Chapter 59 Ugly Ugly

  "As for repaying kindness, if it weren't for the benefactor's initial gift of money and grain, as well as horses, my brother and his wife and children would have probably frozen or starved to death. To the benefactor, those small amounts of money and grain were trivial matters, but to me, they were a matter of life and death." Huang Da replied solemnly: "Therefore, I, Huang Da, never forget the great kindness of the benefactor at any moment, it's just that I have always had nothing to repay with, so I didn't dare come see the benefactor. Originally, I was passing through Jian'an today with a merchant group and saw this recruitment notice posted by Gao San brothers, coincidentally my brother happens to possess the skills needed by the benefactor, so I took down this notice."

  After inquiring further, Wang Kuang learned that Huang Da's older brother did not have the surname Huang, but rather shared the same surname as Wang Kuang, which was Wang. He had been a jade craftsman and had made a living by carving jade in a jewelry store in Luoyang during his early years. Due to his exceptional craftsmanship, he was known as "Skilled Hand Wang Wu". Although they did not live a wealthy life, they were able to make ends meet and had no problem with food or clothing on a daily basis.

  Huang Da, on the other hand, was an orphan who worked as an apprentice in the jewelry store. He had a good relationship with his older brother. One time, when the store was closing and counting its inventory, it discovered that a valuable jade pendant made for a customer was missing. The only people present that day were Huang Da and the owner of the store, so all evidence seemed to point towards Huang Da. The owner believed that Huang Da had stolen the pendant and reported him to the authorities.

  Huang Da was young at the time and could not withstand the severe torture during his interrogation. Just as he was about to confess falsely, his older brother stepped forward and claimed responsibility for accidentally breaking the pendant and replacing it with a fake one to protect Huang Da. In the end, they had to sell all their property but still could not afford to compensate for the pendant. As a result, Huang Da's older brother suffered in prison for several years, developed an illness, and was no longer his former self when he was released.

  Later on, Huang Da took his older brother, his wife, and children to move to Yanping. Since "Huang" and "Wang" were homophones in the Minbei dialect, the two men decided to become sworn brothers. Huang Da himself worked as a porter for traveling merchants to support this new family.

  As expected, he was a man with a story to tell. From this story, Wang Kuang could infer that Huang Da was not the one who stole the jade pendant, and Qiao Shou Wang Wu was even more unlikely. However, based on what Huang Da said, it seemed that the shopkeeper was quite suspicious, but since many years had passed, there was no way to gather evidence.

  Since Wang Wu was good at grinding stone balls, the next thing was much simpler. Huang Da wrote a letter and Wang Kuang arranged for someone to pick up Wang Wu. According to Huang Da, they only built a thatched hut by the river in Yanping, so they might as well bring over his whole family. Anyway, the courtyard where Wang Ling lived now was spacious enough, so let them move in. It just so happened that Wang Wu's wife could also help Wang Ling sweep the yard and mend clothes to earn some money to support their family.

  Guests in the inn saw Wang Kuang's notice and quickly found the person they wanted to find. Although there was an element of coincidence, the effectiveness of the notice board was evident, and everyone praised it as a great idea. Some people with needs immediately wrote their own notices in the inn. Many traveling merchants could recognize a few characters, but some only knew how to recognize them without being able to write, so they asked Sun Zhuangzhu to help them write a notice, which were all posted on the notice board. It's strange to say that perhaps everyone trusted Fuli Inn, or perhaps they trusted Wang Kuang. The contact information left on the notices was uniformly the Fuli Inn, and for this reason, Sun Zhuangzhu had to specially set aside an account book to record these.

  These posters were all sorts of strange, some recruiting guides, some looking for a certain herb, and one was searching for relatives lost in the war. The strangest one was seeking stories of wonders from around the world. As soon as it was posted, people burst out laughing and said: "Who would tell you their stories? Shouldn't they be telling them to Xiao Dong instead? Look at the reward you're offering - three stories for just half a plate of fried peanuts! Xiao Dong gets a pot of wine for just one story!" Amidst the laughter, Passerby A's face turned red with embarrassment as he tore down the poster and fled with Passerby B. It turned out that he had seen the effectiveness of the poster and had gotten carried away with his own ideas, wanting to collect stories himself and then exchange them with Wang Kuang for a pot of wine, also trying to curry favor with him. But what he didn't realize was that this bulletin board was actually set up by the wealthy guests at the inn, and if anyone had any stories, they would definitely go to Wang Kuang first, not them.

