Chapter 131. Hero or coward
Seeing that their son was beaten so badly that even his mother couldn't recognize him, Wei Family’s couple thanked Su Family despite feeling heartbroken. They immediately arranged for someone to send a generous gift to Su Family, thanking Su Family for their help in saving their son.
"My son, what kind of insane beast actually beat you up to this degree!" Mrs. Wei only had this one precious son. She raised him with gold and jade since he was young. She couldn't bear to lift a finger of him, so how could she expect him to be beaten to this point? How could she not be sad?
"I think it's because you normally pamper him until he’s spoiled. He doesn't study properly. Nor can he help me in business. He only knows how to play with cats and dogs. The other party is already merciless for not killing him!" Master Wei didn't like this idle Eldest Son the most. Now seeing him being beaten and sent back like this, he hated him even more: "Clearly, you are the Eldest Brother, but don't act like one at all. It’s enough that you can't set an example for your younger brothers. All he knows is to embarrass the family. Sooner or later, I’m going to die from anger because of you!”
"Master! Da Lang has been beaten up like this and you still blame him!" Mrs. Wei's complexion became even uglier when she heard him mention the two sons born to that vixen. The vixen happened to know how to act and made Master let those lowly things study. What’s there to study! Children born to prostitutes from brothels were still lowly things no matter how much they studied. Could it be possible for them to become a phoenix? "A child born to a lowly person is a lowly person. How can they be compared to my Da Lang?"
"Ignorant stupid woman! Just keep spoiling him then. It’s his luck that he was saved today. Wait until someday he gets beaten to death, then you’ll be happy!" Master Wei was so angry with this stupid woman that he was about to get internal damage. So he simply walked away and couldn’t be bothered with this mess.
Pitiful Wei Da Lang only wanted to be a hero who saved the beauty. He never wanted to fail to steal a chicken, which instead ate up his bait. But he didn't dare to tell his parents the truth of being beaten until ribs broken by Su Family’s tigress. For fear that his father would look down on him even more after knowing the truth, he had to swallow this bitter fruit by himself.
***
In the Sujiayan restaurant, You Zhu was in such a good mood as linked her eldest sister's arm and refused to let her go as soon as she came in. She chirped about her ‘great achievements’: "Eldest Sister, you didn't see. That Wei Da Lang is so skinny. From one glance, one can tell he doesn’t have a bit of flesh on him. And he wants to be a hero saving the beauty. From what I see, more like a coward! I just punched him lightly and he fell to the ground screaming. Truly useless!"
Being pestered to the point she couldn’t work, You Jin sent the person in charge of Sujiayan out. She could only free up the time to listen to Third Younger Sister's story: "So you beat him up and sent him back ?”
This You Zhu became more and more lawless. Even brought the guards behind her back to deal with Wei Da Lang: “Aren’t you afraid that Wei Da Lang will retaliate against you in the future?”
You Zhu pouted her lips. She didn't believe that coward would dare to come to her for revenge! "What is there to be afraid of? If he dares to come, I'll give him another good sorting!"
She waved her little fist. Slightly bragging, she declared "One know, my fist isn’t a vegetarian!"
"Forget it. This time, let's leave it at that. From the start, Wei Da Lang was the one who plotted and was in the wrong first. It's alright to teach him a lesson." You Jin sighed. Among so many younger sisters in the family, You Zhu had the hottest temper. She can't stand to suffer any loss at all. It was fine with her watching her. At least she would listen to her words. But if she's not by her side, don't know what earth-shattering things will happen! The white and slender index finger poked You Zhu's bang-covered forehead and said: "However you. Go back and receive the punishment from Leader Guard. Increase horse stance by half an hour every day for a period of one month."
"Eldest Sister!" Before You Zhu could rejoice from hearing the first half, she was shocked by the second half of Eldest Sister's words. She began to act like a baby while holding her arm: "I’m not in the wrong! I was returning a tooth for a tooth. Why do you have to punish me! Eldest Sister~~~"
You Jin felt uncomfortable from her shaking. So she quickly halted her and said: "Don't act cute. If you keep pestering, it’ll be an hour."
This little girl was getting more and more sly now. If she doesn't give her temper a good grinding, she might become more and more lawless in the future.
