Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Great Calamity

  In the morning, magpies were chattering on the tree. Zhao opened the door and saw the magpie on the branch, turned her head to Chen Tian and said: "As soon as I went out, I heard the magpie chirping, it seems that today is a good day."

  Chen Tianfa smiled and said, "Who says it's not? So just put your heart at ease, nothing big will happen."

  "That's good, you don't know, my heart has been unsettled all this time, and I also don't know how the Zhang family is doing, that woman from the Zhou family..."

  "Don't worry, we'll just wait and see. When the soldiers come, we'll resist; when the flood comes, we'll hide behind the earth. Worrying won't do us any good." Chen Tianfa comforted.

  "What's useless? Who's useless? Dad, is it you?" A childish voice came from behind. Zhao looked down and saw his little daughter rubbing against his leg, her red lips and white teeth making her look even more adorable. To make herself happy, she was also trying hard to open her big eyes and pout her mouth, making a silly face.

  "You're a little girl from a good family, who did you learn this from? Be careful or you won't be able to get married in the future." Zhao's wife lovingly picked her up, saying so with a smile that never left her face.

  "What does 'can't get married' mean? Are you talking about my second sister?" With an innocent look on her face, she thoroughly irritated Xi Mei who was sweeping the yard. You can say that too, someone is sweeping peacefully, why do you have to butt in and speak up, and you just had to do it in front of everyone, aren't you obviously looking for trouble?

  Hey, this is a toilet lighting up - looking for shit (death) ah, so being chased to death by others is not reasonable either.

  The two sisters were happily playing in the yard when a disgusting voice came from outside the fence.

  "Chen's wife, are you at home?" A woman with a big red flower on her head, holding a handkerchief, led several tall men in. As they entered the courtyard, their clothes got caught on the narrow door for quite a while, but no one in the courtyard paid attention to them.

  She was left to herself for a good half day, the weather was originally hot and anxious, the poor-quality rouge on her face was washed away by sweat, like a clown. Xihe was so scared that she rushed into the house, Chen Tianfa was afraid of the little girl being afraid and bent down to pick her up.

  Finally untied the clothes hanging on the fence, Li Zheng's wife helped to tidy up the big flower on her head and stepped into the yard. "Oh, the Chen brothers are back." Her eyes looked around, but couldn't find any sign of Xi Ju.

  "Hey, have you thought it through? Are you going to let me take the big girl away today?" Nai asked. Ruihao responded with an unkind hum after hearing this.

  Her face was no longer bearable, she gritted her teeth in hatred and restrained her temper. It was that big fire that ruined her family. Originally, it was his family's old man who had redeemed Hua Jie from the brothel on Flower Street. That prostitute had taken all of her private belongings and money from her home during the fire.

  Now the family is in a mess, there's no money left, and her son has run away from home. She doesn't want to clean up this messy situation, but bringing back the eldest daughter can help with that, and it won't cost them any more money to hire someone. Who knows, maybe they won't even need to spend money on a wedding anymore. Although she looks down on her family's poverty, now there's no other choice but to do things this way.

  Two days later she went to find her brother again, humming, wasn't it still a case of thinking what you want is what you get?

  Thinking of this, she made an effort to put on a good expression, but seeing that no one was paying attention to her, she could only find something to say to herself. Seeing the little girl in Chen Tian's arms, she took a step forward.

  "Whose little girl is this, how did she grow up to be so pretty? Come out with me, I'll buy you candy." The woman kept coaxing Xi Mei. At this time, Xi Mei turned her head impatiently and looked at her, blowing a mouthful of air from her nostrils, making a "hmmph" sound.

  That look, that expression, it's as if she's a dirty thing, exactly like her second brother just now.

  Looking at such a young girl daring to treat her like this, and then looking at the Chen family's expression of watching an idiot, the smile on her face completely froze.

  Especially Zhao's seemingly smiling but not quite smiling expression, as if he was so foolish and his good disguise couldn't hold on anymore, said with a hateful tone: "You guys don't have to pretend to drink the penalty wine, my brother has already said it, this matter is nailed down, I must take him away. Otherwise..." looking at Chen Tianfa.

  "Then go to jail." After finishing, he looked at the Chen family with a smug expression, wanting to see them beg for mercy. Having waited for half a day and still no one made a sound, he finally became enraged, "Fine, fine, don't blame me for not cherishing old relationships if you're going to be like this."

  "Summoning several strong men, he said, 'Take that man into custody for me. I'd like to see you, Zhao, come begging with your eldest daughter in tow. Humph! We'll meet again in court."

  Ignoring the shocked expressions of Chen's family, he took Chen Tianfa away. It wasn't until Chen Tianfa was dragged far away that Zhao's wife came to from Jihe's crying.

