Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 12

“The second branch is getting weirder and suffering from rich person’s disease. Pah! I say, it’s just a disease of laziness.”

At night, Jiang Bai’e tosses and turns on the kang bed, seething at the words she hears during the day.

“Okay, go to bed quickly. You need to get up early to work tomorrow,” Lu Jiafeng says. 

As the eldest brother, he has been taught by his parents to be responsible and supportive of his younger siblings. Though he harbors some small grievances, he generally acts as a kind and tolerant brother.

Seeing his wife unable to sleep because of the second family’s antics, Lu Jiafeng can only tell her to endure it; he can’t think of any better way to help.

“Sleep, sleep, sleep! All you do is sleep. Our family is about to become the second branch’s servants!” The more Lu Jiafeng urges her to be patient, the angrier Jiang Bai’e becomes. “Why should we? Haven’t we tolerated the second branch enough over the years? Now that girl from the second branch pops up with this so-called ailment, does she want our child to tolerate her too?” Jiang Bai’e’s tone is firm and slightly aggressive. “She has a delicate condition and can’t do anything. Should our eldest girl be treated like a servant in this family?”

“Be quiet! Don’t let my parents hear you,” Lu Jiafeng insists, standing up to cover his wife’s mouth. Their room is closest to his parents’ main house, and if they overhear, they’ll surely be angry.

“If they hear it, let them. Am I wrong?” she counters, though her voice drops in volume, revealing the influence of the elders in the family..

“I can see you can’t sleep tonight, so let me speak frankly,” Lu Jiafeng says, looking at his wife’s frustration. “You only see the second son and his wife being lazy and not contributing, but have you thought about how much we’ve taken advantage of this family?”

Jiang Bai’e is momentarily taken aback by his words. What kind of question is that? Her husband and the third brother work tirelessly in the fields every day, while the second brother merely digs a small patch before making excuses—thirst, hunger, needing to urinate, or other petty complaints. Every few days, he conveniently “falls ill” and stays home for days on end.

Jiang Bai’e believes that 70% of the harvest from their home fields comes from the efforts of the first and third branch, while 29% is contributed by their parents who help occasionally. The remaining 1% can be considered a token contribution from the second branch.

However, this is just a small part of the Lu family’s overall income. Most of their annual revenue comes from renting out land and the meat stall business.

Before she marries into the family, her husband has already begun helping at the meat stall. When her father-in-law selects breeding pigs and piglets, her husband follows behind, learning how to castrate pigs and sheep and how to slaughter livestock. It is no easy task. 

Jiang Bai’e often sees her husband return home bruised from the struggles with the pigs and sheep during slaughter. 

So, she feels confident in stating that her family also contributes to the meat stall business.

In her mind, apart from their parents, the first branch makes the greatest contribution to the family, followed by the third branch, while the second branch’s input is negligible.

“I know what you’re thinking, but have you considered that I am the eldest son? I’ve been learning skills from my father since childhood. In the future, the meat stall will also belong to our first branch,” Lu Jiafeng explains.

When outsiders talk about butchers, they often express sympathy, thinking butchers have committed great sins and will face punishment in the afterlife. However, the Lu family has been in this business for generations and does not believe in such retribution. Besides, even if there is karma, those would come after death. The business provides a comfortable life in the present, which is enough.

Lu Jiafeng understands that outsiders often speak ill of them out of envy and jealousy.

The Li Dynasty Code strictly regulates various industries, limiting the number of butchers and ensuring that the business passes from father to son. In all of Yuyang County, there are only two butchers—one in the south and one in the north. Dozens of villages depend on these two for slaughtering large livestock, and only the butchers can sell fresh meat.

The Lu family is located in the southern part of the county, where many surrounding villages benefit from the official road and Xiaoyang Mountain. The living standards there are much higher than in the northern part of the county, where meat sellers are plentiful. During family banquets, they often order half a pig and half a sheep. Thus, through their pig and sheep slaughtering and meat stall business, the Lu family can earn at least hundreds of taels of silver each year. Even the most prosperous shops in the county might only make this much in a year.

Lu Jiafeng knows that this business will eventually be left to him and is not included in the property division. Strictly speaking, he has a significant advantage, so even when he feels that his second brother and his wife are too lazy, he doesn’t hold it against them.

“How can it be counted? You’re the eldest son, and the meat stall business is yours. Besides, butchers are seen as lowly. If we were truly lowly, we wouldn’t even be able to wear good clothes or jewelry. Unlike the second and third branches, whose parents will pay for their status change after the division, they’ll be considered farmers in the future,” Jiang Bai’e argues passionately. She still feels sympathy for her husband, who has committed so many acts of slaughter and will likely suffer for it in the next hundred years.

“Okay, then I’ll tell my father tomorrow that I won’t learn this craft anymore. Let him teach the third brother,” Lu Jiafeng replies, his expression serious. 

