"Ah! She thinks that since she's given birth to a son, she has someone to rely on and doesn't need me anymore. She wants to use those fools' hands to get rid of me! I spit on her! The one I've trained with my own hands, what kind of thing is she?!"

  "What about you?" Yang's wife asked with a trembling voice.

  "I'm telling you, it's a matter of life and death! If not, I'll be the one who dies!" Zhong Yini gritted her teeth, "That cheap thing, if she had listened to me... Never mind, let's not talk about this. This is the trouble with raising a clever horse - too stupid and you can't train it, too smart and it will swallow you whole as soon as it gets the chance!"

  "It's not that it can't be done, but it's difficult. Elder sister, I feel sorry for you, just look at this official family, how good they are, but you...I really feel sorry for elder sister."

  "Don't worry!" Zhong Yiniang snorted, "I've been through thick and thin. Let me tell you, that scoundrel was a top scholar in the imperial examination one year, and then passed the provincial examination the next year. He had ambitions to become a high-ranking official, but I spent countless sleepless nights, turning my hair white, just to persuade him to give up on it. Alas, he never even took the imperial examination."

  "Ah, the good old days in Taiyuan Prefecture... That wife of his is nothing but a piece of trash. Just look at him, I knew he wasn't cut out for this official business. Alas, I made a mistake this one time. Don't worry, I've been through thick and thin before. And that little brat thinks he's really got the king's favor? Ha! The dragon's son and phoenix's grandson wouldn't even glance at someone as lowly as him. No rush, first let's get that dead girl into Wang Tongzhi's bed, one by one..."

  Li Wenshan could not help but look at his father's ashen face, stretched out his hand to support him, and dragged him outside. Li Xian was dragged by Li Wenshan for dozens of steps, still in a daze like a wooden puppet.

  "Father, are you alright? Let me help you... shall we go to the study and sit for a while?" Li Wenshan looked at County Magistrate Li's appearance, his heart was filled with anxiety.

  Magistrate Li was stunned and followed Li Wenshan into his small study.

  "Father, are you alright? Father?" Li Wenshan pushed Li Xianzhang down into the chair and waved his hand back and forth in front of Li Xianzhang's staring eyes, then again, raising his voice, "Father!"

  "It's nothing!" County Magistrate Li took a deep breath, "I'm fine, I'm fine... I'm fine..." Before he could finish his sentence, the corners of his mouth twitched several times, and his body went limp. He slid down from the chair, covering his face with both hands, and curled up into a ball on the ground.

  "Father, father!" Li Wenshan was frightened and bent down to hug Li Xian's waist, trying hard to lift him up.

  "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay......" County Magistrate Li collapsed to the ground, his two hands waving wildly, muttering seven or eight "it's okays" before saying something else, "Don't be afraid, Shan Ge, don't be afraid, Father, Father, it's okay."

  Li Wenshan saw that his father could speak in complete sentences, and he let out a sigh of relief, his legs going limp as he collapsed to the ground beside his father.

  "Father, you... don't be like this, old lady... I mean, auntie... no, it's not that, it's the Zhong family, Father, the Zhong family has always been like this, everyone knows, everyone knows what kind of person she is, Father, don't be sad, it's not just one or two days, it's always been like this."

  Li Wenshan finished speaking, but only then did he feel that something was not quite right with what he had said. However, his mind was in a great turmoil at the moment, and his thoughts were all bunched up and stuck together, so he couldn't figure out what wasn't right either.

  "Dad, I'm saying... that..." Li Wenshan paused, looking at his father. "Dad, Dong Jie and Xia, Dad, don't let... you are my dad... Dad..."

  This sentence somehow moved Li Wenshan, and tears gushed out of his eyes. He couldn't speak anymore, so he just pulled up his sleeves and wiped away his tears one after another.

  Li Wenshan cried and couldn't speak, Li Xianling's heart ached for his son, but he cleared up in his mind, supported the chair to stand up, bent down to pull his son, "Don't cry, you are the elder brother, don't worry, it's all Dad, Dad... Shan Ge put your heart at ease, put your heart at ease."

  Li Wenshan got up crying, looking at his father's eyes wide with fear and his soul lost, he felt a little flustered in his heart. If something happened to his father... what would he do?

  "Father, it's all because..." The words were rolling on the tip of Li Wenshan's tongue, but couldn't come out. This matter can't be blamed on him, father must know about that person and those things! "It's unfilial of me." Li Wenshan could only cry out in a sentence of being unfilial.

  "It's Ah Tie..." County Magistrate Li sat down in his armchair, shaking his hand but didn't know why he was shaking.

  The father and son, one standing and one sitting, cried for a while. Li Wenshan was the first to dry his tears, felt the warmth of the stove, poured a cup of warm tea and handed it to Magistrate Li, "Dad, have a cup of tea. Don't be angry, it's bad for your health. Xiaohua, Lanchen, Dongdong, and Mom are all relying on you...

  "Me..." County Magistrate Li was stabbed in the heart by his son's words, "Dad knows, don't worry, Dad...Dad..."

  Magistrate Li covered his face with his hand, his mind in a state of utter confusion and chaos, as if he had completely collapsed. "It's okay, it's okay, you go, rest, tomorrow morning... good child, you go... it's okay, I'm... tired."

  "I'll help you lie down on the bed for a while." Li Wenshan stretched out his hand to support Li Xianzhang, who pushed his hand away and stood up with shaking legs. "It's nothing, it's nothing, Father, don't worry about me, just go rest, resting will be fine."

  Magistrate Li took a few steps back and fell onto the bed, turning sideways and slowly curling up into a ball.

  Li Wenshan gently helped him take off his shoes, pulled up the quilt and covered him, then retreated to the foot of the bed, slid down and sat on the stool, looking at his father.

  That night, County Magistrate Li curled up in bed, and he didn't know whether he was dizzy or asleep or hadn't slept.

  Li Wenshan sat on a stool, nodding off and waking up from time to time.

  Mrs. Xu didn't sleep all night, and Li Dong accompanied Mrs. Xu, also unable to close his eyes all night.

  Hong's mother got up countless times in one night, sticking to the window gap and door gap to look outside, but she didn't dare go out more than usual, even if it was just once, wanting everything to be as usual.

  Li Xia slept very soundly, but woke up extremely early, lying on her side in bed, perking up her ears to listen for any noise.

  When things get out of hand, it's definitely not going to be a small matter.

  The first ray of dawn spilled over the back house of the county government office, and County Magistrate Li sat up with a jerk.

  "Father." Li Wenshan hastily stood up, staring at his father who seemed to have aged ten years overnight, with tears of heartache welling up in his eyes. "Father!"

  "Have you been sitting here all night?" County Magistrate Li looked at his son's dark eye circles with even more concern, "Why haven't you left yet? Hurry back, or you'll be late for your morning classes..."

  Complete works txt download, full text free, e-book, remember 77 reading books