Inside the main room.
“I thought that boy went up the mountain and came back possessed, with his whole temperament changed. I even told you to watch him first and see. Who would’ve thought, hah! He was just forcing himself to put on an act. Probably wanted to look tougher so he could bargain with us when we split the household. Too bad he’s servile down to the bone. I thought he’d at least keep it up for a full day, but he couldn’t even manage that. In the end, didn’t he obediently go wash the dishes without daring to say a word?” As Zeng Qianqian spoke, she peeled a loquat and handed it to He Yongxing beside her.
He Yongxing accepted the loquat but did not eat it right away. His eyes remained fixed on the tabletop, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Zeng Qianqian had already started peeling another one. She nudged He Yongxing with her elbow. “The way I see it, there shouldn’t be any problem with splitting the household, right? Why don’t we ask the village head to come tomorrow?”
Juice from the loquat in He Yongxing’s hand kept dripping down. Only after he noticed did he raise it and take a bite. “The division of the household isn’t his place to interfere with. He’s the one who’ll stay in the village afterward. If relations turn ugly, he’ll be the one who suffers in the end. He’s nothing but a useless junior.”
He added, “If nothing unexpected happens, have Jie’er make a trip to Zhang Family Village tomorrow.”
Hearing her husband’s answer, Zeng Qianqian’s mouth stretched into an immensely pleased grin.
But in the next instant, He Jie’s pained cry for help suddenly came from outside the room, wiping the smile clean off her face.
He Yongxing and his wife rushed out the door and followed the sound.
When they reached the area near the woodshed, they saw He Yi pinning He Jie to the ground, one knee grinding hard into his back while both arms were twisted behind him, leaving He Jie face-down and unable to move.
A dark bruise stood out on He Jie’s cheekbone, and one side of his brow and eye drooped so badly that he could barely open it. He kept kicking backward with his legs, but he could not reach He Yi. He looked exactly like a turtle flipped onto its shell. Once he exhausted himself struggling, his impotent fury turned into desperate pleading. “It hurts like hell!! Let me go! …Let me go, please…”
How could Zeng Qianqian bear the sight? Usually what she saw was the exact opposite, with He Jie pinning He Yi down and beating him viciously, not this. She shrieked and lunged at He Yi, deliberately thrusting her long fingernails toward his eyes.
Naturally, He Yi was not stupid enough to stand there and take it. But if he dodged, he would have to release He Jie. After weighing the choice, He Yi decisively pulled away and stood about a meter from them.
“You rotten, heartless piece of filth! Heaven strike you dead! My Jie’er!!” Zeng Qianqian still tried to grab He Yi, only to nearly trip over He Jie on the ground. After finally steadying herself, she bent down to help her son up.
Her shrill voice was even more piercing than He Jie’s yelling. Night had just fallen, and most villagers were preparing to bolt their doors and rest, but her shouting drew quite a few neighbors over.
Someone had apparently been listening so intently that they accidentally pushed open the He family’s front gate. The group then shuffled inward little by little until, pretending they had come to help, they simply planted themselves there to watch the spectacle firsthand.
He Yongxing had been about to scold Zeng Qianqian for making such a racket. Did she want all the neighbors to hear? But before he could speak, he saw that quite a few of them had already arrived. His face twisted abruptly, and he swallowed the words unwillingly.
As He Jie was helped upright, he started making threats again, but the more he talked, the less confident he sounded, and he did not dare approach He Yi to fight again. Just now, He Yi had challenged him to a one-on-one fight and he had accepted, yet he had not even touched the hem of He Yi’s clothes before one punch knocked him down and He Yi pinned him so thoroughly he could not move. How could he have imagined that the He Yi he had always beaten into the ground actually possessed skills like this? Even when he glanced at He Yi now, there was fear in his eyes.
Seeing that everyone seemed ready to condemn him on Eldest Uncle’s family’s behalf, He Yi said, “We were just sparring. My younger cousin usually hits much harder than I do and beats me black and blue all the time. I’ve never made an issue of it. I finally win once and suddenly I’m heartless and trying to hurt him?”
