Without even glancing at Doctor Chen's desolate departing figure, Su Jiu patted Sanyuan's head and laughed heartily:
"Good disciple, you have truly brought honor to your master!"
Even Buddhas compete for a stick of incense, so naturally he wants to prove himself in front of his peers!
Sanyuan was still angry that Su Jiu had spoken ill of Ye Wenxue a few days ago. Without saying a word, he broke free from Su Jiu's hand, sat back down at the table, and returned the silver in his hand to Dazhuang, Shuangshuang, and Siwang one by one.
Dazhuang originally didn't want to get involved, after all, he was a junior and it wasn't appropriate for him to interrupt.
Furthermore, Mr. Su had spoken ill of his mother in front of them, and he was still angry.
But listening to Doctor Chen boast about his treatment in the mountain village, compared to Su's old bamboo house being gone, receiving no monthly allowance, and struggling to teach him to read while being constantly mocked by his mother...
Looking at it this way, Mr. Su is in a rather unfortunate situation.
Dazhuang then stuffed the silver into Sanyuan's hand, asking him to say a few words so that Mr. Su wouldn't lose too badly.
Su Jiu was ignored by San Yuan and couldn't help but awkwardly touch his nose.
But he was a man of the world, and he quickly regained his composure. He squeezed in next to Sanyuan, and while drinking the tea Sanyuan poured for him, he asked indignantly:
"Shouldn't the matter of the bandit gang be the responsibility of that bald guy? What does it have to do with Ye Wenxue? Why is she getting involved in this mess?"
Dazhuang, coaxing Yuanyuan who was wriggling in his arms, glanced at Su Jiu with surprise and said matter-of-factly:
"That's the money my mother earns."
The Xu family taught the mountain bandits how to make charcoal, and the bandits provided manpower; all the big and small jobs, miscellaneous jobs and tiring jobs were done by the people in the mountain stronghold.
Ye Wenxue does nothing, so how could she possibly get 25% of the profits?
It was agreed from the beginning that Ye Wenxue would provide ideas and be responsible for military deterrence.
It served both to deter the bald man from breaking the contract and pocketing the money, and to protect the personal safety of both sides, especially the Xu family.
The cooperation is still ongoing, and the Xu family members were injured. Strictly speaking, this can be considered a dereliction of duty on Ye Wenxue's part.
Even though Dazhuang is close to his mother, he can't say that this matter has nothing to do with her.
After listening to his analysis, Su Jiu couldn't help but ask, "Shouldn't your mother live in the bamboo house every day just in case? Why..."
Why do you only come to the bamboo house every few days, and sometimes you don't come for more than ten days?
Dazhuang said confidently, "Isn't this because I trust Uncle Zhang and Uncle Xu?"
In reality, Ye Wenxue had only ever worked as a killer, never as a bodyguard.
In addition, with several children in the family who were not yet able to live independently, they did not pay much attention to the bamboo house.
Su Jiu felt inexplicably at peace.
It turns out that Ye Wenxue wasn't targeting him because she didn't value him, but rather treating everyone except her son equally.
He even felt a surge of pride for no reason.
Ye Wenxue cares so much about her children, yet she lets him, whose background she doesn't even know, teach Dazhuang and the others. Isn't that a kind of trust?
Su Jiu held Sanyuan and Siwang's hands at the same time, feeling that he could not betray their trust:
"Don't worry your mother, I will definitely teach you well and strive to make sure each of you passes the imperial examination and becomes a student!"
Shuangshuang and Siwang's faces fell at the same time, staring at Su Jiu with piercing eyes.
Sanyuan, still bewildered, said, "No, Mother said we should learn from Father and Uncle Xu. I want to take the imperial examination to become a scholar!"
Da Zhuang nodded emphatically.
Su Jiu pretended not to see the piercing gaze from the side and patted Sanyuan's head: "Alright, I don't know how happy I would be if I really had a scholar as an apprentice!"
Silence returned, broken by Lan Qing, who was keeping watch by the bedside.
