Chapter 17: Brainwashing

Yang Chuxia sighed, considering the younger ones still didn't understand some things.

"Little brother, remember this, no matter how much land our family has, if we keep living like before, we'll never have enough to eat."

Yang Qingrui looked at Yang Chuxia, puzzled. How could they have land but still not have enough to eat? If having land still meant not having enough food, then why did their father reclaim land? In his young mind, he thought they were hungry only because their family had no land and not enough food to harvest.

"Little brother, have you ever seen our eldest uncle not having enough to eat? Or our fourth uncle?" Seeing Yang Qingrui's thoughtful face, Yang Chuxia patted his head and continued, "Do you know why? It's because our father isn't our step-grandmother's real son, whereas our uncles are. That's why you see our parents doing all the work in the family, while they and us siblings don't have enough food."

Ai, don't blame her for indoctrinating him with such negative thoughts at such a young age. It's just a matter of course, given the way Third Yang's family has been treated by the rest of the family. They work hard all day long and have never complained about unequal treatment. If being honest and diligent is met with good treatment, that would be fine, but that's not the case and they are being bullied to death.

Now, hearing Yang Qingrui speak, although he's young, he's already developing a foolishly filial mindset like that of Yang Dachuan, and that's not acceptable. She can't let Old Lady Hua ruin another generation of the Yang Family. So she must start brainwashing her brothers now.

"But sister, our grandfather is still our real grandfather, right? With him around, isn't everything fine?"

Upon hearing about Old Yang, Yang Chuxia couldn't help but roll her eyes. This was not Yang Dachuan's real father after all and if anything, he was more like someone who was picked up.

"Our grandfather is afraid of our step-grandmother, so his words have no weight."

"Oh." Yang Qingrui nodded in understanding.

Seeing that he really understood, Yang Chuxia continued her brainwashing, "Actually, little brother, the best way to stop our step-grandmother's bullying is to split the family. If we split up and start living separately, would you be willing?"

Yang Qingrui knew about splitting the family, and his eyes lit up at the mention. However, they soon dimmed.

"We can't split, our mother won't agree. If we leave, there would be no one left to do the work."

Cold sweat, Yang Chuxia thought to herself. That Old Lady Hua was too much, even a child could recognize her schemes.

"First, let me ask you, do you want our family to split?"

Yang Qingrui nodded without hesitation, "Yes!" However, he quickly added, "but our father said that we younger generation cannot bring up the idea of splitting the family first, otherwise it would be unfilial. And if our mother doesn't agree, we can't go against her wishes either, as it would also be unfilial."

Yang Chuxia was speechless. What on earth had that cheap father instilled in this little brother?

"Little brother, she's not our real grandmother. We have no blood relations with her, so it doesn't matter if we are unfilial. Besides, she's not good to us anyway, so we don't need to be filial."

"Oh," Yang Qingrui nodded, "I'll listen to what my sister says!"

Yang Qingrui thought that his sister was so amazing, she could even steal things from under their mother's nose. Whatever she said must be right.

Yang Chuxia didn't know that she had just gained a little fan at this moment.

"The land belongs to our father, right?"

In this sprawling stretch of foothills, she saw only one person bending over, with one hand on a spade and one foot pressing on the wooden block above it. With a forceful push, the spade dug into the earth.