The villagers watching thought that made sense. He Jie could not immediately argue otherwise either, since he really had been the one who used to boast and mock He Yi everywhere after beating him.
But Zeng Qianqian had never been reasonable. She immediately began twisting the facts. “How can you spout such nonsense? When has Jie’er ever hit you? Who saw it? You flap your lips twice and suddenly whatever you say becomes true?! For all anyone knows, you offended some thug yourself and got beaten, couldn’t squeeze compensation out of him, so now you’re blaming Jie’er! Our family raised you all these years only to raise an ungrateful wolf! Neighbors, you’ve all seen it, haven’t you? He beat Jie’er into this state. He can’t deny that!”
In fact, by the time they arrived, He Yi had already released He Jie, so none of them had directly witnessed him doing the beating. But He Yi himself had just admitted that he had hit He Jie, so everyone could only nod.
Zeng Qianqian curled her lips in satisfaction. Then she glanced at the injuries on He Jie’s face and immediately crumpled with heartache again. She said resentfully, “Don’t think this is over just because you hit someone. Our Jie’er is about to become a yamen runner. If we report you to the authorities, who knows? He might even be the one administering your caning!”
That was far too ruthless, and the onlookers immediately began urging her from all sides to calm down. Wasn’t this just two young men roughhousing? Did she really need to make it into such a huge matter?
After all, the authorities were genuinely terrifying to ordinary people. Many commoners could go their entire lives without dealing with them and would avoid them whenever possible. Everyone feared that if officials became angry, the whole village might suffer for it, so they naturally joined in trying to persuade Zeng Qianqian.
He Yongxing had no desire to make the matter bigger either. The household division was urgent, and a person with nothing to lose feared no one. If they truly pushed He Yi into a fight to the bitter end, all the careful calculations He Yongxing had made might collapse with him.
He stepped forward, tugged on Zeng Qianqian’s sleeve, and shook his head at her, disapproval written plainly in his eyes.
Zeng Qianqian was shrewish, but she ordinarily listened to her husband. This time was different. She flung He Yongxing’s hand away. Red veins crawled across the whites of her eyes as she stared at everyone speaking up for He Yi, clearly provoked beyond reason. Then she unleashed everything, growing more furious the longer she cursed. “Don’t give me that nonsense about family not carrying grudges overnight. Who’s family with him?! It wasn’t your sons who got beaten, so of course none of you care!”
“If you want me to let him off, fine. But he has to apologize to my son! Kneel down! Then let Jie’er beat him back until he’s satisfied. How about that?”
He Yi gave a cold laugh. “No. Even if I took his life today, I’d still be the one in the right.”
“What kind of crazy nonsense are you saying?!” Eldest Uncle’s entire family looked shocked.
“If He Jie hadn’t egged you on to drive A’ma and me up the mountain, would I have gotten so sick I was barely breathing, taken a trip through hell, and crawled back out? Would A’ma have been unable to withstand the mountain cold, fallen ill from the exposure, and died?! A’ma is dead, and I’ve already died once too. Do you really think I’m still going to be afraid of your threats? If you have the guts, put your hands on your consciences and say this had nothing to do with you, that I shouldn’t take revenge on you, that I shouldn’t blame you!” Pitifully, the real He Yi of this world had never managed to return from the other side of death.
Perhaps He Yongxing thought of his own mother. His expression turned ashen, and he lowered his head.
He Jie and Zeng Qianqian, however, remained unmoved. Could a person’s beliefs really be changed in a few sentences? Their prejudice against A’ma and He Yi had sunk into their bones. They regarded him as a worthless life. How could they possibly feel guilt or reflect on themselves?
He Jie could not stand hearing He Yi portray him and his parents as such awful people and was about to argue when Zeng Qianqian stepped in front of him and glared furiously at He Yi. “Plague ghost! Debt-collecting ghost! We were right about you! Why do you think we did it? If we hadn’t, you’d have infected the entire village! Do you know how many people died in town?!”
