Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Third Uncle
From the day Li Yu Zhu rented an ox and a man from the neighboring village to plow their fields, Third Uncle Li Wen Cai’s brows had stayed knotted.
Those dead girls—renting an ox, renting labor. Where did they get that much copper cash?
Last autumn, Jin Zhu had gone to pay the grain tax herself. He’d even asked the county grain clerk and done the math. At most, it came out to a single string of cash. That string would have gone straight to Xue Dong’s tuition—there shouldn’t have been anything left. So how were they paying for oxen and hired hands now?
Yu Zhu and Yin Zhu were in the fields. Jin Zhu was gone. Xue Dong was gone.
And that girl was gone too.
Where had they gone?
From the day he realized the three of them had disappeared, Third Uncle had even eaten his meals squatting at the village entrance, bowl in hand, watching the road. He wanted to catch Jin Zhu and see what she’d been up to.
When Li Jin Zhu came around the bend with Little Nan, he saw them at once. He looked left. Looked right. No Li Xue Dong.
His brows tightened even further.
He slipped behind a tree and watched them go past, then kept squatting at the village entrance, waiting for Li Xue Dong.
By nightfall, Li Xue Dong still hadn’t returned.
Third Uncle rose, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked home, slow and deliberate.
That nest of girls was hiding something. He needed to find out what.
But who could he ask?
Gao Cun Market Town was no good. Back when he’d attended school, he and the Gao family had never gotten along. So where, then?
He stopped in the road, looked left and right, and thought until his head ached—and still couldn’t think of a single good person to question.
In the end, he quickened his steps.
Tomorrow, he would go to Li Family Market Town and ask his eldest brother. His eldest brother had more schemes than a fox had holes. Even if he didn’t know the truth, he could at least point Third Uncle in the right direction and offer a plan.
The next morning, Third Uncle Li Wen Cai left with a few dried long beans pinched between his fingers. Around midday, he reached his eldest brother’s home.
His sister-in-law took the beans and tossed them onto the stove without even glancing at them.
Li Wen Xi had just come back from the fields. He took one look at his third brother’s face and frowned. “You’re the village head. Shouldn’t you be out in the fields? How do you have time to come wandering here?”
“He’s never worked the fields,” his sister-in-law snapped from the kitchen.
Li Wen Xi’s frown deepened. “Still haven’t eaten? Serve your Third Uncle a bowl of rice.”
His sister-in-law brought out a bowl and shoved it into Li Wen Cai’s hands like she was ramming a stake into the ground.
Li Wen Cai didn’t mind. His sister-in-law was hot-tempered, sharp-tongued—yet she never truly let anyone starve.
The meal was exactly as Li Wen Xi lived: solid rice packed hard, two plain dishes—braised dried bamboo shoots and stir-fried eggplant. Li Wen Cai picked at the plates, choosing and choosing, as if a third dish might appear through persistence.
Afterward, when Li Wen Xi’s eldest son’s wife cleared the bowls away, Li Wen Xi asked bluntly, “What is it?”
Li Wen Cai tried to be clever about it. “Nothing big. Just a small matter. I missed you, Big Brother, so I came to see you.”
“I’m busy.” Li Wen Xi stood at once, ready to leave. “If you don’t have business, go home.”
The fields were frantic. He had no time to indulge this useless brother’s roundabout talk.
Li Wen Cai reached out and grabbed him. “Big Brother, don’t be so impatient. You’re getting older—you should cultivate yourself.”
Li Wen Xi’s voice turned rough. “If you have something, say it.”
Li Wen Cai swallowed his pride and finally spoke straight. “That Li Wen Shan who died in our village a few years back—he left four daughters and a sickly son. Lately they’re living like they’ve struck silver. Where’s the copper cash coming from? It’s strange.”
“Struck silver?” Li Wen Xi frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Last autumn,” Li Wen Cai began, and carefully swallowed the part where Jin Zhu had gone to pay the tax herself.
He spread his own grain-tax burden across the village households, then collected a little “hardship fee” from each depending on their means. Li Wen Xi hated that practice. But as village head, Li Wen Cai couldn’t work for nothing—and the county clerks all had their shares too.