Seeing Eldest Sister’s reaction, You Zhu knew that she couldn’t escape this catastrophe. Her little mouth pouted high. She mentally put another notch over that damned Wei Da Lang’s head. Poor Wei Da Lang. It took a good few months to heal his bones. Since then, he was beaten violently for no reason from time to time when he went out on the street. But that's all in the future.
Back to the present, the time sequence had entered the spring March. The sixth day of March was You Yin's fifteenth birthday. So it was naturally another bustling scene.
Han Li, who specially rushed back from Chaxiang, gave You Yin the white jade hairpin he had prepared a long time ago as a present. After You Yin came to age, Mrs. Su mentioned the two’s marriage once again: “You Yin has come of age. It’s time the wedding to be prepared, right?”
Han Li had been busy in Chaxiang for the past two years. The two years of tempering have made Han Li's temperament more stable. It went without saying Mrs. Su more and more satisfied with him.
"You Yin is only fifteen. Isn't it too young?" You Jin sat beside Mrs. Su. She moved her neck slightly. It had been too long since she had exercised. Now she busied away the whole day, she couldn't take it.
Mrs. Su didn't think so and replied: "Look at the girls in Wuliqiao. Which one didn't get married at the age of fifteen or sixteen? You Yin is fine. While you, you will be sixteen soon and still don't want to check out marriage. It can’t be that you really want to remove your hair and become a nun?" Mrs. Su started to have a headache when she thought of the eldest daughter's marriage. And Eldest daughter happened to be the most independent person. If she didn't want to, there was nothing she could do about her.
"We're talking about You Yin. How come it ends up being about me?" You Jin choked a bit from Mrs. Su's sudden change of topic. She quickly picked up her cup to drink, not wanting to discuss this topic with Mrs. Su.
Seeing her daughter's flushing face from being choked, Mrs. Su sighed in her heart and asked, "You Jin, tell Mother honestly. You still haven’t let go of Gentleman Xiao, right?"
"Pfft! Cough, cough, cough..." If it was helplessness earlier, You Jin was now too embarrassed to show her face.
Mrs. Su didn't expect her daughter to have such a big reaction. While reaching out to gently pat her on the back, she continued to speak with melancholy: "Even if you don't say, Mother knows you thought for Gentleman Xiao. But Gentleman Xiao is gone now. You can't keep this thought for the rest of your life, can you?" Although Gentleman Xiao was indeed a rare good child and his mother was also a kind mistress of the house, Gentleman Xiao was dead now. Daughter was only sixteen. She can't safeguard this feeling and live by herself for the rest of her life, right?
"Mother, it's not for this reason." You Jin didn't know when Mrs. Su became so ‘unshy’ about discussing relationship issues with her. Now that Xiao Lin Yu was mentioned. He was like the white moonlight of a girl's first love. Since they missed it, then let it be. There were times, she could still recall the temperature of his hand when it touched her cheek in her night’s dream. But now it was a different journey between humans and ghosts. She can't stage a relationship between humans and ghosts, right?
You Jin had a lot of thoughts in her heart, but she didn't tell Mrs. Su Family all these things. She just said: "Mother, you can't force things like feelings. If Daughter meets someone I like in the future, I will definitely tell Mother." The implication was to tell Mrs. Su not to act too hastily.
Mrs. Su misunderstood her daughter's meaning, thinking that she was still stuck in an old feeling and couldn't extricate herself. But seeing her reluctance to say more, she could only sigh lightly: "Forget it. You are big now and have your own thoughts. Mother can't govern you much. Mother just hopes that you can be well."
***
Sujiayan's business was booming. The spice and gouache shop started by Mrs. Han and You Bao opened smoothly.
Yue Wen Sheng brothers were still living in Su Family. Every day, they studied and practiced calligraphy with old Teacher Chen and had made great progress in the year or so.
"Today, Teacher said that we can try the exam out this year." After dinner, Yue Wen Sheng shyly told Mrs. Han about this matter. With his hands behind his back and his head hanging at a loss, he meekly looked up at Mrs. Han.
After listening to her son's words, Mrs. Han raised her head in surprise. Her eyes lighted up slightly: "Really?!"
