LW chapter 47

 

The next morning, Zhou Yuan drove the oxcart to town, leaving Chen Qing breakfast before leaving.

Chen Qing lay in bed, staring at the porridge and steamed egg pudding that Zhou Yuan had cooked and placed by the bedside. He felt that he had been a little too undisciplined lately. He quickly got up, got dressed, washed up, and ate the breakfast that Zhou Yuan had left for him.

After eating, he swept the courtyard and tidied up the house. He saw that the clothes he had taken off needed washing. He packed up and prepared to go to the river to wash them. Zhou Yuan said the Zhang family would arrive at the end of the si hour[mfn]Si hour (巳时) = 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.[/mfn], so it was a good time to do laundry.

As he passed by Aunt Sun’s house, he went in to have a look but didn’t see her. He went to the river alone.

Usually, he picked a time of day when no one was at the riverbank to do laundry. Today, however, he had plans during the day, so he had to go earlier. On the way, he hoped there would be no one at the riverbank.

Unfortunately, someone was washing clothes there. Although he had lived in the village for five years, he didn’t know many people, but he recognized the person at the riverbank today.

He was the husband of the youngest son of the former village chief, and his name was Zhang Ran. Chen Qing had once asked Zhou Yuan about the former village chief’s family. Zhou Yuan had only said that Aunt Wang wanted to introduce her nephew to him.

Since Zhang Ran had given Zhou Yuan knockout drugs, he hadn’t said more.

Chen Qing didn’t go over to him but found another spot to squat down. In his basin were his clothes and Zhou Yuan’s. He wanted to finish washing them as quickly as possible.

But as he was wetting the clothes, Zhang Ran stood in front of him. Startled, Chen Qing quickly calmed down and nodded at Zhang Ran.

Since the previous incident, the villagers had been avoiding Zhang Ran. Everyone gossiped about why Meng Bing hadn’t divorced him yet, even though the two of them were still living together. According to the rumors, anyone with guts would have drowned Zhang Ran long ago.

Zhang Ran stared at Chen Qing.

His face was slightly flushed, and there were a few marks on his neck—some new, some old. It was clear that he had been living comfortably. Zhou Yuan was strong and didn’t look useless.

Zhang Ran looked at him with resentment. He was clearly a widow yet pretended to be law-abiding during the day. Who knew what methods he used in private to seduce people?

He wasn’t good-looking—thin and small. What was so attractive about him?

Chen Qing was puzzled as to why he didn’t leave. After all, they didn’t know each other, so there was no reason to exchange greetings.

Just as Chen Qing thought he should move away, he heard Zhang Ran say, “He’s great in bed, isn’t he?”

Chen Qing’s eyes widened. He thought he had misheard. He didn’t want to get involved with Zhang Ran, so he lifted the basin to wash elsewhere. However, Zhang Ran stopped him.

Zhang Ran looked him over from head to toe. “What’s so good about you? Dry body, dry looks.”

Chen Qing frowned, cursing in his heart. He stood up and glared at Zhang Ran. “Are you sick?”

Zhang Ran knew Chen Qing’s personality. He couldn’t understand why Zhou Yuan liked such a boring man. Even when angry, all Chen Qing said was, “Are you sick?”

Maybe Zhou Yuan just liked his status as a widow. If so, Zhang Ran could do the same.

He reached out to grab Chen Qing’s hand again. Chen Qing didn’t want to engage with him, but Zhang Ran’s grip was too strong. As he struggled, the basin tipped and one of Zhou Yuan’s clothes fell into the river and began to drift away.

Chen Qing broke free and tried to grab it, but Zhang Ran shoved him into the water.

The Luo River wasn’t deep—only up to Chen Qing’s calves—but he lost his footing and fell in, getting soaked.

Panting, he first grabbed Zhou Yuan’s clothing, then glared at Zhang Ran.

Zhang Ran looked at him lazily, as if pushing him into the water hadn’t affected him at all.

Chen Qing was furious. He climbed out, dripping wet, and walked up to Zhang Ran. Zhang Ran wasn’t afraid and said, “Let me guess. Do you and your widowed mother serve him together?”

Before Zhang Ran could finish, Chen Qing kicked his knee. Taken by surprise, Chen Qing immediately pressed Zhang Ran down and shoved his head into the water.

Zhang Ran was shocked—he hadn’t expected Chen Qing, who always seemed honest and easy to bully, to fight back!

Although small in stature, Chen Qing had worked the fields for five years and was fairly strong. He was truly angry now. He could tolerate others mocking him, but he would not tolerate Zhang Ran insulting his mother and Zhou Yuan.

Chen Qing shoved Zhang Ran’s head underwater three or four times, and then the two of them started brawling. The surprise attack gave Chen Qing the upper hand. He straddled Zhang Ran and yanked his hair.

When Li Xin arrived, Chen Qing was shoving Zhang Ran’s head underwater again. Li Xin immediately jumped in to join the fight. He didn’t care who was right or wrong, he just helped Chen Qing.

Zhang Ran couldn’t beat the two of them, so he ran off. Chen Qing and Li Xin sat by the riverbank, catching their breath.

Once Li Xin had caught his breath, he grinned at Chen Qing, then burst out laughing. “Ah Qing! You can fight now?”

Chen Qing was still in a daze, but he laughed along with Li Xin as he calmed down.

“What are you doing here?” Chen Qing asked.

“I’m here to do laundry.” Li Xin turned and saw his basin of clothes still by the roadside. “I saw you two fighting and rushed over. What happened?”

Thinking about what had just happened, Chen Qing frowned again. “He said some nonsense to me and wouldn’t let me go. My clothes fell into the river, and when I tried to grab them, he pushed me in.”

