Back to the Countryside

Chapter 53: 吴家 (Wu Family) 

Translator: LittleYen

"We bought all the usual things.It didn't cost much,since sister-in-law is pregnant, so it's not convenient for her to go to town, so we brought it back," Qi Yue said this,at the same time he also shoving the things into Lin Sheng's hands, telling him to take and put the items. 

        "You guys always remember (us)!" Wu Yulan's nose was a little sour, her own mother didn't even worry about whether she ate well or not, but these two people were always thinking about her. 

        Liang, who was at the side, saw their appearance and dress, she could guess who they were. From their village, there were several girls and gers who had married over. Every time they went back to visit their relatives, they would talk about something new and interesting,so from their mouths she often heard the names of these two people. She knew that they were having a good relationship with her daughter, so she paid more attention to them.

It was the first time she had seen them in person, Liang quietly looked him up and down, thinking that this He Ling was just like the rumours said, with his seducing vixen face,he indeed didn't look like a decent ger.

        On the other hand, the man called Qi Yue really looks like a rich young master. He is really generous, bringing so many things, it must cost a lot of money! This really makes her eyes red, with such a person( having a good friendship), it would be strange if her daughter said that she had no money in hand.

"These two are Qi Yue and He Ling,right?" Seeing that no one introduced them to her, Liang opened her mouth by her own initiative (in order to know them). 

After hearing what Wu Yulan had said, He Ling's impression of her mother was not very good. Among the children, there might be a more favoured one, but no matter what, one could not be that indifferent to the other child. 

He smiled reluctantly at the person and did not speak.

        Qi Yue didn't say anything either, but he gave a nod as a greeting.

        "In-laws, as you can see, we have guests at home, so it's not convenient to entertain you. Hurry back while it's still early, so you can still make it for lunch!" Seeing that she still wanted to talk, Fang gave her an order to expel her, as people like her and the He family were of similar morality and conduct. It was better to have less contact with her. 

Liu Jia village was not too far from Gu Shui village, it was almost half an hour's walk, so if she walked now, she could indeed make it to lunch. 

Liang was annoyed that she had come all the way over here, but they didn't say that she could stay for a meal. 

No matter what, she was still in-laws! Not a bit of courtesy!

        "Yulan, your little brother is lying in bed now, in pain, his bones have been broken by someone! That's your biological brother, you can't leave him alone!" Liang's tears fell one by one, as pitiful as she could be.

"Mother, we have to eat as a family too. Where can I get the money to pay for my little brother's medical treatment?" Wu Yulan's heart was sad, if she was the one who was injured today, it would already, good enough if her mother would come to see her. "Yesterday,why would he have provoked people? If only,he knew that it would be like this."

"Where did he provoke people?" Hearing her saying that her son was not good, Liang raised her voice, "It was so crowded! (lit: Squeezed like that!) What kind of ger is so precious that he can't be touched? He beat up your little brother like that, so powerful that even the constables can't charge him!"

He Ling's eyes widened as she finished talking, what she said about, could it be...

Qi Yue raised his eyebrow, obviously thinking of something too, he hooked his lips, smiled coldly.

This was really a coincidence.

Fang gave a snort, sneered in her heart, what do you mean by "accidentally bumped into"?If he hadn't really taken advantage of that ger, would the husband have beaten him up like that without a reason?

        "Yulan, mom knows that you need to spend money here too, if you can't, you can borrow from someone who has plenty of money." Liang wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve, as she spoke, her eyes kept glancing at Qi Yue's side, her meaning was very clear.

Wu Yulan smiled bitterly, her mother would not have said such things to her in front of others,if she really cared even a little about this daughter of her. If the other party was a narrow-minded person, they would probably not even come and visit her again. 

Lin Sheng held his wife and patted her back, fearing that her emotions might be unstable and 'move the fetus' again, but in his heart, he was angry, blaming himself for being useless and unable to help her at all.

        "For those who have plenty of money, the money itself doesn't come from the wind either, so on what basis should we borrow the money?" When Fang saw that she had taken the idea to Qi Yue's side, she really felt that the shamelessnes's degree was the same as the He family.

Liang felt that her daughter's mother-in-law was a real nuisance. The person didnt even lack any silver, so what's the harm in 'borrowing' it?

 "I'm just making a suggestion!"

"If you're worried about not having money to treat the injuries,actually I can help." Qi Yue suddenly spoke up and drew everyone's attention to him.

        "Qi xiao zi!" Fang looked at him disapprovingly.He had nothing to do with this, so why should he take it on himself?!

        "Are you serious?" Liang was delighted, this man was really generous, so different from the Lin family. "If that's the case, then I'd like to thank you!"

"Aunt Wu is being polite." Qi Yue smiled and said, "Then tomorrow, send the person over to my place ba!"

"Huh?" Liang was stunned for a moment, 

Wasn't he willing to give some silver? Who does she need to send? 

"I am a doctor, bring him here, I will see the injury and then I will know how to treat it!" Qi Yue looked at her and said, "If I could cure it, there would be no need to spend the money."

