Chapter 51.2 – Long goodbye
Talking about He Qiusheng jumping in the river, one should take into account what ordinary rivers looked like.
Regarding the area closest to the riverbank, as long as no one specially dug it deep in order to wash things or anchor one’s boat, this area was usually very shallow. It could be said that the river in Hexi was about two meters deep in the middle, but the areas on both sides of the river were very shallow and the possibility of drowning was very limited.
Now He Qiusheng was standing more than one meter in the river, and the water only reached to his waist. He Qiusheng was a bit shocked at this moment. He had just made up his mind to die, but in the blink of an eye, Liu Heitou, who he thought was very powerful, was knocked to the ground . . .
“Elder Brother, what are you doing?” Liu Heitou hated Jiang Zhen very much at this moment, but he had already lost, so he could only grind his teeth and ask.
“Jiang Zhen from Hexi Village!” Jiang Zhen said while stepping on Liu Heitou’s chest a few more times with his feet. “If you had used your crooked brain, you wouldn’t have come to provoke me. I don’t care about you. If you had used your crooked brain . . . you would have known not to provoke me.”
Hearing Jiang Zhen’s words, Liu Heitou froze. The ordinary villagers around could not see it, but when he was fighting Jiang Zhen just now, he could feel that this man had a more ruthless character than he had. If not, how could this man be so familiar with his ways? Moreover, this Jiang Zhen had definitely killed people and seen blood . . . Liu Heitou hated Jiang Zhen very much, but he wasn’t completely sure about the situation, and he really didn’t dare to offend such a person.
Despite the fact that he didn’t take other people’s lives seriously, not even that of the concubines he had taken, he still cared about his wife, children, parents and brothers. Therefore he was afraid of offending ruthless people from outside his village that could bring harm to his family.
“Jiang Zhen, right? I’ll remember it this time!” Liu Heitou said with a black face. “You let me go! I won’t try to catch this ger anymore!” He firmly believed that Jiang Zhen wouldn’t dare to kill him in public, and Jiang Zhen really didn’t.
Jiang Zhen let Liu Heitou go, and when Liu Heitou’s brothers saw this, they immediately helped him stand up.
“If you want this ger, I’ll give him to you. I have others, no worse than this one, but I will still ask you to repay the debt when I come back!” Liu Heitou dropped these words, turned around, and left.
Jiang Zhen didn’t stop him. Father He really owed Liu Heitou a debt. Naturally, he had to pay his debt, and he did not care about that. Of course, the most important thing was . . . that he was about to get married, and for the time being, he didn’t want to offend the large number of people from the Liu family and get in trouble. But later . . . he’d better get rid of this Liu Heitou, or he would be uneasy.
Jiang Zhen put away his bamboo pole and was about to go back to picking up his goods when he saw Zhao Jinge approaching and a smile appeared on his face. He hadn’t seen Zhao Jinge for more than half a month. He really missed him.
Jiang Zhen was happy, but Zhao Jinge was full of anxiety at this moment. He came relatively late. When he just arrived, Jiang Zhen had already released Liu Heitou, and he heard Liu Heitou’s parting words. Looking at Liu Heitou and the others’ appearance, and then at the poor He Qiusheng, who was still standing in the river, Zhao Jinge pulled at his clothes and felt uneasy.
As soon as he heard the news of Jiang Zhen coming back, he ran over and forgot to take care of his own appearance. Now, he was not only wearing the rags he usually wore to work, but he also smelled of sweat. Compared to He Qiusheng, he was really nothing to look at, ugly and smelly. No, not only that, there were also ash stains on his hands . . .
Zhao Jinge felt extremely embarrassed and scared. He knew about this family’s problem. Now that Jiang Zhen saved He Qiusheng from Liu Heitou, was He Qiusheng to become Jiang Zhen’s? Zhao Jinge couldn’t help thinking like this, and so did the other people in Hexi . . .
Last time Jiang Zhen came back from outside, someone was bullying Zhao Jinge, so he went to save Zhao Jinge, and said that Zhao Jinge was his man. This time . . . How similar was this to last time? Only this time, he didn’t save such an ugly ger like Zhao Jinge but a beautiful ger like He Qiusheng.
Jiang Zhen had subdued Liu Heitou and saved He Qiusheng. The He family didn’t want to marry He Qiusheng to Liu Heitou, so they could only give him to Jiang Zhen. After all, other people would not dare to marry him in order not to offend Liu Heitou. And thinking about it . . . although Jiang Zhen had a bad reputation, he was still a bit better than Liu Heitou. Moreover, he was not married yet and He Qiusheng was not so young anyway . . . Of course, there was no room for any other candidates. If Jiang Zhen had fallen in love with He Qiusheng, how could his family resist?
“Jiang Zhen brought back a lot of things this time, and all of them seem to be very valuable. It is not a loss for He Qiusheng to marry him . . .”
“Did Jiang Zhen take a fancy to He Qiusheng this time?”
“For me, I would also pick He Qiusheng and not Zhao Jinge.”
“The Zhao family was thinking about marriage before, but Jiang Zhen probably doesn’t like their family now.”
. . .
There were many people whispering around Zhao Jinge. Zhao Jinge couldn’t help but lower his head. In fact, not only the villagers thought this way, the three brothers of the He family thought the same. Jiang Zhen’s willingness to fight against Liu Heitou was probably because he took a fancy to He Qiusheng!
He Chunsheng and He Xiasheng clenched their fists and felt somewhat sad, while at the same time, He Qiusheng had already climbed up from the river. Before, He Qiusheng was also a bit afraid of Jiang Zhen, but this fear couldn’t be compared to his fear of Liu Heitou. After all, Liu Heitou beat him, and Jiang Zhen . . . He had only seen Jiang Zhen beating others. Besides . . . just now, no one was willing to save him, and the men who said they liked him, all stayed away. But Jiang Zhen saved him, which made him develop some different feelings for Jiang Zhen. If Jiang Zhen liked him . . . In fact, Jiang Zhen was much better than Liu Heitou . . .
“Hello, Eldest Jiang . . .” He Qiusheng said.
“Jinge!” But Jiang Zhen had already arrived by Zhao Jinge’s side.
It had been such a long time since he had last met him. He really wanted to kiss him, but now there were so many people . . . Jiang Zhen sighed. In the end, he just held Zhao Jinge’s hand, then caressed it several times before asking, “Did you miss me?”
Zhao Jinge raised his head abruptly and saw Jiang Zhen looking at him with a smile, ignoring He Qiusheng, who had climbed ashore and was still calling for him. He might not have said anything before, but now . . . Zhao Jinge whispered, “Yes.” With that, he also held Jiang Zhen’s hand.
Feeling the strength in his hand, Jiang Zhen wanted to take Zhao Jinge’s palm and kiss it. He tried to restrain himself and said, “Jinge, I bought some things from Fucheng. Let’s pack them up and take them home . . . I also brought you a present.”
As he was talking, he pulled Zhao Jinge to the river; his cold and hard expression had softened.
At that moment, the people around were stunned. This situation was different from what they thought! Jiang Zhen, he unexpectedly ignored He Qiusheng and took Zhao Jinge’s hand? What Zhao Liu boasted about was not a lie? It was true?