The next morning, when Qiao Laohan and the others learned about what happened last night, they cursed the Zhao family for their lack of morals and decided not to go to the fields.
“If I had known, I wouldn’t have let you attend the wedding banquet yesterday. What kind of things is Wang Lizheng doing? I even called Xingsheng over to support them,” Qiao Laohan said, pacing back and forth in the main room with his hands behind his back. He looked at Qiao Xingsheng, worried that this incident might affect him and his ability to take the imperial exams. “This won’t affect you, will it?”
Zhou Shi immediately shouted, “It shouldn’t, right? It’s not like our Qiao family did anything wrong. How could it involve Xingsheng?”
If she had known it would turn out like this, she wouldn’t have cursed the Wang family yesterday.
Qiao Xingsheng’s face was also grim. Although the village head couldn’t affect his upcoming exams, his reputation could be tarnished. His teacher was considering marrying his daughter to him, and if…
“Should we tell Shanzi not to marry the Fang family boy?” Zhou Shi asked.
Qiao Xingsheng shook his head. “He must marry him. Not marrying would be worse for our family’s reputation.”
Zhou Shi felt relieved hearing her son’s words.
Qiao Laohan was silent for a while and then gave up. The second son’s family already had a boy, so having another one wouldn’t make much difference.
“Oldest daughter-in-law, go to the door and see when someone from the Zhao family comes.”
Zhou Shi responded and went out.
Only the grandfather and grandsons were left in the room.
“Even if it doesn’t have much impact, we can’t just do nothing,” Qiao Laohan said, taking out a silver coin and handing it to him. “Buy some ink and take it to your teacher to apologize.”
Qiao Xingsheng weighed the silver coin, feeling a bit better. “Got it.”
“Hey, big brother, what are you guys talking about in there?” Qiao Yue leaned against the door frame, holding a bowl and chopsticks, and asked before taking a big slurp of noodles.
Qiao Xingsheng quickly flipped his hand, discreetly pocketing the silver coin, and said, “Why are you up so early today? We were talking about last night’s events.”
Qiao Yue sighed deeply. He didn’t want to get up early either. He had gone to bed late last night and spent the whole night dreaming.
Qiao Laoda patted his shoulder. “Exactly, Shanzi, you should have called us over yesterday. We could have smashed the Wang family to pieces. That would have been satisfying!”
Qiao Yue shrugged off the hand trying to pat him again. “Big Aunt isn’t here. Didn’t you notice, Big Uncle?”
Qiao Laoda scratched his head, laughing, saying he was too tired and slept like a log. “I didn’t even know when your Big Aunt went out.”
“Oh…” Qiao Yue quickly finished his noodles.
Qiao Laoda asked when they would go smash the Zhao family.
Qiao Laohan coughed. “Enough with the smashing! They didn’t succeed in their plan. Later, they’ll apologize and compensate us with silver. Believe it or not, in a couple of days, people will say we, the Qiao family, went too far.”
If they had gone to smash the Zhao family right after the incident, it would have been fine. But yesterday, things happened one after another, and there was no time to run to the Zhao family. Going today would be too late.
Qiao Laoda, being scolded in front of the younger generation, quickly found an excuse to leave.
Qiao Laohan then asked Qiao Yue when they would finalize things with the Fang family.
Qiao Yue felt a headache coming on. “Grandpa, it’s not settled yet. We don’t even know if they’ve agreed or refused.”
“Why isn’t it up to you?” Qiao Laohan said. “You’re a man. If you say you want to marry, how can they refuse? Are you not being proactive enough?”
Although Qiao Laohan didn’t like boys, he understood the dynamics between men, women, and boys. In such matters, he had only heard of men being unwilling to marry, leading to the other party either marrying far away or jumping into a river. He had never heard of a man wanting to marry but being unable to.
Qiao Yue pouted. “Grandpa, why can’t they refuse? Even though your grandson is tall, strong, and handsome, it doesn’t mean everyone loves me.”
Fang Chuyue always wanted to marry Qiao Xingsheng, but now that’s impossible. Even so, it doesn’t mean he has to marry him.
He was self-aware.
Qiao Xingsheng: “…” Even he wouldn’t dare say such things. How does Shanzi have the guts?
At this moment, Zhou Shi ran in to report, “Shanzi, hurry, the Zhao family is here…”
Qiao Yue put his bowl and chopsticks on the table, and they all went out together.
They saw Zhao Laosan being grabbed by the collar by Qiao Laoda, who was questioning him, “Your Zhao family is really something, daring to scheme against us like this. Do you believe I won’t have my son file a complaint against you at the county office?”
Zhao Fulang stood by with his head down.
There were murmurs all around, and Zhao Fulang became even more silent, brushing his hair to cover his face.
“Uncle Qiao, I’m sincerely here to apologize with my husband today. Why don’t we go inside and talk?” Zhao Laosan finally managed to break free from Qiao Laoda’s grip and smiled bitterly at Qiao Laohan.
Qiao Laohan glanced around and nodded. “Come in.”
Only then did Qiao Laoda let him go, allowing him to bring his people inside.
Once everyone was inside, Qiao Laohan had the door closed. Qiao Yue, being the last to enter, “forcefully” shut the door, leaving a gap two fingers wide.
As Qiao Yue approached them, Zhao Fulang knelt on the ground with a thud. “I’m sorry,” he said, bowing his head repeatedly.
“I’m really sorry. As a husband, I failed to manage my husband properly. We only found out yesterday that he did such a shameful thing! We are truly ashamed and have wronged everyone, especially Yue. Fortunately, nothing happened to Yue, or we would be to blame…”
Zhao Laosan handed five taels of silver to Qiao Laohan.
