Back to the Countryside

Chapter 42: 赔偿 (Compensation) 

Translator : LittleYen

“Indeed nothing was stolen, but the people was hurt!” Qi Yue took He Ling into his embrace out of the hall, looking at Qian with an expressionless face.

        “Qi Yue, where have you gotten my son?” She didn't even care what he said, Qian asked directly.

        “He's here!” Lin Sheng, who had gone to the backyard to carry the man over, walked up to her and threw him straight to the ground.

        “Ah Fu! Ah Fu!” Qian scrambled to his side, holding his shoulders, shaking him a few times before glaring up at them, “What have you done to my son?!”

        “Don't worry, he's not dead, he just passed out!” Lin Sheng moved his shoulders which just carry the man and snorted lightly.

        “Mother! What happened to big brother's hand?!” He Gui's eyes were sharp, with just a glance he saw He Fu's red, swollen and unnaturally twisted right arm.

        Qian heard this, hurriedly pulled his hand to examine it, this look was clearly that his arm was broken, her eyes immediately turned red, “Qi Yue! How dare you do this to my son!!!”

        “How could you do such a thing?!”

He Tian was also annoyed, if he lost a hand, how could he do work, how could he live without doing work?

Qi Yue didn't look at them, he only said to the village chief, “Seeing Ah Ling covered in blood, I couldn't control it for a moment!”

        The village chief nodded his head then sighed, if it were him, he was afraid he would have been unable to control it too, He Fu simply need to be responsible for something bad that happens to himself and mustn't alive, “Your son has already assaulted people with knife, yet you still do not allow people to hit him? !”

        “What?!” He Tian was startled, what do you mean by “knife”? What kind of knife? Only then did he see that He Ling's neck was bandaged and there was blood on his clothes, then his heart thumped.

        “No matter what, you can't break his hand!” Qian didn't care about that, it was her son who was injured now, “Pay my son's hand back!”

        “Your son's hand is a hand, but someone else's hand is not?” Zheng Yue Feng flung his sleeves, came out with Xu Hua walking behind him. Originally, he had wanted Qi Yue to settle this matter himself, for no one else would be able to take advantage of him! But when he heard Qian's bold and confident full of justice on her side words, he couldn't sit still, no wonder Qi Yue and the others didn't like this family, they were really shameless!

        “Zheng Gong zi?” He Zhen called out in surprise, this man was unexpectedly here, then that mean didn't he know all about the matter? 

 Zheng Yue Feng ignored him and continued, “Your son broke into someone's house and stabbed two gers, according to the law, he could be put into the jail!”

        “Jail?!” Qian was shocked by these two words(in the original, its indeed these two words: 坐牢), as a commoner, going to jail was a big deal!

        “No, no, no, it doesn't have to be that serious!” He Tian hurriedly waved his hand, “This is our fault, you have taught him a lesson too, so let's just forget it!”

“Forget it?” Qi Yue smiled coldly, “He Fu broke into my house, failed to steal, held my Fu Lang as a hostage and nearly injured his life, is that something that could be forgotten by just saying so?”

        He was dumbfounded by what he said, the injuries were still there, he want to refuse to admit it, but he was unable to!

       “Village Chief, since Mr. Zheng has already said it just now, then I'll say it straight!” Qi Yue turned to the village chief, arched his hand, “This He Fu, I'm going to send him to the law court!”

        The village chief couldn't say anything, although he didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but what the He family had done this time was too much, moreover they still didn't know how to repent, so he couldn't persuade them even if he wanted to.

        “Qi Yue! You can't do this!” Qian exclaimed, turning to He Ling and saying, “He Ling, he's your big brother cousin, you can't be so heartless!”

        He Ling did not avoid her eyes as he said without much expression, “Then Eldest Aunt, have you ever, even once, treated me as your nephew?”

        “I ......” Qian couldn't speak, how could she consider this fox charming as her nephew! But she had raised him for so many years, shouldn't he give something back? How dare he hold a grudge!

        The expression on her face said it all, He Ling had long known that in the hearts of the He family, he was nothing.

Qi Yue took him by the shoulders, the other man smiled at him, without any sadness in his eyes; those people whom he no longer care, could no longer hurt him!

         “So, let's go now?” Zheng Yue feng spread his fan and shook it lightly, by remembering Xu Hua's injury he was angry, “Just right, this town's government office, our Zheng family is very familiar with!”

        This saying, drew a sideways glance from the village chief, this gentleman in white coat was not a simple person!

         “Zheng Gong zi! Zheng Gong zi!” Qian suddenly looked like she had grabbed her last hope, “Help my son, please help him for the sake of our Zhen'er!”

        “For his sake?” Zheng Yue Feng looked like he had heard some kind of joke and let out a cold laugh, “Why should I for his sake?”

        “Zhen'er, quickly plead to Zheng Gong zi!” Seeing that the other party didn't buy her argument, Qian hastily dragged He Zhen over to him, “Don't you know Zheng Gong zi well? Plead for your brother's mercy!”

        He Zhen who was grabbed by her wrist, shrunken his shoulders, unable to say a word for a long time, all those were his lies to his family, the other party did not pay much attention to him, how could he plead for mercy?

        “This aunt, you can eat your food carelessly, but you can't talk carelessly!” Zheng Yue feng was so angry, how could he be familiar with him, “I don't even remember your ger's name, I don't know him well!”

        “How could it be not familiar? You...” Qian still not giving up, If he doesn't know him well, so what could she do about her son?

