Chapter 31: Trouble from the Guo Family

“Uncle, I’m coming in.” Getting a response, Yan Yu naturally pushed open the door.

She saw her uncle busy packing clothes, drenched in sweat.

“Uncle, let me help you.”

She ran over, took one look, then climbed up and started folding the long robes—left sleeve, right sleeve, stack them together.

Yan Huaiwen: Full of wrinkles!

Who taught her to fold clothes like this!

But then again, he blamed himself for not breaking old habits from his past life.

Now he was just a poor scholar, no use being picky.

While Yan Huaiwen was zoning out, our little Er Ya hadn’t stopped.

Her uncle didn’t have many clothes, but they were all the same style—long robes.

She was short with small arms, so she had to spin around just to fold them.

When it came to tying the bundle, Uncle had to do it himself. She wasn’t strong enough, and the bundle came out loose.

“Uncle, anything else?” She was ready to keep going.

When told there was nothing left to pack, Yan Yu looked regretfully at all the things left behind in the house. Sigh! Such a pity!

“Your mom did your hair? Not bad.” Yan Huaiwen finally noticed something different about his little niece.

She was dressed like a boy.

“Mom said it’s more convenient.”

Actually, it was Yan Yu who had asked for it. She figured she was still small now, but when she got older, it’d be better to look like a boy when going out.

“Uncle, look at this. Do you recognize these characters?” Yan Yu didn’t forget her real reason for coming.

Yan Huaiwen took the paper she handed over. It was clear at a glance that it had come from his brother’s old calligraphy practice. A few characters were written on the back in seal script.

Huge characters, but written neatly, without missing strokes.

“You wrote this?” Yan Huaiwen asked.

No matter how bad Tian You was at calligraphy, he couldn’t have written something this ugly.

“Yeah, Uncle. I didn’t know these characters, so I copied them down to ask Dad, but he’s not home.”

So here she was, asking her uncle.

“Your dad’s teaching you to read?”

“He is, a few characters at a time.”

“Write the ones you know, let me see.” Yan Huaiwen wanted to know how far his brother had gotten with her.

Yan Yu shook her head, all innocence: “I can’t! Dad said recognizing them is enough, no need to know how to write.”

“Then read this page, see if you know them.”

Determined to shake off the label of illiteracy, Yan Yu did her best.

“This one’s ‘ji’, this one’s ‘mie’…”

Only a few characters, but once she got her answers, Yan Yu ran off.

Yan Huaiwen sat there lost in thought.

His second brother wasn’t much of a scholar, but his little niece was clever. Clearly, her dad wasn’t putting in much effort to teach, yet she could memorize this many characters just by recognizing them. Quite rare.

With this kind of talent, it couldn’t be wasted.

A daughter raised right could still outshine the boys!

Yan Huaiwen made a mental decision to put her education on the agenda, while also wondering if there was still hope for salvaging his brother’s scholarly career.

In the north, the literary scene was poor, but once they got to Guanzhou, perhaps Tian You could give it another try.

…

Yan Lao’er, completely unaware his daughter had set him up, was happily working with the Qi brothers.

It looked like a simple project, but in this fully manual ancient world, just shaving four identical wooden pillars took a lot of time.

Luckily that was the only time-consuming part. The bed planks didn’t need precise length or thickness, and the railings were made from leftover wood—Yan Lao’er did that part himself.

When the four of them finally lifted the frame onto the cart, Yan Lao’er didn’t even feel like it was much effort…

Sanbao was ordered to walk around the yard pulling the cart. The frame on top stayed steady.

Yan Lao’er circled it once. “Qi Wu, how about we add a roof?”

It hadn’t rained here at all, but they were heading north and who knew what kind of weather they’d encounter? Better to be prepared. Out on the road, it wouldn’t be as easy to find materials like at home.

This time Qi Wu wouldn’t go along with him: “Brother Yan, just throw a straw mat over it yourself.”

Yan Lao’er thought about it and agreed. He’d figure something out at home.

As for adding another cart at the back, that was no trouble at all. A few boards fixed in place, and the Yan Family’s ox cart instantly became a four-wheeled, double-decker minibus.

Yan Lao’er had brought freshly ground flour with him, no money in hand, but he had learned from his brother how to settle debts with grain.

“Brother Yan, what’s all this for? Just a few pieces of wood, nothing good about them, can’t take them with you anyway. If you can use them, it saves them from rotting here.” Qi Wu said.

Qi Si added, “Yeah, Brother Yan. Thanks to your family’s money helping the village buy livestock, even our old mother got to ride a donkey cart. Really, it’s us who owe you.”

“Take it, take it,” Qi Da was even less eloquent, just repeating this line.

Yan Lao’er couldn’t argue his way out of it. The three of them were practically pushing him out the gate…

“Alright, alright, I’ll take the flour. We’ve got plenty of time ahead, brothers.”

…

Guo Lizheng stormed into the Yan Family courtyard with a gang of people, looking furious.

“Scholar Yan, I respected you as a scholar and wanted to propose your daughter for my youngest son. You refused, fine. But how could you have Yan Lao’er beat him up!”

“When Xiang’er was carried back, he was covered in blood. The doctor said if he’d been a minute later, his life would’ve been in danger!

Where’s your Yan Lao’er? Get him out here! We’re taking him straight to court. I’m putting this here now: this won’t blow over!”

“And where’s Yan Daya? The fortune-teller said for Xiang’er to get better fast, he needs a joy-bringing ritual. If you won’t hand over Yan Lao’er, then give me Yan Daya. Tonight she’ll be married!”

Yan Lao’er heard the commotion in his yard and hurried Sanbao to speed up.

When he got close, he caught every word from Guo Lizheng.

“You’re full of crap!” Yan Lao’er charged into the courtyard, shouting:

“Who beat him? Which eye of yours saw me do it? I didn’t even lift a finger!

Your cursed son must’ve done something vile and got karma for it!

You old thing, you’ve got a black heart! Now you want my Daya for some joy-bringing nonsense? Let me tell you, every girl in the Yan Family is full of good fortune! Your son’s barely got a few liang of flesh on his bones and you want him to ‘absorb joy’? More like he’ll die from it!”

Guo Lizheng was so angry his beard tilted sideways. The doctor had said his son had internal injuries and wouldn’t be able to do heavy labor from now on.

For a farmer’s son, that was basically a death sentence.

“It was your ox! Your family’s ox kicked him, on your orders! Xiang’er said it himself, no mistake!”

“Oh wow, everyone hear that? Is this something a human would say? You’ve got livestock at home too, right? Go ahead, order one, I’ll stand here, have it kick me, let’s see!”

Yan Lao’er’s words were as provoking as could be.

It’s a beast, not a human—how could it understand language, let alone follow orders to kick someone?

Yan Huaiwen spoke at just the right time: “Guo Lizheng, without evidence, don’t speak recklessly. If this goes to court, you may be charged with false accusation.”

Yan Xiangheng, watching and listening, felt his face flush with excitement.

His Second Uncle used to be rough only at home, but seeing him like this out in public—how satisfying!

Yan Yu tugged at her big brother’s sleeve.

Yan Xiangheng looked down at her.

“Big Brother, they’ve brought too many people. You should hurry to the threshing ground and bring more folks over.”

Yan Xiangheng jolted.

Right! Guo Lizheng had come with quite a crowd. If things turned violent, they’d be at a disadvantage.

(End of Chapter)