  The next evening, Wang Wu's carriage returned. When he heard that the person who came to pick him up was from Fula Inn, which had sent money, grain and horses two years ago on New Year's Eve, and saw Huang Da's letter saying that he was going to help Xiao Dongjia with something, he naturally didn't say a word. Originally, his family was poor and there were not many things, so they packed up quickly. Now Fula Inn has five horses. The old horse was changed to pull the carriage, while the four strong horses obtained from Liangshi brothers were left in the inn, with two horses divided into Wangcun. In case of any situation, they can rush back to Jian'an to inform Wang Kuang and Sun Ming. Deng Shiyi and his son Deng Xiaosan were also arranged by Wang Kuang to stay in Wangcun. After the incident of Deng Sen, Deng Shiyi and Deng Xiaosan were undoubtedly among the most trusted people by Wang Kuang. It was just that the matter of Deng Sen had been solved for a short time, and Wang Kuang was worried that Deng Sen's surviving family members would find them to take revenge. So he arranged for them to stay in Wangcun. Deng Shiyi cooked food for those retired soldiers, while Deng Xiaosan continued to do his job, taking care of the cattle and horses. Those soldiers could also protect the father and son, which was a win-win situation.

  Wang Wu has arrived, and Wang Kuang can't help but go take a look. That courtyard, not to mention Wang Kuang, even Wang Ling, except for going there to sleep at night, is always either on duty at the government office or holed up in the inn. Wang Kuang had only been there once or twice before.

  Out of the inn, walking north for dozens of steps and turning right, Wang Kuang pushed open the courtyard door. This was a large courtyard with a small yard inside, and Wang Wu's family should have been arranged in that small yard. However, Wang Kuang saw a woman wearing a jacket with many patches, washed white, sweeping the front yard with her head down, dust flying everywhere. She looked up at Wang Kuang, stopped, bowed, and didn't speak, seemingly standing there nervously. This must be Wang Wu's family. The Sun Mansion had only thirty or forty households, all of whom Wang Kuang knew.

  Wang Kuang furrowed his brow. This Wang Ling, when Sun Mingqian had wanted to send a few family members over earlier, he had refused, saying that he was used to being alone and couldn't stand being served by others. As his younger brother, Wang Kuang hadn't dared say anything. Sun Mingqian had sent people several times, but they were all chased away by Wang Ling, so he could only give up. Now that the Wang family had moved in, it was natural that they would need someone to serve them, but Wang Kuang only saw this woman sweeping the yard and didn't see anyone else from the inn helping out. He couldn't help feeling a bit displeased, but he didn't want to show it. So he rolled up his sleeves, found a wooden basin, scooped some water, and splashed it in the yard before saying to the woman, "If you sweep like this, there won't be any dust."

  The woman responded timidly, but didn't rush to sweep the floor. She opened her mouth, but didn't know how to address Wang Kuang. If she called him a servant, she had never seen any servant dressed so finely; if she called him the young master of the house, she had never seen any young master who would personally help with chores. Just as she was feeling awkward, someone rushed into the courtyard from outside. When Wang Kuang saw it was Niu Waizi, he felt annoyed and asked sternly, "Is this how you do things? You just throw people around and run off? Look at this courtyard, what a mess!"

  "Hey, Master Dong, you've wronged me! I didn't go to the Dong's mansion to call for someone, did I? The person arrived right after." Niu Wa Zi saw that Wang Kuang's face seemed not very good and hastily waved his hand: "I also went to help with fetching medicine." As for Wang Kuang's temper, they had all long since gotten a clear understanding of it. Sometimes, even if his face didn't look too good, as long as you hadn't done anything wrong, even if you butted heads with Wang Kuang, nothing would happen. Unlike other masters, who wouldn't even give you a chance to explain."

  Wang Kuang only then saw the several packets of medicine that Niu Wa Zi was holding in his hand. At this time, the members of Sun Fu's household also rushed over, some carrying bedding, others carrying pots and pans. Only then did he realize that he had wrongly suspected Niu Wa Zi, and immediately felt a bit embarrassed, hastily changing the subject: "What medicine are you carrying? Have you asked a doctor to take a look?"

  "Ah, so it's really Mr. Xiao Dong in person, I've been rude." The woman standing next to her finally realized that the person in front of her was actually Uncle's often-mentioned wealthy guest, Mr. Xiao Dong. She quickly threw away the broom and came over to pay her respects: "Actually, I had asked Lang Zhong to see my husband in Yanping before, but Niu Guan Shi took the prescription and grabbed the medicine. Originally, I was going to go myself, but Niu Guan Shi snatched the prescription and went instead. Since I'm idle anyway, I might as well sweep the yard, Mr. Xiao Dong mustn't blame Niu Guan Shi for this. My husband has always been grateful for your help, how could we trouble you again?"