Mrs. Han knew her son's personality. Although everything was fine living in the second branch's house for the past year, Eldest Son was the person with the most backbone. Although he was grateful for second branch’s care, he didn’t want to freeload in other people's homes like this. Therefore, Eldest Son had been straining to study. She never imagined that this year he will be able to give it a try. Although Eldest Son had studied for a few years in the early years, he had stopped for more than a year in the middle. One can imagine how hard it was for Eldest Son!
"Mother, don't worry, my son will definitely gain rank in one fell swoop and be filial to you!" Yue Wen Sheng clenched his fists with both hands. Eager for Mrs. Han’s affirmation, he earnestly and solemnly looked up at Mrs. Han.
Mrs. Han's eyes were slightly red. She patted Eldest Son's shoulder in relief and responded, "Mother believes that Wen Sheng will definitely get a rank!"
Unknowingly, Eldest Son had grown to be half a head taller than herself. Mrs. Han's heart was gratified and emotional at the same time. The little white jade dumpling back then had now grown into a young man who will soon be able to establish a family.
Thinking of the recent troubles, Mrs. Han decided to settle the matter by herself. It was already the beginning of March. Tongsheng's exam will not be until April at the latest. This bit of mess shouldn’t affect Wen Sheng's mood of taking the exam.
Yue Wen Sheng brothers’ household registration had been re-registered last year. Although their surname was still Yue, they entered the new household registration with Mrs. Han as the head of the household. You Jin had spent money in the yamen to change the origins of Mrs. Han and her sons. They have changed from Yue clan in Dingyuan to Yue clan in Luohe Prefecture. They can be regarded as completely drawing a line with Yue Family.
Hearing that Yue Wen Sheng was going to participate in Tongsheng's exam, Lizheng He Hao issued him a household registration certificate without any comment and found a guarantor for him. Su Family directly sent someone to deliver the letter of guarantee to the yamen. While the application for the exam must be completed within two days.
Seeing that their son was beaten so badly that even his mother couldn't recognize him, Wei Family’s couple thanked Su Family despite feeling heartbroken. They immediately arranged for someone to send a generous gift to Su Family, thanking Su Family for their help in saving their son.
"My son, what kind of insane beast actually beat you up to this degree!" Mrs. Wei only had this one precious son. She raised him with gold and jade since he was young. She couldn't bear to lift a finger of him, so how could she expect him to be beaten to this point? How could she not be sad?
"I think it's because you normally pamper him until he’s spoiled. He doesn't study properly. Nor can he help me in business. He only knows how to play with cats and dogs. The other party is already merciless for not killing him!" Master Wei didn't like this idle Eldest Son the most. Now seeing him being beaten and sent back like this, he hated him even more: "Clearly, you are the Eldest Brother, but don't act like one at all. It’s enough that you can't set an example for your younger brothers. All he knows is to embarrass the family. Sooner or later, I’m going to die from anger because of you!”
"Master! Da Lang has been beaten up like this and you still blame him!" Mrs. Wei's complexion became even uglier when she heard him mention the two sons born to that vixen. The vixen happened to know how to act and made Master let those lowly things study. What’s there to study! Children born to prostitutes from brothels were still lowly things no matter how much they studied. Could it be possible for them to become a phoenix? "A child born to a lowly person is a lowly person. How can they be compared to my Da Lang?"
"Ignorant stupid woman! Just keep spoiling him then. It’s his luck that he was saved today. Wait until someday he gets beaten to death, then you’ll be happy!" Master Wei was so angry with this stupid woman that he was about to get internal damage. So he simply walked away and couldn’t be bothered with this mess.
Pitiful Wei Da Lang only wanted to be a hero who saved the beauty. He never wanted to fail to steal a chicken, which instead ate up his bait. But he didn't dare to tell his parents the truth of being beaten until ribs broken by Su Family’s tigress. For fear that his father would look down on him even more after knowing the truth, he had to swallow this bitter fruit by himself.
***
In the Sujiayan restaurant, You Zhu was in such a good mood as linked her eldest sister's arm and refused to let her go as soon as she came in. She chirped about her ‘great achievements’: "Eldest Sister, you didn't see. That Wei Da Lang is so skinny. From one glance, one can tell he doesn’t have a bit of flesh on him. And he wants to be a hero saving the beauty. From what I see, more like a coward! I just punched him lightly and he fell to the ground screaming. Truly useless!"
