Back to the Country Side

Chapter 13: 請人 (invite people) 

When Fang went to He Tian’s house to act as a matchmaker, Qi Yue slid two good inks to the village chief’s house.

     The head of Gushui Village is surnamed Feng. He was in his fifties and has three daughters and one son. The daughters were married a few years ago. Only the son lives with them, already married and has two children.

When he was young, he read some books and knew some words, so he always liked to make himself look very knowledgeable. On usual days, he liked to take a branch to write and draw on the ground.

When Qi Yue came over today, he was writing on the ground in the yard. The village head’s wife opened the door for him. He respectfully saluted each other, and the village head came over and said, “Qi Xiao zi (Boy Qi) you haven’t come for several days!”   

The Head village was quite enthusiastic when he met him. For him to look at a gentle scholar like this, the more the village head cherished, the more he was very happy to associate with him.

    “This humble one, come bothering you!” Qi Yue smiled and passed the ink stick in his hand.

    The village chief was not polite with him, so he accepted it with a smile, this kind of precious stuff will be kept for his grandson in the future. 

    While bringing Qi Yue into the room, he asked his woman to call their son to come over too. 

    Qi Yue has a good temper and has seen the world. The village head loves to let his son walk around with him more. He is getting older and older. In the future, the village head’s position will also require his son to sit. It is good for him to know more people.

    Not long after the two of them sat down, Feng Zheng came in. He and Qi Yue met before, they were not unfamiliar with each other, and they sat down after saluting each other.

    The three chatted for a while, and Qi Yue expressed the purpose of coming, “Actually, today, this humble one, asked Aunt Lin to go to He’s family to ask for marriage on behalf of me. If this can’t be done, this humble one is afraid that the Village Chief will have a lot of trouble. This humble one only have been here for a short time so there are many things that I don’t understand.”

    “The He family?” The village chief paused, these days, Qi Yue and He Zhen’s rumors, he still heard some of them. He thought it was nonsense, but now, it turned out to be true?

 “Is it He Zhen, that Ger?”

        But Qi Yue shook his head, “No, it’s He Ling.”

    The village chief and Feng Zheng were a little surprised. They had never heard of any encounter between the two, so why did he suddenly say that he wanted to marry him?Could it be that he fell in love with his face?

    Feng Zheng glanced at his father then said to Qi Yue tentatively, “Brother Qi, you have been in the village only for a short time, you may not know it well, He Ling, there are some rumors in the village ……”

[在下 : the way said “I” politely, whenever Qi Yue to the the village chief here whenever he said I using “this humble one”]

    “This humble one knows.” His unfinished story, Qi Yue naturally understands, “This humble one doesn’t care about it at all.”

What he meant by this was that he was well aware of the rumours that He Ling had killed his father, his mother and his close relatives, and even the rumor that he was the reincarnation of “Hu Mei zi”, he knew it all , but he did not care in the least.

The village chief exchanged a look with his son. He sighed and said, “This Ling Ge Er was also the one I watched grow up. He is a poor child. If he really follows you, it would be his blessing!”

 He had seen what happened to He Ling before, but after all, it was someone else’s family matter and he couldn’t interfere too much, so now he could have a good place to return to*, he is also very happy for him!

[ 歸宿* guī sù: place to return to / home / final destination / ending ]

    “It would be a blessing for me if I could marry He Ling!” Qi Yue hung his head, his eyebrows softened, and he was lucky to have found someone to be with.

    The three of them talked a little more about this matter, and when they found out that Qi Yue was offering 50 taels of silver for the bride, the village headman and his son were secretly surprised. This shot was a very generous offer!

    While chatting was lively, the village chief’s wife came in with Fang.

As soon as he saw the expression on her face, Qi Yue knew that it was not going to work out, and he smiled coldly in his heart, thinking that the He family was quite tactful. 

        As soon as Fang entered the door, she showed a very frustrated look, “Qi Xiao zi, aunt failed to fulfill your important trust, did not get the job done for you!”

        “What? That He family still does not agree?” The village chief asked the question first. It was clear that He family was difficult to handle,but Qi Yue said he would pay 50 taels of silver to marry He Ling. He didn’t think it would be impossible. Since He family said at first, as long as someone is willing to pay 30 taels, He Ling would marry that person. 

“That’s right!” Fang sighed heavily, “With this condition of the Qi boy, they still do not agree, I really do not know what is in their mind, He Ling is already eighteen this year, if this continues to delay, he can only marry someone as ‘a little wife’!”

(Tl: Actually little wife could be translated as concubine, but I just got the feeling of concubine word is more related to palace setting so I prefer not to use it in this village setting, it’s weird) 

        The village chief’s face changed, the He family has always disliked He Ling, he knew it, usually was just a small and petty fight so he let it be, If he really wants to push people into the fire pit, he can’t pretend not to know. 

        Fang looked at the village chief’s expression, and added a fire, “Could it be that He Zhen has a heart for Qi Xiao zi, so that is why …. ah, now that Qi boy just propose a marriage to Ling Ge Er, they won’t hit* him right?”

