TSWPF -Chapter 113 Obedience

Li Qingling and the others made a trip to Song Mountain, brought Xiao Xi back, and reburied her on Niutou Mountain.

No one knew whether Dahe’s father had heard the news or not. In any case, he never showed up.

Dahe didn’t mind. He simply treated himself as a child without parents. After all, Sister Qingling and the others no longer had parents either, yet they were living very well.

If Sister Qingling and the others could do it, there was no reason he couldn’t.

On the contrary, without his parents’ interference, he could focus even more on learning medicine with Grandpa.

He swore that he would definitely make something of himself and make the parents who abandoned him regret it.

Fortunately, he was quite talented in this area, and learning came relatively easily to him.

On ordinary days, not only did he study medicine with Grandpa, he also learned to read with Brother Zhimou.

If he didn’t know how to read, he wouldn’t be able to read medical books or write prescriptions.

So learning to read was absolutely necessary.

“Zhimou, are you home?”

Hearing someone knocking on the courtyard gate, Dahe, who had been identifying herbs, ran over to open the door. As soon as he did, he saw that it was the village head’s eldest son.

“Uncle Li, what do you need Brother Zhimou for?” he asked as he stepped aside. “Come in first!”

The village head’s eldest son was stunned for a moment before reacting. “Dahe? Why are you here? Didn’t your parents come back? Why aren’t you staying at home?” He had returned rather late and knew nothing about what had happened earlier.

Dahe replied with a somewhat downcast tone: because his parents had severed ties with him, so…

Before he could finish, the village head’s son frowned deeply. Li Daqian was really disgraceful—abandoning even his own son.

“What exactly is going on? Dahe, tell me about it. I’ll have my father stand up for you.”

They lived in the same village, and he had heard before about how Dahe was treated at home—worse than pigs or cattle. But even so, they couldn’t just cut off the father–son relationship outright, could they?

Dahe dug his fingernails into his palm, lowered his head, and briefly explained what had happened. As soon as he finished, the village head’s son exploded in anger.

“What kind of nonsense is this? Over a bit of food, they don’t even want their own son anymore.” After angrily saying this, he reached out, took Dahe’s hand, and comforted him. “Dahe, don’t be afraid. After I tell my father about this, I’ll definitely get justice for you.” Li Daqian was just too spineless, unable even to control his own woman, letting her take charge of everything.

If his own wife dared to treat him like that, he wouldn’t hesitate to give her a slap and let her know what it meant to treat her husband as heaven.

Hearing this, Dahe quickly shook his head and said it wasn’t necessary. He was doing quite well here—Brother Zhimou and the others treated him very kindly, like a member of their own family.

“Really no need? Don’t you want to go back home?”

Home?

Dahe gave a bitter smile. “That home no longer has a place for me. It doesn’t matter whether I go back or not.” After a pause, he added, “Living here is more convenient too. I can learn to recognize herbs with Sister Qingling, and in the future I’ll have a skill to rely on.” To avoid trouble, he didn’t directly mention Grandpa.

If he brought Grandpa up, he would probably have to explain for a long time. It was better not to say anything—after enough time passed, the villagers would naturally find out.

Seeing that Dahe truly didn’t want to go back, the village head’s eldest son sighed helplessly. “If you ever want to return home, come to my place and tell my father. He’ll stand up for you.”

“Alright, thank you, Uncle.”

The village head’s eldest son forced a smile. “Then help me tell Zhimou that he should go to the threshing ground later. My father has something to announce.” As he spoke, he patted Dahe’s head. “I still have things to do, so I’ll be leaving.”

“Okay…”

After seeing the village head’s eldest son off, Dahe closed the courtyard gate and went to the study.

Once there, he relayed the message to Liu Zhimou and Li Qingling. After hearing it, both of them stood up at the same time.

“You all continue studying here. Xiaoling and I will go see what’s going on.”

Liu Zhimou and Li Qingling slowly walked toward the threshing ground. Along the way, villagers kept asking them whether they hadn’t fled as refugees and had stayed in the village.

“That’s not true. We fled to Song Mountain. If we had stayed in the village, we’d have been killed by the enemy long ago.” Acting as the family’s spokesperson, Li Qingling answered the villagers’ questions with a smile.

The villagers sized up Liu Zhimou and Li Qingling and saw that aside from being a bit thinner than before, they were otherwise doing quite well.

Deep down, they were filled with envy, speaking somewhat sourly. “If we’d known earlier, we wouldn’t have fled as refugees either. We should’ve just hidden in Song Mountain.” They had gone without food or drink during their escape and had nearly not made it back. “Xiaoling, you have no idea how hard it was for us when we fled. Those people—when they had no food, they went around robbing others. Beating people to death was a common thing.” Thinking of those scenes, they all shuddered with lingering fear.

