9 I’m going to hit you!
◎Carpenter Sun actually has a brother!?◎
"Sun Da! Don't be so shameless!" A sharp female voice came over, and the man on the opposite side was not willing to be outdone. They started fighting directly after they couldn't get along! The village head was so anxious that he blew his beard and glared, trying to persuade him and pull him back.
This was the scene Ye Yunzhao saw when he hurried over.
"Alright! Do you want County Magistrate Ye to laugh at you?!" The headman was so angry that his face turned purple and he felt like he was about to spit fire.
Finally the noisy crowd quieted down.
"What's going on?" Ye Yunzhao took two steps forward.
On the left stood Wang Cuihua, who had helped him plaster the roof two days ago, and on the right stood Sun Da, who was missing an ear. Both of them had red scratches on their faces and necks, as if they had just been through a "battle."
"Who will speak first?" Ye Yunzhao looked around.
"Let me speak first." Wang Cuihua gathered her messy hair.
"Each family had harvested rice and was drying it at home. Yesterday, I finished plowing my fields, so I thought of going to the diba to borrow a threshing basket from the village head." She pointed to a threshing basket not far away.
In fact, it was just a huge bamboo basket. Ye Yunzhao took a quick look and estimated that the bamboo basket was two or three meters wide, with a bamboo mat standing on one side, perhaps to facilitate collection when threshing.
"I was doing fine this morning, but when I went home for lunch at noon and came back in the afternoon, Sun Da had dumped out my grain!"
Hearing this, Ye Yunzhao turned sideways and asked Sun Da, who had lost his ear, "What's going on?"
"Ha! When I came to thresh the grain in the afternoon, there was no one there. How would I know that someone wanted to thresh it? I came all the way here, so of course I need it!" Sun Da raised his eyebrows and sneered.
"You are from Dongxiang, why do you use things from our Xixiang!" Wang Cuihua scolded without admitting defeat.
"What? You're still not convinced? Every tripod plow you're using now was made by my sister! What my sister makes is what I make! You damn bitch, how dare you be so arrogant to me!"
Sun Da's eyes were wide open with anger, and he suddenly punched Wang Cuihua while speaking.
Ye Yunzhao's eyes darkened, and he raised his foot to kick Sun Da, but he heard a "crack" and saw a thick wooden stick falling from the sky towards Sun Da. He raised his hand to block it out of inertia.
"Ah—who hit me!!" Sun Dazhi covered his right arm with his left hand. Ye Yunzhao glanced at him quickly and knew that his arm was probably broken.
"I'm going to hit you. How dare you bully my wife!" Liu Dazhuang came out from the crowd and said angrily.
Seeing that they were about to start arguing again, Ye Yunzhao quickly stopped them and said bluntly, "We'll talk about it tomorrow. Village head, if there's a barefoot doctor in the county, take Sun Da to see him first. If that doesn't work, borrow an ox cart and take him to Yuezhou City to see a doctor."
After receiving the order, the head of the village dragged and pushed Sun Da away. After only a few steps away, Sun Da started crying and cursing, and was insulted.
Liu Mazi tactfully dismissed the crowd of onlookers and stood at a distance waiting for her. Now only Ye Yunzhao, Wang Cuihua and Liu Dazhuang were left.
"You're too impatient. Look what's going on. You broke his arm. Do you think he can just let this go with his temper?" Ye Yunzhao said angrily, "You should use your brain more. Do you have to fight for this place for a while?"
Liu Dazhuang said with a stern face, "Could it be that County Magistrate Ye wants me to watch this scoundrel beat my wife in the street?!"
Ye Yunzhao couldn't explain it to this straightforward person. She glanced at Wang Cuihua and said, "Tell me, what do I mean?"
Wang Cuihua tugged at Liu Dazhuang's sleeve, and Mosquito hummed, "County Magistrate Ye said it wouldn't be too late to put him in a sack on a dark and windy night and then beat him..."
Wang Cuihua is quick-witted and understands things immediately.
