After Gu Lin returned home, he could not afford to rest either. Once he finished paying the annual tuition fees, he had only one tael of silver left in his pocket.
Expanding the scale of his business was imminent. If he continued selling only cold dishes, Gu Lin estimated that he might not even be able to maintain his livelihood. However, his current business was not yet stable enough to introduce a food item completely unrelated to cold dishes. Otherwise, cutting down on cold dishes to make a new item might leave customers dissatisfied.
Gu Lin pondered that he needed to make something different from cold dishes yet sharing some similarities.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up. The cold dishes he currently made were entirely vegetarian, but cold dishes could have meat as well. However, due to limited ingredients, he decided to start with shredded chicken to test everyone’s level of acceptance.
With a specific idea and plan in mind, Gu Lin felt somewhat relieved. At that moment, Zheng Hao walked up to him, and Gu Lin looked at the boy with a puzzled expression, asking, “What is it?”
Zheng Hao looked at him and said, “I am going to start studying tomorrow. How are you going to sell cold dishes all by yourself?”
“Ouch.” If Zheng Hao hadn’t reminded him, Gu Lin would have almost forgotten about this issue. A look of worry surfaced on his face. The foot traffic at his stall was no longer what it used to be in the beginning when he could grit his teeth and push through on his own. Moreover, selling over two hundred tubes of cold dishes alone was simply impossible.
Gu Lin felt a headache coming on, realizing he needed to hire someone to help as soon as possible. But whom should he hire?
Gu Lin wore a thoughtful expression.
Seeing the ge’er before him looking so conflicted, Zheng Hao felt a trace of helplessness flash through his typically cold and ruthless beast-like eyes, and he reminded, “You can ask Sister-in-law Zhao.”
At this moment, Gu Lin happened to think of Sister-in-law Zhao as well, but he quickly shook his head and rejected the idea. “That won’t do. Right now in June, it is precisely the busy season for fertilizing and weeding in the fields. Sister-in-law Zhao has endless farm work to do. How could she have time to help me?”
Zheng Hao calmly analyzed, “The Zhao family has two men. Sister-in-law Zhao going to the fields just means finishing the farm work a day or two earlier. As long as you offer appropriate wages, Sister-in-law Zhao will come.”
Gu Lin was slightly tempted, but after thinking it over, he still shook his head and said, “I will look for someone else.”
After coming to this world, he understood how important farmland was to peasants, calling it their lifeline was no exaggeration. The year’s livelihood for a family of several depended entirely on these fields. If he delayed her farm work, Gu Lin’s conscience would not rest easy.
Zheng Hao saw through Gu Lin’s concerns but remained indifferent. Having lived in Lower River Village for many years, he knew better than anyone how desperately the villagers wanted to make money. Do not be fooled by how everyone in Lower River Village capable of walking headed out to the fields, seemingly placing immense importance on the land. That was simply because, apart from farming, they had no other avenues for making money.
However, he did not press further. Through several days of getting along, Zheng Hao understood that while Gu Lin seemed easygoing, once he made up his mind, it was hard for anyone to shake his decision.
Since Gu Lin did not intend to trouble Sister-in-law Zhao, he planned to scout for other candidates. But that night, just as Gu Lin was agonizing over how to slaughter a chicken to make shredded chicken, someone knocked on his front door.
Gu Lin opened the door and was greatly startled by the visitor’s appearance. In just a single day, Sister-in-law Zhao looked as though she had aged a dozen years. “Sister-in-law, what has happened to you?”
The tears Sister-in-law Zhao had finally managed to hold back fell once more. To her, the events of today were undoubtedly like the sky collapsing.
Seeing Sister-in-law Zhao’s tear-stained face and nearly collapsed state, Gu Lin helped her into the courtyard, poured her a bowl of warm water, and said, “Sister-in-law, do not panic. Did you encounter some trouble? Tell me about it. Although I do not possess great abilities, I can help brainstorm some ideas.”
