Chapter 98

As expected, as Ling Jingxuan brought the small bun to Zhao family, before they knocked, they heard weeping sound from inside. The father and son gave each other a look, the son looked anxious, while the father looked helpless. These years, the court recruited strong adult men for military service as they wanted, totally ignoring whether the civilians could survive or not. If it hadn’t been that heard had earned some money, plus the little buns were still little, maybe he also couldn’t get away from it. At most, given his capabilities, he could ensure himself from getting killed on the battlefield.

Knock knock~

Spurning those messy thoughts in the head, Ling Jingxuan motioned the small bun to knock at the door, a little while later, the closed door was opened from the inside with the creaking sound, The red and swollen eyes of Han Fei appeared in their sight. Ling Jingxuan felt sorry in the heart, trying to make a smile, “Brother Han, I got something to talk to you. Can I go inside?”

“Hmm, come on in…”

“Wah~ Xiaowu, daddy’s leaving. I don’t want daddy to go. Boohoo~”

As Han Fei just made the way, before Ling Jingxuan took a single step, Tiewa rushed out, crying hard, with his thin little arms holding Ling Wu and tears and snot all rubbing on Ling Wu’s ropey clothes.

“What’s the matter? Don’t you cry, Tiewa…Boohoo… Daddy, why is Tiewa crying?”

Ling Wu, having been protected by Ling Wen all these years, obviously was not used to dealing with such a scene, crying due to anxiety, asked his daddy for help while dropping ‘gold beans’. Ling Jingxuan helplessly shook his head, bent over to hold his small bun almost at the same time with Han Fei bending over to hold up his Tiewa.

“Tiewa, don’t cry. Daddy doesn’t want to go, but… but…”

Before finishing his words, Han Fei couldn’t help burying his head in his son’s neck. If he didn’t go, Zhao Dalong had to. Zhao Dalong was the blood father of Tiewa, so the kid needed him. And this family couldn’t move on without him. How could they make a living if he didn’t go to town and work as a blacksmith? Instead of setting the whole family to ruin, he should sacrifice himself. Although in this life, he had taken too much torturing and people’s gossiping and cursing, he didn’t regret it. Meeting Zhao Dalong is the best thing ever in his lfe.

“Boohoo~ Tiewa…Uncle Han…Don’t you cry. I also want to cry seeing you cry. Boohoo~”

Seeing this, Ling Wu cried even harder. Ling Jingxuan quickly patted him on the back and said, “Don’t cry. Daddy has a way to make Uncle Han not cry. Xiaowu, be quiet and let daddy talk to Uncle Han, ok?

“Boohoo… really?”

Raising his little face wetted by tears, Ling Wu choked. He also had no idea why he felt so sad. Seeing Tiewa cry, he just cried. Tiewa is his only friend. He doesn’t want him to be sad.

“It’s true, of course. When has daddy ever lied to you?”

Wiping off the tears on his face, Ling Jingxuan gently curved his lips slightly, as far as possible to let him feel his confidence. Ling Wu deeply looked at him for a while, then nodded obediently trying his best to hold his tear from dropping. Then he turned back to say to the father and son, “Uncle Han, Tiewa, stop crying. Daddy has a way out.”

“Huh?”

“Uncle…”

The father and son looked up. Han Fei’s face was full of doubts, while Tiewa was only expectations on his face. Though he was too small and didn’t understand a lot of things, one could say much more foolish than Xiaowen and Xiaowu, he often heard from daddy that Uncle Ling is very capable. Since Xiaowu said that, he should have a way to let daddy stay.

“Tiewa, I won’t let you lose your daddy.”

Stretching out a hand to touch his little face, Ling Jingxuan said to Han Fei, “Brother Han, let’s talk inside.”

“Hmm.”

Although confused, Han Fei knew it was inappropriate to talk by the door. So the two young fathers held their own kids and walked in. Zhao Dalong, who had always been behaving like a tough man, now was sitting in a corner, head down. Ling Jingxuan sighed in the heart. He put the small bun down and took off the straw hats on both his and his son’s head, “Xiaowu, daddy needs to talk to uncle Han alone. You take Tiewa to play in some other room, OK?”

Ling Wu whose tears still hadn’t dried obediently nodded, walked over and grabbed Tiewa’s hand, “Don’t worry, my daddy is really capable, there’d be a way out since he said it.”

“Hmm.”

Tiewa looked at Ling Jingxuan, then his two daddy, after quite a while, nodded, and then grabbed Ling Wu’s hand and left.

“Brother Zhao, brother Han, I’ll get to the point. Here is twenty taels of silver. Thank for your help these days.”

Seeing that the whole family felt so awful, Ling Jingxuan didn’t want to make any foreshadowing, directly pulled out two ten-tael silver ingots and handed to them. He was unaware whether people’s life was worthy or not in ancient times. To him, it is absolutely worthy to buy a person’s life with twenty taels of silver!

The premise, of course, is that this person has to be someone he approves of.

Han Fei’s eyes were beaming, but soon dimmed down. Without even thinking, he pushed the silver on the table back, “No! Twenty taels of silver is not a small sum! We can’t take it!”

He had never gone to school, so he was a man of noble character or what, but at least he knew that he could take the money. Besides, Ling Jingxuan’s family condition is no better than them. He had two kids to support. A lot of places need money. How could they accept his money?

Although Zhao Dalong did not say a word, one could see from his depressed expression that he was in favor of it. However, facing the mandatory military service, he felt uncomfortable from the bottom of his heart.

“Brother Han, don’t you always tell me not to take you as an outsider? Why did you start being polite to me?”

