“Alright, get up and eat quickly, let’s go, don’t miss the bus.”

Mr. Ford finished speaking, pushed himself up with both hands on his knees, stood up, tugged at Mrs. Ford’s sleeve, and the couple left the room together.

But just before stepping out the door, Mr. Ford stopped, turned around, looked into Evan Ford’s eyes and said:

“Everyone makes mistakes, but you learn from them… Evan, you’re eighteen now, it’s time to grow up.”

With that, he turned away.

Evan Ford looked at that back—broad shoulders, a spine like a mountain.

Chapter 8: Unexpectedly Unsellable

“Will the wages be settled before the New Year? Otherwise, we really won’t even be able to afford oil for cooking this year, and the factory can’t give out any benefits for the holiday.” After avoiding Evan Ford, Mrs. Ford pulled Mr. Ford aside and asked somewhat “miserably.”

There was less than twenty yuan left at home.

“I’ll ask again later, don’t worry. If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll find some odd jobs before the New Year, haul bricks at the brick factory for a few days—no matter what, I’ll make sure you have a proper New Year.”

Mr. Ford reassured his wife with a man’s certainty.

“Or…” Mrs. Ford said, “If you can’t find work, I’ll go with you and do some day labor too.”

Mr. Ford was taken aback: “You’re not working at the factory anymore?”

Mrs. Ford frowned and said, “How long has it been since there was any proper work? The factory just put out a notice—everyone will take turns working, and on the days you’re not scheduled, you don’t get paid. I checked the roster, and it’s about one day a week. If this keeps up, even if the factory doesn’t go under, people will starve.”

When it rains, it pours. But Mr. Ford didn’t show his worries, and smiled, “Then just rest at home for a few days, I’ll go and turn some money up for you.”

Mrs. Ford smiled along, then suddenly seemed to remember something, and said anxiously:

“Right, what about the money we promised to invest in my niece’s husband’s furniture factory? Six thousand yuan. Oh, exactly six thousand, it pains me to death.”

Six thousand yuan was something even Mr. Ford couldn’t pretend to have.

“What else can we do? Just tell them straight—we don’t have the money to invest right now, so we won’t join in. They probably don’t need our six thousand anyway,” Mr. Ford said helplessly.

“They definitely don’t need it. They only invited us because we’re relatives, to help our family out. But I already agreed before, and now suddenly saying we can’t invest… With my two sisters’ personalities, they’re soft-hearted but sharp-tongued. If they find out, there’ll be nothing nice to hear.”

Mrs. Ford muttered a couple of sentences, then gritted her teeth and cursed “little brats” a few times, still unable to vent her anger.

Her two older sisters and their husbands had gotten into buying and selling early, and were doing well now. As a result, their families had always looked down on their younger sister’s family, bossing them around.

On this point, Mrs. Ford had her own understanding under the veil of family ties, but both Mr. Ford and Evan Ford could feel it too.

With their usual sense of superiority, in situations like this, there would definitely be talk among the relatives about “not knowing what’s good for you,” “hopeless cases,” “born to be poor”… and so on.

Mr. Ford gave a wry smile and said, “As long as we’re not holding up their business, there’s nothing we can do about a few words behind our backs. Just let them say what they want.”

Mrs. Ford said, a bit unwillingly, “So you’ll still have to do odd jobs for them in the future?”

Mr. Ford replied lightly, “So what? Haven’t I been doing that for years?”

“Or I could go talk to them, you help them out first, and later—”

“…No.” Mr. Ford didn’t hesitate, directly refusing. He was actually quite proud.

“But you went out of your way to learn how to make upholstered sofas, what a pity.”

“…It’s not a pity. The more skills you have, the better. When I learned abacus for fun, I never thought I’d become the village accountant. When I learned to drive a tractor at the brick factory, I never thought I’d make money doing odd jobs with it. Once you learn a skill, it’s yours, it’ll always come in handy.”

He spoke calmly, but Mrs. Ford actually knew, and Evan Ford would have understood too if he were there, that Mr. Ford must be feeling pretty discouraged right now. He had always hoped to do something, to make a change, but he just hid it and kept working hard in silence.

He was someone who had quietly taught himself abacus as a teenager, someone who would learn whatever he could. This time, he had even gone ahead and learned furniture-making skills.

In his previous life, that six thousand yuan was basically swindled away. For a man over forty, hoping to make one last push, this was a huge blow.

But this time, for the sake of his son’s future, he had no choice but to bear it in silence.

…

Carrying a heavy sense of guilt, he was sent out the door by his parents.

Evan Ford had thought about leaving a note for his parents, confessing the truth and his intentions, but with his current status, if he really did that, his parents would just worry even more, maybe even think he’d been tricked and rush out to “catch” him.

So the words on the note could only be comfort and hints, asking them to rest assured, to trust, and to take care of themselves.

“At least it’s better than being tricked by my cousin-in-law into gambling, right? And this time, it’s only temporary…” Walking down the road away from home, Evan Ford could only comfort himself this way.