Chapter 4: Robbery of the House What better way to make an example of someone else than this...
The one who was throwing a tantrum at this time was Zhao Chunfang, who had cut in line when the father and daughter were selecting seeds.
"Boss, don't you think so?" Zhao Chunfang turned to ask Wang Dazhu. Seeing that the boss didn't say anything, she put on a cockfighting stance again, "Everyone, please give us some advice. We were here first and left our things here! Just when we went to get the seeds, these two mothers took over the nest!"
"Isn't this just taking advantage of someone's misfortune..." The neighbors who came to watch the fun whispered.
"They're just taking advantage of someone's misfortune!" Zhao Chunfang stamped her feet in anger. "It's already getting dark, where are we going to stay?"
"This is like the bad guys complaining first..." After observing the situation, Liu Yeshu turned to look at his father, who looked embarrassed. After a moment's thought, he realized that he had never seen such a scene before. If he forced his way in, the situation would only get worse. The Liu family was originally criminal slaves, unfamiliar with the village. If they were criticized, they would inevitably be ostracized in the future.
"Mother, what happened?" Liu Yeshu went up to her.
The people who were there to join in the fun shut up when they saw the father and daughter had also arrived. Especially when they saw Mr. Liu's extraordinary demeanor, they knew that he was not someone who would be easily offended.
"Shu'er, you're back..." Seeing her daughter coming back, Mother Liu's eyes lit up. Seeing Father Liu behind her daughter, she knew that the two had finished their business, and she felt relieved.
Before she could even begin, Liu Di, his face flushed with anger, shouted, "Father! About an hour after you left, these two scoundrels showed up, asking for a bowl of water. But they looked us up and down, put their bags down, and then immediately said... they weren't leaving! They wanted to kick us out right away, telling us to get lost!"
Liu Yeshu winked at Liu Di, motioning him to continue.
Liu Di immediately understood what his sister meant. After receiving encouragement, he cleared his throat and raised his voice, pointing to the empty bowl lying on the ground. "They thought it was just me and my mother, and that we were easy to bully. They took advantage of their power and even threw the bowl we handed to them!"
"You are lying!" Zhao Chunfang was furious and stepped forward to pull Liu Di's collar, but was pushed away by Liu's father, who stood between his family and Zhao Chunfang.
"Please respect yourselves!" Father Liu frowned. "We have already registered this house with Manager Li! Please leave immediately."
After hearing this, Wang Dazhu scratched his head and gently tugged at his wife's sleeve: "They've already registered. Why don't we find another suitable one..."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Chunfang waved her hand to free herself from the tugged sleeve. She stared at Wang Dazhu in disbelief, as if betrayed, and said, "Bah! Find someone else who's suitable? I'm supposed to carry such a heavy bag all this way for you? You just leave like that?"
"First come, first served. So what if you've registered? You can change it after you've registered!"
"Isn't it just Manager Li? Ha..." Zhao Chunfang rolled her eyes. Even if it was Manager Li, wouldn't he have to be respectful when meeting Sergeant Sun and the others? Besides, Sergeant Sun had also said that the best seeds should be picked first, so they should choose early. As for the houses, whoever they liked could just move in directly. He would just go and say hello when the time came.
"Why should we change it?" Liu Di said angrily.
After all, she was just a ten-year-old child. After being wronged, she was so angry that tears welled up in her eyes and her little chest kept heaving.
Liu Yeshu knew that no matter what, Zhao Chunfang would insist that she was the first one to arrive. Then, seeing the disdainful look on Zhao Chunfang's face when he mentioned Manager Li, she knew that Zhao Chunfang was still thinking of using the same old tricks to pressure others with her background.
Everyone was new here, and she did this intentionally, perhaps to establish her authority and prevent the natives from looking down on them because of their status as convicts and slaves and bullying them.
Liu Yeshu bent down and whispered to Liu Di: "Go and ask Manager Li to come over immediately and tell him that someone is causing trouble."