        "Yes, how could I forget that Qi Yue is a doctor?" Fang slapped her forehead, she had only been angry earlier and hadn't remembered this.

        Liang bristled but she had nothing to say. She wasn't very happy about not getting the silver, but if the other party could really cure her son, it would be considered as gaining a benefit too. 

After agreeing to send the patient over tomorrow, Fang once again gave her any words or behavior that was intended to turn Liang out but this time, she didn't stick around and went back in either a happy or unhappy mood.

        "I've given you all a hard time this time!" Wu Yulan was a bit sorry for them.

It was merely a visit to their house, but it had caused a lot of trouble.

        "It's not 'sister-in-law's fault!" He Ling took her hand,moreover, he was the one who caused the trouble, "I'm the one who should say sorry."

        "You're the victim!" Qi Yue wrinkled his brow when he heard him say that. It was his A Ling who had suffered, nothing is wrong with him!

"What are you guys talking about?"

        The other three people were confused,completely unable to understand their conversation.

        He Ling opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, for a ger, such things were 'difficult to say'(难以启齿).

[难以启齿: to be too embarrassed to mention sth (idiom) / to find it hard to speak about sth]

Qi Yue was not in a good mood when he recalled yesterday's incident, he steadied himself before saying to Wu Yulan, "Yesterday, the person who beat up your brother was me."

        They were astonished that Qi Yue, who had always had a good temper and was not easily angered, unexpectedly hit someone in the middle of the street!

Fang's reaction was quicker, she took a look at He Ling and asked, "Then the ger he molested …" (Tl: I laughed at this ) 

Qi Yue nodded with a black face, if he had protected Ah Ling more closely, he wouldn't have been taken advantage of by others!

        "This bastard!" Wu Yulan cursed angrily, although she had always felt that her brother was unreliable, she had never thought that he would do such a dirty deed to Ling Ge'er whom she had always been fond of!

        Lin Sheng gave Qi Yue a thumbs up in his heart, every time he saw that Wu Xu didn't take his wife into consideration, he already wanted to beat him up. This time, Brother Qi kind of did it for him too!

Qi Yue laughed coldly in his heart, the jerk was really a jerk, he didn't even care about his own sister and there was no excuse for him to do such a thing, but unfortunately he fell into his hands.

The other party was obviously more anxious than they were about the treatment of the wounds. The next morning, Fang knocked on the door of their house, saying that Liang had come with her son.

They borrowed a bullock cart from a fellow villager to rush here after breakfast. Wu Xu was arranged to sit in the hall, his face pale,even moving his hand a little now hurt so much that he dared not touch it.

        "Sister, is that man reliable?"

        Wu Xu's wife, Zhu Fang, also had doubts in her heart.

If his medical skill was really brilliant, why would he stay in such a poor countryside? It's not like he can make much money.

Wu Yulan didn't pay any attention to her, looking at her brother's bloodless face, she felt a very mixed feeling in her heart. She had grown up taking care of him so she still felt some pain for him, but what he had done was really thoroughly disappointing. 

Seeing that she didn't even look at her, Zhu Fang bristled while feeling unhappy. She looked down, patting the child in her arms. She was still holding a grudge since the last time she had made a few remarks to her. She is really a narrow-minded person. 

As she was thinking about it, she heard the sound of voices from outside.It was Fang who had returned with the person. When she looked up and saw the person who had entered the house, she took a few panicked steps back, "You, what are you doing here?"

Her voice was so sharp that the baby in her arms cried out in fear!

Before Liang could blame her, Wu Xu also took a particularly big step backwards and fell off the stool, hitting his injured hand therefore making him sweat.

"Son, what are you doing?" Liang was distressed and rushed over to help him up, "Did you fall?"

        Wu Xu was helped to stand up by her, when he met those smiling yet not smiling eyes, his body trembled, only he knew how much regret he felt in his heart.

The other day, when he saw He Ling's beautiful appearance, he got horny, although he had Qi Yue with him, but he thought at that time that such a wealthy gentleman like him should only play around with such a charming ger, even if he secretly touched him a few times, the other party would not take it seriously, and there were so many people that day, how could he know who touched him?

But it was this naive way of thinking that brought him trouble, provoking people that he shouldn't have provoked,then getting a good beating. They later found out from others that the gentleman with the folding fan was the young master of the Zheng family. What kind of family was the Zheng family? It was 'a local head of snake' in town ah! Wu Xu was so 'regretful for not taking another action at the time'! 

[ 地頭蛇 /dì tóu shé : local bully / tyrant / regional mafia boss]

[ 悔不当初: to regret one's past deeds (idiom)]

"Mother, the person who beat up Wu Xu like this is him ......" Zhu Fang came up to Liang's side and whispered to her.

        "What?!" Liang was stunned, then she pointed at Qi Yue in anger and asked, "Did you beat up my son?"

        Qi Yue didn't look like he was being pressed, as he said with a smile on his face, "It was me."

