Back to the Countryside

Chapter 47 :  知道 (Know) 

Translator: LittleYen

He Gui entered the house with great enthusiasm, full of joy, when he entered the hall, he saw that besides his parents, He Zhen was also there, his expression narrowed a bit."Di Di (younger brother)is also here?"

        "Second brother is so happy, has something good happened to you?" He Zhen wiped the tears from his face and asked him, pretending that nothing was wrong. These days, he has been crying and begging his father for forgiveness every day, but the other side always keeps silent. If he was kept at home, how would he be able to find Zheng Gong zi? If he ran out of medicine in one month, it would all be over.

        "Oh, it's nothing, I just heard a few joking words!" He Gui found a random excuse to put him off, while inadvertently glancing at his father.

        When He Tian met his eyes, his heart understood, and he impatiently waved his hand at He Zhen, "Don't bother me anymore these days, go back to your own house and stay there."

        Since he had already kicked him out, if he said more, he would probably only make the other party angry, so He Zhen had no choice but to go out with red eyes.

        He Gui watched him go out, then followed him to the door and looked around to make sure he was back in the house before he turned around and said happily, "Father, Mother, it's done!"

        "Really?" He Tian stood up excitedly and said uneasily, "Are you sure it's done and there are no mistakes?"

"I'm sure, it's done!" He Gui took out a message from his pocket and handed it to him. "This is the post I asked the matchmaker to send to him, the eight characters and the portrait. After that he returned the post which means the date of the wedding has been set, they will come to pick him up in ten days from now."

He Tian took it and looked at it, but couldn't make out anything. He couldn't read, so he asked, "What about the betrothal gift? How much will it be?"

        He Gui couldn't read either, but the matchmaker had passed on to him all the details that he had asked, "Twenty taels of silver."

        " Only twenty taels?" Qian bristled with dissatisfaction, "When Qi Yue married He Ling he even gave her fifty taels!"

        "Mother, the amount is not little, this is just the cash, Master Ma even gave two boxes of silk clothes and a box of silver jewellery!" He Gui then lowered his voice and said, "Di Di is only marrying as a concubine, these are decent, we don't even need to pay the dowry too."

        When she heard that the silk clothes and jewellery would also be given, Qian's face looked better, when she thought that he would also be able to give the family silver in the future, her earlier discontent was gone now!

        He Tian also thought it was a good idea to get rid of that troublemaker Ger and give the family some silver,it was the same as killing two birds with one stone.

"Let's be careful these days, don't let Zhen know about this, we will marry him off as soon as the day comes."

        "Father, don't worry, we'll keep our mouths shut!" Even if he didn't say anything, He Gui would still keep the secret, and if he found out, he would definitely make a mess.

        He Zhen stood outside the door, his hand tightly covering his mouth, his eyes wide with full of disbelief, they were actually going to marry him off as a concubine! Master Ma? Wasn't that the landlord of Shangzhuang Village? An old man of almost 60 years old!

        If he was to be married off like that, what happiness would he have in his life?

His husband would be a gentleman like Qi Yue and Zheng Yuefeng, not some old man with one foot in the coffin, then he might as well die!

Out of anger, his eyes were bloodshot, even so, he didn't dare let himself make a sound, for if his parents and elder brother heard him, they would have locked him up!

        He Zhen looked up at the empty courtyard and listened sideways to the sound of voices in the hall, and with a flash of annoyance in his eyes, he quickly crossed the courtyard, pulled open the hidden door and went out.

        How could he just let them marry him off, when they had been given the silver, but had not given any thought to his feelings? Everyone in the family now saw him as a burden and was trying to get rid of him.He would not let them have their way, he would be better off than all of them! Let them all envy him!

         When he finally saw the familiar brick house, He Zhen quickened his pace and pounced on the door, rapping vigorously on it, even if it hurt his hands, he couldn't care less, he just begged the person inside to open the door for him quickly!

        He felt that a long time had passed, or perhaps not so long, it just felt long to him, when the door was opened in front of him and he saw the person he adored so much, tears rolled down from He Zhen's eyes, "Big brother Qi ......"

        Contrary to his excitement, as soon as he saw the person standing outside the door, Qi Yue frowned.The sound of tapping on the door was so urgent, he had thought that it was the Lin sheng's family again who were having something, but if he had known it was him, he would have ignored it, "He Zhen, we don't know each other that well, so it's better to call me by my first name!"

        "Big brother Qi, help me, please help me!" He Zhen reached out his hand to tug at his sleeve, but was dodged by the other man. He did not insist, withdrew his hand with a shudder, sobbing uncontrollably.

"If you've come to my door to caused me bad luck, I'm sorry I can't entertain you!" Qi Yue raised his hand to close the door, he wasn't in the mood to watch him cry here!

        "No!" He Zhen put his hand against the door with a pleading face, "I beg you Big brother Qi, my father and mother ...... my father and mother, they want to marry me off to the landlord, to be the little wife!"

        Qi Yue heard his words and let out a snort, "Isn't that great? As you wished, you finally married a rich family!"

        "But he's almost sixty years old!" He was older than his father, how could he be his husband, "Big brother Qi, I'm not even sixteen yet, if I marry him, my whole life will be over!"

        Qi Yue put his hand behind his back and raised his eyebrows, "So?"

        "Big brother Qi, you ......" He Zhen looked at him with teary eyes, bit her lips and sobbed, "You can marry me as a little wife, I will be good and obedient, I will never compete with my cousin for anything, I will respect him well and serve you well, you please accept me!"

        Qi Yue's face sank and a cold aura flashed across his dark eyes, "Your ability to talk to yourself is getting better and better, who are you going to marry and where are you going to marry, is it any of my business?"