Liu Yeling nodded, slowly backed away from Liu Yeshu, and in the blink of an eye she squeezed out of the crowd.
"Cough, cough!" Liu Yeshu started coughing in response, and then, as if exhausted, he pulled his mother's sleeve and rested his head on her shoulder.
Upon seeing this, Liu's father picked up his daughter and walked into the house without saying a word. Liu's mother walked beside him, holding her daughter's fingertips worriedly, calling out Shu'er, Shu'er anxiously.
Zhao Chunfang wanted to stop her, but the neighbors who had previously remained silent could no longer bear it and began to criticize her, saying that human life was at stake. They saw that the Liu family's daughter looked so frail that she looked like she would faint at any moment. They were all neighbors and couldn't just stand by and watch her die.
Zhao Chunfang was speechless after being told off by Wang Dazhu. She tried to pull Wang Dazhu's sleeve, but Wang Dazhu pushed her away while muttering something.
…
"I heard someone is causing trouble here?"
When Liu Yeshu heard the voice of Manager Li coming from outside the house, she knew that her younger brother had also returned.
"I'm fine, mother, it's good that you're here with me. Father, take my brother outside and explain this matter to Manager Li. Manager Li may not necessarily help us." Liu Yeshu opened his eyes, his eyes clear.
Liu Di wanted to ask more, but Liu's father, who had already understood his daughter's intention, called out "Ling'er" and stopped him from walking out. Liu's mother was still worriedly holding her daughter's hair. For some reason, she felt that her daughter was different from before.
Wang Dazhu saw the fierce look on Li Guanshi's face when he asked him questions, and he knew he had to answer, so he bravely said, "I dare not."
After Father Liu stepped out of the door, he bowed to Manager Li and briefly recounted what had happened.
Zhao Chunfang hurriedly stepped forward and whispered in Li's ear, "Please help me. You know, we are Sergeant Sun..."
Before he finished speaking, he heard a sneer. Zhao Chunfang took a step back in surprise, only to see Li Guanshi's narrow eyes full of mockery looking him up and down.
"Housing allocation is naturally based on registration. The Liu family is the first one to arrive according to the registration book, so they should be the Liu family members living there."
Manager Li was extremely annoyed. There were already many people coming to register today, and he had to deal with this couple who relied on their power to gain power. He was already annoyed by their behavior when they were selecting seeds during the day.
"But Sergeant Sun said..."
"It seems that you don't know who is in charge of you here." Manager Li's originally lazy eyes suddenly turned fierce, staring up at Wang Dazhu and Zhao Chunfang.
Liu Yeshu was half-sitting on the bed, leaning against the wall. Hearing the sound of whips and pleas for mercy outside the room, the corners of her mouth rose slightly - there were more than just Zhao Chunfang who wanted to establish her authority. Was there a better opportunity to make an example of someone to scare the monkeys?
*
At the dining table in the general's mansion, Qi Yu picked up a piece of corn, took a bite, and said, "It's a bit old."
Butler Zhao hurried forward and said with an apologetic smile, "General Qi, for some reason the corn this year doesn't seem to be very good. It's not cooked enough and it's hard on the teeth."
Speaking of food, Qi Yu thought of what happened at the Liu family today. Just as he was about to ask, Butler Zhao already understood and added that the Liu family had already made arrangements for today.
Qi Yu nodded and said, "Don't order the women around. Just keep them in a separate courtyard far away from me."
Butler Zhao shook his head. Seeing Qi Yu put down his chopsticks, he continued, "The Liu family does have a teenage daughter, but when they chose a place to go today, they also chose to open up wasteland and farm."
This is rare. Judging from the letter sent by Liu Yunjing, the meaning between the lines is asking me to take care of my family.
"This girl made her own choice. She said she couldn't abandon her family and wanted to share the good and bad times together."
After hearing this, Qi Yu said "Oh" lightly and continued eating normally without saying much.
After a while, Qi Yu said, "Tomorrow, go to the Liu family again."
Butler Zhao knew that Qi Yu had not finished speaking, so he bent his body and did not move. After hearing this, he nodded and straightened up again.
