I secretly sold grain at age 60

Chapter 14 Exposure

Gao Huaiyi returned home, cooked dinner, and waited for his parents to return. He then recounted everything he had found out. It turned out that the protagonist's maternal grandparents were in good health and hadn't been sick at all. The real reason was that his eldest uncle's family was running out of food and the whole family was starving. So, he had a wicked idea: under the guise of visiting an elder who was ill, he came to his sister's house to beg for money, but in reality, he was there to extort money from her.

These words immediately caused an uproar in the room.

The mother slapped her thigh in anger: "Is there any brother like this in the world? He's useless himself, so he bullies his sister's family? How can he be so shameless!"

The older sister was also full of indignation: "This is outrageous! The old man is so old, he should be enjoying his retirement at home, but he still has to work in the fields to earn a living. Instead, he doesn't think about how to earn work points to feed the whole family, but only thinks about cheating his younger sister out of grain. My uncle is really too much."

The father's face was ashen, and he said in a sullen voice, "Your own family is short of food, can't you earn it yourselves? Why do you have to come to your sister's house to make trouble? What kind of relatives are these! They have no conscience at all."

The mother grew angrier the more she thought about it: "He's too lazy to work, making the two elderly people suffer, and now he's trying to extort money from his own sister. It's better to have no brother like that!"

The older sister nodded in agreement: "That's right! They have hands and feet, and if they work hard to earn work points, how could they lack food? They're just lazy and always thinking about taking advantage of others."

Gao Huaiyi said calmly, "So, this is because my uncle is unscrupulous and is using the name of his elders to extort grain."

The father sighed heavily: "It's a misfortune for our family to have such a relative. We should avoid contact with this kind of person in the future to avoid getting into trouble." The whole family nodded in agreement, indicating that they agreed to reduce their contact with the uncle's family in the future.

The mother, still furious, exclaimed, "That's right! If he dares to come again, throw him out immediately! We can't let him get away with this!"

The family members argued back and forth, growing increasingly angry. Dusk fell over the small house; the meal was simple, but the atmosphere was exceptionally oppressive because of this incident. No one had imagined that relatives could be so selfish.

The family was talking around the dinner table, and before they had even finished eating, a commotion suddenly broke the peace inside the house. It was filled with the sounds of people talking and chattering.

The older sister was the first to hear the commotion. She quickly put down her bowl and chopsticks, rushed to the courtyard gate, peeked through the crack in the door, and her face instantly changed. She hurriedly turned and ran back into the house, her voice filled with panic: "Father, Mother, something terrible has happened! Uncle is here!"

"What? How dare he come here again?" Upon hearing this, the mother's face instantly darkened, her tone filled with anger.

The older sister caught her breath and continued, "It wasn't just my uncle alone; he was followed by a whole bunch of villagers who came to see what was going on!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than his uncle's shrill shout rang out from outside the courtyard gate, his voice high-pitched and loud, as if afraid that those around him wouldn't hear him: "Li Xiulan! You come out here!"

The family quickly got up and went into the yard, where they saw the eldest uncle standing proudly at the gate, hands on his hips, his face full of self-righteousness. Behind him, a circle of villagers were whispering among themselves, peering into the yard, their voices rising and falling.

When the eldest uncle saw Li Xiulan's family come out, he shouted even louder: "They say a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl! But your parents worked so hard to raise you, and now that the old folks are sick and bedridden, what do you do? You don't care at all, and you can't even spare a single grain of food! Have you lost your conscience?"

He took two steps forward, pointed at Li Xiulan, and angrily shouted, "Li Xiulan, I'm telling you this now! If you don't give your parents fifty catties of grain to help them recover, I'm not letting this go! I'm not leaving your doorstep, and I'll let the whole village judge how heartless you are, you unfilial daughter!"

Upon hearing this, the surrounding villagers immediately erupted in discussion, their chatter growing increasingly noisy.

"So the old man is sick. No wonder my uncle is so angry."

"That's right. As a daughter, it's heartless of her not even to bring food to her sick parents."

"Raising sons is for old age security, and raising daughters is the same. How can you be so heartless? We must never associate with such a heartless family again."

"It's such a waste of money to raise them. They don't even care when their parents are sick. It's outrageous."

Whispers drifted into their ears, some accusatory, others full of disdain. The villagers' eyes were fixed on Li Xiulan's family, pointing and whispering, their faces full of disapproval.

Looking at his arrogant and domineering uncle and listening to the villagers' gossip, the father's face turned ashen, his fists clenched tightly, and his anger flared stronger with each passing moment. The mother was even more furious, her face flushed red, her lips trembling slightly. She felt both angry and aggrieved, but in front of so many villagers, to save face for the family, she couldn't argue loudly. She could only bite her lip tightly, suppressing her anger.

Father took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, stepped forward, and said to his eldest uncle in a deep voice, "Brother, let's talk inside. What kind of behavior is this, arguing and making a scene in front of so many villagers? Don't let them laugh at us."

