Chapter 72
Chen Qing looked at Du Feng and thought for a while before remembering.
When he was little, he was bullied by his uncle's brothers. Du Feng helped him many times, but after so many years, they were still not familiar with each other, so he was still a little timid.
"Brother Du." Chen Qing stood up to greet him, and Zhou Yuan, who was standing to the side, also moved over.
With Zhou Yuan by his side, Chen Qing felt much more relaxed. He moved closer to Zhou Yuan and said, "Brother Du, this is my husband, Zhou Yuan. We came back this time to take my father and my stepfather with us."
Du Feng's expression was strange, a mixture of surprise and relief: "You, you're already married?"
Chen Qing pursed his lips and nodded. Zhou Yuan continued, "Thank you, Brother Du, for your help to Aqing in the past."
Aunt Du was also a little embarrassed at this moment. She knew what her son was thinking. Du Feng was a year older than Chen Qing. Matchmakers had come to the door countless times, but he just refused to meet them.
For the two years after Chen Qing disappeared, he followed the village peddler and traveled all over the Xiaxi Prefecture in the past ten years. Last time, he even said that he wanted to go to Yizhou and the capital.
But looking at Chen Qing now, it's clear that his unfamiliarity with Du Feng wasn't an act because of his husband; he genuinely didn't remember Du Feng.
When Chen Qing was young, he was very similar to his stepfather in personality. When his brothers bullied him, he would just hide in a corner. Those boys were cunning and wicked. In the past, Chen Qing would say a few words to the elders in the village, but after being bullied, he would stay home all day and avoid people. At that time, Chen Qing probably didn't know anyone in the village, including Du Feng.
Aunt Du didn't know Du Feng would be back today, so they bumped into each other. Du Feng was still stunned, so Aunt Du quickly said, "You haven't eaten yet, have you? I'll cook something, and we can chat slowly over the phone."
Chen Qing tugged at Zhou Yuan's sleeve, and Zhou Yuan understood: "Auntie, we won't eat. I imagine Brother Du has just returned, and you two must have a lot to talk about. We won't disturb you any longer and will visit again tomorrow."
After saying that, she took Chen Qing's hand and walked out. They had no place to stay in the village, so they had to go back to the town first.
Du Feng watched their departing figures, and Aunt Du patted him on the shoulder: "Son, it's time to let go."
Du Feng rubbed his eyes and turned to look at Aunt Du: "I understand."
He could see the unfamiliarity Chen Qing showed when he looked at him, and he could also see his dependence on his husband. Du Feng sighed and repeated, "I understand."
"Why have you never told me about this before?" On the way back, they didn't ride horses; Zhou Yuan led the horse, and Chen Qing walked beside him.
"I'd forgotten everything," Chen Qing said. "But now I think I remember a little bit."
Chen Qing tried hard to recall: "It seems that when those older brothers were about to hit me, he threw stones back to drive them away. I can't remember anything else."
“Your uncle’s family has taken over our house. This house should have been yours in the first place. I think even if we have to tear it down, I don’t want anyone else to live here. What do you think?”
Chen Qing nodded: "Okay."
He then said to Zhou Yuan, "I don't really understand why my grandparents treated my dad that way. I have two uncles, one named Chen Hu and the other Chen Bao, but my dad is only named Chen San. I also have two aunts, one named Chen Jin and the other Chen Feng." He asked Zhou Yuan, "Was it so hard to give my dad a name?"
Zhou Yuan patted his head, but because he was wearing a headscarf, he couldn't touch Chen Qing's hair. He said with some regret, "This time I will definitely avenge Father and you."
They returned to town, but to find out everything about the village, they would have to go back to Aunt Du's place the next day, so they went back to the inn to rest for a while.
"Was there a deed for the house back then?" They sat in the hall of the inn, where several home-style dishes from Xiaxi Prefecture were laid out on the table. The two of them glanced at them and found them novel, but when they tasted them, they found them rough and they were almost full after just a few bites.
Chen Qing thought about it. He left in a hurry back then, without taking anything from home. It was because his father and stepfather were gone, so he had no attachment to the place. Of course, he was also young and ignorant, so he naturally didn't know about the house deed.
"I don't know." Chen Qing was somewhat annoyed. He didn't understand anything back then and just left, leaving behind a mess.
"It's alright, let's go back and ask Aunt Du again."
Before they could even return to town, Du Feng found them.
Du Feng got straight to the point, pulling a yellowed piece of paper from his pocket: "I've been keeping this, but I forgot to give it to you this morning."
Zhou Yuan took it and looked at it. When he was managing the escort agency, he had learned to read a little from the teachers there, and he immediately recognized that it was a deed for a homestead.
“Back when you had just left, and no one was paying attention, I found this and have kept it at home ever since,” Du Feng said.
When Chen Qing's family had their accident, he was still quite young. He went to his maternal grandparents' house for a few days, but when he came back, he couldn't find Chen Qing anywhere. He heard Chen Qing's uncle say that he was going to kick Chen Qing out and take back the homestead. He didn't care about anything else and secretly went to Chen Qing's house at night and found the deed for the homestead.
Later, no matter how hard the Chen family searched, they couldn't find the contract. They also thought that Chen Qing might never come back, so they stopped looking for it, and eventually everyone forgot about it.
Chen Qing took the land deed from Zhou Yuan. The paper was old and yellowed, with the official seal on one side and the handprint of Chen's father on the other.
The originally bright red handprint had faded. Chen Qing held it and looked at it for a long time before saying to Du Feng, "Thank you, Brother Du."
Du Feng originally wanted to reach out and touch his hair, just like when they were children, but he saw Zhou Yuan out of the corner of his eye, so he withdrew his hand and touched his other hand instead.