“Is he seriously sick?” Li Xin was speechless. “The villagers all dislike him. Why is he bothering you?”

Chen Qing looked at him. “I think he’s set his sights on Zhou Yuan.” He remembered—when taxes were collected last year, Zhang Ran had followed along. When Zhou Yuan helped them move things, Zhang Ran’s eyes had been fixed on him. Today, he said such nonsense again.

“Huh? No way.” Li Xin’s eyes widened. “He’s married.”

Chen Qing sighed. Then, a breeze blew, and he shivered in his soaked clothes. Li Xin noticed, too, and hurried to get his basin, which still contained his dirty laundry. He draped one of the dirty pieces of clothing over Chen Qing and walked home with him.

As they passed in front of Aunt Sun’s door, Aunt Sun was startled and asked, “Did Ah Qing fall into the water?”

Chen Qing shook his head. “Mother, I’ll go change first.”

Aunt Sun quickly followed and, when she saw him go into his room, asked Li Xin, “What happened?”

Li Xin replied, “I don’t know. Let’s wait for Ah Qing to tell us later.”

Soon, Chen Qing changed his clothes and told Aunt Sun what had happened. He left out the part where Zhang Ran had spoken badly of her and Zhou Yuan.

Chen Qing was a little scared now. Since coming to Luohe Village, he had always been cautious, afraid of causing trouble for Aunt Sun. He could tolerate people gossiping about him or swearing in front of him before, but today, Zhang Ran spoke about Aunt Sun and Zhou Yuan.

He looked at her nervously. “Mother, nothing bad will happen, right?”

Aunt Sun smiled. “I can’t control you now—you’ve learned how to fight back.”

Li Xin laughed too and told Aunt Sun about Chen Qing’s courage earlier. “Auntie, you don’t know—Ah Qing was really brave.”

Seeing them tease him like this, Chen Qing finally let out a breath of relief. Aunt Sun said, “Zhang Ran has a bad reputation in the village, and there’s even that affair—no one will speak ill of you.”

They comforted him for a while. As it was getting late, Li Xin went to do laundry and Aunt Sun went home to cook.

Although she was the only one home, they had more poultry and livestock, especially piglets, which were very greedy.

“Come home for dinner later,” Aunt Sun said before leaving.

Chen Qing didn’t want her to go. Those renting the land would arrive soon, and he really wasn’t good at dealing with people, so he wished his mother were there to help talk to them.

But Aunt Sun ignored him, perhaps because Zhou Yuan had told her before leaving.

He looked gloomy as she left. Soon after, Zhang Xu’s family arrived with the new village chief.

Zhang Xu was a dark-skinned man. His wife stood beside him. Though her clothes were patched, they were clean and neat. Next to her were twin girls, and behind them was a boy and a ger, both around twelve or thirteen years old.

“We heard from the village chief that your family can lease the land to us for farming.” Since Chen Qing was the only one home, his wife spoke instead of Zhang Xu.

Chen Qing nodded lightly. “That’s right.”

“What about the rent?” The woman rubbed her hands together. She looked a little embarrassed, but there was hope hidden in her shyness.

Chen Qing glanced at her, then said, “I’ve discussed it with my family. We’ll lease you this much land. You just need to pay the land tax each year after the harvest, and we’ll take 20% of the profits from the land.”

When Zhang Xu heard this, his eyes lit up and he asked, “Really? You only want 20%?”

Chen Qing stepped back slightly. “Yes.”

Zhang Xu remembered that Zhou Yuan was a retired veteran of the battlefield. His taxes were exempt, and they didn’t plan to convert that portion, which was already a generous offer.

Zhang Xu’s wife clasped her hands together. “Thank you, thank you.”

Chen Qing quickly shook his head. “It’s fine. If this is settled, we’ll go to the government office in two days to write up the document, all right?”

They thanked him profusely. Their family was large, and their taxes were heavy. If they didn’t have grain to pay their taxes, they could only pay with money, but money was hard to come by. Zhang Xu worked odd jobs everywhere and suffered from an old illness.

His wife embroidered all day and went to town to do laundry. In the winter, her hands were full of frostbite. The children ran to the mountains all day to search for cicada shells and simple medicinal herbs to trade for money.

Now, they could farm, and the conditions weren’t harsh. They might even have surplus food.

Zhang Xu nearly knelt before him. Chen Qing wasn’t good with this kind of scene, so he quickly said, “Don’t thank me—just farm well.”

The village chief had only come to observe. Seeing that they had reached an agreement, he stood up and left with his people.

Chen Qing finally sighed in relief. Before leaving, however, the twin girls slipped something into his palm. Once they were gone, he saw that it was a handful of wild fruit.

He held the fruit up to his nose and sniffed it, feeling very happy.

After a while, Zhou Yuan came back. Since Chen Qing hadn’t cooked, they went to Aunt Sun’s house. She had already prepared food for them.

During the meal, Aunt Sun told Zhou Yuan what had happened to Chen Qing that day. Zhou Yuan was stunned at first, then laughed along like Aunt Sun and Li Xin.

“Ah Qing’s learned how to fight!”

Chen Qing was teased all day long, as if fighting were some great honor.

On the way home, Zhou Yuan held Chen Qing’s hand. Chen Qing was still a little worried. “Nothing bad will happen, right?”

Zhou Yuan wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Even if the sky falls, I’ll be here to hold it up for you. Besides, you clearly didn’t cause trouble on purpose. He must have done something.”

Chen Qing thought about it, then said, “He might like you.”

Zhou Yuan stopped. “I’m innocent. I don’t even know who that person is—heaven knows.”

 

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