Chapter 102: Chaos at the County Office
In the morning, the rooster crowed, waking Qingyan up. Qiu Henian came to call him to get up for breakfast.
Qingyan lay in the soft and warm bed, reluctant to move.
Qiu Henian sat at the edge of the bed, looking at him. “Still don’t want to get up?”
Qingyan pulled the blanket up to his chin and said, “I’m tired.”
Qiu Henian smiled, his gaze scanning him.
“You were lying on the bed saying you were tired last night. I let you lie down and didn’t move. Why are you still tired this morning?”
Qingyan’s cheeks reddened. He pulled the blanket over his face, leaving only a pair of bright and lively eyes visible.
He mumbled, “Just that… my legs are sore.”
Qiu Henian looked at him with lowered eyes and said, “Let me massage them for you.”
Qingyan didn’t move, watching as the man lifted the blanket from the lower half, placed his leg on his own, and gently massaged it. When the massage reached its end, Qingyan couldn’t bear it.
Although it was just a normal massage, Qingyan’s face gradually turned red.
He withdrew his leg and said, “No more, I’m getting up.”
Qingyan got up and dressed. Qiu Henian fetched his shoes warming by the stove and as soon as his feet touched the floor, the man’s large hand grabbed him, slowly pulling socks over his feet and helping him into his shoes.
After washing their hands and wiping their faces, the two went to the outer room to eat. Ah Miao was eating cat food under the table, while Qingyan gnawed on his greasy chicken drumstick on the table.
After just a couple of bites, Qingyan stopped eating and switched to drinking soy milk and eating sesame cakes. He finished with two chicken legs, a large bowl of soy milk, a whole fried sesame cake, and two eggs, wiping his mouth after.
Qiu Henian ate while keeping an eye on him.
His brow furrowed slightly as he asked, “Why so little this morning? Do you have no appetite?”
Qingyan glanced at the remaining chicken legs, forced himself to look away, and said, “Yinglan and Chen Yu didn’t get fat during pregnancy. I want to lose weight.”
Qiu Henian chuckled but didn’t try to persuade him.
As the two prepared to leave, Qiu Henian quietly wrapped up the leftover three chicken legs in oil paper to take along.
The carriage clattered towards town. Today, it was Aunt Li’s turn to stay home, while Qiuniang and Qingyan went to the shop. San Yao also joined them on the carriage, planning to take the carriage from town to the county office later.
Qingyan wanted to plant some fresh flowers to decorate the shop when the season came. Since there were few flower seeds for sale in town, San Yao would check in the county and also look at other crop seeds.
Several people chatted on the carriage, enjoying the breeze, and in no time they arrived.
Qiuniang exchanged a few words with San Yao, who then hurried off. When she turned her head, she saw her elder brother handing a package wrapped in oil paper to her elder sister-in-law from the carriage.
However, her elder sister-in-law, although staring at the package, firmly pushed it back. The two silently wrestled back and forth several times until her elder brother gave up trying to take the package back. Her elder sister-in-law regretted his decision and reached out to grab it.
After a brief struggle, her elder brother chuckled and let go, patting her elder sister-in-law on the head.
Though nothing much had happened, Qiuniang blushed and quickly looked away, sneaking a smile as she hurried into the shop.
Huani usually arrived earlier and had already opened the shop door and partially cleaned up inside. Qiuniang put on her apron and joined her in mopping and dusting.
Qingyan arrived later. Not finding anything to do as they didn’t want him to help, he simply stood in a corner to avoid getting in the way.
In the afternoon, San Yao returned from the county. Before eating lunch, he stopped by the shop.
Qiuniang cooked a pot of noodles for him on the stove in the shop, which he ate at the counter.
Qingyan asked him how things went. San Yao said he managed to buy half of the flower seeds he had mentioned, but couldn’t find the rest despite searching many places.
Qingyan wasn’t disappointed; getting half was already good. Besides wealthy families, few ordinary people would buy these.
After taking out the seeds, Qingyan gave everyone a share, saving Aunt Li’s share for later. When it warmed up, he could plant them in their own yard, enjoying the sight of them blooming.
This year, Qingyan’s family only planted rice, soybeans, and these fresh flowers.
San Yao mentioned that each family could only eat so many vegetables, so he planted them all together on his land. When summer came, he’d bring them some every other day.
Huani overheard and asked if San Yao could bring her some every time too, offering to pay at market prices. It would save her from going out in the hot sun to buy vegetables and ensure they were fresh-picked that day.
San Yao readily agreed, saying, “Just tell Qiuniang what you want, and I’ll bring them over with the carriage in the morning.”
He also had a new idea. When the vegetables came out, he might not have to go out and sell them on a stand. It was too labor-intensive.
Instead, he could try to negotiate long-term sales with various restaurants or wealthy households, even if it meant selling at a lower price. Small profits but quick turnover would still be good.
After finishing the noodles, San Yao took a rest behind the counter. With no customers at this hour, Qiuniang chatted with him, asking if he had seen anything interesting in the county.