Looking at the ge’er’s face filled with genuine concern, Sister-in-law Zhao thought of how little she had helped him in the past, yet now that trouble had struck, she was coming to bother him again. She felt she had no face left to look at him.
However, she had already sought help from everyone she could, and now, aside from Gu Lin, there was no one else she could turn to.
“Little Lin, I am sorry. Sister-in-law is sorry to you. If I were not truly out of options, I would not have come to disturb you.” Sister-in-law Zhao wept uncontrollably. “This morning, Dagen went to learn carpentry from Carpenter Wang. Not long after, he was carried back on a stretcher by Carpenter Wang’s family, bleeding all over. Dagen’s arm had an arm-length slash, and the bone was even visible. I was nearly fainting at the time and had not yet figured out how Dagen was injured when Carpenter Wang’s family accused him of disrespecting his master, claiming he had started a conflict with Carpenter Wang and thrown the first punch.”
“My Dagen is the most honest and dutiful person. In front of us, he never said a single bad word about Carpenter Wang. All he talked about from morning till night was working hard so Carpenter Wang would appreciate his sincerity and take him on as an official apprentice. How could he possibly raise a hand against Carpenter Wang?”
Gu Lin hadn’t interacted much with Zhao Dagen, but having crossed paths with him a few times, he was someone so honest that he felt too embarrassed to even collect money for bamboo tubes. Gu Lin did not believe he would raise a hand against an elder. “I believe Dagen is not that kind of person.”
Sister-in-law Zhao continued, “I do not believe it either. When Dagen woke up around dusk, he told us he was framed and driven out by Carpenter Wang’s family.”
The more the woman spoke, the more agitated she became, her voice turning hoarse. Listening to the rest of Sister-in-law Zhao’s account, Gu Lin’s expression grew increasingly dark.
It turned out Zhao Dagen had not been driven out for conflicting with Carpenter Wang at all, but rather because he had been implicated by Carpenter Wang’s daughter. Carpenter Wang’s daughter had quarreled with her husband and returned to her maiden home to stay. A few days later, her husband came looking for her at the Wang household, only to find his wife chatting and laughing with a strange man. Convinced he had been betrayed, the son-in-law flew into a rage, rushed forward to beat Zhao Dagen, and, ignoring the latter’s explanations, struck harder and harder. When Zhao Dagen initially endured it but later tried to fight back upon seeing the other trying to kill him, the two scuffled until Zhao Dagen took a heavy blow and crashed into the courtyard’s wood-cutting saw. Blood spurted everywhere on the spot, and Zhao Dagen passed out. Seeing this, the son-in-law and Carpenter Wang’s family panicked, fearing a human life might be lost. After having the village barefoot doctor tend to Zhao Dagen’s injuries, they immediately sent him home.
Anger surged in Gu Lin’s chest. Maintaining a semblance of calm, he asked, “How is Dagen’s wound treated? Muscle and bone injuries cannot be taken lightly. Is the money enough? I still have one tael of silver here. Take it and use it first.”
Hearing Sister-in-law Zhao’s description, Gu Lin could easily imagine how severely injured Zhao Dagen was. Being able to see the bone meant the wound was both large and deep. With medical science underdeveloped, leaving aside whether the injured bone could heal properly, during the recovery process without proper medication, there was a constant risk of fatal infection at any moment.
Yet facing the weathered and devastated Sister-in-law Zhao, no matter how worried Gu Lin was, he did not dare voice this concern aloud.
Thinking of the culprits, Gu Lin gritted his teeth and said, “We must hold the Wang family and their son-in-law responsible.” But before he even finished speaking, a bitter look surfaced on Sister-in-law Zhao’s face, filling Gu Lin with a bad premonition.
Sister-in-law Zhao’s eyes were filled with despair, devoid of their usual spirit and vitality. Covering her mouth, she choked out, “Dagen said that the Wang family’s son-in-law is an official clerk at the county yamen. How can ordinary people like us who scrape a living from the soil ever dare to fight against someone like that?”
