Xuehua was so frightened by Wang Daikui that she took two steps back and hid behind Liang Shuyan instead.
Liang Shuyan looked at Xuehua, pressed her hand down, and said, word by word, "Xuehua, this is your father. Haven't you greeted him yet?"
Wang Daikui was so surprised that he fell off the kang (a heated brick bed) and onto the ground. His eyes were filled with tears as he looked at the snowflakes in front of him and said, "What's wrong? How come you don't even recognize your father? Have you been instigated by someone?"
Wang Daikui then said coldly to her, "Aunt Dashan, did I offend you during the spring outing? How could you do such a thing to my daughter?"
Based on those words, Liang Shuyan realized something: Old Liu must have said something to Wang Daikui, otherwise, why would Wang Daikui say such a thing?
"If I were to instigate anything through Xuehua, how could I have brought her to this place?"
Wang Daikui then fell silent, struggled to sit on the kang (a heated brick bed), pointed to the small stool beside him and said, "Sit down, there's not much in my room, pour yourself a glass of water!"
Xuehua then stood up, hurriedly ran over, poured a cup of tea, handed it to Liang Shuyan, and then handed another cup to Wang Daikui.
Wang Daikui said excitedly, "Xuehua, have you forgotten your father?"
Xuehua pulled Wang Daikui hard: "Dad, what are you saying? If Aunt hadn't rescued me from that slave trader, how would I be alive now? How can you talk about my aunt like that? Have you been listening to someone?"
Wang Daikui then burst into tears: "It's not like that, daughter. You know, I've been heartbroken ever since you left. I've searched everywhere I could, but there's no trace of you. I'm so afraid that you really went to Stone Mountain with that mountain god and will never come back!"
Snowflake snorted coldly: "What mountain god? He's a devil. Don't mention this again. By the way, there's no mountain god on that rocky mountain. I hope the villagers will stop worshiping him."
Wang Daikui was so frightened that he took two steps back: "You, are you still Xuehua? How could you say such a thing? Before, didn't you say..."
Liang Shuyan stepped forward and winked at Wang Daikui: "Alright, this matter is over, don't bring it up again. Trust Xuehua, Xuehua must have gone through something to say this, otherwise why would she say such a thing?"
Wang Daikui hurriedly covered his mouth and remained silent for a while. Xuehua continued, "You may not believe what I say, but you can't not believe what your aunt says. There is no such thing as a mountain god. If my aunt hadn't saved me back then, I would have been sold by human traffickers long ago."
"I'm so sorry, Auntie. Thank you so much. You saved my Xuehua. I'm bowing down to you to admit my mistake. I hope you won't be angry!"
Liang Shuyan didn't want to waste any more time. There were many things to do at home, so she instructed Xuehua, "Xuehua, you stay with your father and take good care of him. Also, wash everything in this house. I'm leaving now; I still have things to do at home."
Xuehua gratefully escorted Liang Shuyan to the door, then nodded and said, "Okay, thank you so much, Auntie!"
Liang Shuyan returned home, and Dashan and Zhao Heng came back as well. Zhao Heng grinned and said, "Auntie, you can believe me. I just want to stay at your house now. Dashan isn't going to school anymore, and I don't want to go either. I want to stay at your house and learn properly from Dashan!"
Liang Shuyan thought to herself, "This brat, why does he insist on going to school instead of going to the mountains to study?"
She immediately refused: "No, you are the magistrate's son. If you don't want the magistrate to blame you, you'd better go back obediently. Otherwise, if the magistrate implicates our mountain, you'll never come to my house again!"
Zhao Heng suddenly knelt down on the ground: "Auntie, I really don't want to go to school anymore. What kind of people are there? I can't like or accept any of them. Please let me stay with Brother Dashan. Besides the opportunity to go to school, I can also help you with chores and learn how to do business from you."
“We are farmers, how can we do business? The businesses we run are just small ones, not respectable. You should study hard, you will become a high-ranking official in the future. Dashan has already grown up, but you are still a scholar!”
Madam Liu said, "Mother, since Young Master Zhao doesn't want to go back anyway, why don't we let him study in our village? We have Mr. Su and a school in our village."
Upon hearing Liu's words, Liang Shuyan hesitated. Although there were teachers in the village, they were worlds apart from the prestigious school. How could they be compared?
“Mother, if Young Master Zhao stays in our village to study, won’t the magistrate take good care of our Daling Village in the future? Let’s just leave it at that. Anyway, Zhao Heng is not going anywhere and just wants to follow the mountains. Let’s just let Mr. Su take them to school. In this way, with the magistrate’s son studying in our village’s primary school, wouldn’t many people come to our village to enroll?”
Liang Shuyan had really underestimated her second daughter-in-law. She then said, "You've thought things through more thoroughly than your mother. In that case, I must first speak with the magistrate. If he agrees, then we'll do as you say!"
Zhao Heng looked at Liu Shi excitedly and kept saying, "Thank you, Second Sister-in-law! You really know how to talk, you're so kind!"
So flattered by Zhao Heng's words that Liu Shi was momentarily disoriented.
"I only did this because I saw how sincerely you wanted to stay with us. It was just a small favor, don't be so polite. If our village ever has any trouble, we would be grateful if the magistrate's son could step in and help us resolve it. It's no problem at all!"
Zhao Heng readily agreed to all of these things: "Great, that's no problem. As long as I study here, my dad will be very happy, and even the people of Daling Village will be rewarded."
"The magistrate is the magistrate! Zhao Heng is Zhao Heng. What, you think you can now take charge of the magistrate's affairs?" A familiar voice came from behind. Zhao Heng turned around and saw the magistrate walking towards him.
"Dad, it's you? I... I don't care, I'm going to stay in Daling Village to study now. I don't want to go back to Shengming School. There's no decent teacher there to teach me. Besides, in Daling Village, I can eat Aunt Jin's delicious food!"
The magistrate was taken aback: "What? When did you become so greedy?"
"Then, Father, no, you should stay here today and try my Aunt Jin's delicious food before we talk!"
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