He continued, “Last autumn, that sickly boy went back to school in Gao Cun Market Town. School costs money, and it’s not cheap. Then at the start of this month, they rented a strong ox from Zhao Village and hired an ox driver for several days. Their eldest girl left with her brother and sister for seven or eight days and only returned yesterday.”
His voice lowered, thick with insinuation. “Their household is all unmarried girls. Big Brother, tell me—could they be doing something shameless for copper cash? If they are, they’ll ruin the Li family’s reputation!”
Li Wen Xi stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. “Li Wen Shan’s only son is Li Xue Dong, right?”
“Yes.”
“He placed third in the county exam this February. You didn’t know? And those seven or eight days away—what do you think they were doing? They went to Ping Jiang Prefecture for the prefecture exam.”
Li Wen Cai blurted without thinking, “Xue Dong is stupid! That’s impossible!”
“Impossible?” Li Wen Xi’s mouth twisted. “His Big Sister pushed him in a cart to Li Family Market Town and begged the clan for copper cash to support his studies. The clan refused.”
Li Wen Cai’s eyes widened. “If the clan refused, where did the copper cash come from? Renting oxen, hiring labor, disappearing for a week—”
“You live in the same village and you don’t know. How would I know?” Li Wen Xi snapped. “And what are you really after? You’re always thinking about taking advantage of someone. Haven’t I told you enough times?”
His gaze sharpened. “You’re the village head. At least pretend to be fair.”
He yanked his arm free. “I’m going back to the fields. Go home.”
Li Wen Cai followed him out, then stopped at the gate and turned back, calling into the yard, “Sister-in-law! Did you pickle salted duck eggs this year? Give me a few. Yours are the best—rich and oily. You can’t buy that kind outside.”
“Give him some!” his sister-in-law barked, disgust dripping from every syllable.
A moment later, the eldest son’s wife came out and shoved a lotus-leaf bundle into Li Wen Cai’s hands. Four or five salted duck eggs sat inside.
Li Wen Xi walked half a street, then turned and went straight to the ancestral hall.
The clan head was sitting under the corridor with several clan elders, chatting after the midday meal.
Li Wen Xi greeted them and pulled over a bamboo chair. Leaning forward, he said, “I heard that the one from Little Li Village of the Xue generation went to take the prefecture exam. In the middle of farming season, they rented oxen and labor—looks like they’re doing well. Yet they still ran to the clan crying poor and asking for copper cash. Truly shameless.”
“Did he pass?” the clan head asked immediately.
Li Wen Xi curled his lip. “If he passed, wouldn’t they have already beaten gongs and drums and shoved it under our noses? Placing in the county exam can be luck. The prefecture exam isn’t so easy.”
The clan head leaned back, disappointed.
In the corner, Clan Elder Li Shi Kuan, who had been listening quietly, leaned toward the elder beside him as soon as he heard “Little Li Village” and “Xue generation.” He murmured a few words as if the conversation didn’t concern him at all.
In truth, he already knew.
Before dinner the previous day, Teacher Gao had sent him a letter: Li Xue Dong had placed eighteenth in the prefecture exam. He had passed. Now he needed to prepare for the academy exam in Hang Zhou in the seventh month.
Li Wen Xi went on, voice heavy with “concern.” “My third brother came to me just now. He says that household shouldn’t have that much copper cash. With four girls and no elders to restrain them, he’s afraid they might do something shameless for money and damage the Li family’s face. Shouldn’t we guard against that?”
Li Shi Kuan smiled faintly. “Four years ago, during the clan’s great sacrifice, we collected copper cash by equal share from each branch. Little Li Village has only two households. One is your third brother’s. The other—wouldn’t it be the one you’re talking about?”
“I remember it was them,” the elder beside Li Shi Kuan confirmed.
Li Shi Kuan looked at the clan head. “There aren’t many households that can pay an equal share like that. A household like that can afford a trip to Ping Jiang City for an exam, don’t you think?”
“Greedy,” the clan head spat. “They’re clearly not poor, yet they still came crying for copper cash.”
“Exactly,” Li Wen Xi said quickly, seizing the wind. “That’s what I meant.”
The clan head waved it away. “Enough. The year looks decent. Let’s talk about the harvest.”
They spoke a while longer, then everyone dispersed to their homes.