Back to the Countryside

Chapter 57: 闹剧 (Farce) 

Translator : LittleYen

"Ah!!!"

        It was just after the hazy dawn when a high-pitched scream rang out in the He family.The noise made people, whose heads were still a little confused, the two eyebrows knitted together. 

        Qian wrapped her arms around her baby grandson, who had woken up crying, gently patted him. Since He Fu had gone mad, he slept with Qian at night, so that Liu, who took care of him during the day, could rest. 

"Who's shouting and screaming so early in the morning?"

        He Tian was impatient and turned over, intending to go back to sleep. But, not long after, there was another scream. He could hear cries and curses.Who could sleep like this? He got up, put on some clothes and went out with a sullen face, what was all the fuss about?!

        He followed the sound of voices and went to the oldest son's room, where he saw Zheng sitting on the floor by the door, slapping her legs and crying miserably. He Gui was crouching next to her, bare-chested, pulling his hair out, his head bowed and unable to see his face.Inside the house, the sound of the eldest son's wife's sobbing was still faintly heard.

        He didn't feel too good in his heart and walked over with quickened steps, asking, "What's going on here?"

        "Father, you have to do something for me!" When Zheng saw him coming, she cried out as if she had found her backbone, "He Gui, that 'hoodlum', is having an affair with that bitch in the room!"

[杀千刀 lit: kill thousand knives

Curse words. Refers to a person who deserves a thousand cuts. I used hoodlum here but the synonym for this is 'you deserve a miserable death, you would die miserably]

        "What?!" He Tian was shocked. At first, he thought that it was impossible, but it was what they looked like so he said angrily, "He Gui! What's going on here?!"

        He Gui raised his head, his red eyes full of remorse, "I don't know what's going on, I just ......"

        He smacked himself on the head, how could he be so unconscious after drinking a bit of wine and doing such a confusing thing. She was his sister-in-law!

        "What do you want me to say about you?!" He Tian raised his hand as he pointed at him, his fingers were trembling, his second son had an affair with his sister-in-law, where could they put the face of the He family?

        "You deserve a miserable death! Bastard!" Zheng pounced on him, grabbing him and shaking him hard, "How dare you go under that bitch's blanket and do something that 'let me down'? Do you still have any conscience?"

['Let me down' here in the original: do something that 'sorry' to me? But that sound weird in english]

She was awakened by the scream and finding no one sleeping around her, so she got up and went out to look.When she heard cries and apologies coming from her sister-in-law's house, she went in, but the door was slightly open so she went straight in.

        Who would have thought that she would see Liu and He Gui in bed together? Zheng, who was already married, understood what had happened. She couldn't bear to accept the fact that she almost lost her breath!

He Gui let her beat and scold him without fighting back. He didn't even understand how things had become like this.

        "What are you doing?"

        Qian, who had put her grandson back to sleep, heard the noise outside didn't stop, so she put on her clothes and came out to see what was going on.When she arrived, she saw Zheng hitting her son, so of course she wouldn't let her!

        "Let her hit him, he deserves it!" He Tian stopped Qian who wanted to go forward, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot.

        "Family Head, how can you say such things?" Qian thought that he was out of his mind. That was their son.

        He couldn't say anything about the humiliating things they had done. He just threw up his sleeve and turned his back. He said nothing more.

        "They're having sex! They've had sex!" Zheng's emotions had broken down,as her eyes were staring at He Gui wanting to fight him to death!

        She took a few steps over to He Gui, squatted down to hold his shoulders, "Son, tell me, did she seduce you?"

        As soon as she said this, the cries inside the house became even sadder. Liu's shout came, "I don't want to live! I don't want to live anymore!"

        Qian and He Gui were shocked when they entered the house. They saw Liu, who had haphazardly put on her clothes, grabbing a pair of scissors on the table, intending to stab her own heart, but Qian rushed up and snatched it away, "What are you doing?

        He Tian, who had followed her to the door of the house, was relieved to see that she was all right, but after such a scandal, what would happen if someone died?

The scissors were taken away from her. She threw herself on the bed again and cried out. The most important thing for a woman is her innocence but now she has lost it, she has no face to live on!

        "It's so early in the morning, you guys can really make a scene." He Zhen walked slowly to the door of the house, covered his mouth with a silk handkerchief and yawned, looked around at the few people who looked a bit wretched, "What's this?"

        He Tian, who was standing next to him, didn't say anything. Seeing him at such an annoying time would only annoy him more!

When he saw him, He Gui remembered what had happened last night. He looked him straight in the eye and questioned, "He Zhen, why did you let your maid bring me here last night? Was she the one who locked the door?"

        As soon as he spoke, several people realised there was more to this. All of them looked towards He Zhen in unison.

        He Zhen leaned against the door frame and said, "I say, second brother, it's not very kind of you to blame me for what you've done wrong, is it? I did ask the servant to invite you. You went back after we finished talking, but it's your problem if you turn into the wrong house and enter the wrong nest."

        "He Gui, don't give yourself any excuses!" Zheng wiped the tears from her face and stood up from the floor. Even if He Zhen had called him over, would he be able to force him to do something with Liu? 

        He Gui ignored her and added with a sullen face, "We haven't told you anything, how do you know that I've done something wrong?"

        He Zhen paused, yet he didn't say anything. This second brother of his had always been quick-witted; he was indeed very clever!

