Chapter 613
Chapter 613
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 613
>Chapter Title: Oxheart Village
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Beneath the big tree at the entrance of Oxheart Village, Gouwa sat atop a large rock with a rice bowl in hand, bragging animatedly to the surrounding tenant farmers about what he had seen in Shangjing City.
“Hey~~ let me tell you, that Shangjing City is huge! If you tried to walk it on foot, you wouldn’t finish even after days and nights!”
“Know how wide the roads are? I’ll tell you—more than twenty carriages can race side by side and there’d still be space left!”
“And the girls in Shangjing’s pleasure houses—tsk tsk tsk! Forget their looks. Just hearing them call out once and your bones would go soft!”
“And the people there! They eat like it’s New Year every single day. Even the dogs on the roadside get meat!”
The villagers, who had barely traveled a hundred li beyond the village in their entire lives, listened wide-eyed. They forgot about the rice in their bowls as they imagined the Shangjing Gouwa described.
Bathed in their gasps of amazement, Gouwa basked in it, a deep sense of superiority rising within him.
He waved a grand hand like a victorious general. “Hmph! Honestly, Shangjing’s just so-so. I don’t even think much of it. If you’re talking grandeur, it’s got to be the imperial palace where the emperor lives!”
“The pillars and rooftops are lined with gold! The floors are jade! Just think about how much that’s worth!”
“Heh! Ordinary folks can’t get into a place like that. But I have! Know why?”
“You remember that big fool, right? The head of our Oxheart Village militia? Well now—he’s the Emperor of Great Liang!”
“Don’t forget, he’s my senior brother. That makes me practically imperial kin, doesn’t it?”
“Hmph! Outrageous! You’re getting more and more absurd!” Scholar Wu, who had been eavesdropping, could no longer tolerate it.
To him, the Son of Heaven was sacred and untouchable.
“What nonsense! Watch your mouth! You can say that here, but if an official heard you, they’d chop off your head!”
“Bah! You old schoolteacher, think knowing a few characters means you know everything? You don’t know squat!”
“Preposterous! Insolent brat! Don’t ever set foot in my private school again!”
“Hah! Like I ever went! Even if you begged me, I wouldn’t!”
Seeing things escalate, the others hurried to mediate. In the end, it didn’t turn into a fight.
“Hey Gouwa, if your senior brother’s the emperor and Shangjing’s so great, why’d you come back?”
Gouwa took a mouthful of rice and said disdainfully, “Gao Zhijian begged me to stay and keep him company. Said Shangjing’s too big and he didn’t have anyone to talk to.”
“But am I someone who forgets his roots? I told that fool—don’t blame your junior brother for being indifferent to fame and fortune. Even if you’re emperor, even if you’re a god in heaven—if I don’t want to go, I won’t go!”
He enjoyed the admiring looks around him.
In truth, he understood very clearly.
Someone who looked like him—even if he stayed in Shangjing—would still be looked down on. Sneered at. They were different from ordinary people.
He could endure it, thick-skinned as he was. But when his daughter grew up? She’d be pelted with stones from afar, whispered about behind her back.
If that was the case, why force himself into it?
At least in Oxheart Village, this was the territory of people like them—crippled by heaven and earth. No one dared look down on them here.
After bragging to his heart’s content, Gouwa strolled toward the Bai estate with his empty bowl.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw Lv Xiucai coming out, grease still at the corner of his mouth.
“Xiucai! Morning! Eaten yet?”
Lv Xiucai looked at him with disdain. This man had no ambition—whenever he had time, he just went around boasting. Sooner or later he’d leave him far behind.
When he became a master like their teacher, Gouwa would regret it!
Seeing Xiucai ignore him, Gouwa didn’t mind and hummed a tune as he entered the main hall.
Inside, he saw Yang Xiaohai and his eldest wife clearing the bowls.
After a year, Yang Xiaohai had grown taller. Perhaps Oxheart Village’s food was good—he was nearly as tall as Gouwa now, and more spirited in appearance.
Gouwa tossed his bowl onto the table. “So? That fool still hasn’t helped you find your parents?”
Yang Xiaohai shook his head. “The eunuch told me to go back and wait. Said they’d send word once they find them. Might just take time.”
“Taking this long to find two people? Guess this emperor isn’t all that impressive,” Gouwa scoffed before strolling away.
After he left, the pear-faced woman beside Yang Xiaohai said gently, “It’s alright. Don’t rush. They’ll be found eventually.”
“Mm. I’m not in a hurry,” Yang Xiaohai said—
—only to suddenly feel a pair of arms wrap around him from behind, pulling him into a soft embrace.
He struggled and managed to break free. Glancing nervously upstairs, he flushed red.
“What are you doing?! Senior Brother Li is upstairs!”
The woman smiled at him. “Don’t be shy. I didn’t even do anything.”
Yang Xiaohai glared and ignored her, picking up the wooden tray stacked with bowls and heading toward the kitchen.
“You’re doing this again. Aren’t I your wife?” she followed, carrying the slop bucket.
“I never said you were my wife!”
He dumped the dishes into the pot where vegetable scraps were boiling and began washing them quickly and skillfully.
After a while, it grew too quiet.
When he turned around, he saw her leaning against the kitchen doorway, silently crying.
“Do you dislike me now? Because I was pulled out of a bandit den? If you do, just say it. I won’t hold you back.”
Faced with that, Yang Xiaohai didn’t know what to do. Instinctively, he just didn’t want her to be sad.
“N-No… it’s not that. I just don’t understand. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
Her tear-streaked face broke into a smile. She wiped her cheeks, stepped inside, and closed the kitchen door behind her.
“It’s okay if you don’t understand. I’ll teach you. I’ll teach you everything.”