Even after Sister-in-law Zhao left, her defeated and utterly hopeless posture lingered in Gu Lin’s mind.
With a creaking sound, Zheng Hao walked out from his room.
Gu Lin stood with his back to him, speaking either to himself or to the boy, “Are we really just going to let it go like this?”
That was not just a blade of grass or a flower; that was a living human life. Gu Lin had thought that from childhood to adulthood he had tasted all the warmth and coldness of human nature and seen through the darkness of society, only to realize that what he had touched was merely the tip of the iceberg.
He had never imagined that in this world, someone could truly act so wantonly and recklessly.
When a person’s life was violated, the one forced to bear responsibility was the victim, and even the one living in terror was the victim, while the perpetrator remained as arrogant and carefree as if nothing had happened.
“Why is it that those who harm human lives can still live so well?”
Zheng Hao walked up beside him. Under the moonlight, the silhouettes of the older and younger figures stretched across the courtyard floor. Shedding his usual youthful impulsiveness and recklessness, Zheng Hao displayed an unprecedented calmness, “Because we are commoners.”
A chill gripped Gu Lin’s body. Never before had the rigid division of society into classes felt so concrete to him. He realized he had underestimated the cruelty of this world from the very beginning.
He turned around, lowering his gaze slightly to look at the young boy beside him. Although the boy spoke of being a commoner, his expression held no cowardice, carrying instead a faint aura of superiority. In a daze, Gu Lin asked, “If you were Sister-in-law Zhao, what would you do?”
Surprise flickered across Zheng Hao’s expression, clearly not expecting the other to ask such a question.
Seeing this, Gu Lin felt a twinge of disappointment. He must truly be grasping at straws out of desperation. No matter how successful and accomplished the boy might become in the future, right now he was only a child. What use was it asking him these things? Yet, to his surprise, he heard a voice beside him, sounding slightly youthful, but carrying an uncharacteristic chill in the quiet night, “Officials do not cover the sky with one hand. Commoners have commoners’ ways of retaliation.”
Zheng Hao knew Gu Lin was asking on behalf of Sister-in-law Zhao. In the past, he would never have completely spilled his schemes, even when dealing with Gouzi and the others, to whom he only gave indirect commands.
As a result, no one knew that the fierce and combative half-grown teenager actually possessed a calm and wise heart.
Otherwise, how could Zheng Hao have survived Gu Lin’s repeated abuses and attempts on his life, and how could he have led a group of children to hunt in deep mountains teeming with ferocious beasts?
Gu Lin asked rather eagerly, “What method do you have?”
Zheng Hao replied, “Make them fight among themselves.”
They were commoners, so naturally they lacked the backing to directly fight against officials. But what about a rival official who was also an enemy?
Zheng Hao was born into a peasant family, without the tutelage of aristocratic clans. His ancestors for generations had been commoners, yet an innate keenness allowed him to grasp the principle of the snipe and the clam fighting while the fisherman profits.
Hearing this, however, Gu Lin felt only confusion. From Sister-in-law Zhao’s words, he already understood that in this world, even a dog in front of the county yamen was worth more than an ordinary person. How could mere commoners fight officials?
He looked at the half-grown teenager before him. The boy’s expression was colder than anything he had ever seen. Zheng Hao said, “There might be a lot of trouble later on. Are you sure you want to help them?”
From his perspective, this matter had nothing to do with the other. Gu Lin could easily stay out of it and avoid getting dragged into unnecessary trouble.
Gu Lin was not someone fond of meddling in others’ affairs, but Sister-in-law Zhao was no ordinary person to him. She was the one who had offered him the first bit of warmth and kindness and stood by him unwaveringly when he came to this world completely alone, helpless, and at a loss.
With a resolute gaze, Gu Lin said, “I am sure.”