Chapter 34 Tao Daqiang's harsh words Li Jianguo came in from outside, closed the door, took off his hat, and cursed: "It's too cold. God doesn't want us to have a good winter!" "How is Xiaoxia's father?" asked Liang Yuemei as she was preparing to put the meat into the pot to refine the oil. "Not bad, I can get out of bed." Li Jianguo shook his hat and put it on the fire wall to warm it, then said while changing his shoes: "It's just exhaustion and malnutrition. He still pretended to be nice to me and wanted to give me money. I said, 'give me shit!' When we were working together to dig the canal, he stuffed me with a cornmeal steamed bun, and that was considered money. He laughed and said that the steamed bun was really valuable and could be exchanged for two big fish and a quack chicken!" Liang Yuemei smiled but said nothing. "Where are Juan and Qiangqiang?" Li Jianguo took a look and asked when he saw that there was no one in the room. "She took the thigh stone to the Lu family to play. She had so many good things that she couldn't show off enough." "That's not normal. Lu Jiani'er doesn't often show off her two thigh stones. Juan is jealous." Li Jianguo smiled, "Now that she has them, she must give them back. Juan is the kind of person who won't suffer any loss." "I don't know how the little dragon fish are selling today." Liang Yuemei changed the subject, "If they don't sell well, we won't catch them tomorrow, right?" "I think we still have to catch them. We can't leave those two ice holes alone." Li Jianguo said, "After lunch, I'll go get a few more nets and catch more. Then Xiaolong and the others can go early tomorrow."
"So what are you doing later?" "What can I do? I have to deal with the remaining five quack chickens. On the second day of the New Year, you can bring Juan and Qiangqiang back to take two, as well as fish and lamb legs, so that our parents can have a good New Year too." "Okay." Liang Yuemei smiled, feeling happy. In the past two years, my parents have helped me a lot, and there are people who gossip about me. But neither my parents nor Li Jianguo said anything. As the eldest son-in-law of the Liang family, Li Jianguo would go to his father-in-law's house when there was something going on, and he could hold on. At that time, Liang Wenyu was still a minor, and some people thought that their family was easy to bully, and every matter was settled by Li Jianguo. Now that life is better, Liang Yuemei is even happier. Li Long first took Tao Daqiang to Tao's house. After putting down the rice, noodles and meat, he turned around and went home with the sled. He felt that the sled was too slow and it would be better if he could get a bicycle. Just as I was thinking about it, Tao Daqiang rushed out from the yard and asked: "Brother Long, are you still going tomorrow?" "Go ahead. I'll go to the lake later and see if I can catch some fish. I'll go again tomorrow." "Then I'll come right over." Tao Daqiang said excitedly. Tao Jianshe looked at the rice, noodles and more than two kilograms of fat piled on the ground and felt a little confused. My son is so lucky! But if you do this at home, won’t you earn more? After all, if the son can get so much, then the waiter of the Li family must get double. It seems that this fish selling business is viable! Tao Daqiang walked into the house and saw his father staring at something on the ground with his eyes rolling around. He suddenly felt depressed. "Go, cut a piece of meat and send it to your brother." Tao Jianshe ordered, "Your brother has children, so bring some rice and flour as well." "No!" Tao Daqiang said with a dark face, "My brother's family slaughtered a pig, and gave a small portion of the meat to his father-in-law's family, and only gave us a pig's head and pig's trotters. I cut grass for the pig every day in the summer. Did he ever think of me? I gave him all the fine grains I got every year. Am I not a human being?" Tao Daqiang felt depressed every time he returned home these past two days and couldn't help wanting to go out. But today he knew that as soon as he went out, these things would be sent to his eldest brother by his father.
He didn't want to give away what he had worked so hard to earn to his elder brother who hardly even looked at him in the eye. In fact, Tao Dayong was not like this before, but after getting married and separating from his family, the changes became more and more significant. Tao Jianshe raised his pipe and wanted to hit Tao Daqiang, but seeing the stubborn look in his youngest son's eyes, he finally couldn't bring himself to do it. "That's your brother!" "My brother's family is not better off than ours, so why doesn't he take care of this place? He took away the wood I brought back and the fish I caught. There's nothing to burn at home, and you only add that little bit of coal every day. Why doesn't he bring some coal over?" Tao Daqiang was originally a simple-minded person and seldom said so much in one breath. This is also the reason why, seeing how good the relationship between brothers Li Long and Li Jianguo is these days, his own family and his brother's family are living like this. Should I give unconditionally? Just as he was talking, the door opened. Tao Dayong walked in. When he saw the things on the ground, his eyes lit up: "Hey, Daqiang, you're really good at this. You pulled back so many things? Good, good, good! I guess I'll get a landing net tomorrow and we can go try it out." He took off his hat and said as he prepared to change his shoes: "Why is the room so cold?" "There's no coal left. You took away the wood we brought back for burning. It must be cold!" Tao Daqiang said unhappily, "Can you bring some coal over from home?" "What are you talking about? How much coal can I have at home? The wood looks good to me. I'm thinking of making some furniture in the spring. Then you and the kid from the Li family can just make two more trips and you'll have enough." "Do you think that's easy to pull?" Tao Daqiang has changed a lot in the past two days. He sat down with a sneer and looked at his brother. "Look, the three trucks went out yesterday. How many did they pull back?" Dayong's expression froze for a moment, then he patted Daqiang with his hat: "What's wrong with you? Are you sick? Why are you talking to me?" "Why can't I say anything? You took away the wood I brought back, the lamb legs I brought back, and the fish. Are you looking at the things I brought back today and planning to take them away again?" Tao Dayong just stood there in a daze. He really intended to do so. But when my younger brother said it, the meaning changed. "Daqiang, what are you talking about?" Tao Jianshe didn't want his two sons to quarrel, so he scolded Tao Daqiang, "Isn't that your brother's child? He's also your nephew!" "I'm dumb, but I'm not stupid! Of the two lamb legs, at least one went to my sister-in-law's house, believe it or not?" Tao Daqiang suddenly wanted to speak out everything in his heart today, "My dad and I haven't eaten a single bite yet!" Tao Dayong stopped talking. There were two lamb legs, the father gave one away and took the other back. That evening he asked his wife to send one leg back to her parents' home. He came here now because his wife saw Li Long and Tao Daqiang pulling the sled back and urged him to come over to divide the things. He had already gotten used to it, but now hearing his brother say it like this and looking at his father's increasingly aging face, Tao Dayong wanted to refute but didn't know what to say. "I will follow Xiaolong to fetch wood later. Brother, the wood is for us to burn until spring. Don't blame me for not telling you clearly. If you want to take it again, I won't let you!" In the end, Tao Dayong took nothing and slammed the door and left. Tao Jianshe complained to Tao Daqiang for a while: "What are you two brothers angry about? Your brother hasn't always been like this." "Then he should just live his life well, why does he need to take things from here?" This is what Tao Daqiang said.
Now he is no longer afraid of his father scolding him. At worst, his father will go and live with his brother's family, and he can be free. But my father won’t give in, and my sister-in-law won’t give in either. Tao Daqiang didn't intend to take advantage of his brother, but he wanted to live a good life with his own hands and didn't want to be taken advantage of by others for nothing. Thanks to book friend Meiying Gudu for the reward, thanks to book friends 20230716100533245, Nanhai Xiaobailong 001 and 20220525072459517 for the monthly ticket support, thank you all for your recommendation votes, follow-up reading and various suggestions. While enjoying the May Day holiday, remember to read the updated chapters. (End of this chapter)