Ye Yunzhao walked away with a wave of his sleeves. He took a step and tilted his head: "Don't do anything reckless next time. If you have any problems, come to me. I will definitely take care of it for you. I will pay for Sun Da's medicine."
"Find a barefoot doctor to examine the scratches on Madam Cuihua's face."
Ye Yunzhao glanced back at Liu Dazhuang and said to Wang Cuihua, "Although he's a bit of a fool, he's really good to you. It's getting dark, so hurry home."
Ye Yunzhao sighed. Such a small matter had become such a mess... He walked over to Liu Mazi and asked, "Are Sun Da and Sun Ning brother and sister?"
Liu Mazi hurriedly followed, his face full of confusion: "This is a long story..."
"Sun Da is indeed Sun Ning's elder brother."
Ye Yunzhao really couldn't associate the handsome and intelligent Sun Ning with the notorious scoundrel.
"Didn't you say before that Sun Ning and her father's carpentry business was forced to close down by the former county magistrate? What about her brother?" Ye Yunzhao couldn't help but ask.
"Alas." Speaking of this, Liu Mazi sighed again. "County Magistrate Ye, you don't know that Sun Ning spends all day doing carpentry work in the house and never shows up in public. The former county magistrate knew Sun Ning...because of Sun Da."
"What?" Ye Yunzhao paused. "Are you saying that General Sun 'sold' Sun Ning to the former county magistrate?"
"Yes..." Liu Mazi nodded, a look of pity flashing across his face. "The former county magistrate was fat and had a family. The more than ten acres of fertile land that Sun Da has now was acquired because of this incident!"
"Fortunately, the former county magistrate was caught for corruption, and you took over, which helped protect Sun Ning."
Ye Yunzhao was stunned when she heard this, and the anger in her heart could not be suppressed, rushing straight to her face. She had thought Sun Da was a rogue, but she never thought he was a bastard who dared to sell his own sister!
"I know about this." Ye Yunzhao suppressed his anger and said, "Let's deal with the threshing first tomorrow. You should go home and rest early."
Liu Mazi watched as County Magistrate Ye stormed off in anger, feeling a sense of unease. Perhaps he had spoken too much...
The next morning, the mist that once covered the mountains had become huge dark clouds. Before Ye Yunzhao even left the county government office, he met Sun Ning, who was carrying a bamboo basket.
"Sun Ning?" Ye Yunzhao spoke first and asked softly, "Have you thought about what I asked you earlier?"
Sun Ning knew that she was talking about the clerks in the workshop. After hesitating for a long time, he replied, "County Magistrate Ye, I can't do it..."
Ye Yunzhao still remembered Sun Ning's joy a few days ago, but now Sun Ning frowned, his eyes seemed to be full of helpless struggle, his lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but he chose to remain silent.
Ye Yunzhao did not respond immediately. She vaguely guessed that Sun Ning knew about what happened to Sun Da yesterday.
After a long silence, Ye Yunzhao said frankly, "There's no point in hiding."
Sun Ning looked at her and raised his head, pointing at the flock of birds flying overhead, as if muttering to himself: "Little birds flapping their wings high in the sky, could it be that they would give up their ability to fly just because of dark clouds?"
Ye Yunzhao lowered his eyes, his tone unquestionable: "I'll give you another chance on this matter. If you want to be a clerk in the workshop, come to the county government office to find me at noon tomorrow."
"Are you busy today? I want you to make a flail for me." Ye Yunzhao changed the subject and took out a blueprint from his arms.
"What is a flail?" Sun Ning's eyes lit up when he mentioned making wood.
When I unfolded the drawing, I saw a wooden stick drawn on it, and there seemed to be a row of wooden strips on one side of the stick.
"What is this used for?" Sun Ning frowned and thought.
"It's used for threshing rice and beans." Ye Yunzhao pointed at the picture and asked, "This row of wooden bars needs to be rotated freely. Do you have a way to do this?"