        He Zhen cried even harder, tears falling down as if he was about to lose his breath, "That's a pit of fire ah, Big brother Qi, are you going to stand by and watch me being pushed into it?"

[Pit of fire is a figurative word for 'living hell']

        "A pit of fire?" A cold smile appeared on the corner of Qi Yue's lips and his eyes were even colder, "Isn't that what you had arranged for Ah Ling? Now that my Ah Ling has me to guard him, this pit of fire, there has to be another person to jump into it, doesn't it?"

"Qi, big brother Qi ......," He Zhen's body buckled at the look in his eyes, as if he had returned to the day when he and He Ling got married, the other party looked at him in such a way that made him fall into an ice cave!

        When he saw his reaction, Qi Yue suddenly smiled gently again, as he always did, like a gentleman, he gave him a nod and said, "He Xiao Ge er from the He Family, I will not go to your wedding banquet, so wish you both grow old together."

[白头偕老: (to live together until the) white hairs of old age (idiom); to live to a ripe old age in conjugal bliss / until death do us part

Idiom 白头 Gray hair / 偕 common / Husband and wife love each other until they are old]

        The door slammed shut in front of him, He Zhen's legs fell to the ground, as if he had been drained of all strength. Only then did he realise that even if he died in front of Qi Yue one day, he would never look at him!

        He looked around at a loss, not knowing what he should do, just go back and be carried into the landlord's house in ten days' time to be a concubine? No! No! He couldn't just give up,if Qi Yue is not willing, but there is still Zheng Yue Feng,that man who was not as cold-blooded and heartless as Qi Yue!

        He Zhen used his sleeve to wipe away the tears on his face, slowly got up from the ground, took one last look at the closed door and turned his head away. Just one door had completely separated his life from He Ling's, one beautiful, the other wretched, he had fought so hard for it but could only get nothing, but what about the other party? By depending on a piece of beautiful skin, he easily had everything. He was not willing and would not give up just like that!

❃❃❃✿✿✿✿

        Zheng holding a bowl of noodles, reluctantly raised her hand to knock on He Zhen's room door, she had to feed such a freeloader every day moreover she still had to send the food over.If not for the plan of get him marry off in ten days, she wouldn't be happy to serve him!

        There is no way out, no one else in the family can do this job except her, not to mention their parents, her elder brother is now crazy and locked up in He Ling's former room, her big sister-in-law has to take care of him and the children every day, and He Gui, as the second brother, is also inconvenienced, so she, as the second sister-in-law, has to work hard.

        After knocking several times but no one answered, Zheng rolled her eyes, knowing that he was probably having another tantrum, she raised her voice and said, "Zhen ge'er, I've come to bring you your lunch, I'm coming in!"

        After saying that, without waiting for a reply from inside, she pushed the door and went in, chanting, "I say, don't get angry, wait a few days until your parents' anger subsides, then you can ......"

         As she looked up, she noticed that there was no one in the room. Her heart skipped a beat,so she put down the bowl she was holding to look under the cupboard and bed,to make sure that the person was gone. Then she panicked and ran out.

        He Tian and the others were eating around the table in the hall, when they saw her rushing in in a panic, they frowned.

        He Gui put down his chopsticks and asked, " Have you been chased by a ghost, what are you doing running so fast?"

        "Aiyou, something bad happened!" Zheng was in no mood to argue with him, "Zhen Ge'er has disappeared!"

        "What?!" He Gui stood up at once and raised his voice.

        "Have you seen everything carefully?" He Tian also stopped his chopsticks, no longer in the mood to eat.

        "Of course I've searched for it!" Zheng's heart was anxious, if this person disappeared, then who would marry after ten days, "I even searched under the bed!"

        He Tian's face was sullen as he got up and went out of the hall, straight to He Zhen's room, which was empty and no one was there. He stood there, his face growing ugly.

        "Family Head, our Zhen ge'er didn't run away from home, did he?" Qian's heart was filled with anxiety and anger, everything was good before, how could he have disappeared suddenly?

He Gui looked around the room carefully and said, "Father, none of his clothes or anything else is missing!"

        He Tian did not answer the question. If the things were not missing,then he was not planning to run away from home but it was a sudden run out.

        "Father ......" He Gui looked at his face and said, "Is it possible that what we said last morning was heard by him? He is unwilling in his heart, so ...... "

        He Tian's heart also thought so, if not he was so sure that he would not dare to run away without saying a word, "marriage matters, since ancient times is the parents' orders, through matchmaker's words, he still dares to be unhappy?

        "Father,you calm down! The question is where are we going to find him now?" He knew that if his younger brother found out about this, there would be chaos, and his self-respecting nature would not allow him to marry as a concubine to an old man who was over half a century old!

        "Family Head, do you think he will go to Qi Yue?" Qian still knew a few things about her ger, knowing this kind of news, he would certainly go directly to beg him, even if the other side didn't like him at all!

        He Tian thought it was possible, but it had been so long yet there was no movement, which meant he must have been sent away by the other side.Their family is now in the hearts of the other side is just like the enemy so it will be weird for the other side to pay attention to him!

        "Why don't we look around the village first?" He Gui obviously had the same opinion, in fact he suspected that He Zhen was not in the village now, apart from Qi Yue, he could still think of someone else!

        "Let's ask around first, see if anyone in the village has seen him!" He Tian sighed, thinking that he was unlucky for 8 life times to have such a trouble-making Ger!

Translator :

Recently it's difficult for me to concentrate, that's why I thought I am slower than usual. Btw, Thanks to 'Yese02' for buying me a ko-fi,so this chapter is dedicated for her though I do not know which series is she reading, maybe all.