Being pestered to the point she couldn’t work, You Jin sent the person in charge of Sujiayan out. She could only free up the time to listen to Third Younger Sister's story: "So you beat him up and sent him back ?”
This You Zhu became more and more lawless. Even brought the guards behind her back to deal with Wei Da Lang: “Aren’t you afraid that Wei Da Lang will retaliate against you in the future?”
You Zhu pouted her lips. She didn't believe that coward would dare to come to her for revenge! "What is there to be afraid of? If he dares to come, I'll give him another good sorting!"
She waved her little fist. Slightly bragging, she declared "One know, my fist isn’t a vegetarian!"
"Forget it. This time, let's leave it at that. From the start, Wei Da Lang was the one who plotted and was in the wrong first. It's alright to teach him a lesson." You Jin sighed. Among so many younger sisters in the family, You Zhu had the hottest temper. She can't stand to suffer any loss at all. It was fine with her watching her. At least she would listen to her words. But if she's not by her side, don't know what earth-shattering things will happen! The white and slender index finger poked You Zhu's bang-covered forehead and said: "However you. Go back and receive the punishment from Leader Guard. Increase horse stance by half an hour every day for a period of one month."
"Eldest Sister!" Before You Zhu could rejoice from hearing the first half, she was shocked by the second half of Eldest Sister's words. She began to act like a baby while holding her arm: "I’m not in the wrong! I was returning a tooth for a tooth. Why do you have to punish me! Eldest Sister~~~"
You Jin felt uncomfortable from her shaking. So she quickly halted her and said: "Don't act cute. If you keep pestering, it’ll be an hour."
This little girl was getting more and more sly now. If she doesn't give her temper a good grinding, she might become more and more lawless in the future.
Seeing Eldest Sister’s reaction, You Zhu knew that she couldn’t escape this catastrophe. Her little mouth pouted high. She mentally put another notch over that damned Wei Da Lang’s head. Poor Wei Da Lang. It took a good few months to heal his bones. Since then, he was beaten violently for no reason from time to time when he went out on the street. But that's all in the future.
Back to the present, the time sequence had entered the spring March. The sixth day of March was You Yin's fifteenth birthday. So it was naturally another bustling scene.
Han Li, who specially rushed back from Chaxiang, gave You Yin the white jade hairpin he had prepared a long time ago as a present. After You Yin came to age, Mrs. Su mentioned the two’s marriage once again: “You Yin has come of age. It’s time the wedding to be prepared, right?”
Han Li had been busy in Chaxiang for the past two years. The two years of tempering have made Han Li's temperament more stable. It went without saying Mrs. Su more and more satisfied with him.
"You Yin is only fifteen. Isn't it too young?" You Jin sat beside Mrs. Su. She moved her neck slightly. It had been too long since she had exercised. Now she busied away the whole day, she couldn't take it.
Mrs. Su didn't think so and replied: "Look at the girls in Wuliqiao. Which one didn't get married at the age of fifteen or sixteen? You Yin is fine. While you, you will be sixteen soon and still don't want to check out marriage. It can’t be that you really want to remove your hair and become a nun?" Mrs. Su started to have a headache when she thought of the eldest daughter's marriage. And Eldest daughter happened to be the most independent person. If she didn't want to, there was nothing she could do about her.
"We're talking about You Yin. How come it ends up being about me?" You Jin choked a bit from Mrs. Su's sudden change of topic. She quickly picked up her cup to drink, not wanting to discuss this topic with Mrs. Su.
Seeing her daughter's flushing face from being choked, Mrs. Su sighed in her heart and asked, "You Jin, tell Mother honestly. You still haven’t let go of Gentleman Xiao, right?"
"Pfft! Cough, cough, cough..." If it was helplessness earlier, You Jin was now too embarrassed to show her face.