[ 动手* Trad. 動手 (dòng shǒu) :

to set about (a task)/to hit/ to punch/ to touch ]

        This time the person who changed his face became Qi Yue, he put his hands together and made a deep bow to the village headman, “Hope the village Chief will help this humble one once!”

        He is already like this, the village chief naturally is not going to ignore this matter. Besides, He Tian’s family has indeed been noisy* over the years, it’s time to let them receive his temper!

[鬧騰* (nào teng) :to disturb / to create confusion / to make a din]

             ===============

    As soon as Qian helped He Zhen back home, He Zhen left her behind and rushed to the back yard. He Ling was sorting the vegetable plot there. He grabbed him and just slapped him straight across the face, “You bitch!”

The slap was so hard that it cracked the corner of He Ling’s mouth and his cheek swelled up very big. 

  This was not all, He Zhen grabbed his hair and struck him again on the other side of his face, ruthlessly and without mercy.  

Qian was only now catching up with him and hastily pulled He Zhen who wanted to hit him again, “Zhen’er, even if you are angry, don’t hit him so hard in the face, it’s not good for others to see, pick a place where it can’t be seen!”

“I’m going to smash his face! See how he can still seduce people! He Zhen was pulled by Qian’s arm, so he kicked He Ling in the calf, causing him to stagger, fall and sit on the ground.

There was so much commotion over here, soon it drew the family over. He Tian saw the scene and said angrily, “What’s this?!”

He Fu and He Gui were also surprised. He Zhen had bullied He Ling many times, but this was the first time he had been so mad.

    Zheng was holding her daughter, who had just turned one year old.She looked at the red and swollen face of He Ling with a little sympathy.He was really unlucky to have such relatives, but it was none of her business, she wasn’t the one being beaten anyway.

Liu’s face was full of amusement as she watched.Her three-year-old son was hugging her leg, blinking his eyes and not afraid, instead he found it funny to see He Ling’s face and grinned happily with his mouth open!

    “Father! He Ling, this little bitch seduces Big Brother Qi!” After hitting him a few times, the anger in He Zhen’s heart subsided a little.

Qian also plucked out a fierce glance at He Ling, “Just now the Lin Sheng’ family came to propose a marriage for Qi Yue with this unrestrained slut!”

A few people were stunned, and then they understood, no wonder He Zhen threw such a temper. Just do not know when this He Ling hooked up with others. 

    He Ling, who was sitting on the ground, widened his eyes, that person really came to ask for marriage? He, is he serious?

“I told you this ‘little white face’ was unreliable. What a lustful one*(见色起意) !” He Fu curled his lips, at that time, he already thought that this matter is not certain yet. 

[tl notes: remember in previous chapter He Fu call Qi Yue as ‘little white face’ so this time He Fu called him “见色起意”*: it’s when you see a beautiful person, you start thinking about aggression etc. In the Qi Yue case in He fu’s mind, as Qi Yue start to see that He Ling is such a beautiful ger, so he wants him, do obscene things etc. Hope it’s clear! ]

    Speaking of this, He Zhen couldn’t stop the hatred and jealousy in his heart. He turned around ,grabbed He Ling’s hair and pulled it down, forcing him to look up at him, “How on earth did you, you bitch, seduce Big Brother Qi? He is even willing to spend 50 taels of silver to marry you!”

Fifty taels? He Tian and the others were all moved in their hearts, if he was really willing to spend fifty taels to marry He Ling, it wouldn’t be a loss!

He Ling was pulled by the hair, eyes a little sour, he simply is not worth that man spending so much silver, not worth it at all.

Seeing that he closed his mouth and did not say anything, the jealousy in He Zhen’s heart really burned more and more, he let go of his hair and directly choked his neck with both hands, “I’ll choke you to death! See how you can still seduce people!”

He Tian was calculating in his heart when he saw He Zhen’s behavior, he hurriedly shouted at Qian, “Pull him away. Do not let him mess with someone’s life! “

        Qian saw this and hurriedly held his waist and dragged him away.

The moment he let go of his hand, He Ling covered his neck and gasped for air, just then, at that one moment, he really thought he would die in He Zhen’s hands, but for this, he did not have a little fear, if he died like this, it would be a relief for him.

“You’ve made such a mess,isn’t it ugly?

Are men in the world just that one?!” He Tian was a bit annoyed, but looking at He Zhen’s appearance, he slowed down his tone. “In fact, it’s not a bad idea to let He Ling marry, with those fifty taels, we can buy you more dowry in the future and find a better husband’s house!”

        “Father!!!” He Zhen looked at him incredulously, he actually wanted to agree to this marriage!

    “Husband, don’t be confused!” Qian said hurriedly, “If Qi Yue can take out fifty taels casually, then he must have more in his hand. If Zhen’ er married him, that’s not just fifty taels!”

 When she said this, He Tian thought about it. There is indeed some truth to this, But the question was, would the man surname Qi really want to marry He Zhen?

        The others thought it was reasonable too.If He Zhen could marry him, there would be an endless supply of silver!

        As they pondered, the door was suddenly rapped. They looked at each other for a few moments, but finally Qian opened the door.

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Translator’s OS: He Ling, you deserve to be happy… ?