Walking from the front gate to the head of the village took about ten minutes.
Yu Fuling noticed that whenever they passed a villager along the way, every one of them lowered their heads and hurried past, as if the three of them were some kind of disaster to avoid.
“Lehuan, does Second Brother have a bad reputation in the village?”
Just as Yu Fuling lowered her head to ask her sister, her second brother Yu Zhuo happened to overhear. “I’m right beside you, why not just ask me directly?”
“I was just worried Second Brother might get the wrong idea.”
“Our village is called Baijia Village, ‘the village of a hundred families,’ but it’s actually extremely closed off to outsiders. Even though Father has a household registration now, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s still an outsider.” Yu Zhuo sighed and shrugged. “So aside from the few households close by that we’re on decent terms with, other villagers act exactly like what you just saw, they see us face to face, and pretend they haven’t.”
“Even if you’re not close, when you keep running into each other, shouldn’t you at least say hello?” Yu Fuling didn’t quite understand.
“Village Head Liu says our village has already fallen far behind other villages, and if we want life to improve, we should put our minds to farming, not spend all day gossiping. His hired hands patrol the village regularly too, and if they find any villagers slacking off, gathered together chatting, the lighter punishment is being dragged to the ancestral hall for discipline, the heavier one…”
Yu Fuling heard her second brother’s tone suddenly turn grave, and couldn’t help slowing her steps to look at him. “Don’t tell me this has something to do with Father too?”
“Fourth Sister, you’re so clever.” Yu Lehuan looked at Yu Fuling with open admiration.
“Father told me the household registration was a favor he owes Village Head Liu, that’s why during spring planting and autumn harvest, Father always goes to help out at his house for a few days. Could it be… Village Head Liu wants Father to do something else too?”
“The villagers here have all lived together for generations, Father’s the only outsider. So Village Head Liu always dumps the thorny, offensive jobs onto Father. If Father refuses, and Village Head Liu gets upset and leads the effort to shut our family out, we truly wouldn’t know where else to go settle down.”
Hearing her second brother explain this, Yu Fuling finally understood why, the night before last, with all the commotion of Eldest Sister-in-law giving birth, not a single villager had come to check what was happening or whether help was needed, this was the reason behind it.
“So the villagers think Father is Village Head Liu’s man, but really, Village Head Liu just uses Father as a tool?”
Yu Fuling narrowed her eyes slightly, a habitual little gesture of hers whenever she felt displeased.
“You’ve only just come back, you don’t understand the family’s affairs well yet. Don’t mention this to Father and Mother when we get back, so as not to worry them.” Yu Zhuo instructed his fourth sister, then bent down to tell his fifth sister too, “You don’t say anything either.”
The moment he finished speaking, the three of them had already reached the head of the village. The afternoon sun was quite harsh, and after standing there only a moment, all three began to sweat.
“Why isn’t Father back yet? Did something happen to him on the way?” Yu Zhuo’s heart couldn’t help but tighten with worry.
“Yu Zhuo, Lehuan, why are you two here?”
Yu Fuling turned a moment before the other two and saw an old man pushing a cart, wearing a gray jacket, with a white beard.
“Grandpa Li!”
Hearing her sister’s greeting, Yu Fuling realized this must be the Grandpa Li her sister had mentioned before, the one who’d gotten mushroom poisoning.
“Our father went to the market, and since he hasn’t come back for so long, we’re waiting at the head of the village.” Yu Zhuo smiled, glancing at the things on Grandpa Li’s cart. “Are you off to water the fields?”
“Your father’s been back a while already, I saw him go into Village Head Liu’s house. It’s been quite some time now.”
The moment Grandpa Li said this, the smile vanished from Yu Zhuo’s face at once, his tone urgent. “Grandpa Li, are you sure? My father’s at Village Head Liu’s house?”
“That’s right, half an hour ago, I was coming back from weeding in the fields, and I ran into your father.” Grandpa Li answered honestly. “I’ll get going now, off to water the fields.”
“Thank you, Grandpa Li, take care.”
Once Grandpa Li had disappeared from their sight, Yu Fuling looked up at her second brother, who had sunk into thought. “Are we going to Village Head Liu’s house?”
“We can’t go!”
The words burst out of Yu Zhuo, but the next moment he was torn again. “Whenever Father gets called to Village Head Liu’s alone, it’s never for anything good, but we’re the younger generation, if we barge in without thinking, it might cause trouble for Father instead.”
“Why don’t Second Brother take Lehuan home first, and I’ll go to Village Head Liu’s house myself.” Yu Fuling was worried about her father, and she wasn’t afraid of danger herself, but she couldn’t let her second brother and Lehuan walk into danger.
“No way!”
Yu Zhuo refused flatly. “Let’s go home first, as for Father…”
“You said it yourself, whenever Father gets called by Village Head Liu, it’s never for anything good, but if we go there together, Village Head Liu surely won’t dare give Father a hard time in front of us. So let’s have Lehuan go home and tell Mother, and Second Brother and I will go to Village Head Liu’s house, how about that?”
“This…”
Yu Zhuo lowered his head, hesitating. He was worried about their father, but also afraid of whatever scheme Village Head Liu might come up with that he wouldn’t be able to counter.
“Or, like I said before, why don’t you two go home first…”
“No, that won’t do. You’ve only just come back, you’re not familiar with the situation in the village…” Yu Zhuo gritted his back teeth and stamped his foot. “I’ll go with you. Lehuan, you go home and let Mother know, so she doesn’t worry. Oh, and don’t tell Big Brother, or he’ll just come and make things worse.”
“Then shall we go?”
Yu Fuling patted her sister’s head. “Thank you for going home to report this, Lehuan, stay with Mother and keep her company. We’ll bring Father home soon.”
“Okay.”
Yu Lehuan nodded and turned to trot off toward home.
“Lehuan rarely talked much at home before, whatever Mother told her to do, she’d just do it. I never expected she’d get so attached to you, a sister who’s only been back a few days.” Yu Zhuo didn’t like their eldest brother, but that didn’t mean he disliked his younger siblings, he just had so many burdens weighing on him that he had no room to attend to them.
“Sibling bonds grow warmer over time, little by little. Let’s hurry to Village Head Liu’s house.” Yu Fuling glanced around. “Is his house near that grove?”
“Yes, this way.”
Worried about their father, the two siblings hurried to Village Head Liu’s house as fast as they could.
Compared to their own family’s bamboo fence, Village Head Liu’s house was a row of connected gray-tiled cottages, its outer walls made of gray brick, nothing compared to the tall walls and red tiles found house after house in the city, but standing head and shoulders above everything else in Baijia Village.
“Second Brother, Father’s cart.”
Yu Fuling recognized at a glance the cart parked at the west side of the front gate, completely empty, the wheels their father had once fixed now thoroughly broken again.
“Come on, let’s go in!”
Yu Zhuo glanced at the cart, his hands clenching involuntarily.
The moment the two of them approached the door, they heard voices from inside.
“Qingshan, I’m not the one making this hard for you, it’s that I’m truly in trouble right now. Ask around, in all my years, when have I, Liu Youde, ever lowered myself to beg anyone for help?” It was Village Head Liu’s voice.
“Village Head Liu, if you asked me to help you farm, or do some heavy labor, you wouldn’t even need to ask, I’d finish it all without a word. But what you’re asking of me now, truly is…” Yu Qingshan let out a heavy sigh. “Fuling has no connection to the Changxing Marquis’ estate anymore.”
Yu Fuling froze, how had this become about her?