Slapping his thigh, San Yao said, “I almost forgot to tell you, there was quite a scene in the county today.”
At this, Huani also leaned closer to listen.
San Yao glanced outside, lowered his voice and said, “Something happened to the relatives of our village head’s family.”
Qingyan, who was looking at the account book, paused in his movements and quietly put away the ledger, then came over to listen as well.
Qiuniang asked, “Are you talking about that Yang family?”
San Yao nodded, “This morning when I entered the city gate, I sensed something was wrong. There were many people gathered by the city wall, looking at something. I was in a hurry for my errand, so I didn’t stop to see. Later, when I entered the city and passed by the county yamen, I saw even more people gathered there. I heard someone in the crowd banging gongs and drums, crying for justice.”
“What does this have to do with the Yang family?” Qiuniang asked, puzzled.
San Yao explained, “I couldn’t resist my curiosity and went over to take a look. According to people around, many places in the county were covered with petitions last night, even in front of the county yamen. By the time I went to look, they had all been torn down, but many people saw them. They said it accused Yang Huai of heinous crimes, causing the deaths of several people.”
“The disturbance at the county yamen today was caused by the relatives of Yang Huaizi’s sister-in-law’s family. It’s said that they learned their family member was killed by Yang Huaizi after reading the petition. The servant who was beheaded earlier was just a scapegoat. That family is also wealthy in the county and not on good terms with the other, which is why they dared to publicly seek justice at the county yamen.”
Qiuniang remarked, “I never expected such a thing. If it’s true, someone who appears decent on the surface could have a sinister heart.”
Huani hesitated and said, “He looks refined and scholarly; it doesn’t seem like he could do such a thing!”
San Yao added, “I heard that Young Master Yang is about to get married. His bride is a young lady from a prominent family in the county. Now, I’m afraid this matter will ruin everything.”
Qiuniang said, “If it’s true, even if it’s ruined, marrying such a person would be jumping into a fire pit.”
The two continued chatting for a while. After San Yao rested, he returned to the village first.
Qiuniang, having heard the excitement, soon forgot about this matter and went about her own business.
Qingyan went to the warehouse on the second floor and sat there for a while, pondering over the issue. He faintly felt that something was amiss but couldn’t quite figure it out.
Downstairs, Huani, too, was unusually restless at this moment.
Just now, hearing what San Yao said, she suddenly recalled another matter.
It was more than a month, nearly two months ago. One day, she was walking home from the shop when she unexpectedly encountered a man from Qingyan’s store.
She thought it was a chance encounter, but the man came straight to her.
Qingyan had been ill and resting at home for several days around that time, reportedly frightened. Huani wondered what had scared him. Later, she heard that he was pregnant, so she didn’t think much of it.
It should have been the third day after Qingyan hadn’t come. Qiu Henian carefully asked her about the last day before Qingyan fell ill, who had come to the shop and with whom he had spoken.
Seeing his serious expression, Huani recalled and recounted everything one by one.
Now thinking back, Huani remembered that when she mentioned Young Master Yang, Qiu Henian’s expression seemed to change for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal.
After Qiu Henian finished questioning, he instructed her not to tell anyone he had spoken to her. Huani felt she hadn’t said much, so she agreed.
Huani vaguely felt something was wrong, but she thought her suspicions were absurd.
She shook her head, knocked herself on the head softly, and muttered quietly, “It’s impossible, just my wild thoughts!”
He’s just an ordinary person like me.
How could he have the courage to do such a thing, and besides, Qingyan’s fright may not have anything to do with Young Master Yang, even if he is a bad person, he didn’t do anything excessive that day.
Huani felt she was just overthinking.
In the evening, Qingyan and Qiu Henian mentioned the matter, saying, “The Yang family’s situation doesn’t look good now. The uproar is so big, even if the county yamen wants to cover it up, they must have concerns.”
Qiu Henian shook his head and said, “Taking down Yang Huai won’t be so simple. There are people in the county yamen who are tied to him. If one falls, the other will fall too. They will definitely spare no effort to protect him.”
Qingyan sounded a bit disappointed, “So there’s no way to deal with him?”
Upon hearing this, Qiu Henian remained silent. Qingyan shook his head and sighed.
Qiu Henian glanced at him, lowered his eyes, his expression hidden beneath his eyelids.
Last night, when Qingyan got up in the middle of the night, he found Qiu Henian standing in the yard.
Although there was moonlight in the evening, visibility was still unclear. Qingyan was half-asleep and not very awake, so he didn’t notice that Qiu Henian’s shoes were muddy, nor did he notice the mud on the hooves of the four small jujube trees tied not far away.
It had rained in the morning, and although it had cleared by the afternoon, low-lying areas were still muddy in the evening.
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
Qingyan whispered in his ear, “Once this little bean grows arms and legs, it won’t be a little bean anymore. It’ll turn into bean sprouts!”
