Chapter 59 - Brother Baogai, Lady Buyi

Xu Changling said, “It’s better not to fix the house now.”

“Why? Father?” Xu Qinglu was stunned.

“Don’t spread any news before Xu Yang has passed the three round selections.” Xu Changling said, “Such a big move will only attract the attention of the Ge family. You have to know that the Ge family has always wanted to rely on the Mo family. It is hard to tell whether the Ge family will inform the Mo family once you have done the repairs.”

“Then what should we do, Father?” Xu Qinglu asked. He did not think that they should let Xu Yang and Xu Yu continue living in the ruined mansion.

Xu Changling said, “The Xu Village is located fifty miles out of the southern city gate. We should give him the manor with a mansion.”

Xu Qinglu was taken aback. The manor in Xu Village was very spacious. It was thousands of miles in size and it occupied more than half of the entire village. There were hundreds of peasants farming at the manor. Xu Changling was very generous.

“Xu Yang, you can choose to cultivate either in the Xu Village’s manor or your original courtyard. The family will not restrict your freedom.” Xu Changling said.

Xu Yang realized that no one could disturb him if he were to cultivate in a village out of the city. He could learn more Mystical Techniques for the coming Sea-Cloud Academy’s three round selctions.

Lin Yuan City governed one million people. Of course, these one million people did not all live in the city. There were tens of thousands of villagers who lived in the manors of the families and factions. They were called peasants. The manors were mostly located at the periphery of Lin Yuan City and they formed a lot of villages.

Xu Village was located fifty miles away from the southern city. It was a village with three thousand people. Most of them were villagers who relied on the Xu family and this was how Xu Village got its name.

It was busy in Xu Village’s largest courtyard that day. The peasants were working hard to clean the courtyard.

Two peasant brothers massaged each other’s sore shoulders after working hard for half a day.

“Brother Baogai, is there an important person coming?” A youthful-looking teenager with his face covered in dust asked.

The teenager called Brother Baogai was at the age of seventeen or eighteen. He shrugged and answered, “Who knows? Old Master Xu told us to treat him like he is our father… Pfft, I guess he must be a young master from the city.”

“It’s time to eat!” A voice came from outside the inner courtyard when they were chatting. The two teenagers were happy to hear those words.

“I’m starving. Let’s go eat!”

The two teenagers swiftly rushed out of the inner courtyard’s door. They saw two benches placed vertically, and a big steaming pot was placed at the end of the benches.

Several villagers in shabby clothes like them were sitting on the benches. They were each holding a large dirty bowl in their hands and drinking porridge.

“We can even see our reflections on the porridge. I wonder how much grain was added into this big pot of porridge.” Brother Baogai cursed with dissatisfaction. “Stingy Xu is just too much.”

“Well, Brother Baogai. It’s already good enough that we have a bowl of warm porridge to eat. Stingy Xu has never given us anything despite all the work that we do, not even a sip of warm water.” The baby-faced teenager with dust on his face had no complaints. He walked over and scooped up two large bowls of porridge and handed Brother Bogai one.

“Oh? There are vegetable leaves in the porridge. When did Stingy Xu become so generous?” Brother Baogai asked curiously.

A teenager beside him chuckled and said, “Brother Baogai, that’s too high a praise for Stingy Xu. What kind of a person is he? He is super duper stingy and it is impossible that he would add vegetables in the porridge. It was Sister Buyi who made it.”

“That’s why.” Brother Baogai’s face flashed with fondness and stopped talking.

“Get to work all of you! Get to work! You lazy paupers deserve to be poor for generations to come!” A sharp and hoarse voice shouted out loud.

The peasants were stunned and they saw a middle-aged man with a mousey beard in a silk robe. He had a thievish look and beady eyes, he sauntered leisurely into the yard.

“Sh*t. It’s Stingy Xu’s subordinate, Yellow-Skinned Dog. Let’s go.” The villagers whispered enigmatically and they started leaving the area.

The sound of them calling him the nickname Yellow-Skinned Dog was clearly heard by the man. He was angry and rushed forward. “All of you stop right there! Who said that!?”

“What?” It was Brother Baogai who was stopped by the man. He showed an innocent face and said, “I’m going to work. Why are you stopping me?”

“Who called me Yellow-Skinned Dog? Show yourself!” The man was exasperated and his dark yellow-skin suddenly turned pale.

The villagers were amused. Those words were said by Brother Bogai but everyone was teasing the mouse-bearded man at that moment.

The man was called Huang Zhukeng. His father was a peasant. He worked hard his entire life so that Huang Zhukeng was able to receive education. He hoped that his son would have a good future and find a job doing writing or involving calculations in Lin Yuan City.

However, Huang Zhukeng had a stubborn personality. He did not study hard. Although his father had spent a lot of money on him, he did not learn anything. His father’s dream for him to work in Lin Yuan City was thus shattered. His father was disappointed and ordered him to return to do farming work. However, he was lazy and the fields that he managed were all barren.

Huang Zhukeng’s father was infuriated with his son and soon fell sick. As such, the family was living a difficult life.

Huang Zhukeng was a person who was full of schemes and tricks, he was able to get himself known by Master Xu and get on his good side. Because of that, he was assigned as a steward. Although his power was weak, he knew how to pull rank on others. He would blackmail the villagers and sexually harass women, he was the epitome of an antagonist. Huang Zhukeng’s father passed on from all the anger in him caused by his son. However, the man was not ashamed at all. His mantra for threatening others was ‘I’m gonna tell Old Master Xu.’

The villagers would naturally not show respect to such a person.

“So you refuse to tell me?” Huang Zhukeng was anxious. All he dared to do was look around at the people, he did not have the guts to do anything else.

“Hah!” Huang Zhukeng, with his head full of nasty ideas, managed to find a way to pick on the people. “Your lunch today was supposed to be plain porridge. Where did you steal the vegetables from? Not only do you not work hard, you are picky eaters too! I’m gonna tell Old Master Xu!”

Brother Baogai chuckled and said, “Are you sure, Steward Huang? There are only a few vegetable leaves in this pot and most of them have turned yellow and are withered. How are they considered vegetables? Even if they were thrown on the ground, no one would want to pick them up.”

“If I say it is so, no one can say otherwise!” Huang Zhukeng raised his head and glared at them. “You people are so lazy! Hurry up and get to work. The entire courtyard must be cleaned up today and I will come to inspect it myself!”

“How is it possible to clean such a large house in one day?” Brother Baogai said furiously, “Didn’t they say that the important person will only arrive in three days’ time?”

“Pfft! I’m the one who set the rules. What can you do about it?” Huang Zhukeng snorted and said, “I’m going to tell Old Master Xu if you are not able to complete the work today and he will punish you slaves who steal vegetables!”

“Steward Huang. The vegetable leaves were found by me from the field, they did not steal them. Please be fair in your investigation.” A clear female voice came from outside the door in a corner.