Chapter 526: Chapter 526: The Mountain Peaks
Gu Jinli: "...is finished."
However, Qin Er Lang despises the countryside so much that he will definitely find a way to leave soon. By then, even if Hui Niang has any intentions, it will not be possible for her to chase after Qin Er Lang.
As long as Hui Niang doesn’t see Qin Er Lang in the future, she can escape from this bloody mess.
Qin San Lang stood in his own courtyard and watched Gu Jinli’s house for a while, but did not see Gu Jinli and her brothers return. He then started walking towards Gu Jinli’s house.
Halfway there, he saw Gu Jinli speaking with Luo Huiniang and stopped in his tracks.
Before long, Gu Jinli finished talking with Luo Huiniang and took Brother Cheng home.
Qin San Lang watched her enter the house and then turned around to go home himself. He went to the kitchen, served up the bean dregs cakes and sweet potato porridge from the pot, and called Elder Qin to eat.
Even though they had Songhua Wine and two bowls of meat dishes sent by Gu Jinli’s family, Elder Qin only had a few bites before putting down his chopsticks today.
Qin San Lang knew he was worried about the second brother and advised: "Grandfather, fill your stomach first before waiting. Second Brother will surely come back late into the night."
Elder Qin sighed, not wanting Qin San Lang to worry about him, picked up his chopsticks again, and finished his dinner.
Qin San Lang cleared the dishes and practiced a set of boxing in the courtyard, took a shower, prepared two bean dregs cakes and a pot of hot water for Elder Qin, lit some mosquito coils for him, and then went back to his room to sleep.
Sure enough, Qin Er Lang did not return home until late at night.
Elder Qin was already furious. As soon as Qin Er Lang stepped into the main room, he scolded: "Kneel down!"
Qin Er Lang did not argue and knelt down obediently.
Elder Qin took out a rattan cane and beat Qin Er Lang hard, delivering thirty lashes and causing Qin Er Lang’s back to bleed: "I’m beating you today to let you know that you cannot casually harbor the intent to kill. If you can even harbor murderous intentions against a girl who cares about you, then you are truly cruel and inhumane! This will be the death of you, leading you to live among a pile of corpses."
Qin Er Lang sneered at this, laughing: "The soldier is the blade itself. I hold the power over life and death, I rest among countless corpses, and you’re telling me not to be cruel and inhumane—isn’t that a joke? If the one holding arms isn’t ruthless, how can he carve out a path of survival in the face of death? Righteousness? Ha, just wait to be killed by the enemy?"
His family was too righteous, and that’s why they ended up like this!
Besides, does he not see through the little schemes of Luo Huiniang? She’s just trying to climb up by taking advantage of the situation. These tactics have been used on him by various noble ladies since he turned thirteen. Did they really think he would fall for it?
A lowly peasant girl dares to covet him, Luo Huiniang is simply shameless.
Upon hearing this, Elder Qin’s hand holding the rattan cane trembled, and he, who respected Qin Er Lang, kicked him to the ground and pointed at him, chastising: "Lord would turn in his grave if he heard you talk like this."
Enduring the pain, Qin Er Lang got up and resumed kneeling: "If I cannot avenge our family, then he truly will turn in his grave."
Seeing that he couldn’t reason with Qin Er Lang, Elder Qin threw away the rattan and picked up a stick to mercilessly beat Qin Er Lang until his skin split, flesh burst open, and he spit out blood.
Qin Er Lang endured it and did not fight back, reminding himself to just endure a little longer. He would soon be able to leave this wretched place, and then Elder Qin would no longer have control over him.
Qin San Lang heard the commotion in the main room and was already clear about Qin Er Lang’s determination. He also guessed what Qin Er Lang would do afterwards: leaving this place... It seems that he too has to take action, to ensure that Second Brother doesn’t drag several families down with him.
...
The Qin family’s affairs were unknown to several other families, who were all busy tallying up their saved silver, waiting to go to the county town to buy the Zou family’s properties.
Early the next morning, before the sky even brightened, each household got up and prepared the silver coins and household registrations for the men who were heading to the county town.
Because Uncle Tian was illiterate and Aunt Tian feared he wouldn’t understand the land deeds, they decided to have Tian Erqiang accompany him to the county town, and also to give Erqiang a chance to see the world and broaden his horizons.
Brother Damu and Brother Dalin also took Gu Qingliang and Gu Qingtian with them.
Brother Dalin said, "Our two kids are growing up; we need to take them out more to see the world so they can make something of themselves in the future. Just look at San Lang, Er Lang, Brother An, and Brother Wu; they’ve all been out and learned so much that they hardly seem like farm boys anymore."
Even Gu Dexing was doing better than his own two children, which worried Brother Dalin, so he wanted to take them out more often.
Gu Qingliang and Gu Qingtian were very happy; they hadn’t attended a private school, and aside from working at the workshop daily, they only learned to recognize characters and listened to stories about the Prefecture from Brother Kangping and Brother Kangming in the evenings. They yearned for the bustling life of the county town.
After the Tian Family, Old Mrs. Yan’s family, Gu Dagui’s family, and the Qi Family prepared everything, they gathered at Gu Jinli’s house. Once Gu Dashan and the others finished their work at the workshop that morning, the group set off for the county town.
Since there were many of them, and both Gu Jinli and Gu Daya were going, Gu Dashan’s family’s mule cart couldn’t fit everyone. Uncle Tian and the others walked to the town and then rented another mule cart, which was driven to the county town by Brother Dalin.
Qin San Lang from the Qin family drove the mule cart from Gu Jinli’s house and waited for Brother Dalin and his group. Together, they headed for the county town.
Inside the government office, Luo Wu learned of their arrival and personally went to receive them. He took them to the Civil Affairs Office to meet the clerk who was in charge of disposing of confiscated family assets.
The clerk, surnamed Shi, already had instructions from County Magistrate Xu. Seeing Luo Wu bring the people in, he directly handed them a large register: "This contains the Zou family’s properties in Tianfu County, all of which can be sold to you. Take a look and let me know what you’d like to purchase. We can discuss further after you have made your choices."
Properties that could not be sold to them weren’t listed in this register but in another one held by steward Tian.
He added, "No need to rush; take your time to look, and if you don’t understand something, just ask me."
Lord County Magistrate held these few families in high regard; he had heard that one of their sons was now in Jinling Prefecture and had connections with noble sons from wealthy families like the Zheng and Shangguan families. Such people, even if they were from humble beginnings, required his attentive service.
The families were overjoyed, eagerly gathered around the register, full of excitement. It was Third Grandpa who spoke up: "Xiao Yu also wants to buy some properties; let her have the first pick."
Given that the families could afford property investments thanks to Gu Jinli, they nodded in agreement: "Xiao Yu goes first."
After receiving the register, Gu Jinli quickly flipped through it, pleased to find not only houses, shops, manors, and farmland but also mountain areas listed. She was very happy.
After a short while, she approached clerk Shi with the register and pointed to two mountains and a manor close to Qingfu Town, asking, "Uncle, how much for these two mountains and the manor? Are they expensive?"
She hoped for a bargain.
She knew about these two mountain areas; they were covered with many pine trees. Townsfolk had said they were used for pine oil production, which could bring a significant income just from harvesting the oil each year.
If she could buy these two mountains, she wouldn’t just earn money from pine oil; she could also grow medicinal herbs on the mountain, which would be a very profitable venture.
Moreover, the two mountains and the manor were connected, which would make managing them quite convenient. They were worth buying.