Without pushing the silver back, Ling Jingxuan deliberately kept a straight face, before they said more, he said, “Say no more. This is the money paid for your job. Don’t belittle those wild fruit. After processing, they would be sold at a high price. Twenty taels of silver is only one hundredth of it. Brother Zhao, brother Han, I know you are both dufiful and honest people. You wouldn’t take anyone’s advantage. But this is what you deserve.”

Compared with what he could earn, this is just a drop in the bucket. Besides, Ling Jingxuan valued them from deep of his heart. Forget about other things. Only about the wild fruit picking, he said he would pay them but got denied. Then, he never mentioned it again. So it means they did it for him for free. But this couple didn’t loaf on the job or what, but even more active than him and Jingpeng. Only through this point, it was worth it to pay them twenty taels of silver.

“Well… Long?”

Hearing him, Han Fei also didn’t know what to say, only habitually turned his eyes to Zhao Dalong for help. It was not that he got blinded by his greediness, but that he really didn’t want to leave this home, or see Zhao Dalong leave. Since Jingxuan said he had money. Could he take it as he borrowed it from him?

“But it’s too much…”

Zhao Dalong raised his head and looked at Ling Jingxuan. He was lying if he said he didn’t have some other thinking. How could he afford to leave Han Fei and his little cute son?

“Even worthy of your lives? Brother Zhao, money comes, money goes. But if people die, he’d lost everything. Twenty taels of silver is true an enormous figure to families like us, but it’s far less important than our lives. Let me tell you something. You know how stingy my Xiaowen is. Before I brought the money here for you, I tried to talk him over. Guess what he said?”

“What did he say?”

Following his question, Han Fei unconsciously blurted out. Ling Jingxuan smiled, “He, gave me a lecture, saying that this kind of money must not be saved. Brother Han, for the sake that Xiaowen is rarely this generous, you should take it.”

Thinking of his sensible little bun, Ling Jingxuan smiled even more brightly. Stingy as he is, at least he knows what’s important, right? It’s not that he is bragging, you couldn’t find another kid who is more sensible that his son through the whole Qing Kingdom!

“Xiaowen…he…all right, we’ll take the money. Thank you, Jingxuan!”

Hearing that, Han Fei could not help but cry again. Even in his dream, he wouldn’t expect that the stingy Xiaowen would agree on this.

“Don’t thank me. I said, this what you deserve. In the future, I still have a lot of places that need your help. Brother Han, in the past few years when I was like a fool, it was you who took care of Xiaowen and Xiaowu. So in the future, we’ll earn money together. Good days are waiting ahead.”

This is just the beginning. He wanted to make some gold and silver mountains for his little buns to squander, but in the early days, he only wished to raise them into delicious meat stuffed buns!

“Hmm.”

Nodding tearfully, Han Fei habitually turned to give Zhao Dalong a look. After getting his approval, he stretched out his hand to receive the silver that could save them.

“Well, I will not disturb you, tomorrow the restaurant in the town would come fetch the goods. After that, let’s send our kids to town for study. After they have their career, our good days will come.”

Seeing that, Ling Jingxuan stood up with a smile. In his heart, he was still worried about his parents. He had no idea how everything was in old Ling family, only wishing nothing bad happened.

“Hmm, tomorrow Dalong and I will go for help, then pick some wild fruit in the mountain.”

Han Fei felt guilty after receiving the silver, only wishing he could do something for Ling Jingxuan.

“Pick wild fruit is no hurry. This time they ordered a thousand jin, but I made two thousand and five hundred jin. So it could sustain for some time. So you don’t have to come tomorrow morning. The restraint has their own workers. You are tired these days. So take some rest. It’s late to pick more after we find a private school for the kids first.”

In fact, the guy who came to fetch the fish a few days ago kept urging him everyday, saying that the one hundred jars of fish had already been sold out. That was also why Ling Jingxuan made two thousand jin at a time. Yesterday he specially went to Wang’s mill and ordered two hundred more big jars. After taking care of the kids’ school stuff, he’d be very busy for some time.

“All right, just let us know when you need us. About my son’s school thing, sorry to trouble you.”

He now knew it wouldn’t work without a scholar at home. Anyhow, even selling everything home, he’d send Tiewa to school.

“Well, I…”

“Daddy, do you agree?”

Before Ling Jingxuan could open his mouth, the little bun rushed out from the next room, with Tiewa who had resumed that smiling face followed behind. He bent over to pick him up, pinched his nose dotingly, “Hmm, done. Let’s go home.”

“Daddy, daddy, bad news! Something happened to grandma! Daddy…”

As Ling Jingxuan was just about to turn around to leave, the door was suddenly pushed open from outside. Ling Wen ran in with a worried look on his face. Behind him was Yan Shengrui, his head bandaged, “What happened? What’s going on?”

Is it possible…

“I don’t know. Just now a man came to our house and said he is a friend of my little uncle’s. He said something had happened there and asked you go to there as soon as possible.”

“Damn…”

If it wasn’t something very serious, Ling Jingpeng would ask someone to send a message. Lowering his head to curse, Ling Jingxuan turned back and said to Han Fei, “Brother Han, please help me take care of Xiaowen and Xiaowu.”

“Hmm, just go. Do you need me and Long to go with you?”

Seemingly realizing it was something serous, Han Fei agreed without thinking. At the same time, Zhao Dalong already walked over.

“No need. They could do nothing to me now.

After saying that, Ling Jingxuan exchanged an eye with Yan Shenrui. Then both of them turned to leave.

“Daddy, be careful.”

“Daddy…”

Behind, the two buns’ worried voice clearly came into their ears, but they didn’t stop. Soon, they disappeared in their sight.