When Li Qingling heard this, her expression immediately changed, becoming sorrowful. “Don’t envy us just because we look like this. You don’t know—we almost lost our lives!” As she spoke, she even raised her hand to wipe away tears that didn’t exist.

Seeing her like this, the villagers grew curious and asked what had happened, how they could have nearly lost their lives.

Li Qingling let out another loud sigh and vividly recounted everything that had happened to them on Song Mountain. At the end, she sighed again. “Being able to come back alive—it was truly thanks to our parents’ protection!”

“That’s right, that’s right. It really wasn’t easy for you to come back alive.” The villagers swallowed nervously and echoed her words. “Maybe it really was your parents who protected you and let you return safely.”

If they had encountered that group of enemies, they might have become souls under the blade. How could they have been so lucky as to run back alive?

Put that way, although their own escape had been bitter, it hadn’t been quite as dangerous.

“Exactly. That’s why as soon as we got back, we went to our parents’ graves and kowtowed twice, thanking them for protecting us.”

Li Qingling said this as if it were absolutely true. Standing beside her, Liu Zhimou struggled desperately to hold back his laughter. If he didn’t, he would have already burst out laughing.

He admired Li Qingling’s eloquence even more now—she could make the dead sound alive. Truly impressive.

Even he, someone who had experienced it all firsthand, felt his emotions rise and fall with her words.

Let alone the others.

The villagers offered Li Qingling and Liu Zhimou a few words of comfort, then shifted the conversation to other topics.

Seeing that they were no longer pestering her, Li Qingling finally let out a sigh of relief.

Although she was articulate, she really had no patience for endlessly dealing with these people.

“What are you laughing at? Next time something like this happens, you handle them. I don’t want to step in anymore,” she said through clenched teeth in a low voice.

Liu Zhimou cleared his throat and looked at her with a smile in his eyes. “I think it’s better if you do it. I’m not good with words—I can’t speak as brilliantly as you.” Brilliant enough that he almost wanted to write it all down.

“Not good with words?” Li Qingling raised an eyebrow, curled her lips, and leaned closer to him. “Let me see—is your mouth really that clumsy?”

Cough, cough… Was she teasing him?

Liu Zhimou took two steps back shyly, his eyes darting around. When he saw that the villagers ahead were busy talking and hadn’t noticed them, he finally felt more at ease.

“Li Qingling, watch the occasion,” he said. Being teased at home was one thing—no one would see it. But outside, they had to be more careful.

Li Qingling pouted, straightened up, and actually let him off.

For now, anyway. She’d settle the score once they got home.

Seeing that she had become serious, Liu Zhimou finally relaxed his clenched hands.

He had been so nervous that his palms were sweaty, afraid she might act recklessly without regard for the situation.

Li Qingling glanced at him with a half-smile, making the hairs on his arms stand on end, afraid she might suddenly startle him again.

“Idiot,” she scolded with a laugh and looked away.

Liu Zhimou pinched his fingertips and smiled quietly.

Being her idiot was a kind of happiness too.

When the two of them reached the threshing ground, many people were already standing there. Li Qingling noticed that many of the elderly villagers were missing. Presumably, they hadn’t survived the ordeal of fleeing and never returned.

Thinking of this, a faint sadness welled up in her heart. She wondered whether her oddball grandparents had made it back.

She stayed at home and hadn’t gone out, so she didn’t know what was happening outside.

Her eyes scanned the crowd. After looking once and not seeing them, she was about to step forward to check the other side—

But before she could move, the village head stepped up onto the platform and raised his hand.

The noisy threshing ground instantly fell silent.

Looking even older than before, the village head spoke in a somewhat hoarse voice. “This natural disaster and man-made calamity has caused many elderly people in our village to never return. For that, I feel deeply saddened.” In the future, there would be far fewer people he could even visit and chat with. “But no matter what, those of us who are still alive must keep moving forward.”

After speaking, he gestured to his sons, who immediately carried up two burlap sacks.

Pointing at the sacks, the village head finally showed a bit of a smile on his sorrowful face. “The emperor truly has the common people in his heart.” As he spoke, he faced east and said “Long live His Majesty” before continuing, “These are grain seeds distributed by the court. Each household can receive three tubes of seeds. After you receive them, put them aside for now. Once His Majesty prays the rain down, then you can plant them.”

As soon as he finished, someone said worriedly, “But the planting season has already passed. Will this really work?”

“Since the court has distributed these seeds, that means they can definitely be planted,” the village head said confidently. “Anyone who receives seeds must plant them. If I find anyone who doesn’t, I’ll take them back immediately. Do you hear me?” He was afraid people wouldn’t listen and would just eat the seeds instead.