Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 89
>Chapter Title: Wu Family
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After pondering silently for a moment in his heart, Li Huowang nodded. “Go ahead, old sir. What are the rules?”
“The first one: in our Wu Family Village, you’re not allowed to talk back to your elders, especially not to me.” The goatee village chief held up his index finger.
“That’s the rule?” Not only did Li Huowang feel stunned, but everyone else was stunned as well.
They had thought it would be some bizarre rules, but it turned out to be something so ordinary.
“Isn’t that just a family rule? Are they really using their own family rules to restrain outsiders?”
Li Huowang lightly knocked Gouwa beside him and said to the village chief, “Please continue, sir. We’re listening.”
“The second one is that we’re right next to the woods here, and animals from the forest often come out—whether mice or civet cats, you can’t hit them or step on them. If you encounter them on the road, you have to yield first and let them pass. They once did a favor for our Wu Family.”
“The third one: you’re all outsider guests, so no men are allowed to speak to the women of our village. There wasn’t this rule in previous years, but a few years ago, a peddler came through and abducted two of our wives!! Oh man, just mentioning that peddler gets me riled up...”
As the village chief rambled on endlessly, Li Huowang and the others gradually learned all sorts of rules of Wu Family Village—even trivial things like not defecating anywhere were mentioned.
“There are more turtles than water in this shallow pond. This rundown village sure has a lot of rotten rules. Why don’t we just not stay here?”
“Shh, listen quietly.”
At this point, the village chief’s rules were nearing the end. “The eleventh one is: don’t light lamps at night, don’t go out at night. And the final one: no matter when, wait for others to turn around before speaking. Never speak to someone’s back.”
Hearing this, Li Huowang’s brow furrowed slightly. These last two rules felt off to him.
“What if I break these rules? What happens then?”
“Break the rules?!” The village chief’s eyes widened instantly, and he declared with full confidence: “Fine you! One tael of silver for the first offense, and more if you break them again! We fine until you don’t dare anymore! Don’t say we’re bullying you outsiders—our own clansmen get fined the same.”
“...” Li Huowang suddenly had an illusion: had he gotten it wrong?
Feeling someone tugging at his hem, Li Huowang nodded to the goatee elder before him. “Don’t worry, old sir. We’re all reasonable people.”
“Mmm, good. Otherwise, seeing you’ve got two kids with you, I wouldn’t bother explaining all this. I’m getting old—I can’t stand to see children suffer.”
With that, he turned and walked into the courtyard. The two carriages stopped in the yard, and Li Huowang and the others carried their bedding into the musty west wing room.
By the time they finished cleaning and sorting everything, the sun was already starting to slant westward.
Once everything was settled, the village chief came back in, smiling as he said, “Hey, young fellow, want to eat dinner here? If so, I’ll have my son’s wife make extra.”
“Dinner?” Li Huowang’s heart tightened. Other people’s food wasn’t something you ate casually.
After thinking it over, Li Huowang nodded. “If it’s no trouble, old sir.”
Watching the old man leave with his hands behind his back, Li Huowang shot Xiaoman a look. “Go help out in the kitchen.”
“Mm.” Xiaoman nodded and headed out.
The village chief’s family was large, with six sons, two daughters, and grandchildren besides. Mealtime was lively with dozens of people.
That was also why he dared take in Li Huowang and the others—in the village, no one messed with a man who had many sons.
Though they lived in a three-courtyard mansion, the Wu Family’s meals were hunger-barely-satisfying double-steamed rice, with vegetables all grown in their own fields. It was terribly stingy.
By the time Li Huowang came out, they had already started eating. Not the slightest intention of the host waiting for the guests—many dishes were already nearly empty.
“The rice is over there. Serve yourself. Country folk don’t have so many table manners.”
Li Huowang shook his head indifferently. “No problem, no problem.”
He led his group toward the steamer baskets in the corner, silently counting in his mind.
Just as he reached ten in his head, a clattering crash of shattering bowls rang out behind him.
When he turned around, he saw dozens of people, including the village chief, all sprawled on the ground, knocked out cold.
“Heh, that peddler’s monghan drug is really something. Worth every penny.”
Regardless of whether these people were being controlled by that thing called “Eighteenth of the Twelfth Month” and planning to set him up, Li Huowang had no intention of figuring it out. Strike first and you couldn’t go wrong.
With Li Huowang waving them on one by one, the others quickly rushed into the east wing where the main family lived and began rummaging for clues.
“First look for writing, then anything unusual. The weirder, the better—like Buddha amulets or spirit plaques. I want to see just what tricks they’re playing!” Li Huowang said to the others.
Searching east and flipping west, they turned the entire three-courtyard mansion upside down, but still found nothing. No anomalies at all.
“How can there be nothing?” Li Huowang stood in the main hall, brow furrowed tight as he pondered the issue.
Busy all day, and aside from the village chief’s surrounding woods being a bit off, they’d found zilch.
“Is Eighteenth of the Twelfth Month in that woods just now? No, I checked. This village chief is surrounded by bamboo groves. If that thing is hiding anywhere, it’s here.”
“We found their silver. Does that count?” At this point, Gouwa held up some broken silver pieces.
Seeing Li Huowang’s sharp glance, Gouwa sighed helplessly and slunk back with the silver.
Glancing at the darkening sky outside, Li Huowang issued another order: “Fetch the fire striker. Light the fires.”
“Senior Brother Li, aren’t we not supposed to light fires?” Bai Lingmiao asked puzzledly.
Hearing this, Li Huowang’s eyes narrowed slightly, his right hand brushing over the row of torture tools at his waist.
“I just want to see what happens when we do.”
If this village had any other suspicious points, it was these rules from the goatee’s mouth.
“Whoosh~” The previously unearthed candles and lanterns were swiftly lit, illuminating the entire Wu Family courtyard bright as day.
Li Huowang sat quietly in the hall full of sprawled bodies, waiting as the sky grew ever darker.
No moon tonight—the darkness was like a vast black cloth draped over everything.
But that was it. Dark as it was, still nothing happened.
“Ha~” Gouwa yawned and leaned against a pillar, starting to doze.
The others seemed infected by him, yawning one after another.
Looking at the drugged Wu Family members on the ground, a sliver of doubt rose in Li Huowang’s heart. “Did I really come to the wrong place?”
Just as he thought this, a mischievous giggle sounded from atop the courtyard wall. “Hee hee, you broke the rules.”
(End of chapter)