Chapter 41
For the village chief's birthday, almost the entire village came. Even Qi Shuning was pulled into helping write the gift. Li Xin sat to the side, pouting, saying that on one hand, she had to ask people for help, and on the other hand, she was afraid that people would keep the gift for themselves, so she had to find someone to guard it.
Chen Qing and Aunt Sun didn't come. Li Xin was sitting with Meng Qi's wife, Wang Xuemei. There wasn't even a peanut on the table; it was just a bare table. Not a pot of tea was poured. Everyone was sitting outside in the cold wind.
Neither Li the blacksmith nor Zhang Yin came. Li the blacksmith used Zhou Yuan's oxcart to take her to the prefectural city to get medicine and to have a doctor check on her condition. Although she was in better health than before, Li the blacksmith was still a little worried, so he took her to the prefectural city for treatment on the sixth day of the month.
Today's feast wasn't held at the village chief's house, mainly because the village chief's house isn't big enough. So the tables were set up in the open space of the village ancestral hall. There was no canopy, so the sun couldn't shine in, making it rather cold and eerie.
He saw Zhou Yuan arrive, and after Zhou Yuan finished recording the greetings, he called him over to sit down. Zhou Yuan greeted Wang Xuemei and then looked at Li Xin: "What's up?"
"What did you give me?" Li Xin asked curiously.
"A wolf-hair brush and ten coins." Zhou Yuan glanced at the sun. "I'm leaving. Will you eat here?"
Li Xin chuckled: "You're being too mean. Everyone in the village knows that the village chief is most upset when his own child is a good-for-nothing and the teacher sends him back home. You're stabbing him in the heart with this gift."
Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "I need to save the money for my marriage, so I can only give you this much."
After much thought, he felt that the inkstone the general had given him was too precious, and the village chief's family was not worthy of it.
Li Xin went to look at the things he had given her, but didn't see anything else. She only saw Qi Shuning constantly glancing at the pen. Li Xin, who had just been mocking the village chief, now thought Qi Shuning was ignorant.
Zhou Yuan saw it too, and said, "I also have a set of the Four Treasures of the Study, in the style of the capital. I'll deliver it to your house tonight."
Li Xin smiled again: "Thank you very much, brother."
"It's only right. I didn't have time to give you a gift for your wedding, so I'm making up for it now."
In fact, Zhou Yuan brought Li Xin a lot of gifts when he came back, and this gift was also for Qi Shuning.
Zhou Yuan wanted to leave, but the village chief stopped him. As if he knew that Zhou Yuan wanted to leave, the village chief kept talking to him.
Soon it was time to start the feast. Zhou Yuan saw that he had been staring at the village chief and knew that he wouldn't be able to go back to feed the pigs with Chen Qing at noon. So he sent Niu Niu to tell him that he probably wouldn't be able to go back at noon and that Chen Qing shouldn't feed the pigs too much, as he would have to feed them again in the afternoon.
Niu Niu obediently went, and Zhou Yuan was afraid that Chen Qing would be unhappy if he broke his promise, so he planned to leave after toasting.
Zhou Yuan didn't sit at the village chief's table. He pulled Qi Shuning together and sat at a table with Meng Qi and Meng Shuanzi. The three of them naturally started talking about things after the New Year. Zhou Yuan said he wanted to go to the county town to take a look.
Meng Qi and the others naturally followed his lead. Whatever he said, they did. Zhou Yuan was a little annoyed. The village chief was still toasting at each table. He couldn't wait any longer, so he raised his glass and went to toast directly.
"May the village chief enjoy boundless happiness and longevity." Zhou Yuan was just going through the motions. When he saw the village chief raise his glass, he lightly clinked glasses with the village chief and then tilted his head back and drank the wine in one gulp.
The wine he drank was bland and tasteless, but Zhou Yuan looked at the village chief, whose eyes were already misty. The village chief was happy today, perhaps because it was his birthday, which was every five days, and the gifts from the villagers were more generous.
However, his alcohol tolerance was too low. He could only drink two or three tables of such weak liquor before he was almost unable to stand.
Aunt Wang squeezed through the crowd at this moment, and seeing that even the village chief could not stand, she grabbed Zhou Yuan's sleeve: "Zhou Yuan, can you help me take him back? We can't leave here..."
The villagers were used to it; the village chief's birthday celebrations were always like this—he'd get drunk after a few rounds of drinks.
Zhou Yuan nodded. Perfect. He could take the village chief back and then not have to come back here. He should still be able to feed the pigs with Chen Qing.
