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General Wu family bullshit, otherwise no other chapter warnings!“After hitting someone, you still have excuses?” Ruan Lanru only had to think of how she still hadn’t gotten even for her youngest son since he’d been beaten up and her heart would be full of anguish and anger.
Wu Xi was so angered that she couldn’t bear it: “You…!1It’s pretty rude for Wu Xi to be addressing her aunt like this, so you can imagine how upset she is.“
Wu Xi had never known that erbomu was so shameless. It was clear that they had been in the wrong first, yet erbomu was still behaving so self-righteously2理直气壮 (li zhi qi zhuang): literally means ‘the logic is correct, [so one can] behave strongly’. Or, more eloquently (according to my dictionary), ‘bold and reassured with justice on one’s side’. It’s generally hard to squeeze these sorts of phrases into where they’re supposed to be in English sentence structures so I have modified it a bit and leave this note for supplementary purposes..
Wu Qianqing stood before Wu Xi, blocking Ruan Lanru’s imperious gaze: “Ersao, since we’re settling scores3算账 (suan zhang): can be used literally for actual, like, financial accounting, but it’s also used figuratively to mean ‘settle revenge scores’., then let’s start from the beginning. Everybody knows that this whole situation’s root was in Xiao-Yu using money to bribe Yu Tianbao and the others into bullying Xiao-Ruo first, then pretending to help Xiao-Ruo, so that Xiao-Ruo would help him to borrow materials from me. This sort of disgraceful behavior truly makes people feel that he’s shameless. It was well done for my son, Xiao-Zhu, to hit Xiao-Yu. Ersao, if you want to vent your anger about this, you can.”
His expression changed, turning incomparably stern: “However before you do that, let us bully Xiao-Yu in turn. From the beginning till now, the number of times Yu Tianbao and his lackeys bullied Xiao-Ruo amount to 193, so we will also bully Xiao-Yu 193 times. In addition to that, the countless materials that Xiao-Yu borrowed from me have not been returned. Ersao, please return these materials to us. Once we’ve cleared these debts, I will get Xiao-Zhu to come back and let Xiao-Yu have a go at him. Ersao, does this satisfy you?”
Ruan Lanru’s eyes were wide open: “…”
How could the number of times Wu Yu bribed Yu Tianbao and his lackeys be so much?
Wu Ruo looked at the way erbomu was mute and speechless, and his eyes flashed with amusement.
The number of times that Yu Tianbao and his lackeys bullied him was obviously randomly spouted by his dad.
Wu Qianqing took one step forward: “If this cannot be done, then would ersao please stop bringing up this matter of hitting others. Otherwise, we can bring this matter up for discussion to the clan leader and let the clan leader resolve this issue.”
Ruan Lanru’s face had turned red from anger: “…”
If she really let her son be bullied 193 times in return, her son would either be dead or half-crippled. On top of that, they would still have to return the materials. In the end, they would only be able to beat Wu Zhu once. No matter how she looked at it, they would be losing out.
Mu Xiuwan saw that her second daughter-in-law had been angered silly and she frowned, speaking up: “Alright, I asked all of you here today to discuss the matter of repairing the Southern main estate, not to discuss your children’s fights. If you want to resolve this issue, do it privately. If no one else has anything to add, then go back to your own estates.”
Wu Qianqing could tell that his mother was obviously saving ersao from embarrassment and couldn’t help staring at Mu Xiuwan meaningfully.
This look made Mu Xiuwan’s heart tremble. She inexplicably felt a little guilty.
Leaving Xuanwan Garden, Wu Xi urgently asked: “Dad, you’re really going to invest your own money to fix the Southern main estate?”
Guan Tong also looked at Wu Qianqing with a face full of anxiety. It wasn’t that they didn’t have the money to repair the estate. It was just that if they were always so easy to persuade, those people would only get greedier and greedier.
Ai4An interjection that expresses disappointment, regret, sadness, or weariness., they had truly been too naive in the past.
When people from the other estates showed them a little kindness or favor, they would feel that those people were good people. Now that they looked back, they felt that these people were such phonies. Treating them well on the surface, but secretly wanting to obtain more things from them.
“When the two main estates were fighting to the death, as a biological brother5Wu Qianqing specifies being a ‘biological’ brother because of the strong sense of ‘brotherhood’ that exists between male friends that might have two dudes calling each other ‘brothers’ even if they aren’t actually related. of theirs, I didn’t help them, this is indeed something that can’t simply be overlooked. So, in this matter, we have no justification, we have no reason to say we won’t repair the Southern main estate. However…” Wu Qianqing laughed coldly: “As for how I’ll repair it, that’s up to me.”
If it was before, he definitely would’ve invested a large sum of money to do full and detailed repairs, and renovate the whole of the Southern main estate brand new. However, now…
Heh, he wouldn’t be this foolish anymore.
Guan Tong and Wu Xi asked curiously: “Then how will you repair it?”
