Back to the Countryside

Chapter 8: Rumor

He left He Zhen's room, put the cloth bag inside his room, he took the bucket from the kitchen and went out.

At the moment, it was dark outside. The villagers seldom wander outside at this time so there is no one on the road. He carried the bucket all the way to the well in the village. Fortunately, the moonlight is brighter today and he can still see clearly.

He put down the bucket, reached for the handle of the shaft on the well, and shook the bucket down. The creaking sound of the wood shaft was particularly obvious in the silent environment.

Hearing the sound of water entering, he Ling changed the direction to shake up. The bucket full of water weighed a lot, and his speed slowed down a bit. 

"He Ling?"

Someone called his name behind him. He stopped his hand, turned his head to look, the man was a little far away so he couldn't see his face clearly. When the man walked over to him, honly recognized it when he got closer, "Big Brother Lin Sheng?"

Lin Sheng came to him. He had just gone to Wang Tie sheng's house in the village. After talking for a long time, he quickened his pace to go home. Unexpectedly, on the edge of village's well, he saw someone fetching water. "It's pitch dark, why do you carry water at this time?"

"There's no water at home, just come out and pick some!" He Ling reluctantly smiles at him and continues to move on his hand.

    "Okay, you are being bullied again!"

 As he got closer, Lin Sheng also saw the red slap marks on his face. He shook his head and reached out to lift the bucket that had reached the edge of the well and pour the water into He Ling's own bucket, "That family is really a bunch of hard-hearted people!"

    "Big brother Lin Sheng, I will do it myself!" Seeing Lin Sheng hung the bucket back on the rope, reaching out to grasp the handle, He Ling quickly rejected it.

    "Just stay here. I'll do it for only two or three times. You'll have to shake it for a long time!" Lin Sheng pushed him away and didn't let him start. 

 "You, don't have to grin and bear it*(逆來順受) all the time. Although they have raised you, But for these past few years of 'to work like an ox, to work like a horse'* (做牛做馬: means to work extremely hard) it should be enough for paying them back. You don’t owe them anything!"

[ Notes on 逆來順受:

Meaning:  to resign oneself to adversity (idiom)/ to submit meekly to insults, maltreatment, humiliation etc

As idiom: refers to an attitude of obedience and tolerance to harsh treatment ]

"I'm fine." He Ling bowed his head, sometimes he would also think like that, but it was his father's family after all. If he had resentment in his heart, would his father be sad in heaven?

    "Let's go, I'll take you back!" The two buckets of water were full, and Lin Sheng directly put it on his shoulders. 

    "Big brother Lin Sheng, it's okay that you help me draw the water, but it is better for me to carry the water by myself." It was so late that he felt sorry for delaying Linsheng's home return.

    Lin Sheng didn't care about the hand he stretched out.He carried the water directly and walked forward. "Calling me big brother, then I will not make you call me that in vain. Don’t worry, I’ll give it to you at your door. I won’t let your family know!"

    He Ling had no choice but to follow walking behind him.

    Fortunately, everyone in the family was in the house and no one was wandering around the yard. Lin Sheng put the water in front of his house and left.

    He Ling took the water back to the stove room and boiled the bath water for He Zhen. He waited for him to clean up the mess then he returned to the room, took out the cloth bag He Zhen gave him, rubbed his little dizzy head, start to do the embroidering work stitch by stitch.

    When the gate was knocked, Qi Yue was drinking tea and chatting with Lin Sheng in the main room. He asked Lin Sheng to continue sitting and went out to open the door.

    The person standing outside the door was Wu Yulan. He just said why would someone came here to look for him? I'm not even familiar with the villagers. 

"Why did my sister-in-law come here? Come in, Brother Lin is here too!"

"I know. I'm here to find him!" 

Wu Yulan smile at him and follow him into the door.When they arrived at the hall, Lin Sheng was a little surprised to see his wife, "Why are you here?"

   Qi Yue asked Wu Yulan to sit down, poured a cup of tea in front of her, she thanked him, took the tea and took a sip. She said: "Did you see He Ling yesterday?"

    Hearing the familiar name, Qi Yue's hand in the teacup suddenly paused, then calmly put it on his lips and took a sip, then put the cup down, put it back on the table. 

    "Yes, I came back from Tiesheng's house yesterday. On the way back, I saw him drawing water by the well alone. It was pitch dark then I helped him!" After speaking,Lin Sheng seemed to think of something and said, "What's the matter? You're not thinking about anything, are you? "

    "Of course not, I guess that's what happened!" Wu Yulan took another sip of tea.

 With some anger on her face, "but you can't stop others thinking and mix up gossip about it!"

    Today, as usual, Wu Yulan, with her unfinished clothes, gathered with the women in the village to do the work and chatted about her family.

But everyone looked at her with weird eyes, and they all talked about "how good a man is, there are times when he thought about outsiders" and "good looking people will seduce people." After hearing these words, heads in the cloud*云里雾里, she asked a few more questions, some people hesitated and told her that someone saw his family Lin Sheng walking with He Ling together last night, they looked very close!

[云里雾里 ( 雲裏霧裏 );Read yún lǐ wù lǐ

head in the clouds means bewildered/puzzled look]

    Wu Yulan's face is a bit ugly right now, it's not that she suspects Lin Sheng, what her own man is like, she knows in her heart, she is angry with those who make false claims* (搬弄是非) 

, and they dare to talks about things without a head or shadow*( 没头没影) and not afraid of rotting their tongue!