*
After the crowd dispersed and the family settled in, Liu's father and brother busied themselves cleaning the room they were going to live in tonight. But Liu's father had never done such a job before, and with one sweep of his broom, the whole room was filled with dust, which caught Liu's brother's eye.
"Father, why do I feel like the more I sweep, the dirtier it gets..."
Liu's mother also choked and reached out to fan her daughter's face, trying to blow away the dust. Liu Yeshu felt the wind coming from her face and looked at this slightly funny scene, and couldn't help but laugh.
Now that she had a place to stay, she breathed a sigh of relief, but the sadness started to rise up, reaching her nose and then moving up, and her eyes felt sore.
"I, I'll go cook some porridge." Liu Yeshu supported the rammed earth bed with his elbows, wiped the corners of his eyes, stood up and walked towards the kitchen.
Liu's mother joined in, helping to light the fire. Everyone had already learned how to make fire during their exile; otherwise, they would have starved to death. Now, thinking back, what good were all those Four Books and Five Classics I'd learned? They were nothing compared to survival. Liu's mother felt dejected. Even a once-innocent noblewoman had to start from the bottom of society.
"It's not easy for a family of four to come this far, mother. We are very lucky." Liu Yeshu held her mother's hand and said while staring into her eyes seriously.
Mother Liu reached out her hand to wipe away the tears that were about to flow, and said with a smile, "Yes, yes, fortunately you are all fine."
This smear actually smeared the grass ash all over her face. Mother Liu was stunned and hadn't reacted yet. She raised her face and forced a smile, but Liu Yeshu looked at her and laughed so hard that she couldn't straighten her back.
Mother Liu said angrily, "This child... is heartless!"
"Mother, from now on, we should live without any heart or soul."
The fire was lit, and Liu Yeshu finally managed to stop laughing. She took out some millet and naan from the food sent by the Qi Mansion, poured water into the millet, and placed it in a pot. The millet was already sticky, and after boiling, the fragrance filled the room. Liu Yeshu took a deep breath, as if inhaling divine air, but before the air reached her stomach, it began to rumble. She broke up the naan, soaked it in the millet porridge, and stirred it evenly.
After extinguishing the fire, Liu Yeshu realized that there was no place to store the fire. She secretly thought that she should go and see how her neighbors kept it tomorrow. Otherwise, it would be too inconvenient to drill wood to make fire every time she cooked.
Liu's mother had already carried the jar out, and the four of them gathered in the yard, sitting on the ground around the jar of porridge.
"I haven't eaten such thick porridge recently!" Liu Di looked into the jar and said in surprise.
Then, Liu Di picked up the bowl and filled it for his father and mother first, then his sister, and finally himself. By the time he got to the last bowl, all the thick soup had been scooped out, leaving only the thin soup.
Liu Yeshu looked at it, swapped his bowl with Liu Di's, and tapped the edge of Liu Di's bowl with his chopsticks, making a crisp sound: "Don't try to be clever! Eat well, starting tomorrow, there will be places where your strength will be needed!"
Liu Di couldn't resist, so he frowned, held the bowl, and started to eat his meal.
Seeing him like this, Liu Yeshu nodded with satisfaction. At the same time, she silently called the system in her heart.
"are u there?"
【Host, I am here. 】
"I want to use the potion for strengthening the body from the novice gift pack."
[Alright, host. The potion has been administered and is now taking effect...]
Feeling a warmth flowing through her body, Liu Yeshu stretched out and her breathing became easier.
Isn’t this more delicious than eating?
After stretching, Liu Yeshu realized that the bowl in front of her had been replaced. She looked at her father and found that he had given her the thickest bowl. Liu's mother was sharing her thickest bowl with her father, and Liu's father covered the edge of the bowl and said, "Enough, enough."
"Didn't you say that a family should advance and retreat together?" Father Liu picked up his chopsticks and said, "Let's eat."
Liu Di on the side smiled and winked at Liu Yeshu.
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