Chapter 614
Chapter 614
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 614
>Chapter Title: Yang Xiaohai
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“Clang~” The trembling gong’s echo carried far into the distance. The kitchen door was suddenly flung open from behind as Yang Xiaohai, still hitching up his pants, scrambled hurriedly toward the sound.
The drawn-out gong soon drew everyone in Oxheart Village over. By the time Yang Xiaohai arrived, he saw a group of eunuchs in front of the neat procession delivering all sorts of goods into the village.
Among them were live pigs, cows, and sheep, bolts upon bolts of fine silk, and stacks upon stacks of gold and silver.
The other villagers, witnessing this, gasped in amazement and buzzed with excited chatter.
“Did I hear that right? All this is from the Emperor for us?”
“It’s not for you—it’s for the boss who became a Daoist.”
“My goodness, was Gouwa not bragging after all? The Emperor is really his senior brother? Then we’ve got connections to the Emperor now too?”
“What’s going on? What happened?”
Yang Xiaohai craned his neck and squeezed through the crowd, just in time to see his Senior Brother Li speaking to an elderly eunuch holding a golden whisk.
“Go back and tell Gao Zhijian there’s no need to worry about Oxheart Village. I’m here. Everything’s fine. Besides, Oxheart Village isn’t poor.”
“Instead of sending all this, he’d do better to learn how to be a proper emperor.”
“If Great Liang’s emperor were a good one, it wouldn’t just be Oxheart Village—the lives of people across the realm would improve.”
“Yes, this servant has heard. I’ll report it to His Majesty upon my return.” The elderly eunuch, his face caked in white powder, bowed deeply and respectfully to Li Huowang.
When the old eunuch noticed Yang Xiaohai staring at him, he excused himself to Li Huowang, clutched his whisk, and walked over.
“Child, you’re Yang Xiaohai, right?” Facing the eunuch’s deliberately kindly smile, Yang Xiaohai nodded blankly.
The old eunuch glanced at the lively crowd around them and continued, “Too many ears here. Let’s find somewhere private to talk. It’s about your parents.”
At those words, Yang Xiaohai’s mind buzzed. A sudden wave of fear surged in his heart, as if he didn’t dare face it.
“Come on.” The pear-faced woman caught up from behind, grabbed his hand, and chased after the departing eunuch.
It hadn’t been long since the new year, and the fields were still frozen solid everywhere. On the ridge between fields, the old eunuch stopped silently and pulled a sheet of paper from his robe. “Here, read it yourself.”
Yang Xiaohai’s hands shook as he took it. After hesitating, he tremblingly offered it back to the old eunuch. “Your Excellency, could you please read it for me? I... I don’t dare look.”
“Hey, what’s there to fear?” The old eunuch extended his right hand, with its long fingernails, snatched back the paper, and began to read.
“The letter says your father and mother aren’t from Great Liang—they’re from Later Shu. That’s why it took so long to investigate. Tracing back three generations, your family are all boat folk.”
“Your Excellency, what are boat folk?”
“Boat folk are people who live on the sea without fields of their own. The women dive for pearls, the men cast nets for fish. Got it?”
“Y-Yes.” Yang Xiaohai nodded blankly.
“So how did my parents lose me?” No sooner had Yang Xiaohai spoken than the woman beside him gently steadied his right arm.
The old eunuch glanced at Yang Xiaohai, then at the letter in his hand. “The first few years after you were born, there were few fish and pearls in the sea. Your father couldn’t feed you all, so he sold you.”
Yang Xiaohai’s face drained of color. Without the woman supporting him, he might have collapsed. “Your Excellency, is that it? They just sold me off that easily?”
He’d imagined all sorts of possibilities during this time, but he never dreamed it would be so simple—simple to the point of cruelty.
“What else could they do? Your family had nine children. Selling one you can’t feed is normal. This servant couldn’t be fed either, so he was castrated and sent to the palace as a eunuch.” With that, the old eunuch stuffed the paper into Yang Xiaohai’s robe.
“Your mother went deaf from years of diving for pearls, and her health’s weak—she probably doesn’t have many years left. Your father’s still out fishing at sea. Of your nine siblings, two were sold, three died young, leaving four. Half a year ago, your eldest brother went out fishing and never came back. They’re all boat folk.”
“The letter says where on the sea they fish and dive for pearls. If you want to find them, find someone literate to read it for you. This servant has other duties, so we’ll be off.”
With that, the old eunuch turned away with his golden whisk, leaving Yang Xiaohai and the woman alone on the field ridge.
Yang Xiaohai pulled out the paper and pored over it meticulously, even though he didn’t recognize some of the characters.
After a long while, Yang Xiaohai folded the paper neatly and tucked it back into his robe.
He looked up at the woman and gave a wry smile. “See, I thought I was some big shot’s descendant like Senior Brother Gao. Turns out I was just sold off.”
With that, he turned to head back to Oxheart Village.
But the woman suddenly grabbed him from behind. “Don’t bottle it up. If you want to cry, cry it out. No shame in that.”
No sooner had she spoken than Yang Xiaohai dropped to the ground and wailed with pent-up grievance.
To his other fellow disciples, Yang Xiaohai had always seemed so sensible. But Yang Xiaohai himself didn’t want to be that sensible.
It was just that, aside from this woman, no one else had noticed.
The woman hugged Yang Xiaohai and gently patted his back, silently comforting him.
Yang Xiaohai vented for a long time before finally standing again and walking back to Oxheart Village with the woman.
“Hey! Kid, where’ve you been? Look at these sheep—how fat! Let’s roast one tonight!”
“Ever since we had that roast lamb in Qingqiu, I can’t forget the taste. Roasting it is just too damn delicious.”
“Sure! Senior Brother Cao, with so many people, one won’t be enough. Let’s roast a few more.”
Yang Xiaohai, plastering on a smile like the others, arrived at the kitchen and pulled out his tools for slaughtering pigs and sheep.
As he rapidly sharpened the blade against the whetstone, one thrust of his finger against the edge suddenly sliced it open, blood flowing freely.
“What happened? Don’t move. I’ll get some golden sore medicine.” But as the woman was about to dash to the kitchen, Yang Xiaohai, cradling his bleeding finger, stopped her with a single sentence. “I want to go see them. See my family.”
Looking into Yang Xiaohai’s resolute gaze, the woman nodded gently. “Alright then. Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog—carry the sedan pole and go. Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”