Mrs. Su didn't expect her daughter to have such a big reaction. While reaching out to gently pat her on the back, she continued to speak with melancholy: "Even if you don't say, Mother knows you thought for Gentleman Xiao. But Gentleman Xiao is gone now. You can't keep this thought for the rest of your life, can you?" Although Gentleman Xiao was indeed a rare good child and his mother was also a kind mistress of the house, Gentleman Xiao was dead now. Daughter was only sixteen. She can't safeguard this feeling and live by herself for the rest of her life, right?
"Mother, it's not for this reason." You Jin didn't know when Mrs. Su became so ‘unshy’ about discussing relationship issues with her. Now that Xiao Lin Yu was mentioned. He was like the white moonlight of a girl's first love. Since they missed it, then let it be. There were times, she could still recall the temperature of his hand when it touched her cheek in her night’s dream. But now it was a different journey between humans and ghosts. She can't stage a relationship between humans and ghosts, right?
You Jin had a lot of thoughts in her heart, but she didn't tell Mrs. Su Family all these things. She just said: "Mother, you can't force things like feelings. If Daughter meets someone I like in the future, I will definitely tell Mother." The implication was to tell Mrs. Su not to act too hastily.
Mrs. Su misunderstood her daughter's meaning, thinking that she was still stuck in an old feeling and couldn't extricate herself. But seeing her reluctance to say more, she could only sigh lightly: "Forget it. You are big now and have your own thoughts. Mother can't govern you much. Mother just hopes that you can be well."
***
Sujiayan's business was booming. The spice and gouache shop started by Mrs. Han and You Bao opened smoothly.
Yue Wen Sheng brothers were still living in Su Family. Every day, they studied and practiced calligraphy with old Teacher Chen and had made great progress in the year or so.
"Today, Teacher said that we can try the exam out this year." After dinner, Yue Wen Sheng shyly told Mrs. Han about this matter. With his hands behind his back and his head hanging at a loss, he meekly looked up at Mrs. Han.
After listening to her son's words, Mrs. Han raised her head in surprise. Her eyes lighted up slightly: "Really?!"
Mrs. Han knew her son's personality. Although everything was fine living in the second branch's house for the past year, Eldest Son was the person with the most backbone. Although he was grateful for second branch’s care, he didn’t want to freeload in other people's homes like this. Therefore, Eldest Son had been straining to study. She never imagined that this year he will be able to give it a try. Although Eldest Son had studied for a few years in the early years, he had stopped for more than a year in the middle. One can imagine how hard it was for Eldest Son!
"Mother, don't worry, my son will definitely gain rank in one fell swoop and be filial to you!" Yue Wen Sheng clenched his fists with both hands. Eager for Mrs. Han’s affirmation, he earnestly and solemnly looked up at Mrs. Han.
Mrs. Han's eyes were slightly red. She patted Eldest Son's shoulder in relief and responded, "Mother believes that Wen Sheng will definitely get a rank!"
Unknowingly, Eldest Son had grown to be half a head taller than herself. Mrs. Han's heart was gratified and emotional at the same time. The little white jade dumpling back then had now grown into a young man who will soon be able to establish a family.
Thinking of the recent troubles, Mrs. Han decided to settle the matter by herself. It was already the beginning of March. Tongsheng's exam will not be until April at the latest. This bit of mess shouldn’t affect Wen Sheng's mood of taking the exam.
Yue Wen Sheng brothers’ household registration had been re-registered last year. Although their surname was still Yue, they entered the new household registration with Mrs. Han as the head of the household. You Jin had spent money in the yamen to change the origins of Mrs. Han and her sons. They have changed from Yue clan in Dingyuan to Yue clan in Luohe Prefecture. They can be regarded as completely drawing a line with Yue Family.
Hearing that Yue Wen Sheng was going to participate in Tongsheng's exam, Lizheng He Hao issued him a household registration certificate without any comment and found a guarantor for him. Su Family directly sent someone to deliver the letter of guarantee to the yamen. While the application for the exam must be completed within two days.
thank you for the chapter!
ReplyDeleteI kind of feel the separation of Mrs. Han and her husband was anti-climatic (?) He didn't make enough ruckus when Mrs. Han took both of their sons under her family registration that it's "silently" happened behind the scenes (out of the story's narration).
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I'm curious about how You Jin helped her in it without revealing the information about the Su. But, we probably wouldn't hear about it, huh? 😅