His mother once asked him why he had persisted in searching for Chen Qing for so many years. Du Feng recalled that when he was fifteen years old, Chen Qing's stepfather had come to him.
He didn't understand love and romance back then; he just felt sorry for Chen Qing being bullied, so he would subconsciously help him.
He recalled Chen's younger brother from that time, who seemed to have completely collapsed. He cried and said to Du Feng, "Xiao Feng, please, please take care of Xiao Qing from now on."
Du Feng was stunned. He quickly nodded and said, "Grandma, I will always take care of Xiao Qing."
Chen's younger brother even knelt down in front of him, saying, "Thank you, thank you."
The day after Chen's uncle said those words to him, he jumped into the river.
Du Feng then realized that what Chen's father had said that day was actually entrusting his son to him. He wondered how desperate Chen must have been to entrust his son to him.
He was a little scared at the time. Yesterday, he was alive and well, but today he was a corpse. His grandfather invited him to stay at his house for a few days, so he agreed. However, he did not expect that when he returned, Chen Qing would be gone.
Du Feng knew that Chen Qing had disappeared because of his own avoidance. He had failed to keep his promise to Chen Qing's father, and the older he got, the heavier his guilt became. So he made up his mind to find Chen Qing.
He knew that Chen's younger brother wanted him to marry Chen Qing, which was why he hadn't wanted to get married all these years. He was afraid that if he found Chen Qing, Chen Qing would be unable to cope after they got married.
Now that Chen Qing is back and living a happy life, he can let go of the past.
“I haven’t spent much time at home these past few years, so I don’t know much about your family. I only know that after your grandfather died, they divided the family property, and your grandmother went to live with your eldest uncle’s family. The two families have fallen out over the division of the property.”
“The five brothers are fighting like cats and dogs, and none of them can stand each other.” Du Feng told everything he could. “Only your third and fourth brothers are not married. I heard from my mother that they have fallen for the same guy.”
Chen Qing's older brothers are all much older than him. His third and fourth brothers are probably three or four years older than him. At this age, they are still not married, so his uncle must be very anxious and worried.
The eldest brother, third brother, and fourth brother are the children of the eldest uncle's family, while the second brother and fifth brother are the children of the second uncle's family. The third and fourth brothers are twins, and the twins have fallen in love with the same brother.
Zhou Yuan expressed his gratitude to Du Feng. Du Feng stood up, feeling as if all his burdens had been lifted. He said to Chen Qing, "My mother asked me to take care of you before, but I didn't. However, seeing that you are doing well now, I am relieved."
Du Feng then looked at Zhou Yuan: "Xiao Qing has had a tough childhood. I hope you will treat him well in the future. Although I am not qualified to say this, I still hope you can do it."
Zhou Yuan nodded: "I will treat Aqing well, and thank you for remembering him all these years. You are welcome to visit our home in the future."
Du Feng nodded and walked out of the inn. Sunlight fell on him, and he finally let out a long sigh of relief. More than ten years of perseverance had finally come to an end.
He returned home and said to Aunt Du, "Mother, you can start arranging my marriage now."
Zhou Yuan looked at the land deed in his hand: "Let's start with your eldest brother. They live in your house without a care in the world and are disrespectful to Father. Let's start with them."
He carefully put away the contract and found a scholar with a stall in town. He paid him three coins to write a petition for him.
He then took Chen Qing to the county government office and beat the petition drum.
Chen Qing respectfully submitted the complaint and knelt in the courtroom as Zhou Yuan recounted the facts word by word.
“Although my husband is married, both his parents have passed away. There is also a law in the court that states that a son should inherit the property after the father dies. This house should belong to my husband. The fact that Chen Dabao’s family forcibly occupied my husband’s homestead is undeniable. I hope Your Excellency will understand.”
The magistrate saw that his petition explained the reasons and the facts, including Chen Qing's experience after selling himself. If he had remained of low social status after selling himself, the homestead should have belonged to the imperial court. However, he was now of good status, and according to the law, the homestead was indeed his.
However, since only their side was present in the courtroom, a verdict could not be announced yet. So the magistrate summoned a team of constables to bring Chen Dabao to the courtroom.
Zhou Yuan and his men also left temporarily, waiting for Chen Dabao to arrive before continuing their court proceedings. As the constables left, Zhou Yuan handed them a heavy red envelope, hoping they would "take care" of Chen Dabao on his way.
Chen Dabao was still eating at the table when his wife told him that someone had come to their door on horseback yesterday looking for Chen San.
“You have relatives who can afford to buy horses?” His wife, Lin, laughed at him. “You’re a whole family, and not a single one of you is successful.”
"Two brothers fighting over a son, I feel ashamed to even mention it," Lin clicked her tongue.
"Alright, that's enough." Chen Dabao clicked his tongue and pulled out his older brother's money. "I'm going to teach them a lesson. What a mess this family has become."
"He talks like he's someone important, but when something happens, his legs go weak faster than anyone else's." Lin had always known his character; she would just listen to what he said and move on.
Chen Dabao liked to have a couple of drinks with his meals. Just as he poured his wine into his glass, the door was pushed open by a yamen runner: "Chen Dabao? Come with us to the yamen."
Chen Dabao dropped his chopsticks to the ground, his legs trembling: "Sir, sir, I haven't done anything wrong."
"Whether you've committed a crime or not isn't up to you to decide." The constable said sternly, his sword already drawn. "Don't dawdle, come with us immediately."
Chen Dabao had already slid off the table, his legs seemingly unable to support him. If Zhou Yuan were here, he would surely mock him as a coward.
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