CH 13

Chapter 13 – Returning To The Village (2)

“I don’t have an extra quilt, I can’t afford it.”

She put on an attitude of rejection like she was pushing him far, far away.  She was very annoyed that she could not get rid of him, so she showed him an ugly expression.

“I’m not afraid of the cold.  I used to sleep on the ground when I was fighting in the war.  To be able to sleep is already a blessing and no one cares where they sleep.  Now that there is a roof and walls to keep out the wind and rain, I can fall asleep as soon as I lie down.”

The way he said it seemed like it was a great blessing to be able to sleep in a house and his straight face seemed to be glowing with radiance.

Is he trying to tell her that he had had a hard life while fighting in the war?

It is still a bit too early to soften her heart.

“Are soldiers allowed not to return to camp at night?”

In fact, Li Jing’er held a little sympathy for him.  She has some knowledge of the cruelties of war.  No matter how many years have passed or how many times the dynasties changed, the smell of gunpowder smoke would ignite from time to time and people would die in battles every day.  It is indeed not easy for these people to stay alive.

Shouldering the country’s hatred, the unwillingness and entrustment of the comrades before their deaths, and the people’s expectations…….the soldiers slept little, ate poorly, and lived shabbily.  They had to be vigilant at all times and keep their heads firmly on their shoulders, otherwise, in just a moment of carelessness, they would never be able to see a new day and their corpse would lie on the battlefield.

“I don’t live in the military camp but was transferred to Sanhe Guard Base not far from the village.  The journey to and fro on a fast horse would take an hour or so.  I used to be a front-line personal guard of General Chen Rong.  Later, I achieved some merits and was promoted to the position of Baihu of the Sixth Rank.  Now, I have a hundred households under me.”

He explained his position so that she could understand what he was doing.

“You don’t have to tell me all this.  We already have nothing to do with each other.”

She did not want any benefit from his glory and all achievements………whether good or bad, everything was entirely his.

Xiao Jingfeng was still smiling.

“You know that people who have been on the battlefield are a bit unruly.  I won’t recognize that divorce letter, so it is not valid.  You’re still my wife.”

“The divorce document was drawn up in the County Office to cancel our marriage.”

No matter how unruly he is, he can’t change a foregone conclusion.

“Haven’t you heard of officials protecting each other?  Baihu is also an official.  If I bring along my soldiers to visit the County Office, do you think he won’t offer me a cup of tea with a pleasant face?”

Once he smiled, he appeared to be a few years younger and looked more handsome.

“You’re a rogue!”

He was actually threatening her!

“Yes, I’m a rogue.”  Xiao Jingfeng admitted generously.

She glanced at him angrily.  “Does your Mother know about this?”

“You mean that I’m a rogue?”  He grinned with some bitterness.  “She hasn’t got the chance yet.”

“Haven’t you been home?”

The news of him being still alive should have been sent to Wolong Village but she had cut off contact with them and never thought of inquiring again.

There was a hint of coldness on his face.

“I suffered serious injuries that almost killed me and when General Chen saw that I had been away from home for a long time and had never returned, he specifically permitted me to return to my hometown to recuperate for a month.  After my injuries had healed, I was instructed to return as his subordinate………”

He then narrated what happened upon his return home.

When the Xiao Family saw his whole body covered with injuries, they were not ecstatic to greet him, instead, they were shocked and asked why he was not dead.  His eldest brother was anxious to send him away while his mother picked up the broom to chase him out and told him to leave immediately.  A person who is dead should remain dead and not appear again.

At that time, the comrades who sent him home were dumbstruck and everyone present was speechless.  One of them, who understood a little about the ways of the world, took out a silver ingot.  His mother’s anger turned into joy and after putting down the broom, she bit on the silver in front of everyone to test if it was genuine.

After the comrades left him behind with the family, the family did not allow him to stay in his own house but in the firewood shed.  The family said that since he would only be staying for a short while, they made him stay in the shed temporarily to save the trouble of moving here and there.

What made Xiao Jingfeng sad was not that they treated him as an outsider.  He had been away for almost two years and when he came home, everything had changed.  Everyone was there but his wife was gone.

“They said that you couldn’t stand the loneliness and left with a merchant but I didn’t believe them and searched everywhere for you.  Finally, when Auntie Jiu saw that my wounds had opened up and bleeding, she told me the truth.  At that time, my injuries couldn’t withstand the long journey, so I asked someone to inquire about your whereabouts.  I thought you had gone to the imperial capital……”

At that time, a large wave of disaster victims flocked to the imperial city and the Emperor gave the order for the grain warehouses to be opened for disaster relief.  Some noblemen, high-ranking officials, and wealthy families came forward in succession to the food distribution shelters to do charity.

Hundreds of thousands of disaster victims lingered for several months before they gradually returned to their hometowns.  The crowd slowly dispersed and the place finally returned to its original calm.

However, some people remained behind.  They did not have any land and had lost their homes.  They were prepared to settle down and make a living wherever they went and since they had come to the capital, they did not want to leave.

