Chapter 157
Li Yan will probably never forget that day.
In the slightly dim room, there was an old face with a young girl sitting next to him, pounding medicine. The thudding sound was so loud that it made people feel a little upset.
The unknown medicine also made people feel drowsy.
He lay on the cold, empty plank bed, the paint slippery, the same dark color, like a coffin bed.
The old man smiled and asked him a few questions, then asked him to turn over. Suddenly his expression changed and he said:
"You can be a thug? You're just relying on your youth and strength."
He hadn't figured out the meaning of these words yet.
There were just a few crackling sounds, like firecrackers exploding on his back, and the pain was so severe that he couldn't speak for a moment.
When he got up, the girl and the old man were gone. He walked out with his back hunched and unable to straighten up. The sun outside was still dazzlingly bright. He raised his head and realized that it seemed that not much time had passed.
Instead of going home, he just walked to the gambling house.
I want to ask my boss why he harmed him.
But the other party refused to admit it and asked him to pay the money as soon as possible, saying that the gambling house would not keep useless people.
Those who used to be close friends with him changed their attitude, saying that the boss had been so good to him and asked him not to be ungrateful and just wanted to extort money...
What's good? What's extortion?
It has always been the case that winning money has nothing to do with them, but losing money means they have to pay a fine. He made so much money for the gambling house, but at most he would give them an extra 100 or 200 coins during the holidays.
Is this good?
Li Yan was weak and alone, so he naturally couldn't fight them. After being pushed a few times, the pain became more and more severe.
Someone advised him: "Hurry up and leave. If you refuse to leave, we will throw you out. You will suffer. It would be better if you die. If you can't die, just lie there and think about your brother and sister-in-law who raised you with great difficulty..."
After hearing this, Li Yan didn't dare to argue with them anymore.
These people are right.
If I fail to die and lie paralyzed there, I will be a burden to my brother and sister-in-law. If I die, they will definitely go to the gambling house to settle the dispute. What should I do then?
He had no choice but to go home like that.
Like a monster, he went home under the scorching light of the broad daylight.
It seemed as if countless eyes were fixed on him, on his bent spine.
Since returning home that day, he didn't want to see anyone anymore.
His sister-in-law sewed the green cloth she brought as a dowry into a curtain and hung it in the room. Whenever he turned his head, he could see the green bamboo embroidered on it.
The green bamboo bent by the snow, and a poem.
My sister-in-law had some education and knew more words than the two brothers combined. But when he was little, he loved to play and was always unwilling to learn. Now he couldn't escape. She embroidered a poem word by word and taught him to read it word by word.
The snow weighs down the bamboos, but they are not touching the mud.
Once the red sun rises, it is still as high as the sky.
He still couldn't understand it, but he thought it was a good poem.
When the gamblers came to collect their money and saw this, they laughed at my sister-in-law for embroidering the wrong words.
My sister-in-law is literate and knows more words than the two brothers combined. She learned them from others when she was weaving cloth and sending it to the embroidery studio to sell.
Sometimes I ask one word, sometimes two words.
The lady in the embroidery room even praised her for learning so quickly.
But compared to the people outside, it seems nothing.
In the past, Li Yan would have given that guy the most despicable punch and asked him what was so great about showing off just how many words he knew.
But now it’s no use. Those people broke in and he couldn’t drive them out.
My brother is an honest man. He was so angry that his face turned red, but he just told them to stop making fun of others and said that he would not give them a penny less of the money they were owed.
So their land was gone.
My sister-in-law wasn't angry. She said she would change it next time she asked.
"It's wrong, so what? It's no big deal. It's not like the sky is falling. I don't know many words anyway."
That’s what my sister-in-law said.
But Li Yan was just angry. Of course he could say it if he was wrong, but it was not for laughing.
My sister-in-law is literate and knows more words than both of their brothers. She was not taught by a teacher in the school, but learned each word one by one on her own.
Just like weaving and embroidery.
In my sister-in-law's eyes, there seems to be nothing that cannot be learned, and nothing worth despairing about.
It seemed insignificant that my brother had lost his land to farm and his livelihood.
She helped her brother find a job in an embroidery workshop.
She said she could support the two brothers by weaving and embroidering.
She asked her brother to come back every afternoon to see him and his little niece.
She received her wages and wanted to take her family out for fun.
Li Yan didn't go.
He is afraid of seeing people.
He should have gone. If he had gone, maybe he would have died instead of his niece. Maybe his sister-in-law would have been fine, and his eldest brother would have lived a peaceful life...
Xue Shun asked Li Yan: "What are your plans for the future?"
Li Yan smiled: "What plans can I make? I have nothing left, but I live one day at a time.
If you want to arrest me, then go ahead and arrest me. If not, I will wait for my brother and sister-in-law to come home."
His smile is uglier than crying.
There was great sadness and despair in his eyes.
Li Yan still didn't dare to die. He was afraid that if he died, his elder brother would also die.
But he was also afraid of living and becoming a complete burden.
My sister-in-law can't get better, and my brother can't afford to support two people. If my sister-in-law can survive, he can die in peace.
He is not a bamboo weighed down by snow, he just liked to pick up bamboo poles and dance around with them when he was a child.
Once he bends down, he will bend down completely like a willow branch that cannot stand straight.
It’s better to leave things like Tianqi to my sister-in-law.
Xue Shun couldn't see through people's hearts, and he didn't know what Li Yan was thinking.
But he could feel that despair...a despair that seemed even more resolute than his own.
"I won't arrest you. If you want, I want to give you justice."
Xue Shun said softly.
Shen Jiao knew this was the case, and Xue Shun certainly couldn't just ignore it.
Even if Quanfu and Li Yan's affairs were not the best choice, he still had to take care of it.
Shen Jiao had to remind him, "Sir, if we investigate carefully, what they've concealed will definitely be revealed. Do you remember how much money Lin Changxi gambled that day?"
Li Yan, who had been somewhat tempted, suddenly fell silent again. After a long while, he trembled and said, "Two hundred taels."
"It seems to be two hundred taels..."
"This is difficult," Shen Jiao said. "According to current rules, a master who kills a servant doesn't have much compensation. Li Yan was hired by the Taihe Casino, and the contract must have clearly stated that the incident in the ring had nothing to do with the casino. His subsequent murder didn't happen in the casino either. If we can catch that fake doctor, it's fine. If not, there's no evidence..."
"Are you going to just ignore it after you say that?" Xue Shunzhen was a little angry.
Shen Jiao smiled: "I didn't say I don't care. The key is how much you want to care. According to the rules set by Tongcai Villa, this matter will most likely be left unresolved. But according to the rules of the martial arts world, if there is such injustice, we can also kill them and then quickly. If you want to seek justice based on reason... I heard that Dongsheng is no longer allowed to buy, sell, beat or kill servants at will. Why doesn't Tongcai Villa set such a rule?
Thinking further, wasn't the reason Tongcai Villa changed Tongcaifang into a place for directors because the owner thought running a gambling house was bad? Even if gambling couldn't be banned, couldn't fighting be banned? Cockfighting, dogfighting, and animal fighting aren't enough, so fighting people is a troublesome business. If you really want justice for him, you should propose that gambling houses be banned from setting up private fighting arenas.
The world is in chaos, and the rules are also in chaos.
But we can’t keep on being in chaos forever.
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