Chapter 31 Part 1

Indeed, just as the Village Chief had said, the County Yamen expressed high praise for Huailing Village’s capture of the criminal refugees. However, this matter could not be publicized heavily. After all, when you got down to it, it was a dereliction of duty by the government and the Imperial Court. As a reward, and also as hush money, the County Yamen gave the Village Chief fifty taels of silver, implying that the Village Chief should come up with his own explanation. Only the Village Chief knew about receiving the silver. Once he left the County Yamen, he told his companions that the matter of the refugees must be buried, that they had only captured mountain bandits.

After all, refugee rumors were just that—rumors.

Holding the banknote, the Village Chief immediately went to Tian Yao’s home. The wound on Tian Yao’s back was too severe; he shouldn’t be moved for a couple of days. It wasn’t quite appropriate for the Village Chief to enter their bedroom, so he moved a stool and sat at the boundary between the main room and the bedroom to talk to him. Yu Nian also sat with the Village Chief.

“Fifty taels?!” Tian Yao was shocked. He sat up abruptly, pulling the wound on his body, and sucked in a breath of cold air from the pain.

They were exactly short fifty taels to treat Yu Nian’s legs, and now this fifty taels had come?

Tian Yao could barely contain himself. His heart was pounding fast. He wished he could see that fifty-tael banknote immediately, wished he could have Yu Nian’s legs treated tomorrow. His eyes now were completely full of light.

Yu Nian sat beside the Village Chief, not as happy as Tian Yao.

The Village Chief was still holding his tobacco pipe, taking a deep drag. The smoke he exhaled spiraled upwards, disappearing near the ceiling.

Only then did Yu Nian say, “If the villagers hadn’t come to help in time, Yao Ge’er and I might not have survived.”

The Village Chief lifted his eyelids. “That’s not how it’s said. If it weren’t for you two, those people’s schemes would have succeeded, and the village wouldn’t have escaped calamity.”

Yu Nian looked at his legs. “This is what I think: of these fifty taels, Yao Ge’er takes one share, and the rest goes to the village.”

Inside the room, Tian Yao’s eyes widened. He didn’t understand why Yu Nian wanted to give half of the fifty taels away. But he didn’t question it directly, just furrowed his brow, waiting for Yu Nian’s next words.

“Originally, it would be fine for all fifty taels to go to the village. But Yao Ge’er is injured, and I don’t want his injury to be for nothing. The villagers also showed us great kindness that night. So I thought, of these fifty taels, we keep twenty-five of them. The remaining twenty-five are for you, Village Chief, to manage as you see fit—whether distributing to the villagers or for other uses—as our thanks to the village.”

The Village Chief had finished his smoke. Now he held his pipe stem, gently tapping it against the chair.

“Yao Ge’er has been cared for by the villagers for so long. Now that we have an opportunity to give back, it also fulfills a small wish in his heart.” Yu Nian said in a low voice. He saw Tian Yao in the room; Tian Yao was also looking at him, puzzled.

“Let’s hear what Yao Ge’er says.”

Tian Yao didn’t know what Yu Nian’s intention was, but he still chose to trust him: “Village Chief, let’s go with what Yu Nian said. We’ll only take half.”

Only then did the Village Chief put away his pipe. “Since both of you say so, then I…”

Yu Nian interrupted the Village Chief: “Village Chief, I trust that only you know about these fifty taels, right?”

The Village Chief looked at Yu Nian, his gaze sharp.

“Yao Ge’er and I don’t want to live under other people’s scrutiny.”

The Village Chief sighed. “I understand. I will tell the villagers that the County Yamen rewarded thirty taels. Five taels will be used for Yao Ge’er’s medical expenses, and the remaining twenty-five will go to the village.”

“Many thanks, Village Chief.”

After Yu Nian finished speaking, the Village Chief stood up. “The banknote is for fifty taels. I’ll go to the money shop tomorrow to exchange it.”

After speaking, he glanced again into the room: “Yao Ge’er, take care and recover well.”

Yu Nian saw the Village Chief off and returned to the room by himself.

Tian Yao had long been staring eagerly at the doorway. Seeing Yu Nian enter, he immediately asked anxiously, “Yu Nian, why didn’t we ask for all fifty taels! That way, we could treat your legs.”

He was very anxious; his eyes were a little red.

“Then why didn’t you speak up to the Village Chief just now?”

Tian Yao pouted. “You had already spoken like that. I couldn’t undermine you.”

Yu Nian maneuvered his wheelchair to Tian Yao’s side and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “First, it was indeed as I said: if it hadn’t been for the villagers, we truly would have been in grave danger.”

Tian Yao nodded: “But that doesn’t mean we had to give away half.”

“Yao Ge’er, ‘The common man is innocent, but possessing a jade makes him guilty.’ If we had truly taken all fifty taels, I’m afraid our days ahead would be even harder.”