Wu Qianqing didn’t explain to them how he would repair it either. After returning to Shuqing Garden, he sent Wu Xu6Brief refresher: Wu Xu is the head steward of Shuqing Garden, similar to Hei Xin in Hei Manor. to look for craftsmen7工匠师父 (gong jiang shi fu): this is a polite way to refer to the craftsmen as skilled/masters of their work by tacking on the shifu title. You can tell from here that these craftsmen are regarded respectably and not viewed as simply lower-class/menial workers..
Wu Ruo didn’t know what Wu Qianqing intended to do. However, when he was leaving Shuqing Garden, he saw a craftsman holding onto a pile of mud, slowly filling in the gaps of the estate walls. Only when he went forth to enquire did he discover that Wu Xu had only hired one craftsman to repair the estates. Under the circumstances where lodging and food were covered, the craftsman would only be paid half a silver tael every month. As for the mud used in the repairs, they were all just taken from the riverside and basically didn’t cost money at all.
When Wu Ruo heard all this, he smiled.
Previously at Xuanwan Garden, the exact reason why he hadn’t spoken up was that he wanted to see how his dad would handle this matter. Looking at things now, he realized that his dad had really changed. He was no longer someone who was always easy to persuade. This way, Wu Ruo could rest assured.
When the people from the other estates found out that Wu Qianqing had hired craftsmen to repair the Southern main estate, they all secretly sneaked over to take a look. When they saw that there was only one craftsman using mud to fix the walls, their faces twisted with anger on the spot.
No matter how they had guessed, they still wouldn’t have guessed that Wu Qianqing who had always been so easily persuaded would also be able to think of such a dirty method to deal with this matter.
When Wu Ruo left the Southern main estate, he discreetly shifted the arrangement of the estate’s array by a little. In an instant, the array lost its effectiveness.
The people of the Southern main estate immediately detected that a problem had occurred with the array and the whole estate was thrown into a frenzy. They hurriedly sent people to investigate.
Wu Ruo watched the scrambling people, his lips curling into a smile. Since the people of the Southern main estate would come looking for trouble with their Shuqing Garden the moment they had any free time, then they shouldn’t be too idle.
The moment he walked out of the Southern main estate’s main gate, the array had already been recovered to its original state.
Wu Ruo saw that the insects outside of the main gate had already crawled onto the walls and entered the estates.
After he boarded the horse carriage to leave, two people walked out of a small alley from across the street.
“Ba Se, you couldn’t really have set your sights on Wu Ruo, could you?” Wu Anshu asked with a frown.
Ba Se looked in the direction that Wu Ruo had left in with an infatuated expression: “I have. As long as you help me obtain him, I will help you deal with the people from the Southern main estate8Friendly reminder that Wu Anshu is from the Northern main estate and he hired Ba Se to get back at the Southern main estate..”
He simply liked Wu Ruo’s body9皮囊 (pi nang): more commonly used to refer to leather bags, it’s a derogatory way to refer to a person’s body. so much. From the first time he’d met Wu Ruo, he’d begun to constantly think about it.
“But, he’s already someone else’s wife.”
Ba Se smiled sinisterly: “So what? As long as I can have him, I don’t care about anything else.”
“Alright, as long as you deal with the people from the Southern main estate, I will help you to get Wu Ruo.”
Wu Ruo didn’t seem to have any idea that someone had set their sights on him. Once he returned to Hei Manor and saw the main hall that had turned into ruins, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes.
Before he left, everything had clearly been in good condition. Suddenly, after he had returned from making a trip out, it had collapsed?
“Madam, you’ve come back! That’s such good news.” Hei Xin hurriedly walked over to him.
Wu Ruo pointed at the main hall with an expression of shock: “What happened here?”
Hei Xin’s expression was worn out: “This…”
“Dasao—!” An earth-shaking10惊天动地 (jing tian dong di): literally ‘to shock the heavens and move the Earth’. yell cut off Hei Xin’s words. Following closely, Hei Xuantang ran over while sobbing11哭天喊地 (ku tian han di): literally ‘crying to the heavens and shouting at the lands’. This seems like a mistake because the idiom that shows up in the dictionary is 哭天抹泪 (ku tian mo lei) which means ‘to cry piteously’. I could be wrong and this is a regional dialect though.: “Dasao, dasao, dasao—!”
Wu Ruo was scared silly by his appearance: “What happened to you?”
Crying so pitifully, exactly what great disaster had occurred?
Hei Xuantang drew out a white silk handkerchief from his chest pocket and wiped the tears on his face: “Dasao, dage won’t be able to make it12A.K.A implying that ‘he’s about to die’..”
Hei Xin: “!!!!!!”
“What?” Wu Ruo was stunned to his spot, not daring to believe what he’d heard with his own ears.
Hei Xuantang tugged on him anxiously, dragging him along, as he said tearfully: “Dage received a severe injury and won’t be able to make it. Go and take a look at him quick.”