        "Did you add something to the wine?" He wasn't right at all yesterday; how could he have been so impulsive and done something like that ?! 

        "Was it you? He Zhen, did you also tamper with the bird's nest?" Hearing his words, Liu also remembered something and questioned excitedly. She had been so hot since she returned to her room yesterday; she was not even conscious afterwards, so she had no memory of what happened with He Gui!

        He Zhen didn't panic at all, as if he wasn't the one being questioned, "You guys are giving me the blame for all this with the touch of your lips? Father also drank the wine. We all ate the bird's nest. How come you two are the only ones who are impulsive? Sister-in-law, you're just 'being a whore and still wanting to set up the memorial arch'!"

[ 婊子立牌坊 : 'Indulge oneself in prostitution while boasting one's chastity'

Ex: a person who becomes a bitch or steals someone but also pretends to be a chaste woman and sets up an archway for her/himself also the same as doing bad things secretly but pretending to be a gentleman.]

       "You ......" Liu was so angry with him that her chest choked thus she couldn't say anything for a long time.

        He had been sarcastically saying that they were having an affair. He Gui was also annoyed. Suddenly something flashed through his mind, and without saying a word, he searched the house.

        "What are you doing?" Qian looked at him in disbelief, how could he still be in the mood to look for something at a time like this?! 

        On the ground in the corner of the house, He Gui found a small handful of burnt out incense ashes, he pointed to that and said, "We don't have the habit of lighting incense in our house, He Zhen, should we look in your luggage to see if there is such incense?"

        It was after he had entered the room and smelt a fragrance that he had started to become off. If he was right, it must have been something that He Zhen had asked the maid beside him to light while they were eating.

        In the eyes of the He family, who had already begun to look at him with suspicion, He Zhen looked at the ashes of the incense that had been left behind, covering his lips, laughed softly, his laughter sounding very happy. 

When he had laughed enough, he looked around at the faces of those who were present and said, "I did it. What do you want to do then?"

        "Bastard!" He Tian was so annoyed that he raised his hand to hit him, but when he met his gaze, he didn't lay a hand on him. Now this ger was no longer someone he could just hit, he had to take into account the face of the landlord.

        "You bitch!" Liu pounced on him and tried to scratch him, but was stopped by Qian, who was thinking the same thing as He Tian, that it would be bad if the landlord saw her scratching He Zhen. 

        "Even if I did it ......" He Zhen held up the hairpin on his head, not taking their annoyance in his stride, "it doesn't change the fact that the second brother and big sister-in-law are having an affair!"

        As soon as the words left his mouth, all three of them turned pale.He was absolutely right, no matter who did it, from now on they couldn't even maintain the superficial harmony in this family!

        "Why did you do that? Why?!" Liu sat down on the floor as if all her strength had been drained, covering her face and crying in pain. How could she face He Fu in the future? How could she face Zheng?

        "Why? Don't you know in your hearts?" He Zhen withdrew the smile from his face then his eyes turned cold, "Do you feel humiliated? I felt even more humiliated when I was with that old man in the Ma family!"

        He turned his gaze to stare at him straight in the eyes as He Gui had questioned him earlier, "Are you angry at being set up? Did you ever think that I would be angry too when you set me up to be the little wife of Landlord Ma? Each and every one of you standing here is not in a position to question why I did what I did!"

        They didn't expect him to hold such a grudge against them for this, to such an extent. As a ger, shouldn't he have to listen to his parents?(regarding to whom he is going to marry) How dare he take revenge on them!

        He Zhen took a deep breath as he calmed down his emotions, "In your hearts, I'm afraid you still think I'm ungrateful, right?

        "Zhen'er, no matter what you shouldn't treat your second brother and your big sister-in-law like this!" Qian almost didn't recognize him anymore, the ger who used to only throw tantrums when he felt wronged, now he had so many twists and turns in his mind!

        "It's not up to you to say whether I should or shouldn't!" He had lost all attachment to this family. What exactly he was willing to do to them was up to his mood.

"He Zhen, aren't you afraid that you will have nowhere to go after you lose the favour of Landlord Ma?" He Gui's eyes were red, not knowing whether it was advice or a threat.

        He Zhen smiled coldly, not taking his words to heart, "Don't worry about it, I will definitely have a place to live."

        He was still in favour with the landlord now because of his young age, but it would be hard to say when he was older, He Zhen had thought about all this, so he must try to have a son, as long as he had a son, his good days would not end.

        "I've told the landlord I'll only be back here for one day. Now I'm going back there, I'll come back to visit again later when I have time!" He Zhen did not care whether they had anything to say or not, he turned around with his maid and left.

        They were left with mixed feelings in their hearts, feeling like they were having a nightmare. Everything that should and shouldn't have happened had happened!

        When he got on the carriage, He Zhen spoke to the maid who had been following him with a sullen face, "I think you know clearly what to say and what not to say."

        The maid's body stiffened and she replied in a trembling voice, "Tai Fu Lang please don't worry, this servant understands."

        With her assurance, He Zhen turned his face sideways. He reached out and lifted the curtain of the carriage. The scenery that he had passed along the way was all too familiar to him, but now he only felt strange by looking at it. He squinted his eyes, feeling the hot sunlight on his face, but his heart felt like a layer of frost, he murmured coldly, "He Ling, next time when I am back, it will be your turn."