LW chapter 72

 

Chen Qing stared at Du Feng, thinking for a moment, before finally remembering.

When he was young, he had been harassed by his uncles’ sons. Du Feng had helped him many times, but he hadn’t seen him in years, so he felt a bit unfamiliar with him and was a little embarrassed.

“Brother Du.” Chen Qing stood and greeted him. Zhou Yuan also stepped forward.

With Zhou Yuan beside him, Chen Qing felt much more at ease. He stood next to Zhou Yuan. “Brother Du, this is my husband, Zhou Yuan. We came back this time to take my father and little father away.”

Du Feng’s expression was strange, a mix of surprise and burden. “You…you’re married?”

Chen Qing pursed his lips and nodded. Zhou Yuan took over the conversation. “Thank you, Brother Du, for helping Aqing in the past.”

Aunt Du was also a little embarrassed at that moment. She knew her son’s thoughts. Du Feng was a year older than Chen Qing. Matchmakers had come to their house many times, but he had always refused to meet anyone.

For two years after Chen Qing disappeared, he followed traveling merchants around the village. Over the last ten years, he had traveled throughout the Xiaxi Prefecture. Last time, he said he was going to Yizhou and the capital.

Seeing Chen Qing now, however, he did not pretend not to know Du Feng because of his husband. He really did not remember Du Feng.

When Chen Qing was young, his personality was very similar to his father’s. When his cousins harassed him, he would just hide in a corner. The boys were mean. In the past, Chen Qing would talk to the village elders about it. After being harassed, he would stay inside all day and avoid people. At that time, perhaps Chen Qing hardly knew anyone in the village, including Du Feng.

Aunt Du didn’t know Du Feng would return today, so they met by chance. Du Feng was still stunned, so Aunt Du quickly said, “Haven’t you eaten? I’ll cook something, and then we can talk.”

Chen Qing tugged on Zhou Yuan’s sleeve. Zhou Yuan understood and said, “Aunt, we won’t be eating. Brother Du just came back, and you two surely have a lot to talk about. We won’t disturb you for now. We’ll visit again tomorrow.”

After that, he led Chen Qing out. Since they had no place to stay in the village, they had to return to the town first.

As they left, Du Feng watched their backs, and Aunt Du patted his shoulder. “Child, it’s time to forget him.”

Du Feng wiped his eyes and looked at Aunt Du. “I know.”

He could see how strange Chen Qing looked at him, and he could also see how dependent Chen Qing was on his husband. Du Feng sighed and repeated, “I know.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” On the way back, they didn’t ride horses. Zhou Yuan led his horse, and Chen Qing walked beside him.

“I forgot everything,” said Chen Qing. “Now, it seems I remember a little.”

Chen Qing tried hard to recall: “It seems that when my cousins tried to hit me, he would throw stones at them. As for the rest, I can’t remember anything else.”

“Your uncle’s family occupied our house. It should have belonged to you. I didn’t want anyone else living there, even if the house was destroyed. What do you think?”

Chen Qing nodded. “Alright,”

He said to Zhou Yuan again, “I really don’t understand why my grandparents treated my father the way they did. I have two uncles: Chen Hu and Chen Bao. My father is Chen San, and my two aunts are Chen Jin and Chen Feng.” He asked Zhou Yuan, “Was it hard to give my father a name?”[mfn]Chen San (陈三) means “Chen the Third” (most likely the third son in the Chen family, or the third child)[/mfn]

Zhou Yuan touched his head. Because he was wearing a hood, he couldn’t touch Chen Qing’s hair. He felt a little regretful. “This time, I have to avenge my father and you.”

They returned to the town. To find out what happened in the village, they would have to go back to Aunt Du the next day, so they returned to the inn to rest.

“Did the house have a certificate back then?” They were sitting in the inn’s hall. Some homemade dishes from Xiaxi House were on the table. They looked at the dishes as if they were new but felt awkward eating them. After a few bites, they were almost full.

Chen Qing thought about it. He had left in a hurry that year and hadn’t brought anything with him. He had also lost his father and little father, so he didn’t miss them at all.

Of course, he was also young and foolish, so naturally, he didn’t know about the house certificate. “I don’t know,” Chen Qing said irritably. He didn’t know anything back then, so he left, leaving chaos behind.

“It’s okay. Let’s go back and ask Aunt Du.”

But before they could return to the town, Du Feng found them.

He got straight to the point. He took out a yellowed piece of paper: “I kept this and forgot to give it to you this morning.”

Zhou Yuan took it and looked at it. When he managed the escort agency, he had learned a few words from the agency’s teacher. He immediately recognized it as a house ownership deed.

“When you left, no one was paying attention. I found this and kept it at my house,” Du Feng said.

Chen Qing hadn’t been very old when the accident happened. He went to his maternal grandparents’ house for a few days, but when he returned, Chen Qing was gone. He overheard Chen Qing’s uncle say that he wanted to expel Chen Qing and reclaim the house. Not caring about that, he secretly went to Chen Qing’s house at night and found the deed.

No matter how hard the Chen family searched, they could not find the deed after that. Assuming Chen Qing would never return, they stopped searching, and eventually everyone forgot about it.

Chen Qing took the land deed from Zhou Yuan. The paper was old and yellowed. One side had an official stamp, and the other had his father’s hand seal.

The original bright red hand seal had faded. Chen Qing looked at it for a long time before saying to Du Feng, “Thank you, Brother Du.”