  "Where's your father?" asked Rui Xuan in an unbelievable tone, "Mother, Father was taken to the county government by that woman." His eyes stared fixedly at the distant place where the group of people had gone. Seeing Zhao's signs of fainting, he quickly supported her.

  "Mother, you must hold on." Zhao's mother didn't fall down. "What's going on? Weren't things fine? How did it become like this?"

  It wasn't even half a stick of incense yet when the rest of the Chen family arrived, "Younger brother and sister, what's going on? What happened to your uncle..." Auntie Ji and the others asked anxiously.

  Because Mother wouldn't let Big Sister go to the Li family as a maid, they took Father away and said they would send him to prison too. Waaah, I want Father! Xihe cried uncontrollably beside her.

  It wasn't until they heard Mr. Chen that they understood what she was talking about. Old Man Chen coughed and said, "Such a big thing, why didn't you discuss it with us? Cough, those people, cough, a group of damned souls."

  Watching Old Man Chen coughing so hard that he was almost out of breath, Madame Chen patted his back and said, "What's the use of being anxious now? Listen to your daughter-in-law, let's discuss how we can rescue Eldest Son."

  Xī Jiě hastily said, "Right, Old Man Zhang said he could resolve it." Madam Zhao seemed to have made up her mind, "Yes, yes, the Zhang family. Let's go to the Zhangs'." She got up and gathered all the money at home, telling Ruì Xuān, "You stay home and take care of your younger siblings. Mom is going to find someone to rescue your dad."

  Rui Xuan, who had always been obedient, was unusually resolute this time. "No, Mother, I'll go with you. You can't go alone." Madam Zhao looked at her son, who was almost as tall as her shoulder, and nodded in satisfaction.

  "Mom, I'm going."

  "I'm going too." "Me too." The children chimed in unison.

  "Alright, alright, let's go together. If we can't bring your father back, we'll just keep trying." The others looked at Zhao and saw that his mind was made up. Chen Daobo called Rui Xuan over and instructed him.

  "Your mother has a bad temper, you must remember to take care of her when you're outside. This is the 10 taels of silver that our two families have contributed together, hold on to it well and don't let your mother know, or else she definitely won't accept it." Xue Shi also nodded in agreement with him.

  Rui Xuan looked at the silver in front of him, then looked at his younger siblings behind him, and nodded with difficulty. His grandmother, Chen Li Shi, walked up to him and patted his head.

  "Child, don't be afraid. When you get there, take good care of your younger brother and sister, as well as your mother. When your father returns, hurry back home quickly, Grandma is waiting."

  Rui Xuan held back tears and nodded, saying: "Don't worry, grandma, I understand." Looking at the direction where Li Zheng's wife had gone, a gleam of hatred shot out from his eyes.

  Watching Zhao's family leave with their children, the rest of the Chen family turned around and returned to their own home. This day was a difficult one for everyone.

  Without mentioning them, Zhao's group finally arrived in town, relying on Xi Mei's directions and the guidance of passersby, they finally reached the entrance of Zhang's house.

  They hadn't even entered the door yet, when they saw the young servant who had rushed to catch the carriage standing at the entrance waiting for them. Seeing that they had arrived, the servant hurried forward. "You've finally arrived. Our master and mistress have learned of Master Chen's situation and have already sent the steward to make arrangements in prison. Please follow me quickly to see my master."

  Zhao brought Ruihao and Ruizhuan, accompanied by a few servants, into the house. As soon as they entered the gate, they saw Zheng bringing Xiaobao waiting there. Xiaobao saw them coming and broke free from Zheng, rushing towards them quickly.

  As soon as I saw Xi Mei, I started teasing her. "How can you become even uglier in just two days?"

  Look at her sister! Her second sister's eyes were almost swollen from crying because of her father's affairs, and her hair was messy from rushing on the road, wasn't she ugly?

  At this time, Xi Mei didn't have the energy to argue with him, and without even looking at him, she hid behind Mrs. Zhao.

  The little overlord who didn't get a response scratched his head in confusion. In Xi Mei's opinion, this guy was simply a masochist.

  Zheng's family came forward to comfort Zhao's family, "Sister, I know everything, but it's a pity for you."

  "Auntie, what's going on? How could my father......" Ruihao asked hastily.

  "It's alright, kid. I'll let the steward take care of it. As for that teacher and the county magistrate, humph, just wait till my brothers arrive, they'll have a hard time."

  Zheng explained, and Zhao felt a bit more at ease. Before she could even sit down, she asked again, and Zheng looked at her and answered voluntarily, "The servant who delivered the letter said that my brother was furious after reading it, saying he never thought such a thing would happen within his jurisdiction."

  He paused and took a sip of tea before continuing, "The letter that arrived yesterday said he would hand over his tasks and come today, I reckon he should be arriving soon."

  As soon as the words fell, Zhang Zishang heard shouting "Mother, mother, uncle is here."