"Mother, what are you doing?" Wu Xu used his uninjured hand to hold her arm, they could not afford to offend this man!

"Wu Xu, you don't have to be afraid, mother is here!" Liang didn't understand his meaning at all, she brushed his hand away, took two steps forward, crossed her arms and shouted, "No wonder you want to heal my son, so you're feeling guilty! You look so well-dressed, but you are a hypocrite, daring to hurt someone like this!"

        "Mother!" Wu Xu was desperate, his mother was trying to harm them!

        "This case is my little brother's fault, mom, don't be unreasonable!" Wu Yulan couldn't bear to hear her accusing Qi Yue.

What is wrong for him to stand up for his 'Fu Lang'?

"Unreasonable? Wu Yulan, do you know about this too?" Seeing her speak up to support Qi Yue, Liang aimed the criticism at her. "Good, you know that your little brother was beaten by this man, yet you don't even ask for justice, what a heartless person!"

"You're not afraid to speak such words!"

Fang held Wu Yulan back, "You almost caused your own daughter to miscarry, you really heartless!"

        "How am I not sincere? !" Liang was still a bit guilty about it, but she kept holding on to it, which is too petty as a person. "Don't change the conversation! This man must give me an explanation today!"

Fang has really seen it! A thief crying 'Stop the thief! ' is this kind of person. "Your son can't keep his hands to himself,yet he dares to ask for an explanation!"

( 賊喊捉賊 ) : zéi hǎn zhuō zéi

lit. a thief crying "Stop the thief!" (idiom) / fig. to accuse sb of a theft and try to sneak away oneself / to cover up one's misdeeds by shifting the blame onto others

"Who knows what's going on?" Liang's mouth was even more unstoppable as she became agitated, "That ger called He Ling really has the appearance of seducing vixen, he doesn't look decent, maybe he's the one that seduced him!"

Seeing her say such things, Fang and her entire family were so angry that their faces turned red, she was not afraid of 'karma' for saying such things about an innocent ger!

Qi Yue, who had been smiling and watching her spill her guts,the smile on his face becoming even stronger, he swept a glance at Wu Xu, whose face was even more ugly than before, "Is it the hand or the foot?" he said slowly.

His voice was not loud, but every word reached Wu Xu's ears, he sat down on the ground as his legs went weak.

Zhu Fang had not expected her mother-in-law to be so impulsive, if she had known, she would not have told her.

Seeing her son fall to the ground again, Liang couldn't be bothered to scold anymore, and rushed over to help him up.

        "How do you choose?" Qi Yue looked at him with the expression like he was looking at a dead object.

"My fault! It's all my fault! Please forgive me!" Wu Xu pushed his mother away, immediately he kowtowed to him, hitting the ground again and again, as if he could not feel the pain.

"What are you doing, son?" Liang reached out to hold her son.She couldn't understand, what hands ah, what feet ah, why was her son so scared? "Why are you...this ..."

"Mother!" Wu Xu yelled at her, interrupting her words, "You are trying to get me killed!"

        "I ......" Liang didn't understand why he said that, she was her mother, how could she harm him?

        "Originally, looking at sister-in-law Yulan's face, I was going to cure your hand!" Qi Yue's smile didn't reach the bottom of his eyes, "It's just a pity that you have a good mother!"

Wu Xu bowed his back in dismay. The other party's words meant that his hand would only be ruined!

        "You ......" Liang realised that she had just inadvertently cut off her son's hope. "You have to heal him, you're the one who made him ......"

        Qi Yue's dark eyes stared straight at her, making her unable to utter a word. The summer weather had already begun but she shivered with cold.

"In the future, don't ever come again to Gu Shui Village!" Qi Yue put his hand on his back, his face expressionless, "Otherwise, I don't mind disabled another hand of your son!"

The three Wu family members came with anticipation and left with trepidation, carrying with them a heart full of remorse, never daring to set foot in this place again.

        "I'm sorry sister-in-law, I wasn't able to heal your brother!" Qi Yue gave an arch of his hand to Wu Yulan, "I hope you'll forgive me!"

(Tl: ow… Qi Yue such a gentleman,asking for forgiveness from Yulan˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚) 

"Brother Qi you can't say that, you've already given me enough face by holding back from 'ruining' him once more!" She knew how much the other party cared for He Ling, he would not have spared her little brother if it had been someone else. Wu Yulan was so disappointed in her mother,the fact that she would never have felt wrong either for anyone else or for her.

"I just hope they live in peace in the future and don't make any more trouble!" Fang sighed and took her by the shoulders, patting her.

        Qi Yue, on hearing this, curled his lips and smiled, fearing that there would be no more peace, Wu Xu had lost one of his hands so he would not be able to work as well as before. The mother who broke his hopes of recovery will surely be blamed, their life will become more and more difficult, their relationship will slowly become bad, but no matter what they will not dare to come back to the Lin family.

        The author has something to say: 

Finished a copy of the side story ~