[没头没影: baseless (story) ]

[搬弄是非: deliberately picking up, or making random discussions behind the scenes, causing disputes]

    "What?! How can they talk nonsense?! Isn't it just ,for no reason,making someone's bad reputation?", After listening to Wu Yulan's words, Lin Sheng slaps the table angrily. This kind of thing doesn't matter to him, but it's different for an unmarried ger! 

    Qi Yue's fingers rubbed gently on the edge of the cup, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

    "Isn't it!" Wu Yulan was also annoyed. His man was obviously kind, but he was rumored to be unbearable. It was truly anger her to death. 

    Lin Sheng looked at Qi Yue, who has not yet speak from the beginning, with a wry smile, "I let Brother Qi look at the joke!"

    "Where!" Qi Yue removed his hand from the cup and grinned at him. 

"It's just a person with a dirty heart who hears gossip. The one who is clean is clean*(清者自清) , and there's no need to care too much about others !"

[清者自清 pinyin :qīng zhě zì qīng, which means a person who is innocent, even if he does not say something to clarify himself, he will naturally prove his innocence. ]

    "Hahaha... What Brother Qi said really suits my appetite!" Lin Sheng smiled heartily, stretched out his hand, pat him on the shoulder.

                               -------

    Qian slapped He Ling's face, and his cheeks immediately became red and swollen.

"You really give me a long face, just seduce someone else is not good? Seduce that Lin Sheng!" When Qian finished beating him, she has reduce some fire in her heart, sat down on one side of the stool and drank the sugar water Zheng made for her.

"That is, if you seduce a landlord or something, you can still exchange some money for the family!" He Gui gave him a blank look, looked down upon him.

    He Ling closed his eyes, resisting the uncomfortable dizziness of his head, and explained in a low voice, "Big Brother Lin Sheng is just passing by, do me a favor."

    "Passing by? Help?" He Zhen let out a sneer, "Usually carry a thing to walk in the village and meet him, also did not see him so kind to help ah."

Because Lin Sheng didn't like these kinds of words, he Ling couldn't say it anyway, so he couldn't refute him.

"I think you made an appointment in advance!" Qian heavily put the bowl back on the wooden table, shaking the whole table.

    "Okay, don't smash the bowl, it was bought with money too!" He Tian angrily yelled at her, and then glared at He Ling, who didn't say a word, "You are worthless, and expect him to marry you. Unable to become his second wife?! Hurry up and break it up for me!"

    "It's not like that!" He Ling's head became more and more dizzy, a layer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead, and his vision became a little blurred, "I and Big brother Lin Sheng is not...…"

    "Still dare to talk back!" Qian slapped the table and pointed at him, cursing again, "It's pitch dark,one man and a ger stay together alone, could you say there is nothing? You really has a fox face, and It's a mess..." 

    He Ling couldn't hear any words Qian's cursed behind. He only felt that his head was getting heavier and heavier. Afterwards, when his eyes went dark, he didn't know anything.

    "Ah!" Zheng cried out subconsciously, startled by the sudden fall of He Ling.

    He Ling gave in a step back, fearing that his fallen body would touch him, still disgusted, fan the dust that was raised.

    Qian stopped his mouth, put down the hand pointing at him, walked to him and kicked him in the leg, "Don't pretend dead for me!"

    He Ling closed his eyes tightly, lying on the ground with a pale face and motionless.

    Qian frowned, squatted down and probed his forehead, feeling a little hot, "It's useless, it's fever again!"

    He Ling was not full-term when he was born, and his body was not good since he was a child.Things like fever and falling down happened frequently, and they don't think it is a big deal.

"A gui, please invite old man Li and prescribe two prescriptions. Don't let him die at home. it doesn't sound good!" He Tian's buttocks didn't move from the stool, only lightly waved to He Gui.

"Dad, I saw old man Li go to town in Zhao's ox cart today. I'm afraid he hasn't come back yet." Old man Li did go to town, but He Gui also felt that there was no need to ask the doctor to come to see him. It was very expensive. The Ger might be able to get better himself. 

    He Tian didn't speak. There is only one doctor in the village. He is not here and there is no one. He can’t take it to town to see, How much money would it cost, But let people's fever just be burned over. This has a bad reputation in the village, death and harsh treatment are two different things.

    Zheng's eyes rolled, as if thinking of something, she said: "Father, mother, I met Sun Carpenter's daughter-in-law some time ago. She said that Qi Yue had ordered a medicine cabinet in their house and said that he knew some medical skills. Otherwise, we invite him to take a look?"

    He Zhen's attention was drawn when he heard the name of the person in his heart. Knowing that he could still practice medical skills, he was very proud of him. As expected, he was the man he liked, so capable.

    After He Tian listened to her, he didn't think much, and waved at He Gui, "Then Agui, you go..."

    "Father, wait!" Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Qian , She patted He Zhen's hand, and said, "Let Zhen GeEr go!"

    As soon as she spoke, He Zhen understood what she meant, his cheeks were stained with red clouds, and his head hung down shyly.

    He Tian looked at him twice, it became clear in his heart so without saying anything, he waved his hand.

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Translator's OS: Only a small part of Qi Yue' appear in this chapter but I like it how 'his hand suddenly paused description' or 'how he react after hearing he ling's name' Could it be more obvious that he is in love with this ger. Kyaa....