Tian Yao didn’t understand: “What does that mean?”

“Even if these fifty taels were deserved by us, in the hearts of people with ulterior motives, it would become: why should they get so much?”

Tian Yao still couldn’t grasp it: “But it was our due. I was even injured.”

“In those people’s view, they should have a share too.” Yu Nian explained to him very patiently. “If we only take half, the Village Chief will help uphold our reputation. Yao Ge’er contributed the most, but Yao Ge’er only asked for five taels for medical expenses. Who wouldn’t praise Yao Ge’er’s good heart? Those who contributed will also feel they’ve gained something.”

“Yao Ge’er, if all fifty taels were given to us, and the Village Chief let slip even a little rumor, we might not be able to continue living in this village.”

Tian Yao shook his head: “The Village Chief… the Village Chief isn’t that kind of person.”

“What if? We can’t afford the consequences of that ‘what if’. The Village Chief agreed today. The fact that we have twenty-five taels will only be known by the Village Chief in this village. For the sake of those twenty-five taels, he will keep the secret for us.”

Although Tian Yao felt Yu Nian was worrying about things he shouldn’t, thinking it over, having twenty-five taels of silver was still not bad. Though there would be some regret, it still brought them a step closer to their goal.

The next day, the Village Chief went alone to the money shop in town and exchanged the fifty-tael banknote into two twenty-tael banknotes and ten taels of loose silver before returning to the village.

After the Village Chief returned, he summoned the villagers to the Ancestral Hall. When they went, everyone was baffled. Tian Yao and Yu Nian, the two people at the very center of this matter, did not attend.

“Regarding the previous matter of the mountain bandits, I’m sure everyone has heard about it. For sending the bandits to the County Yamen, the Yamen, to commend our village, specially allocated thirty taels of banknotes as a reward.”

The villagers below first exclaimed, then muttered amongst themselves: “Weren’t they refugees? How did they become mountain bandits?”

“Thirty taels! Split equally among every family?”

“Yao Ge’er isn’t here?”

The Village Chief’s face was stern as he interrupted their discussion: “Let me say this upfront: originally, all thirty taels should have gone entirely to Yao Ge’er’s family. It’s just that Yao Ge’er refused it. Although he refused, we cannot forget their contribution. So, for these thirty taels, I plan to allocate five taels to Yao Ge’er as compensation for his injury. After all, his family is struggling, even lacking a little for medicine costs.”

Hearing this, everyone expressed no objections. After all, Tian Yao, a ger, had stopped so many vicious refugees. Without Tian Yao, the entire village might have suffered. So giving five taels for Tian Yao’s injury treatment wasn’t inappropriate.

Only Tian Wen in the crowd cursed and grumbled under his breath, inwardly thinking, why didn’t those people just hack those two to death? But he was wary of the Village Chief and didn’t dare speak loudly, just sat with a dark face amidst the crowd.

Ever since they had moved back to the village, the villagers no longer respected them the way they used to. Now, he, a scholar, was no longer a rarity, because the village had someone of even greater talent and better character—Yu Nian.

The people below were all genuine Huailing Village folk, having suddenly received some money. Everyone was somewhat in disbelief.

The Village Chief asked again: “With these twenty-five taels of silver, everyone, think about how we can make it benefit every family.”

“Let’s just split it equally, that’s fair.”

“Fair for what! Some families, on a night so dangerous, just hid in their houses like cowards. Splitting it equally for every family—I won’t agree.”

This male wife was making a pointed remark. That night, when Little Gray howled, many of the able-bodied men in the village went to help, but not a few families played turtle, hiding in their shells. The house closest to Chen Xu’s was Tian Wen’s family. They hadn’t seen Tian Wen come out that night.

“Right, splitting equally is unfair. Why should those who didn’t contribute get any benefits!”

Tian Wen’s face was ashen. Wang Cuihua’s face also didn’t look good.

Seeing them arguing endlessly, the Village Chief rubbed his brow and put forward his own idea: “Our Huailing Village, for all these years, has only produced Tian Wen, this one scholar. Right now, there are many young children in the village. We can’t let them all just scratch a living from the dirt like us. So I was thinking, why not use this money to open an Enlightenment School in the village?”

The people below whispered to each other. Those with younger family members felt it wasn’t inappropriate, but those families without small children weren’t having it.

“The children in our family have long passed the age for learning. Wouldn’t we be losing out then?”

“That’s right.”

“But won’t your family have children in the future?”

The Village Chief looked at them: “The benefits of building a school are not just benefits for this short period. Have you considered that once the school is built, it’s something that will benefit future generations?”

The Village Chief continued: “Do you want our descendants to only be able to scratch a living from the dirt their whole lives, never able to rise above? For all these years, Huailing Village has only produced one Tian Wen, who passed the Child Scholar exam.”

Tian Wen puffed out his chest.