Qiao Yue reached out with his long arm and intercepted the five taels of silver.
“…” Qiao Laohan glanced at him but refrained from scolding him in front of the Zhao family. He averted his gaze and said to Zhao Laosan, “Your husband indeed wronged our Shanzi! He deserves to bow his head, and our Shanzi can accept it.”
Zhao Laosan nodded. “Yes, yes, if I had known, I wouldn’t have left him at the Wang family.”
Qiao Yue, not caring about anything else, happily held the five taels and moved closer to Xia He. “Little Dad, what are you looking at?” He followed Xia He’s gaze.
The middle-aged husband looked haggard, his hair a bit messy. Qiao Yue thought for a moment, realizing that after bowing his head, he had been kneeling there silently, not getting up or speaking.
But since this person had attacked him, Qiao Yue didn’t feel the need to show kindness and call him up.
After a while, the person seemed to sense Xia He’s gaze and raised his hand to brush his hair over his cheek, as if trying to cover the bruises.
Xia He felt stifled, unable to speak for a long time.
“Little Dad?”
Xia He looked at Qiao Yue’s concerned eyes, shook his head, and pulled him aside, leaving the father-in-law and elder brother to continue talking with the Zhao family.
Fortunately, they were there to apologize, not to catch up, so after a few awkward words, Zhao Laosan took Zhao Fulang to the Fang family.
Zhao Laosan’s approach at the Fang family was the same, except this time, there was no Qiao Laohan.
Fang’s father and mother were the type who wouldn’t say a word even if you hit them with a stick. They just nodded and said “oh” to everything Zhao Laosan said.
“He really knows he’s wrong…” Zhao Laosan looked up to see Fang Chuyue, the boy, standing there with his arms crossed, looking at him coldly, and he suddenly couldn’t speak.
Fang Chuyue took the silver and then told them to leave.
Zhao Laosan smiled as he left, but as soon as he was out of sight, his face fell, and he turned to the person behind him. “Let’s go!”
That Zhao Qing, such a fool, couldn’t even drug someone properly!
He got caught, and they had to pay several taels for nothing!
The two of them walked with their heads down, afraid of being followed by the pointing and whispering behind them.
Ma Ershen watched their figures, sometimes laughing with her hands on her hips, sometimes covering her mouth, boasting about her “great achievements” with dramatic ups and downs.
“Is it true? Did that Zhao Fulang really drug them, trying to set up Yue and their boy?”
“Is there any doubt? Just ask around, and you’ll know I’m telling the truth,” Ma Ershen said confidently.
“I never would have thought. When he used to visit the village, I thought he was an honest person. Who knew he had such a vicious heart? His family and boy were dragged down by him!”
Ma Ershen shook her head at this.
“Who dragged down whom is another story…”
Meanwhile, Zhao Village was also abuzz with the news, and the whole village was talking about it.
Lin Ge’er thought that since his little dad took the blame, and Qingshan Village was a bit far, even if they went to apologize in person, it wouldn’t affect him. But as soon as he stepped out, he was pointed at and whispered about.
He finally found his handkerchief friend, but the person stood in the yard, unwilling to come out, telling him not to look for him.
Lin Ge’er, embarrassed, ran home and cried into his pillow.
If only he hadn’t eaten too much out of greed, causing a stomachache and running to the toilet.
They did the bad thing, but in the end, someone else benefited. Lin Ge’er cried until he was out of breath.
When Zhao Laosan got home and heard Lin Ge’er’s crying, he clenched his fists and cursed, “Shut up! You still have the face to cry? If you cry again, get out, and you… you’ve both embarrassed me.”
On the way back, he couldn’t count how many people pointed at his back and cursed. He had lived his whole life, and the first time he stumbled was because of Zhao Qing, and the second time was still because of him.
And the boy he fathered…
Zhao Laosan looked at the father and son with a sinister expression.
Lin Ge’er was so scared he didn’t dare cry, just sobbing quietly, hoping Zhao Qing would help persuade Zhao Laosan.
Zhao Qing acted as if he didn’t notice, keeping his head down, letting Zhao Laosan scold him.
…
“Big brother, big brother, wake up~”
Early in the morning, Qiao Xiaoyuan finished breakfast and ran to knock on the door. After a while, his hands were red from knocking, and his lazy big brother finally opened the door with messy hair.
“You brat, what time is it to be knocking on the door…” Qiao Yue opened the door and crawled back into bed, pulling the quilt over himself to sleep again.
“I’m not a brat; I’m a boy,” Qiao Xiaoyuan carefully stepped over the threshold, pattering to the bedside. “Big brother! Why are you sleeping again? Little Dad told me to wake you up!”
Qiao Xiaoyuan kicked off his shoes and leaned over, shouting in Qiao Yue’s ear.
“Big brother, wake up~”
“Big brother, big brother, big brother! Brother, brother~”
The persistent crowing-like sound made Qiao Yue, who just wanted to sleep a little longer, sit up angrily.
“Who told you to wake me up, huh? Are you scared now? Speak!” He grabbed Qiao Xiaoyuan and started tickling him.
“I’m not scared. Little Dad told me to!”
“Hahaha, I’m scared, I’m scared, haha, big, big brother… stop…”
Qiao Xiaoyuan couldn’t hold out for long, twisting like a little worm, begging for mercy while laughing uncontrollably.
Seeing him laugh until he was out of breath, Qiao Yue quickly let go. “Good that you know you’re wrong. Don’t come knocking on my door like that again!”
Qiao Xiaoyuan lay on the bed, face up. “Haha… but Little Dad said you have to go help at Brother Fang’s house, and you have to go early. No sleeping in.”
Qiao Yue: “…” If I go now, is it still in time to kiss?