"People use wooden sticks and these strips to beat the rice?" Sun Ning immediately guessed how to use the flail, her eyes flashing with excitement. "It's easy to rotate it at will. Just cut a hole in the stick and shape one side of the strip into a specific shape, and then it will fit in."
"County Magistrate Ye, do you think it's feasible to use bamboo strips instead of wooden strips? Bamboo strips are light, and I think it might save some effort." Sun Ning, immersed in the world of wood, came to his senses and said hurriedly, "Let's use wooden strips. I'm just assuming..."
Sun Ning grew up with wood, and her practical understanding of farm tools was much deeper than Ye Yunzhao's. After all, in the area where Ye Yunzhao had helped alleviate poverty in his previous life, many families had modern machines. She had only seen these wooden farm tools a few times in the homes of her fellow villagers.
"Just use bamboo sticks, just go for it boldly." Ye Yunzhao gave him an admiring look.
After being affirmed, Sun Ning's brows relaxed and a smile appeared unconsciously on the corners of his mouth. His desire for knowledge and invention was beyond words.
"Sun Ning, I believe in you, and you must believe in yourself too." Ye Yunzhao patted her shoulder with a firm tone.
Sun Ning was stunned. Believe it?
To be honest, she herself didn't believe in herself... Her brother sold her for ten acres of good farmland. Even her relatives did this, but County Magistrate Ye, whom she met by chance, said that he believed in her.
Sun Ning couldn't help but feel pathetic for himself. Why did he have to end up with such a family and such a brother...
Why isn't County Magistrate Ye a relative? This is so unfair...
I was just working as a plowman for County Magistrate Ye, and that bastard had the audacity to come to Xixiang and cause trouble, and even assaulted Madam Cuihua. If I were really working as a clerk in the workshop, would he let me go? Would he not cause trouble?
Absolutely not, Sun Ning knows the answer.
The more Sun Ning thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. Without his father, he was afraid that he would be haunted by this scoundrel brother for the rest of his life... It would be fine if he couldn't escape, but he absolutely couldn't bring trouble to County Magistrate Ye...
Sun Ning turned his head, quickly wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes, and said with a smile: "County Magistrate Ye, I see that your bamboo basket is broken. This is a gift for you."
As he said this, he took off the backpack and handed it to Ye Yunzhao.
Ye Yunzhao didn't know what she was thinking. He took the bamboo basket with surprise and asked, "Did you make this?"
Sun Ning nodded.
"Then I won't be polite to you. We are friends after all. Next time I go up the mountain with Cuihua and Aunt Wang, I'll pick more wild fruits to share with you."
Friend? Sun Ning was stunned.
"I won't say any more to you. I have to go to Dongxiang right away." Ye Yunzhao's tone was mixed with anxiety, but he also instructed Sun Ning, "Think carefully about what I said before you reply to me."
After saying this, she quickly left with the basket on her back.
Only Sun Ning was left standing there with his head down, looking as if he was thinking.
When Ye Yunzhao arrived in Dongxiang, he knew where Sun Da lived without asking.
The reason was simple: the pig-slaughtering-like cries could be heard from the yard from time to time, making it impossible to hide.
"Ouch! It hurts so much! Village head! You have to take charge of this for me! How can I work after my arm is broken..."
As soon as Ye Yunzhao entered the courtyard, he saw Sun Dazheng sitting on the ground like a scoundrel, pulling at the village head's clothes, crying and making a fuss.
As soon as he saw Ye Yunzhao, he collapsed to the ground and crawled to Ye Yunzhao's feet, howling, "County Magistrate, you are finally here! You have to make the decision for me!"
Sun Da nudged his arm with his chin as he spoke. His right forearm was clamped between two wooden boards. He squeezed out two tears and said, "County Magistrate Ye, how can I get married and have children with this broken arm? You must make the decision for me on this matter!"
"Besides, my sister used to work for the county magistrate. Even if she didn't have any merits, she must have worked hard! You can't just watch her brother get bullied to death! Ouch... It hurts so much..."
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