He helped the village chief up, and as he turned around, he saw the eager glint in Aunt Wang's eyes, but it vanished in an instant.
Zhou Yuan, after all, was a survivor of the battlefield, and after seeing the look in Aunt Wang's eyes, he knew there must be something wrong.
He quickly glanced around the entire ancestral hall. His excellent memory allowed him to see that two people were missing from the table where Aunt Wang was sitting. The village chief had three sons, and the women sitting next to Aunt Wang were her daughters-in-law.
Of the three daughters-in-law, only two were present. He thought for a moment and realized that it was the husband of the village chief's youngest son who was not there.
Thinking back to the meal, his wine glass was right under my nose the whole time, so he should be fine.
Zhou Yuan was filled with suspicion. The journey from the ancestral hall back to the village chief's house wasn't too far, but as he approached the village chief's door, he felt increasingly uneasy.
Seeing him helping the village chief back, Zhang Ran, the village chief's young husband, smiled and said, "Please bring your father back and have a glass of water before you leave?"
Zhou Yuan pushed the village chief towards him, saying, "No need, I have other things to do."
Zhang Ran didn't want to touch the village chief's body, so he didn't catch him forcefully, and the village chief fell to the ground along with him.
Seeing his attitude, Zhou Yuan didn't want to get involved anymore and took a step to leave, but Zhang Ran blocked the doorway: "It's just a cup of water, are you really not going to give the village chief even this much face?"
Zhou Yuan scoffed: "You think you can stop me?"
Just as he was about to make a move, a figure suddenly jumped out of the house, holding a wooden stick, and hit Zhang Ran on the back of the head.
Zhang Ran also fell to the ground, landing right next to the village chief.
Upon seeing Zhou Yuan, Wang Shan dropped the stick from his hand. Before Zhou Yuan could speak, he immediately said, "It was my aunt who deliberately got my clothes wet and then set you up. Now it'll be hard to explain, and you'll have to marry me..."
Zhou Yuan glanced at his clothes, which were soaked, and looked away immediately, saying, "I understand."
Wang Shan looked at him: "What do you plan to do?"
Zhou Yuan wasn't one to be easily swayed. Since they'd already schemed against him, he didn't need to worry about the village chief's reputation anymore. He saw the glass of water Zhang Ran had intended to give him on the table and asked Wang Shan to feed it to him.
After hearing his words, Wang Shan fed Zhang Ran the water in the bowl, but Zhang Ran swallowed half of it and spilled the other half.
"Go back inside and change your clothes. Your brother-in-law will be waking up soon." Zhou Yuan glanced at Wang Shan.
Wang Shan immediately knew what he was thinking: "I know what to do, you should go now."
Zhou Yuan nodded. He could already see people coming from afar. He immediately turned around and quickly left the main room, exiting from the other side.
Inside the room, Zhang Ran was awakened by Wang Shan's act of feeding him water. He felt a burning sensation rising in his lower abdomen and instinctively hugged the other body beside him.
Wang Shan, who was inside the house, seized the opportunity and immediately pushed open the door. The moment he opened the door, he screamed, completely panicked.
Aunt Wang, accompanied by the village's most talkative aunt and her husband, arrived. Upon hearing Wang Shan's scream, they realized the matter was settled: "What happened...?"
Her confident smile froze on her face as she saw the village chief rolling around with Zhang Ran in the main room. Wang Shan, who had been screaming, was now standing helplessly at Zhang Ran's door, and Zhou Yuan, who should have been there, was nowhere to be seen.
At that moment, the two of them saw unspoken words in each other's eyes.
An incestuous relationship between a father-in-law and daughter-in-law, and it happened in the village chief's house! This is definitely a hot topic of conversation in the village.
Wang Shan looked flustered, as if he knew he had done something wrong and was very regretful. He said to his aunt, "Aunt, my brother-in-law brought me back to change my clothes. He was waiting for me outside. I heard my uncle's voice and thought I would change my clothes before coming out, but I didn't expect..."
Aunt Wang was furious and went berserk. She first grabbed the village chief and then slapped Zhang Ran across the face. Only then did Zhang Ran truly come to his senses. However, he never expected that there would be so many people in the main room and his father-in-law would still be on top of him!
He had been slapped twice by Aunt Wang, and now he glared fiercely at Wang Shan: "Mother! It was him, he's the one who ruined me!"
Wang Shan stood timidly to one side. The two men had already figured things out in their minds, and no one noticed the slight smile on his lips when he lowered his head.