In Li Jing’er’s situation, 8 out of 10 people would guess that she would follow the disaster victims because she would be able to find food once she arrived in the capital otherwise, she would end up at a dead end.

Xiao Jingfeng also made the same guess and took out all his silver taels to get people to locate his wife hoping to find the mother and daughter in the shortest time possible.

However, he was met with disappointment.

The days passed one by one but there was still no news of Li Jing’er and her daughter.  He was extremely anxious and helpless.

A weak woman with a baby girl……..one could imagine what they will encounter.  His only hope was that they are still alive and he was no longer concerned about other things.

As her husband, he had failed to shoulder his responsibility and could not blame others.

“Where happened to the compensation?”  Li Jing’er maliciously wanted to know what happened next.

He was stunned and did not know whether to cry or laugh.  The two of them had met again after a long absence and this was what she cared about the most.

“Of course, I had to return it.  The money belongs to the imperial court.”

“But your Mother definitely wouldn’t have agreed.  She would act shamelessly and wants people to take her life instead.  It would be impossible for her to return the money.”

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That kind of person will only act arrogantly and would behave like a commoner shrew to achieve her goal, assuming others will forget about the matter when she kicks up a ruckus.

However, the other party was the government and she was not allowed to play this kind of trick.  So what if she was unreasonable, the efficient Yamen followed the law and dealt with matters according to the laws.

When Xiao Jingfeng thought of his mother’s show of unsightly manners, he felt embarrassed and showed a weak and wry smile.

“My Mother indeed refused to return the money, so the Yamen Officers entered the house to take back the money.  She desperately blocked the doorway and refuse to let them enter.  Then the Yamen Officers tied her up citing the reason as obstructing official duties and shut her up with a piece of cloth shoved into her mouth.  After she quietened down, they went in to search.”

“She must have lost more than 20 taels.”

The Yamen’s moves are underhanded, so they will surely take the opportunity to pocket someone’s possession and walk away.  Mankind would never dislike money.

He smiled wryly again and did not tell her that her guess was correct.

“Those government officers were like thieves and robbers and were even more ruthless than the bandits in the mountains.  She lost all her 30 plus taels of silver.”

“Did she cry?”

That malicious cunning old woman finally has this day.

Back then, the old woman was reluctant to let her eat even an extra mouthful of food and calculated the amount of food to feed her.  She was only given enough food to fill her tummy half full and half hungry so that she could work without fainting from hunger and the old woman saved up the small amount of money left as her private funds.

God has eyes and watches our every step.  There will be retribution if one commits too many sins.

The old woman saved so hard here and there but in the end, it benefited others.  In a blink of an eye, all the schemes came to nothing.

“She cried very loudly.”

It was so loud that all the neighbors were startled and thought that someone had died.

“How many days did she cry?”  She felt very happy and smiled with radiance.

“Three days.”

“Did she ask you for money?”

The old woman should have asked for compensation.

“Yes.”

“You gave it to her?”

“No.”

She was astonished.  “Why didn’t you give her?”

He was the most filial and took care of all the major and minor matters in the family.  He would give his mother whatever she wanted without any complaints and even gave up his life for her.

Xiao Jingfeng blushed with embarrassment.

“I didn’t have money.”

“No money?”  The answer surprised her.

The soldiers are poor but the generals are rich.  The people that gain the most in wars are the superiors who plunder the enemies’ properties and take them for themselves.  The gold and silver would be divided equally and the spoils of the war seized on the battlefields need not be turned over to the imperial court.  Depending on one’s ability in accumulating wealth, one could even become rich after a battle.

He felt even more embarrassed.

“Before this happened, I sent home three months of my military salary but then I was injured so I went home to recuperate.  I was carrying a few silver taels on me but it was all used up to buy medicine and to search for you.  When she asked me for money, I had just run out of money and originally planned to ask her for some.”

At that time, he was still a soldier and his salary was not much.  Every month was very tight and he could only save half of his monthly salary to send to his family by eating and spending frugally.

It was because he had blocked off a life-threatening blow with his chest for General Chen that he was promoted from a soldier to a Baihu.  The injury was so deep that his bones were exposed and it almost took his life.  To show gratitude for his death-defying rescue without any regard for his life, General Chen allowed him to return home to recuperate, see his family, and relax for a few days.

Unexpectedly, he did not feel any happiness upon returning home, and instead, one bad thing happened after another.  He was so annoyed by his mother that he could not recuperate properly hence, he returned to the camp before his injuries were properly healed.

The reason was Mother Wu thought it was all due to him that she lost all her money, therefore, he must earn money to pay her back.  So every day she forced him to work to earn money.  She did not care whether the work was dangerous or not, or it was work that no one dared to do, so long as the work could earn a lot of money since all she wanted to see was only the shiny dazzling silver.

In the end, Xiao Jingfeng could not tolerate it any longer and returned to the camp early.