  "That won't do, don't decoct the medicine yet, go and invite Dr. Lang to take another look. This illness isn't ordinary, it will change with time and location, we need to ask Dr. Lang to come and examine it at any moment. Sister-in-law, since you've all arrived in Jian'an now, that means you're our guests at the Rich Come Inn. How can we let you suffer again? Besides, I still need Wang Wu Lang's help with something, if this illness isn't cured properly, what can be done?"

  "Niu Wa Zi interrupted: "Sister, you can rest assured, our Xiao Dong is not bragging, after a long time you will...". Before she finished speaking, she was kicked in the butt by Wang Kuang: "Still running your mouth, hurry up and go!"

  "Little Dong, you're really something. I think Sun Er learned from you - waving his hand to kick his butt and lifting his leg to hit his head. But he didn't learn the best part from you - you can pretend to be angry without even moving a muscle, and directly start kicking." Niu Wa Zi patted his butt and saw Wang Kuang was about to lift his leg again, so he quickly ran out the door to call for Lang Zhong.

  At this time, a little boy with only a bellyband on and bare buttocks ran out of the moon gate connected to the side courtyard. He looked like he was only four or five years old, with a queue on his head and bare feet. As he ran, he called out: "Sister, sister." After running for several steps, seeing strangers, he hesitated for a moment, but still ran over and threw himself into the woman's arms: "Carry me on your back, sister, carry me on your back."

  The woman put down the broom, squatted down and let the child climb onto her back. She then stood up with one hand supporting the child's buttocks, gently swaying her body as she said: "Chou Chou be good, you can play by yourself for a while, sister still has things to do."

  "Uh-huh!" The little kid responded softly and gently patted the woman's back: "Chou Chou helps sister pat her back."

  At this scene, Wang's eyes couldn't help but moisten. In his later years, he was also like this little kid, clinging to his mother and calling out "Sister carry me, sister carry me". Only he wasn't as well-behaved as this child, knowing how to massage his mother's back. He hastily turned his body around, looking up at the clouds in the sky, not letting his tears fall.

  "What is brother looking at?" Chou Chou saw Wang Kuang lift his head to look at the sky, and also lifted his head to look at the sky, but didn't see anything, not even a wisp of cloud.

  "Oh, nothing, just got sand in my eyes." Wang Kuang turned his head and smiled at Chou Chou.

  "That ugly brother helped blow, before the ugly eyes got sand, were all sister helped blow, ugly also learned, can also help sister blow eyes."

  "Stop shouting, this is Xiao Dong's home. Quickly come down and pay respects to Xiao Dong." The woman saw Ugly Ugly calling out 'brother' one after another, and hastily stopped him.

  "Oh." Chou Chou wriggled his body, climbed down from his mother's squatting position, walked up to Wang Kuang, raised his head and imitated the adults by clasping his fists together in a salute. Then, tilting his head and speaking in a childish tone, he said: "Chou Chou has met Young Master Dong before. Older brother, older sister, and uncle often mention you. But Chou Chou is very curious, why do they always praise you, but never praise the big brother from next door? The big brother from next door always plays with Chou Chou."

  "Chou Chou is so clever, knowing to remember the brother who brought you out to play. In the future, Chou Chou can go to a very fun place where many brothers are. From now on, Chou Chou can just call me brother, okay?" Wang Kuang squatted down and patted Chou Chou's head.

  "Hmm." Chou Chou turned her head to say to her mother, "Sister, look, brother is letting me call him brother." Then she turned back around and saw Wang Kuang's red eyes: "Ah, brother really does have sand in his eyes. Let Chou Chou blow it out for you." After speaking, she stretched out a hand, clumsily prying open Wang Kuang's eyelids, pouting her small mouth, puffing up her cheeks, and blowing loudly.

  "This child." The woman saw this situation and felt very awkward, afraid that Chou would offend Wang Kuang.

  "Sister, it's okay, just let Chou Chou call me brother from now on." Wang Kuang squatted there, motionless, letting Chou Chou blow his left eye and then his right eye, and praised Chou Chou: "Chou Chou is really amazing, the sand in my eyes has all been blown away by you, it's gone."

  "Ha ha." Chou Chou was praised by Wang Kuang and also smiled happily, then thought of something and said to Wang Kuang: "Ah, Chou Chou has to go back and help Gege massage his legs. Goodbye, brother." After finishing speaking, he quickly ran towards the side house.

  Division

  Seeking recommendations and votes, today I came down from the list of popular posts, and saw that the number of recommendation tickets has decreased significantly. Grey Sparrow feels a little disappointed. Your support is Grey Sparrow's motivation.

  In addition, regarding the female lead and other issues, Grey Sparrow will keep them secret for now. There are several hidden plotlines that will be revealed one by one later on. The biggest hidden plotline is, if a book friend can figure it out before chapter 200, Grey Sparrow has only one word: impressed!