He had originally planned to pull his uncle inside and discuss the matter behind closed doors to avoid escalating the situation and causing the family to lose face.

But the eldest uncle wasn't having any of it. Seeing that his father's attitude had softened, he assumed his father was just feeling guilty and scared, and became even more arrogant. He stiffened his neck and shouted even louder, "What are you saying inside? What can't you say in front of the villagers? Today, we're going to let everyone hear what's going on and let everyone judge!"

"I think you're just feeling guilty!" The eldest uncle pointed at the father, his tone becoming increasingly harsh and unpleasant. "Your own parents-in-law are sick, and your wife doesn't care at all, and you, as their son-in-law, don't care either. You two are truly despicable! You only care about your own family eating and drinking well, while your two elderly parents suffer and go hungry at home. Where is your conscience?"

Harsh words came one after another, each one like a needle piercing the hearts of the family.

Gao Huaiyi stood to the side, listening to his uncle's blatant lies and slander, seeing his parents' aggrieved and angry expressions, and hearing the misunderstanding in the eyes of the surrounding villagers. He could no longer suppress his anger. He took a step forward, suddenly raised his voice, and shouted, "Stop! Everyone, be quiet!"

The crisp, powerful sound instantly drowned out the surrounding noise, and the bustling courtyard quieted down. All eyes turned to Gao Huaiyi.

Gao Huaiyi's gaze swept over the villagers watching, his voice firm and resolute: "Fellow villagers, please help me judge this matter. What happened today is not at all what my uncle said!"

The eldest uncle's expression changed, and he shouted sternly, "Gao Huaiyi, what are you saying? Would I lie to everyone? You have no right to speak here! Kids, don't meddle in this mess!"

"Whether I'm talking nonsense or not, you'll all know after you hear it!" Gao Huaiyi met his uncle's gaze without fear, turned to look at everyone, and continued, "Yesterday, my uncle came to our house and said that my grandparents were sick and bedridden, and were very weak. They urgently needed fifty catties of fine grains to supplement their nutrition. When everyone heard that fifty catties of fine grains were being discussed, everyone said that it was fine to take care of the elderly, but fifty catties of fine grains was too much. Who could come up with fifty catties of fine grains?"

Gao Huaiyi continued, "Since the old man is truly ill, let alone fifty catties of fine grain, even a hundred catties would be more than enough for our family to lend." Gao Huaiyi's tone was sincere, but after a pause, his voice turned cold, "But the truth is not like that at all! After my eldest uncle left yesterday, I specifically went to the village where my maternal grandparents live to inquire around and found out the whole story!"

The surrounding villagers immediately became interested, all pricked up their ears to listen, and the murmurs subsided considerably.

Looking at his eldest uncle, whose face was gradually becoming flustered, Gao Huaiyi said, word by word, "Grandma and Grandpa are in very good health. They're not sick at all! Not only are they not bedridden, but they still go to work in the fields every day to earn work points to supplement the family income. They're stronger than many young people!"

Upon hearing this, the villagers watching were instantly in an uproar, their faces filled with shock.

Gao Huaiyi continued, "What's the real reason? It's because my eldest uncle is lazy and unwilling to work in the fields or earn work points. The grain allocated to the family is simply not enough to eat! Seeing that the family was running out of food, instead of trying to work harder, he came up with some crooked ideas. He used the excuse that my grandparents were sick to come to our house to beg for food. To put it bluntly, he was extorting money from us!"

"He took advantage of my mother's soft heart, filial piety, and concern for her relatives' reputation, and planned to use this despicable means to swindle food without working for it!"

After hearing the truth, the villagers instantly understood the whole story, and their gaze towards the eldest uncle changed completely. The previous accusations and disdain were all directed at him.

"So that's what happened! That's inhuman!"

"He's lazy and unwilling to work. When there's no food at home, he runs to his sister's house to freeload. What kind of relative is that? He's a complete scoundrel!"

"This is outrageous! Using the elderly as a pretext to extort money from their own sister, they have no conscience at all!" I had heard that the Li brothers were not good people, but I never expected them to do such inhuman things.

"It's one thing to be lazy yourself, but to make your elderly parents work in the fields is truly unfilial!"

"We can't tolerate this kind of person! Kick him out of here, don't let him embarrass us in our village!"

"He's utterly disgraced his relatives! Lazy, good-for-nothing, and even extorting money from his own family—it's outrageous!"

The villagers grew increasingly angry as they talked, pointing at the uncle and cursing him. Many hot-tempered villagers had already rolled up their sleeves and were shouting that they wanted to drive the uncle out of the village.

The eldest uncle stood there, his face turning pale and then red. His previous arrogance had vanished without a trace. Faced with the villagers' accusations and curses, he couldn't refute a single word, because it was all true. He could only stand there helplessly, listening to the villagers' accusations.