"Brother, what should we do?" a few brothers whispered to Lin Erbao.
Lin Erbao gave Qin Yao a deep look, "Are we really going to take him away?!"
Qin Yao nodded, "Go ahead and take him, I won't stop you."
Lin Erbao and the others: "..."
Lin Erbao recalled the moment Qin Yao startled him earlier, still feeling a bit apprehensive, and not wanting to gain a reputation for bullying women and children, he decided to harden his heart.
Fine, you two can play your game here, I want to see who ends up crying!
"Take him away!"
Lin Erbao gave the order, and a few brothers immediately picked up Liu Ji, who was tied up like a dumpling on the ground, and carried him off.
After a few steps, they turned back to see Qin Yao's expression.
But found that Qin Yao was completely unmoved.
It was the first time in Lin Erbao's life he encountered such a situation. They say a couple's affection lasts a hundred nights, yet how have these two not a shred of affection left?
And the four Liu Family kids, none of them even came to stop this, how much disdain does Liu Laosan endure!
Watching Lin Erbao and his group carry the violently struggling Liu Ji away, Da Lang looked at his stepmother and tentatively asked in a low voice:
"You just wanted to scare my dad a bit, you didn't really want Lin Erbao and them to kill him, did you?"
Qin Yao: "...." No, I really did.
The four children: "..."
Watching Qin Yao disperse the onlooking villagers, picking up a hoe and two pouches of unknown items, and heading inside.
The four siblings of the Liu Family looked at each other, then the three brothers shouted "Dad!" as they crazily chased after Lin Erbao and the others who had disappeared.
Unfortunately, their bodies were too weak, and after just a few steps, they were so exhausted that their legs turned to jelly and their heads spun, stopping under the old tree at the village entrance.
Before long, they all returned sheepishly, looking at Qin Yao's busy back, stammering, and not daring to speak.
Anxiously arriving next were Old Liu and his four sons, panting heavily, having hurried back from the fields.
...
The world had just stabilized, the turbulent times had just passed.
The current Sheng Country had a sparse population, so farmers were allocated a great deal of land, fifty acres per adult male, and twenty acres per adult female.
Of course, taxes increased correspondingly.
The villagers of Liu Family Village planted millet in the spring and wheat in the fall, busy all year round in the fields, yet the yield wasn't much; such hard work barely maintained the family's expenses.
Seeing the weather turn cooler, Old Liu didn't dare relax, going to the fields before dawn with his three sons.
The women at home didn't slack either, Old Liu's second wife Mrs. Zhang, along with her daughters-in-law, cleaned up the house and then went to the vegetable patch.
The three of them planned to harvest another round of green vegetables before winter set in, to store for the season.
When the commotion about Liu Ji was at its peak, the only one at the Liu Family's old house was an eight-year-old child watching the house.
The villager who came to report hurriedly told the child to call his grandpa and uncles back, saying his third uncle was about to be beaten to death by debt collectors.
The child, having often heard stories about his third uncle from his grandparents and parents, disliked him; yet upon hearing he might be beaten to death, he couldn't ignore it, locking the house and hurriedly running to the fields to find the adults.
The mountainous road was long, and by the time the child delivered the message and Old Liu brought back his three sons, the people outside Liu Ji's house had already been dispersed by Qin Yao.
Liu Ji was nowhere to be seen, only Da Lang and his three siblings stood trembling in the courtyard, giving Old Liu an eerie sense of foreboding.
"Da Lang, where's your dad?"
Liu Ji's big brother Liu Bai, seeing his father unable to get a word out, impatiently asked first.
Da Lang looked at his grandfather and uncles in front of him, then at Qin Yao inside the house, unsure of how to begin.
Could he say that his stepmother had debt collectors carry his father away to be killed to pay off debts?
Seeing the four siblings staying silent and looking at the house, Old Liu waved his hand, and the group approached the door.
The house where Liu Ji lived was a thatched hut, without even earthen walls, just covered in river mud—those were the walls.
Such a house had two small rooms, with an open-air kitchen consisting of a stove made from piled stones, a pot on top, an empty vat beside it, and not even a fenced yard, everything in plain view.
Old Liu and his four sons took just a few steps to arrive at Qin Yao's side.
This was the new daughter-in-law Old Liu's third son had just brought home, whom Old Liu had met once.
Three days ago, shameless Liu Ji had stayed at the old family courtyard, claiming he was going to the county to fetch his wife, 'borrowed' ten cents to rent a cow cart from nearby Landlord Wang, and went to the county to bring her back.
Though Liu Ji had not forgotten his father at home, he brought the new wife to the old family home and respectfully kowtowed to Old Liu.
Yao Niang, coming as a refugee, had nothing to her name, wearing old clothes given by others, looking thin and frail.
At that time, Mrs. Zhang, the stepmother, shook her head, seeing how frail she was, wondering if she could be nurtured back to health sticking with such an unreliable Liu Ji.
But her appearance was quite good, no wonder Liu Ji insisted on renting a cow cart to bring this delicate lady back.
"Dad, big brother, second brother, little uncle," Qin Yao called out one by one.
The three Liu brothers nodded at her, still somewhat polite.
Old Liu finally let out a breath he'd been holding, and with a stern face asked, "Where's that rascal, Laosan?"
Qin Yao first placed the hoe behind the door, as it was currently the most valuable item in the house.
She then calmly replied, "He went to pay off the debt."
Liu Ji's second brother Liu Zhong pursued, "Someone who'd spend his last penny on half a dish of peanuts, how is he paying off a debt?"
Qin Yao lifted her eyes, looking calmly at the four men in front of her, "If he has no money, he'll pay with his life."
The father and four sons were shocked, what did that mean!
Qin Yao showed no intention of explaining, simply continued, "If you want to ransom him, fine, get the money yourself, I don't have a single cent."
The state of the household was clear at a glance, Old Liu's group couldn't refute her words, feeling stifled.
"Dad, let's go home to eat first, rest at noon and then head back to the fields in the afternoon. Are we really going to fork over money to ransom that rascal back? We don't have money, dad, be realistic!"
The last to speak was Liu Fei, the Fourth, advising angrily.
He had just turned fourteen, the youngest at home, born to Old Liu and Mrs. Zhang, with much older brothers who usually made concessions for him, hence he had the biggest temper.
He didn't believe Qin Yao, the new wife, could really bear to leave her husband to fend for himself. So, since the proper wife wasn't worried, why should they be? The family had already done more than enough!
The Liu family's sons were named according to the order of Bo, Zhong, Shu, and Ji, with Liu Ji being the third. Technically, he should have been named Liu Shu, but after having three sons, Old Liu didn't want any more, so he used Ji, meaning to stop.
Unexpectedly, after Liu Ji's birth mother died, Old Liu married Mrs. Zhang, and they ended up having another son.
Seeing a family full of boys, Old Liu felt troubled but had no choice—what could he do, drown them?
His four sons, the eldest and second were dutiful and hardworking, even the youngest, though often quarrelsome over small matters, had helped in the fields since he was eight.
Only the third son was the rebel, never listening, always going east when told to go west, climbing trees when told to stand still!