The village chief was still drunk, and no amount of noise could wake him. He even hugged the person next to him before continuing to sleep soundly.
Just now, as Aunt Wang had instructed, they had gotten Wang Shan's clothes wet. Zhang Ran said he would accompany Wang Shan back to change his clothes; it was good to have someone cover for him.
But on the way back, Zhang Ran mocked Wang Shan in various ways: "You shameless slut, can't wait any longer? You can't wait to drag her to bed right away, can you?"
Wang Shan, being an unmarried young man, blushed with embarrassment and pretended not to hear Zhang Ran's words.
Zhang Ran, however, thought he was an easy target and his words became increasingly offensive. Wang Shan turned his head and said, "Stop talking."
"If you dare to do it, why are you afraid of what others will say?" Zhang Ran scoffed.
"Hurry up and sell yourself to save up for your brother's dowry." Zhang Ran spat. "Hurry up and go inside and take your clothes off. It's best to take it slow so that everyone who comes can see."
Wang Shan saw that his words were getting increasingly offensive, but he still held back. As soon as he returned to the house, Zhang Ran locked him in the room and waited for Zhou Yuan to come over in the main room.
The medicine bottle he found yesterday was the medicine he and Meng Bing used on a daily basis. He only found out on the night he married into the family that Meng Bing was just a pretty face but useless person, and that he was living a life of widowhood after marrying into the family.
Meng Bing bought some medicine for the house to appease him, but even so, Zhang Ran never found happiness.
The more he suppressed his desire, the more he wanted it. When he saw Zhou Yuan, the itch in his bones became more and more obvious, until he heard his mother-in-law's plan.
That's why he came up with this plan. Even if it doesn't work out today, Zhou Yuan won't be able to get married, so all the opportunities in the future will be his. Anyway, Zhou Yuan is very arrogant in the village, so even if something like this happens, no one will bother him, let alone that bastard Meng Bing. If he dares to do anything to him, then he won't cover up for Meng Bing not being a man.
I just didn't expect to overlook Wang Shan, this variable!
So things escalated, and no one paid any attention to Wang Shan. He ran home, and how he explained things to his family was his own business.
The village is the place where secrets are hard to keep. Almost that very night, the story of the village chief and his youngest daughter-in-law had already spread throughout the village. Some people described it in vivid detail, as if they were sleeping under the village chief's bed and knew everything.
Naturally, Chen Qing's family also heard about this. Li Xin was in the yard at the moment, and Chen Qing couldn't help but ask, "Did they really catch you red-handed?"
Li Xin nodded: "It's true, Aunt Kang and Aunt Niu in the village saw it all clearly. When Zhang Ran realized that his scheme had been exposed, he tried to implicate his nephew. It was quite a show."
Li Xin thought for a moment and felt something was off: "It was my adopted brother who took the village chief back. Why wasn't he there at the time?"
Chen Qingcai said, "He said he only drank two sips of wine before coming back to feed the pigs with me."
Then Zhou Yuan came in, carrying another set of writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone: "Here you go."
Li Xin accepted the offer without hesitation: "Tell me why I wasn't there immediately."
Zhou Yuan clicked his tongue impatiently. This whole thing was originally aimed at him, and he was just giving him a taste of his own medicine. There was no need for Chen Qing to know the ins and outs of it.
"I just took him back and put him in the main room and left. Who knew so many things would happen afterward?" Zhou Yuan said nonchalantly. "It's getting dark, aren't you going home?"
Li Xin glared at him: "Then why aren't you going back? You're not even married yet, but you're already acting like it's your own home. Aren't you ashamed?"
Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Chen Qing quickly stepped in to mediate. He had only said a few words when he saw Qi Shuning at the door. Qi Shuning smiled at Chen Qing and said, "I've come to pick Xin Xin up and take her home."
Li Xin got goosebumps as soon as he heard the name Xin Xin. He picked up the box in front of him, wanting to punch Qi Shuning, but when he saw Qi Shuning's physique that looked like it could be blown away by the wind, he withdrew his hand and handed the box to him: "A gift from your older brother."
Qi Shuning was startled when she saw that there was a set of writing brushes and ink inside. She was about to refuse when she heard Zhou Yuan say, "You are the only scholar in our family. Take it and use it."
Only then did he actually accept it.
Then Li Xin walked up to him and said, "If you call me Xin Xin again, I'll beat you to death."
Qi Shuning simply smiled and then said goodbye to Chen Qing.
Chen Qing stood at the door, watching them leave, then called out, "Xin Xin, come play again tomorrow!"
Li Xin: ……
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