“W-what’s going on? Wasn’t he just fine before?” Wu Ruo tried his best to keep his calm. Unexpectedly, his shaking voice betrayed his current emotions.
“Don’t ask so much first. Go take a look at dage quickly.”
Wu Ruo hurriedly asked: “Where is he?”
“In your room.”
Wu Ruo pulled away from Hei Xuantang’s arm with speed and started running towards the residential courtyards.
“…” Hei Xin waited until he could no longer see the silhouette of Wu Ruo’s body before he turned to Hei Xuantang and asked: “How come I didn’t know that Master won’t be able to make it?”
Hei Xuantang giggled, none of his previous anguished sobbing in sight: “I lied to him.”
Hei Xin: “…”
Poor Madam.
Wu Ruo ran madly to the residential courtyards and burst into the inner rooms of his quarters. When he saw Hei Xuanyi lying on the bed, unmoving, his heart trembled. An unprecedented and extreme amount of panic flooded his heart.
“Hei Xuanyi.”
He rushed forward and embraced the person who was on the bed. He had never thought that there would come a day that he would fear losing this person.
Wu Ruo suddenly recalled that he knew medicinal arts and hastily pulled Hei Xuanyi’s hand out from beneath the blankets. A long bloody scar on the back of that hand greeted him.
“Eh…?” The person on the bed had been awoken by Wu Ruo.
Hei Xuanyi saw Wu Ruo with a face full of anxiety and grief the moment he opened his eyes, and his gaze filled with concern: “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t speak.” Wu Ruo hurriedly helped to take his pulse. However, the pulse was steady and peaceful, full of vigor, it was even healthier than the average person’s. How could it possibly be the pulse of someone who was about to die?
“You…!” He was stunned, and he angrily lifted his gaze to glare at Hei Xuanyi: “You tricked me!”
Wu Ruo put down his hand and stood up to leave.
Although Hei Xuanyi didn’t understand what had happened, when he saw that Wu Ruo was about to leave in anger, he immediately got up and caught Wu Ruo’s wrist, pulling Wu Ruo into his arms, and asked in confusion: “How did I trick you?”
Wu Ruo turned to look at him, seeing Hei Xuanyi’s expression of incomprehension, he quickly understood that he had fallen for Hei Xuantang’s tricks. He gritted his teeth and said: “Your sidi13四弟 (si di): fourth younger brother, A.K.A Hei Xuantang lied to me that you were about to die.”
When he had returned, the first thing he had seen was that the main hall had been turned to ruins. Following that, Hei Xuantang appeared crying so brokenheartedly, so he hadn’t suspected that this whole matter would be false.
Hei Xuanyi: “…”
He was just taking an afternoon nap14Just as a note, it’s pretty common to take an afternoon nap for Chinese people from around 12pm to 2pm. If I’m not mistaken, it’s still practiced even today in China., how was he about to die?
Wu Ruo asked: “What happened to the main hall?”
When Hei Xuanyi thought of this, he felt a sense of helplessness: “Dandan and Ji Xi collapsed it.”
After the matter, Hei Xuanyi had originally wanted to severely punish these two mischievous brats. However, when he saw Dandan’s face full of tears, he really couldn’t bear to do it, so he punished them to self-reflect while facing the wall15Personal note, not relevant to the translations, feel free to skip: I love that Wu Ruo is the dad who will actually dish out consequences and Hei Xuanyi being the softhearted dad who is wrapped around his baby’s little finger..
Wu Ruo: “…”
If he had known this was going to happen, then he wouldn’t have let Ji Xi stay.
“Then what happened with the injury on the back of your hand?”
Hei Xuanyi was unfazed by the injury on the back of his hand: “When the main hall collapsed, it got scratched by accident.”
“Why didn’t you apply any medicine onto it?” Wu Ruo pushed him away with a bit of anger. He stood up and took some wound medicine from the cupboards: “Lift your hand.”
Hei Xuanyi obediently held his hand out.
Wu Ruo’s eyelashes quivered lightly. It was as if the injury on the back of Hei Xuanyi’s hand had also cut open his heart; he felt as though his heart hurt a little.
Hei Xuanyi watched Wu Ruo carefully applying the medicine, as if afraid of hurting him, and the cold, hard corners of his mouth couldn’t help but gradually curl up.
In the inner room, the atmosphere was sweet and warm.
Hei Xin and Hei Xuantang who were hiding in the outer rooms covered their smiles behind their hands and sneakily left the quarters.
Hei Xuantang said smugly: “Look, didn’t I say that that dasao definitely cares about dage?”
Hei Xin nodded, beaming: “I can also tell.”
“It’s just that the two of them aren’t intimate enough.” Hei Xuantang rubbed his forehead16I am making a guess here because the Chinese text says 鄂 (e) but that’s not… something you can touch. It’s a surname or a nickname for Hubei. I assumed that JYB intended to use 额 (e) which refers to one’s forehead.: “We need to put in more effort and work harder.”
Hei Xin: “…”
