The group worked until late in the morning before heading home. Xingxing started to doze off on the way back, and Zhu Lin had to help her walk. She would rest her little head on the boy's shoulder and nod with each step.
Zhang Xiantao and Zhao Mingyue returned to Songjiazhuang. Xingxing was taken to the Zhou family by Zhu Lin. Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu each took two large baskets of their catch to the backyard, emptied the contents of the baskets, and kept them in wooden buckets.
"You can't go back to your room to sleep yet, you need to take a shower." Xingxing's eyes were almost closed, but being a clean person, she still remembered that she had to take a shower before she could sleep.
"Go back to the room first. I'll have Qingyan and Qingluo bring the water inside. The bathtub is already in there." Zhu Lin's tone was both helpless and indulgent.
The little girl loved to play. Once she got into it, she followed the sound of frogs in the paddy field to catch frogs, but she couldn't catch a single one and ended up covered in mud. She didn't really want to catch frogs; she just wanted to play.
After instructing the two female bodyguards to take good care of Xingxing, Zhu Lin prepared to take a bath. He went to the backyard and saw Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu struggling to kill a snake.
The snake was caught in a ditch. It had mottled patterns on its body and weighed about three pounds. As soon as Zhou Erfu found it, he was overjoyed and let out a loud "roaring" sound. He hit it on its seventh inch with a stick, grabbed its head, rolled it up, and put it into the basket.
"Why don't you wait until tomorrow to get busy, it's so late?" Zhu Lin walked over and whispered.
Zhou Erfu looked up at him and replied, "After killing it, chop it into sections and put it in a ceramic pot to simmer over a low flame. It will be ready to eat tomorrow morning."
Zhou Sifu chimed in, "I'll kill another chicken later and stew it together. My second brother and I won't sleep tonight either. We'll learn swordsmanship from our master at 3:45 AM."
"Can your body handle it?" Zhu Lin's tone revealed her disapproval.
“We’re as strong as oxen, so what if we don’t sleep for one night? Last time we were chased by the soldiers, we didn’t sleep for two days and two nights, but we were still full of energy.” Zhou Sifu was half a head shorter than Zhou Erfu, but he was also tall, with long legs and bulging muscles.
"You all know what's going on." Zhu Lin ignored them and went to bathe and settle in.
Early morning stars were still immersed in their dreams when they were suddenly awakened by a shrill wail. They opened their eyes in confusion, wondering what had happened, when they heard another ghostly howl coming from the courtyard.
"Eldest son, you wretched and unfilial son! You almost killed our entire Zhou family! That day, the constables suddenly burst into our house with knives and kidnapped our whole family without saying a word, not even sparing the children!"
"They tortured the men in the jail every day, trying to force us to hand over some so-called secret recipe. What secret recipe do we have? We couldn't possibly produce it even if they beat us to death! Those officials are despicable; they even tried to torture this old woman. I almost lost my life!" Old Mrs. Zhou plopped down on the ground, slapping the ground hard with one hand, sending dust flying everywhere.
After she finished crying and singing, she shouted at Old Man Zhou, "Old man, say something! Why aren't you saying anything? You were beaten too, weren't you? You came back and lay in bed for a long time, unable to get up!"
Old Zhou, who had been silent with a mournful face, was now provoked by Old Zhou's wife and sat down on the ground, wailing, "Those officials beat your second, third, and fourth brothers first, and when they couldn't get anything out of them, they came to beat this old man like me. They almost sent me away. If you had sent someone any later, your father wouldn't have come back."
Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua stood there expressionless, watching the two old people make a scene. Only when they were tired of howling and couldn't howl anymore did Zhou Laoda speak.
“Father and Mother, I’m so sorry to have caused you so much suffering this time. Although this whole thing started because of our family, we’ve also suffered a great calamity. I was beaten in jail, and Dafu and Sanfu weren’t spared either. Alas, it’s all because of us that we’ve dragged you down with us.” After saying that, he turned and went into the house. When he came out, he was holding a gray handkerchief with something wrapped inside.
Old Mrs. Zhou glanced at it furtively, guessing it was probably silver, and was about to start wailing again when her eldest son interrupted her, "Mother, stop wailing. Here's fifty taels of silver. You and Father can take it to nourish yourselves, and we'll let this matter go."
"Fifty taels is enough to get rid of me and my father? You have several shops and houses, carriages and orchards, and you..." Old Mrs. Zhou complained that the money was too little.
"That's all, there's no more. If you don't want it, give it back to me." Boss Zhou pretended to snatch it back.
"Why are you trying to take it from me, you brat? If it's given to me, it's mine. Fine, fifty taels it is. But let me make this clear: this fifty taels is for you to make up for what you owe me and your father. Your second, third, and fourth brothers haven't been compensated yet. They can't have suffered in prison for nothing, can they?" Old Mrs. Zhou stood up, dusted herself off, and said with drooping eyes.
Old Zhou was very annoyed. He knew that if he didn't show some appreciation today, his parents would definitely make a scene. So he decided to go back to the old house with them.
"Alright, I'll go with you two now to apologize to my second, third, and fourth brothers, okay?" Old Zhou grabbed his wife and went into the house together.
The two elders of the Zhou family craned their necks to look into the house, and the eldest son of the Zhou family immediately closed the door.
“We still have a piece of ginseng at home, take it out and I’ll give it to my second brother later so he can help Da Fa’s child recover. Also, Da Ya has suffered a lot, didn’t you buy a silver bracelet to give to her? I’ll take it with me.” Zhou Laoda said while stuffing silver into his sleeve.
The couple had already agreed on the compensation for the Zhou family: twenty taels of silver for the second wife and ten taels of silver each for the third and fourth wives.
It's only because they have plenty of money that they can afford to spend it; otherwise, they wouldn't be so generous. Everyone has been tortured and definitely needs money for treatment, so it's only right that the eldest branch of the family should pay for it.
After handing the half-ginseng wrapped in oiled paper to Zhou Laoda, Zhao Guihua hesitated and said, "Although Lao San's daughter, Da Hua, is married, it seems she was also arrested this time. Shouldn't we give her some compensation?"
"Give her ten taels too. Da Hua has become much more sensible since she got married. She's not as annoying as she was when she was raised by Lao San and his wife."
Zhou Laoda recalled that whenever Zhou Dahua returned to her parents' home, she would respectfully call him "Uncle" whenever she saw him. When she returned to her parents' home for the New Year, she would also send some gifts to the eldest branch of the family. Although it was only a few steamed buns, he heard that her husband's family was not well-off and could barely fill their stomachs. Sending a few steamed buns for the New Year was considered generous.
Just thinking about Zhao Guihua makes me sick. "Who cares about her few steamed buns?"
“We’re well-off and don’t care, but for poor families, a few steamed buns would be a great gift.” Old Zhou glanced at her. This woman was getting cocky again. She didn’t even know how her family had gotten rich. If they hadn’t taken a daughter in back then, they probably wouldn’t even be able to fill their stomachs now.
The two had known each other since childhood and had been married for so many years. Zhao Guihua could tell what Zhou Laoda was thinking with just a glance, and suddenly felt that her life was meaningless.
"It's not that I look down on a few steamed buns because they're shabby. I just find the third and fourth wives' people annoying. But speaking of which, Da Hua's daughter is quite pretty. If it weren't for the fact that the third husband and his wife are both disabled and have bad reputations, they wouldn't have married such a poor man."
"They brought it on themselves, they deserve it. Alright, that's enough. The old folks are still waiting at the door." Old Zhou packed his things and left.
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