He knows his second brother wouldn’t want to learn how to slaughter pigs and sheep—it’s too exhausting. But the third brother is different. Lu Jiafeng knows that his third brother has always resented him for being the eldest, not understanding why he gets to hold the most profitable family business just because he was born a few years earlier.

“That won’t work!” Jiang Bai’e says immediately.

 Lu Jiafeng looks at her with a knowing smile. Jiang Bai’e feels a bit guilty; she realizes deep down that their family is indeed benefiting greatly.

“Let’s talk about something else. Our Baoyin is sent to Tang Xiucai for tutoring at eight years old, paying a tuition of two taels of silver and a pair of chickens and ducks every six months. We also have to prepare gifts for festivals. Over four years, we spend at least thirty or forty taels of silver. Baojin is seven this year, and he should also start school next year. Compared to his eldest brother, the expenses are significant. You always say our parents favor the second branch and give them special treatment, complaining that the second branch pretends to be sick often and wastes a lot of eggs. Adding all of this up, how many taels is that? Is it enough for our son’s annual tuition?”

All male members of the Lu family must be sent to school; this is a longstanding family rule left by their ancestors. Those who can continue studying do so, while those who can’t stop at thirteen and start helping out at home. Lu Jiafeng and his two brothers went through the same process.

Perhaps the Lu family lacks any natural talent for studying, as five years of education at most only keeps them from being completely clueless, allowing them to avoid making pricing errors when selling pork.

The same is true for Lu Baojin. Lu Jiafeng has already decided that after Lu Baojin completes his final year of study, he will train him in the family trade, just as his father taught him. This family business will ultimately be passed down to the eldest son in the future.

“When the third sister-in-law married into the family, her parents demanded a dowry of 16 taels. My mother initially disagreed, but the third brother was so determined to marry her that my mother eventually relented. To secure the marriage, she spent 16 taels for the dowry and an additional eight taels in gifts, totaling over 20 taels. In the end, the third sister-in-law brought no dowry with her—just an old dress that belonged to her mother, which she wore on her own wedding day. The new wedding dress that my mother had prepared was withheld by her parents and used for her brother’s marriage instead.”

As the elder brother, it feels awkward to gossip about his younger siblings, but Lu Jiafeng feels it necessary to clarify things for his wife.

Jiang Bai’e recalls that when Liu Lanhua first married into the Lu family, she indeed complained because the Liu family’s demands were too greedy. When Jiang Bai’e married into the Lu family, her own family asked for eight taels as bride price, of which five were returned to her by her mother as a dowry.

This is a common practice in the countryside; the girl’s family often deducts part of the betrothal gifts to compensate for raising her over the years.

If a family is particularly poor, they might withhold all the betrothal gifts, but at the very least, they would provide a new quilt for their daughter. Otherwise, the new wife is looked down upon by her in-laws and struggles to hold her head high in front of her sisters-in-law in the future.

Liu Lanhua’s dowry becomes a source of humiliation for those in the third branch, especially when compared to Xu Jiaoniang, who married into the family just a few days later.

The Xu family truly dotes on their daughter. Although they are not wealthy, the men in the family are capable. Xu Jiaoniang is born when her mother is already in her forties, and her eldest brother already has children. Coincidentally, all seven of Xu Jiaoniang’s brothers ended up having sons after they married, making her even more cherished.

Not only do her parents adore her, but her brothers and sisters-in-law also treat her like their own daughter. When she married into the Lu family, her family not only gave her the full eight taels of bride price from the Lu family but also an extra tael of silver from each brother to buy clothes—a remarkable gesture in the countryside.

Xu Jiaoniang’s third brother is a carpenter who, starting when she was eight, took the time to craft her dowry. When Xu Jiaoniang married into the Lu family, her bridal sedan was followed by a brand-new dressing table, a camphor wood trunk, a round table and stools, along with eight new quilts made by her mother and sisters-in-law. The splendor of that day is still talked about today.

“So what if the dowry is large? I didn’t benefit from it at all,” Jiang Bai’e muttered.

However, it wasn’t just the size of Xu Jiaoniang’s dowry that stood out; over the years, over the years, Xu Jiaoniang’s family eagerly sends her little gifts whenever they come into something nice. Deep down, Jiang Bai’e feels a bit guilty for saying she hasn’t benefited at all.

In fact, after Lu Jiafeng’s long speech, Jiang Bai’e is no longer as angry. Yet she still feels somewhat unsettled; it’s hard not to feel upset when watching others reap the rewards of her hard work without lifting a finger. 

The second branch contributes far too little to the family over the years.

A similar conversation is happening in the third branch, but unfortunately, Lu Jiahou and Lu Jiafeng have different personalities. The couple from the third branch exchange words back and forth, and their resentment toward the second branch only grows.

Author’s note:

Lu Baobao: My mother is the true heroine of this novel, titled “The Pampered Daughter of the Farming Family: My Seven Brothers Spoils Me to Death.”