Back to the Countryside

Chapter 1

Editor : Jakie

A horse-drawn carriage slowly drove into Gu Shui village, many villagers stopped to look at it. A carriage in the village was a rare thing, only the rich people living in the town could afford to use it. Having an ox-pulled flatbed carriage in the village was good enough to show off. The man driving the carriage was certainly not from their village.

        As they were thinking this, the carriage suddenly stopped and a young man wearing a white silk cloth jumped off the carriage. He walked to one of the villagers, arched his hand and cupped a fist in salute, with a smile, he said: “This big brother, excuse me, can I ask how to go to Wang De Wang Grandfather’s home?”

        The man who was asked froze, ‘Oh my God! This man was so handsome! If he hadn’t been taller than him and did not have a mark in the middle of his eyebrow, that villager would think he was a ger!’

The young man who had not received an answer, seemed accustomed to such a situation, unoffended, but asked again in a good temper.

The villager came back to his senses and was a bit embarrassed to look at the man. What a shame for him to be in a daze when looking at this gentleman. “If you’re looking for Master Wang, you’ll have to go to the town, he doesn’t live in the village now!”

        The young man shook his head and said, “I’m not looking for anyone, I bought his family’s courtyard but I don’t know where it is in the village, please tell me!”

        The villager didn’t respond, but he still pointed in the right direction, “You follow this road to the fork in the road, turn north, then find the fifth house in front of you. “

 The young man looked in the direction he pointed, turned back and thanked him, then returned to his cart and drove his carriage to that place.

As soon as the young man left, some villagers came around to inquire about the situation, the man scratched his head foolishly and said : “This guy said he bought the Wang family’s yard!”

As soon as this remark came out, the villagers gossiped and discussed it. This man was going to settle in the village, wasn’t he? He drove a carriage, wore silk clothes, and bought the Wang family’s large brick courtyard. He must be a rich man, right? Moreover, he was that handsome! But they did not know whether he was married or not, if not… People with unmarried daughters in their families started to have second thoughts.

 He was unaware that just by asking for directions, someone was already thinking of marrying his daughter to him, while he was leisurely driving his carriage to the place. Compared to the mud houses next to him, the black and blue brick courtyard of the Wang family was very conspicuous and easy to find.

He jumped off the cart and patted the horse’s head to reassure him to stay put. When he reached the door, he took out a brass key from his pocket and unlocked it.

 There was a large courtyard, very spacious, with a hall directly opposite, a main room on each side of the hall, a kitchen on the left, two side rooms on the right, and a path leading to the backyard next to the kitchen, where the chicken coop, cowshed, and latrine were located. There was also an enclosed vegetable plot and a well, and four backrooms. You could tell that the previous owner had a good life and had everything he needed!

The Wang family was not a wealthy family in the village, but their son was a hard worker and made a lot of money running a business outside the village with a big boss. When the son was away from home all year round, he was worried about his parents and renovated the old house, using all strong bricks and tiles, so that the two old people could live more comfortably.

Who knew that not even two years passed, he opened a shop in the town, bought a house and took his parents around him, so he could take care of them, leaving the house in the village empty.

Qi Yue was very satisfied with the house, the house was built with high walls, unlike the other houses in the village, which were mostly surrounded by mud or with low walls made of mud, so that one could see clearly what was going on inside.

“Is anyone there?” As soon as Qi Yue turned back to the front yard, he heard a man’s voice coming from the door. He walked to the door and saw a square faced man standing there with a hoe on his back, looking at him frozen, obviously.

Thinking that he should be from the village, Qi Yue saluted him with a cupped hand gesture and smiled: “This big brother…is there any problem?”

   “Nothing, nothing! “The man waved his hands back, his dark face flushed red, “I’m sorry, I saw a carriage parked at the door and the courtyard door was open, so I thought the Wang family had returned!”

    Actually Qi Yue was not very concerned, “It’s okay, This humble one is Qi Yue, since I’ll be living here from now on, we’re all fellow folks now!”

 “That’s good!”, The man saw that he was not bothered and was very easy to get along with, so he wasn’t so nervous anymore. When he heard that he would be staying here, he was very enthusiastic: “My name is Lin Sheng, I live next door to you, and you can call me if you need anything from now on!”

“It turned out to be Brother Lin (Lin Da Ge)!” Qi Yue saw his straightforward nature and his smile grew a little thicker.

“So you’ve just moved in here today, have you? I’ll put the hoes down when I get home and I will bring my wife over to help you clean up!” Lin Sheng was a warm-hearted person, thinking of such a big yard for him to clean alone, that would be quite hard.

“This is not good to bother Brother Lin.”

Qi Yue politely declined, as they hadn’t even spoken a few words, so it was not appropriate.

    “No trouble, no trouble! It’s only a matter of the exertion of strength. I’ll come right away!” Lin Sheng waved his hand at him, turned his head and left without giving him a chance to say no.

Qi Yue shook his head helplessly and laughed. This was the first time he had ever met anyone who acted like this, and it was interesting.

 He pulled the carriage into the courtyard and reached out to groom the horse’s sideburns, “Mu Yan, this place will be our home from now on!”

The horse stamped its front hooves, as if in response to his words.

He moved his hand to its cheek and stroked it twice, and the smile at the corner of his mouth began to turn a little malicious, “In the morning I have to find a carpenter in the village to make a plow. The five acres of land I bought will be handed over to you. “

 Mu Yan shook its head and snorted with great dissatisfaction.

    “He-he…” Qi Yue let out a deep and low laugh voice and patted its head with a face full of pleasure.

“What’s the matter that made Brother Qi smile so happily?” Lin Sheng walked in from the outside door, he was followed by a delicate woman.

    “Nothing, just teasing the horse!” Qi Yue put down his hand to greet the woman and said to the woman, “Pardon for troubling sister-in-law!”

 “Please do not say that, we will be neighbors and fellow folks in the future, so we should help each other out!” The woman’s demeanor was also generous and unpretentious which was matching with Lin Sheng’s temperament.

    “This horse of yours is really spirited!” After seeing that they had greeted each other, Lin Sheng turned his attention to Mu Yan, “It’s much better than the ones I saw in town, it has more great spirit!”

    “It is indeed a good horse! “Mu Yan was a horse of a thousand miles, it was very spiritual and had been with him for years, like a good friend!

   By the topic of horses, the two chatted a few words, and then they began to prepare for clean up.

 In fact, there was really nothing much to do in this courtyard that needed a lot of effort. They only needed to clean up the dust that accumulated while it was uninhabited. Then Qi Yue only need to put all the things he had bought inside the home.