        “Mother, it's enough!” He Zhen tugged at her, he didn't want to hear anything that would embarrass him even more!

“Qi Yue! “ He Tian spoke up again, “No matter what, we are still He Ling's blood relatives, you can't go too far!”

        He Ling opened his mouth want to speak, but he was stopped by Qi Yue's action of taking him into his embrace.

        No matter how excessive this family had done, he was after all He Ling's elder, not only that, there were still so many villagers watching outside the door, so he could not let his Fu lang fall into disrepute*, therein he still had to be the villain, “Then what does Uncle He thinks is not too over?”

落人口实*[luò rén kǒu shí]:

 口实：话柄 (a pretext for gossip / a matter for derision)

it refers to the carelessness of doing or speaking, give people a handle on their words.

        He Tian pondered for a long time and said, “I don't think it's necessary to see the officials, let's settle this privately!”

        “Privately?” Qi Yue lowered his eyes, thought for a moment then he smiled, “Actually it's not that impossible!”

        Zheng Yue feng looked at him in surprise, so he was letting them go just like this? But when he saw the smile on the other man's face, he didn't say anything.

        “What are your conditions?” He Tian asked as he stared at him.

        The smile on Qi Yue's lips thickened, “He Fu injured my Fu Lang and Hua Ge'er today, the cost of medical treatment, you have to pay for it, right? Most importantly, Ah Ling was frightened and still has lingering fears until this moment, the cost of calming him down, you have to pay for that too, right?”

[心有餘悸 :xīn yǒu yú jì / trepidation remaining after a trauma (idiom)]

 “Money? My son was also injured, and I haven't even asked you to pay for it!” Her son was lying here unconscious with a broken arm, yet he was asking her for money?

        “You shut up!” He Tian flung his sleeve at her in annoyance. What a foolish woman who still couldn't figure out the situation by now! He turned back and said, “Don't mind her, how much do you want us to pay?”

        “Not much!” Qi Yue laughed, “Fifty taels will be enough.”

        “Fifty taels?!” Qian shouted again, this boy was obviously doing it on purpose!

        “Qi Yue!” He Tian also sank his face, “Isn't fifty taels too much? You can't just sit there and raise the price!”

        “Fifty taels, you should be able to afford it!” Qi Yue's smile remained unchanged as he turned his head sideways to the village chief, “What does the village chief think?”

        After hearing what he said, the village head thought for a moment, as Qi Yue had given 50 taels of silver for He Ling's marriage, Now, not long after the wedding they must not have touched the money yet. The village chief thought about it, he had asked for this amount in order to teach them a lesson. They would have to supplement themselves financially, but it's not a big deal. It was not too over, indeed. He said, “Very well, then!”

        The village chief said so, He family was speechless, for their son had been at fault in the first place!

        “If you really don't want to spend the money, we can go to the court!” Qi Yue's gaze swept over each one of their faces. The look on their faces was truly wonderful!

He Zhen and He Gui hated this big brother so much in their hearts.

He came to Qi Yue's house in a day time to steal something for nothing?! Even now, the family had to pay for helping him, he is really 'couldn't accomplish anything but liable to spoil everything'(成事不足，败事有余). 

He Tian's black face was silent for half a day before he gritted his teeth and squeezed two words out of his mouth, “I'll pay!”

        “Then please arrange for someone to go home and collect the money!” His face was ugly, but Qi Yue's expression was much better.

        “Qi Yue! We'll just send it to you later, right now we have to look after my son first!” Qian rolled her eyes, looked at him with feigned displeasure.

“The village chief happens to be here today, so we'd better settle the matter in front of him!” What the other party had in mind naturally could not escape Qi Yue's eyes.

“That's enough, go home and get the money!” He Tian stopped Qian, who wanted to say something else, it was already ugly enough, don't make it more humiliating!

 Qian bristled and reluctantly stood up from He Fu's side, turned around and went home to get the money. She had thought that she would be able to get rid of the debt after a bit of delay, but she never thought that Qi Yue would be so desperate! 

Qi Yue reached out and invited the village chief and his family into the hall, to took their seats, poured tea and set out snacks.He must be tired of standing around for half a day, so it was time to take a break, as for the He family in the courtyard, who cares about them!

 “Father, do we really have to pay for this?” He Gui looked at them eating and drinking inside, but not paying any attention to them, his heart was full of anger, plus the thought of having to pay for it was even more unbearable!

 “Or what? Let your big brother go to jail?” He Tian was also suffocating in his heart, if he had honestly let He Ling married in the first place, he wouldn't have offended people and caused all this trouble, thinking of this, he turned back to look at the person standing behind him with low brows, “He Zhen, didn't you say that that Zheng Gong zi favored you?” 

He Zhen's body trembled, not daring to look up at him, “I ...... I ......” 

“You're really good! To extract silver from me, you dare to lie about anything!” If not for the wrong place, He Tian would have slapped him on the face. Previously, he was the one who had urged the family to replace He Ling, to get married instead of him, without his knowledge. Not only he failed to get married, but had also offended the person. How dare he lie this time too? From the beginning to the end, this Zheng young master was never even liked him and looked straight at him !

 “Father, I ...... was wrong, I didn't mean to do it!” He Zhen admitted his mistake with a sobbing voice, it was all because of his stupid big brother, otherwise he wouldn't have been exposed!

 “Humph!” He Tian coldly snorted and turned his head away to ignore him, he would settle this score with him later!

Tl notes:

Very slow state (╯︵╰) 

Very bad mood

Sad

Probably cause by lack of sleep