"Xu Lin is awake! Doctor Su, come quickly, why... can't Xu Lin open his eyes?!"
Su Jiu and several children gathered around the kang (a heated brick bed), peering at Xu Lin, who was sitting up with his eyes closed.
There were too many people around the kang (heated brick bed), blocking the light.
Xu Lin felt his eyes were slightly better. He stopped Lan Qing from shouting any longer. After a moment of calm and adjustment, his eyelids trembled slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes.
Su Jiu waved in front of him: "How does it feel?"
Xu Lin was bewildered: "When I opened my eyes, there was a flash of white light. After I opened them fully, it was just like before, all I could see was darkness."
"It's alright," Su Jiu said, reassuring Xu Lin and Lan Qing.
"You'll get used to it. You can go outside and look around on weekdays, but you can't stay in the snow for too long, or you'll be irritated by the snow's glare."
Xu Lin nodded: "Thank you, Dr. Su."
He asked a few more questions about his father and Wang Chun, and after learning that they were safe, he relaxed and asked listlessly:
"I just heard that Madam Ye went to the mountain stronghold? Did she encounter any danger?"
After spending some time together, Xu Lin stopped calling Ye Wenxue "sister-in-law" and started calling her "Madam Ye" along with his bald mother.
It wasn't that she didn't want to acknowledge her as her sister-in-law because Cheng Xiandi was gone, but rather that she felt that since Cheng Dingfang was gone, calling her sister-in-law would only remind her of painful memories. It would be better to just call her Madam Ye directly.
Dazhuang spoke up on her behalf: "Uncle Xu, don't worry, my mother isn't afraid of danger."
Xu Lin, who had never witnessed Ye Wenxue kill anyone, was speechless.
*
Copycat,
Ye Wenxue wiped the blood off the kitchen knife and had the bald man count the heads, giving a warning to some of the restless bandits.
This time, the Xu family suffered an undeserved disaster.
The bald man held a banquet those few days, and many bandits guessed that the Longxing Prefecture trip had made a lot of money.
Then, hearing the drunken bald man rambling on about going down the mountain and disbanding the bandits, they assumed that the bald man had made money and no longer cared about the lives of the bandits.
In his drunken stupor, he didn't think things through and even asked the five people who had wanted to go down the mountain to steal the silver and leave behind his bald second brother.
Seeing that the bald man had led his men to chase after them, those involved in the matter were afraid that the bald man would come back and hold them accountable. So they decided to go all the way, kidnap the bald man's mother, threaten the bald man to hand over the silver, and kill the bald man to take control of the stronghold.
At that time, they will continue to cooperate with Bamboo House and Ye Wenxue under the guise of a counterfeit business, while simultaneously engaging in risk-free business and profiting from both sides.
Wouldn't it be more comfortable to be a local tyrant in a mountain stronghold than to be bossed around by the bald guy and forced to do hard and tiring work?
The bald man was so angry he almost died. After killing several people who wanted to harm his mother, he arrested all the dozen or so people involved.
He coldly surveyed the bandits who dared not meet his gaze, then suddenly spoke:
"Zhixing went down the mountain to gather information. Do you know why? Our mountain stronghold has been targeted by the government. They might send troops to wipe it out after the snow melts."
After spring arrives, those who no longer wish to become bandits and plan to leave can go to the accountant's office and withdraw one or two taels of silver as travel expenses.
Those of you who, like me, swear to live and die with the mountain stronghold, stay! Let's fight our way out!
The bandits were all taken aback.
At first, I couldn't believe it, but then, staring at the eldest brother's serious expression, my heart suddenly started to panic.
As the bandits repeatedly questioned Elder Nian about the truth of the matter, anxiously plotting their own schemes, Ye Wenxue and Zhiwang, who were guarding Bald Head's mother, exchanged glances.
Ye Wenxue thought to herself that the bald man had been hanging out with Xu Lin for a long time and had even started to use his brain.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