Zeng Qianqian turned toward the villagers as well. “Now everything bad is somehow our family’s fault. Yet every one of you can stand here perfectly fine today. Isn’t that thanks to us?!”
The villagers looked at one another. On this particular matter, they truly seemed to have no standing to say much, and the muttering gradually died away.
“If I had an unfilial grandson like you, I’d bash my own head in and die! Maybe that’s what your A’ma did. Maybe Heaven took her in your place. You say we killed your A’ma, so why couldn’t it have been you who killed her? And you blame us?”
That was finally more than He Yi could tolerate.
A’ma had worked herself to the bone for most of her life and should have been enjoying the blessings of her children and grandchildren by now, yet every day in this household she had lived as though walking on thin ice. Those hands, rough and thin as dry twigs, had nevertheless felt so soft and warm when they rested over the back of his hand.
The old woman’s face, carrying that bitter smile, rose unbidden in his mind. He looked again at the vile, contemptible people in front of him, and He Yi’s back teeth slowly clenched until his jaw locked tight.
Waiting for another day, arguing things out later, none of that mattered anymore. His judo coach had once told him that someone trained in martial arts should not turn their fists on people who had never received systematic training. It was a matter of basic decency.
But today, He Yi was going to set basic decency aside for once.
Immediately afterward, the scene dissolved into chaos.
He Yi stepped swiftly to He Jie’s side and deliberately targeted places like the soft ribs, spots that hurt the most without easily causing serious damage. His movements were ruthless and fast. He Jie’s parents stood stunned for several moments before coming to their senses and moving to pull He Yi away, but by then He Jie had already been beaten dizzy and disoriented, cold sweat streaming from the pain.
He Yongxing and Zeng Qianqian panicked and attacked He Yi with nails and fists. But the harder they hit him, the more viciously He Yi struck back. Since he could not hit his elders, he would beat their precious son instead.
The villagers watched He Jie, the village bully built like a bear, get beaten so miserably while being utterly unable to fight back. Those who had initially wanted to step in and break up the fight instinctively retreated. The physician was still trapped in town, and getting hurt right now would be troublesome. Besides, everyone in the neighboring households knew exactly what Zeng Qianqian was like. Trying to get medical expenses out of her family would be harder than climbing to heaven. In the end, not a single person stepped forward.
On the open ground in front of the woodshed, one person curled on the ground howling in pain, one beat him with a dark expression, one swung fists at the attacker, one clawed at someone’s hair with her nails, and yet another raised a leg to kick someone in the backside.
Wait. Didn’t that add up to too many people?
Night had fallen, narrowing everyone’s field of vision. Even the onlookers could only make out the scene vaguely through the darkness.
“Aaagh!! Stop kicking me, stop hitting me, it hurts like hell!! I give up! I give up, all right?! Mother, Mother, save me!” He Jie’s pleas rang especially loudly beneath the night sky.
He Yi also vaguely sensed that something was wrong. From the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure that had appeared beside him at some unknown point and seemed about to kick He Jie. He immediately reached out to stop him.
The other person reacted extraordinarily quickly. The instant he saw He Yi’s arm suddenly cross beneath his foot, he checked his strength and only stepped down lightly, leaving He Yi unharmed, just like a cat retracting all the sharp tips of its claws when it encountered someone close to it.
He Yi raised his head and met Xue Ci’s eyes. The man had apparently decided that watching the excitement was not enough and wanted to join in himself.
It really was him. He Yi had no idea why Xue Ci had come down the mountain, but Xue Ci did not even have an identity in this village. He was like duckweed without roots, and He Yi did not want him dragged into this mess.
The villagers watching had no idea when an extra person had joined the fight either. Someone among them brought an oil lamp, and only when the firelight illuminated the scene did everyone finally see who it was.
…Nobody knew who he was.
Zeng Qianqian did not recognize him either, but she recognized the coarse-cloth work clothes Xue Ci was wearing as He Yi’s because the patch on the back of the top had been cut from her own cotton cloth. She remembered it clearly.
