only smart child here."

They had all worked together to earn money and support Zhao Yongchang.

They hadn't done that so only Zhao Yongchang's branch could live happily off everyone else's sacrifices.

Old Madam Zhao glared fiercely at her daughter-in-law.

But the daughter-in-law didn't back down easily.

Old Madam Zhao had favored Zhao Yongchang since childhood.

The other brothers had accumulated plenty of resentment over the years.

The reason Second Sister-in-law Zhao dared argue so openly with her mother-in-law now was because her husband supported her from behind.

And this time, they were clearly in the right.

There wasn't much Old Madam Zhao could do.

When the daughter-in-law refused to retreat, Old Madam Zhao simply threw out her next argument.

"If you want to send your sons to study, then go ahead."

"The family won't stop you."

"But Xiaoyang's mother says she'll pay most of his study expenses from her own dowry."

"If you can pay for your own sons too, then do it."

"I won't object."

The daughters-in-law exchanged looks.

The explanation sounded absurd...

But if it was Jang Un-mo, it was actually possible.

Everyone knew how much the Jang family doted on Jang Un-mo.

So when Old Madam Zhao said "Jang Un-mo's dowry," there was a very good chance she really meant that Old Madam Jang would secretly provide the money.

The other daughters-in-law came from ordinary families.

No matter how much their parents loved them, they weren't going to treat a married daughter the way Old Madam Jang treated Jang Un-mo, almost as though she were the family's only son who would carry on the ancestral rites.

In other words, they couldn't afford it.

They might scrape together the money once or twice.

But they wouldn't be able to keep it up for long.

In truth, none of them had seriously considered sending their sons to study anyway.

Studying cost too much.

And they didn't believe the Zhao family was likely to produce another scholar.

Meanwhile, when Jang Un-chu heard Old Madam Zhao's words, her hands unconsciously clenched.

She looked around among the spectators.

Her parents and two older brothers were nowhere to be seen.

Jang Un-chu knew very well that the silver supposedly belonging to Jang Un-mo would definitely include money earned by them.

Just as Jang Un-mo was about to turn and leave, the scene suddenly reached its peak.

Second Sister-in-law Zhao hadn't managed to overpower Old Madam Zhao, so Fourth Sister-in-law Zhao apparently decided to take a harsher approach.

"Mother, seeing how much money Jang Un-mo is willing to spend on Zhao Yang, I suppose he really is her biological son."

"But whether he's actually Fifth Master's biological son..."

"That isn't so certain, is it?"

The entire place went dead silent.

Then, in the very next instant, it exploded into noise.

Everyone began whispering excitedly.

Wasn't she saying Zhao Yongchang had been cuckolded?

Then that old matter between Jang Un-mo and Yang Ze...

Had it actually been true?

So it hadn't been a misunderstanding after all!

Old Madam Zhao's face flushed bright red.

She looked ready to explode with rage.

But Fourth Sister-in-law Zhao continued in an almost kindly tone, as if she were only offering thoughtful advice.

"Mother, you have to be careful about these things."

"What if Fifth Brother raises the child all the way to adulthood, only for him to run off with someone else later?"

"Wouldn't it be too late to regret it then?"

"It's fine if you favor Fifth Master."

"But why not wait until Fifth Master has another child?"

"Once we're certain that child is truly of Zhao blood, then we can discuss paying for his studies."

Who knew when Zhao Yongchang would have another child?

Only the heavens.

But after saying all that, Fourth Sister-in-law Zhao felt wonderfully refreshed.

She knew studying wasn't easy.

She had no intention of sending her own children down that road.

If passing the Imperial Examinations were so simple, there wouldn't be so many people who studied until their hair turned white and still failed.

But that didn't mean she was willing to let Jang Un-mo get whatever she wanted.

Jang Un-mo was so furious she felt she might lose her mind.

She shrieked,

"Fourth Sister-in-law, what nonsense are you talking about?!"

"Xiaoyang clearly resembles my husband!"

"Of course he's my husband's child!"

"And I have never done anything improper with another man!"

"Who knows?"

Fourth Sister-in-law Zhao replied with an innocent expression.

"I heard you spent two whole days with that man."

"Fifth Master is such an innocent person. What if he was fooled?"

"Anyway, I can't see how Zhao Yang resembles Fifth Master at all."

"Second Sister-in-law, what do you think?"

Second Sister-in-law Zhao immediately played along.

"I don't see it either."

Jang Un-mo's whole body trembled.

She was so furious that she couldn't even speak for a moment.

And even Old Madam Zhao began to feel a trace of suspicion.

Ever since the matter between Jang Un-mo and Yang Ze had been exposed, she had disliked Jang Un-mo more and more.