Du Feng wanted to reach out and touch Chen Qing’s hair like they did when they were children. However, he saw Zhou Yuan out of the corner of his eye and withdrew his hand, touching his other hand instead.

His mother had once asked him why he had searched for Chen Qing for so many years. He remembered that when he was fifteen, Chen Qing’s father had asked him to look after Chen Qing.

At that time, he didn’t understand love. He only felt pity when he saw Chen Qing being harassed, so he would unconsciously help him.

He recalled Chen Qing’s little father. He seemed to faint back then. He cried and said to Du Feng, “Xiaofeng, please take care of Xiaoqing in the future.”

Du Feng was stunned. He immediately nodded and said, “Okay, I will always take care of Xiaoqing.”

Chen Qing’s little father knelt in front of Du Feng. “Thank you, thank you.”

The next day, after hearing these words, Chen Qing’s little father jumped into the river.

Du Feng realized that the man’s words that day were actually an entrustment of his orphaned child. He didn’t know how desperate he had been to do so.

At that time, he was a little scared. The person who was alive yesterday had become a corpse today. Coincidentally, his grandfather had asked him to come home and play for a few days, and he had agreed. However, he didn’t expect that Chen Qing would have already left by the time he returned.

Du Feng knew that Chen Qing had disappeared because of his escape. He had made a promise to his little father, but he failed to keep it. As he grew older, he felt more and more guilty, so he decided to search for Chen Qing.

He knew his little father wanted him to marry Chen Qing. Because of this, he didn’t want to get married for years, afraid that if he found Chen Qing, he wouldn’t be able to live with him after marriage.

Now that Chen Qing had returned and was living a happy life, he could let it go.

“I haven’t been home much over the years, so I don’t know much about your family. I only know that after your grandfather passed away, they separated, and your grandmother lived with your eldest uncle’s family. The two families were at odds over the inheritance.”

“The five siblings are now quarreling like black-eyed chickens, and no one can restrain themselves.” Du Feng said all he could: “Only your third and fourth brothers are unmarried. I heard from my mother that they both fell in love with the same man.”

Chen Qing’s brothers were much older than him. The third and fourth brothers were perhaps three or four years older. Their eldest uncle must have been anxious and angry that they hadn’t married by now.

The eldest, third, and fourth brothers were the eldest uncle’s children, and the second and fifth brothers were the second uncle’s children. The third and fourth brothers were twins who fell in love with the same man.

Zhou Yuan expressed his gratitude to Du Feng. Du Feng stood and felt all the burdens lift from him. He told Chen Qing, “Ama’ asked me to take care of you, but I didn’t. However, seeing you live well now, I feel relieved.”

Du Feng looked at Zhou Yuan again. “Xiaoqing has had a hard life since he was little. I hope you will treat him well in the future. Even though I’m not qualified to say this, I hope you will.”

Zhou Yuan nodded. “I will treat Aqing well. Thank you for taking care of him all this time. If you have the chance, you are welcome to visit our home in the future.”

Du Feng nodded and walked out of the inn. The sun shone on him, and he finally let out a relieved sigh. His persistence for more than ten years had finally paid off.

He returned home and told Aunt Du, “Mother, you can arrange my marriage.”

Zhou Yuan looked at the land deed in his hand and said, “Let’s start with your eldest brother. They lived in your house quietly but did not respect Father. Let’s start with him.”

He set the deed aside, found a scholar who had set up a stall in town, and paid him three coins to help write a petition.

Then, he took Chen Qing to the local government office, beat the drum, and had the case heard.

After respectfully submitting the petition, Chen Qing knelt in court while Zhou Yuan recited the facts.

“Although my husband is married and both his parents have died, the court has a law that says if a father dies and his son succeeds him, the house should belong to my husband. Chen Dabao’s family is occupying my husband’s homestead forcibly, which is an undeniable fact. I hope you will see it clearly.”

The county magistrate saw the petition, which explained the situation and clarified the facts. According to the petition, if Chen Qing sold himself, then the homestead should belong to the imperial court. However, since Chen Qing is now a good citizen, the homestead belongs to him according to the law.

However, since they were the only ones in court, a verdict could not yet be pronounced, so the county magistrate called a team of yamen and took Chen Dabao to court.

As the yamen left, Zhou Yuan handed them a heavy red envelope, hoping they would “take care” of Chen Dabao on the way.

Chen Dabao was still eating at the table when he heard his daughter-in-law say that someone had come to Chen San on horseback the previous day.

“Do you have any relatives who can afford horses?” His daughter-in-law, Lin, laughed at him. “None of them are promising in a big family.

“The two brothers are still fighting over their inheritance, and I feel embarrassed to say it.” Lin snorted.

“Okay, don’t say it.” Chen Dabao snorted and took out his eldest brother’s money. “I always have to clean up after them. They’re a good home and a mess.”

Talking like a character, but when something happens, his legs are weaker than anyone else’s. Lin knew his character well and just listened to what he said.

Chen Dabao liked to drink two glasses of wine with his meal. As soon as his wine was poured, the yamen pushed open the door: “Chen Dabao? Come with us to the yamen.”

Chen Dabao’s chopsticks fell to the ground, and his legs trembled. “Officer, I didn’t do anything.”

“Whether or not you commit a crime is not up to you.” The yamen had a serious expression on his face and held an unsheathed knife in his hand. “Don’t dawdle. Come with us immediately,” he said.

Chen Dabao had already slipped off the table; his legs seemed unable to support his weight.

 

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