As though she had suddenly seized on incriminating evidence, she shouted, “You filthy little wretch, where did you come from, daring to hit my son?! Oh! I get it now! You’re his paramour, aren’t you? You’re even wearing He Yi’s clothes. Absolutely shameless, with no sense of decency at all!”
Xue Ci did not understand the word “paramour,” but he could sense the blatant hostility directed at him and immediately looked ready to bristle. At that moment, He Yi stepped forward twice and put himself between them, shielding Xue Ci behind him.
“If you have something to say, say it about me. Don’t drag an innocent person into this,” He Yi said. After speaking, he still felt something about the situation was strange. Right. Why did merely wearing someone else’s clothes suddenly imply an illicit relationship? It was not as though they were a man and a woman. And why did nobody present find Eldest Aunt’s accusation absurd or shocking? Instead, they accepted it easily and were now looking back and forth between the two of them with openly gossipy expressions.
He Yi searched roughly through the original owner’s memories and only then realized belatedly that relationships between men were actually fashionable in this dynasty. Though regarded as somewhat disreputable, they were hardly rare. Even in a remote place like Chongzi Village, there were one or two such pairs. No wonder everyone had reacted this way when Eldest Aunt falsely accused Xue Ci of having that kind of relationship with him.
He Yi turned his face slightly and murmured to Xue Ci, “Don’t stay here. Go.”
Xue Ci had originally blended in among the spectators, assuming there was something entertaining to watch. Then he saw He Yi beating someone, thought it looked fun, and eagerly came forward to join in.
When he heard He Yi telling him to leave, he looked a little confused and disappointed, but still obediently started toward the front gate.
He had barely taken two steps when a powerful rush of air suddenly came from behind him. Without even turning around, Xue Ci knew that something heavy was swinging toward his back. No one saw how he moved. In the next instant, the handle of the firewood knife He Yongxing had swung cut through empty air.
He Yi felt as though his heart nearly stopped. Once he saw Xue Ci neatly avoid the firewood knife, his heart remembered how to beat again, only now it hammered like a war drum. His mind went completely blank and he could only stare. A moment later, he finally noticed that He Yongxing had swung with the knife handle facing forward, and he gradually calmed down.
He Yongxing’s gaze was venomous. In a moment of hotheadedness, he had chosen the person who looked easiest to bully. Around here, people caught in illicit affairs could be beaten or even killed. But He Yongxing had never actually tried to cut anyone before and did not have the courage to truly slash him, so he used the handle instead. In any case, once he came back to himself and realized he had really attacked, fear immediately set in.
Zeng Qianqian was stunned as well. Afraid the situation would spiral beyond control, she decided to strike first, shouting that she was going to find the village head to dispense justice before bolting out the gate.
He Jie struggled to his feet. This time he truly had been beaten into fear. He grabbed his father, who was covering his face, and the two supported one another as they returned to their room.
He Yi, whose own head and face had also picked up quite a few marks, watched them coldly from behind. His fists tightened, then slowly loosened. Finally he sighed and went to escort Xue Ci and all the other irrelevant people out through the gate.
There was no need for him to escort the villagers. They scattered in a rush without looking back, as though ghosts were chasing them. Seeing this only made He Yi more frustrated. What happened tonight would certainly affect his reputation in the village. Life afterward was probably not going to be easy.
Xue Ci walked ahead while He Yi followed behind. Looking at the two tufts of hair sticking up from Xue Ci’s head, He Yi could not resist reaching out to smooth them down.
Only after He Yi smoothed his hair did Xue Ci turn his face and glance sideways at him, something flickering faintly in his eyes. But it was too dark. Though He Yi looked back at him, he could not make out the emotion there. They held each other’s gaze for a moment before Xue Ci turned away first and left.
He Yi had the instinct that he should call out and stop him. There were many things he wanted to say, yet for the moment he could not think of what any of them were. Soon Xue Ci’s figure disappeared into the darkness. He Yi stopped looking, turned around, and went back inside.