And because her son kept defending his wife and refused to divorce her, Old Madam Zhao had become even angrier.

Recently, life had become quite difficult for Jang Un-mo inside the Zhao household.

The little tricks she used to rely on no longer worked.

As her mother-in-law, Old Madam Zhao found it effortless to make life difficult for her.

Zhao Yongchang spent much of his time away studying, so naturally he couldn't help much.

And Zhao Yongchang himself still had a knot in his heart over everything that had happened.

The result was that Jang Un-mo alone had been suffering.

Then she saw Gang Gye begin studying and came up with the idea of sending Zhao Yang to study as a way to improve relations.

Zhao Yang was Old Madam Zhao's grandson.

If Jang Un-mo paid for his education herself, surely Old Madam Zhao would be pleased.

And Jang Un-mo would also get to send her own son to study.

Two benefits at once.

That had been the plan.

And it had resulted in the chaos happening today.

Jang Un-chu no longer felt like watching.

She turned around.

Gang Gye noticed and followed her.

"Mother, where are you going?"

Jang Un-chu answered,

"To your maternal grandparents' house."

Gang Gye blinked.

After thinking for a moment, he remembered the original plot and roughly understood why.

The Jang family had two sons.

Jang Un-chu's father was the second.

Old Madam Jang favored her eldest son because he was clever and bold.

The second son, by contrast, was hardworking but timid, lacked a strong opinion of his own, and was excessively filial.

Jang Un-chu's father, the Jang family's second son, was actually a decent person most of the time.

He worked hard.

He didn't favor sons over daughters.

Even if Jang Un-chu criticized him directly to his face, he wouldn't think his daughter was being disrespectful.

His only real problem was that he was far too filial and had no backbone.

The moment Old Madam Jang acted pitiful in front of him, he would give in.

He didn't deliberately force his wife and daughter to be filial alongside him.

But in this era, it was already difficult enough for daughters-in-law and granddaughters to oppose an elder.

Jang Un-chu had carried complicated feelings toward her parents since childhood.

Those feelings had only deepened after her previous marriage, when she suffered abuse but was unable to divorce.

Even though she knew they weren't especially different from other parents...

Even though she knew that in this world, very few maiden families would willingly take back a married daughter...

Jang Un-chu was too stubborn to simply become numb to it.

As a result, her relationship with them had already grown strained years ago.

Gang Gye guessed that his mother was heading there now because of her two older brothers, his maternal uncles.

Gang Gye's maternal grandfather's branch was practically a collection of honest, hardworking people.

His two maternal uncles were the same.

They rarely rebelled against anything.

They had married the wives Old Madam Jang chose for them, and those women were equally softhearted and easygoing.

It really was a household full of good people.

His two maternal uncles had always treated Jang Un-chu extremely well.

Back when she divorced, they had even volunteered to support her for the rest of her life.

Their wives had not objected either.

They had seen how badly Jang Un-chu had been beaten and felt deeply sorry for her.

Since everyone lived in the same village, the Jang household wasn't far away.

After walking for a short while, they arrived.

The Jang house had been expanded twice and looked fairly large.

But compared with the Gang family's blue-tiled home, it was still far inferior in both value and quality.

On either side of the main house stood older mud-brick structures.

Beside the newer central building, they looked somewhat mismatched.

Old Madam Jang looked extremely healthy on the outside, but she was already over sixty.

Four generations lived under one roof in the Jang household.

Old Madam Jang was the first generation.

Her eldest son and second son were the second.

Jang Un-chu and her brothers were the third.

And since Gang Gye was already over four years old, naturally his two maternal uncles had children as well, forming the fourth generation.

The Gang household, by contrast, currently had only three generations living together.

Old Madam Gang was more than ten years younger than Old Madam Jang.

Thinking about his maternal grandfather's personality, Gang Gye felt that branch of the family probably wouldn't be free until Old Madam Jang died and the households finally separated.

Unfortunately, Old Madam Jang certainly seemed built for longevity.

As long as she remained alive, separating the household would be almost impossible.

For Gang Gye's maternal grandfather's family, that meant this life of torment would probably continue for quite some time.

Fortunately, his paternal grandmother, Old Madam Gang, was sensible.

Otherwise, in an era where filial piety stood above almost everything else, family life could become truly terrifying.

The sun was already beginning to set.

Around this time, most households would be returning from the fields and preparing dinner.

People generally ate before it became completely dark.

So Gang Gye's maternal grandfather's entire family was at home.

When Jang Un-chu arrived, Fang Hong saw her and immediately came over in surprise.

"Un-chu? It really is you."

"What brings you here?"