QWAPMP Chapter 95

Chapter Ninety-Five: The Eunuch Little Husband

The old servant stopped Little Madame Song who was about to chase someone, “Hold on, does this Madame think she can hit my young master for no reason and just run off?”

Little Madame Song was startled by his serious words, “What do you mean? I was hitting my ge’er, and your young master chose to block it himself. Nobody went to hit him.”

Little Madame Song put the stick back where it belonged, and after speaking, backed away, wanting to go home.

Yan Ye covered his injured hand and first introduced himself, “I believe everyone here doesn’t know me yet. My name is Yan Ye, I live in the county town, and my family runs a grain store. The reason I came to Song Family Village this time is because my father asked me to check on how the crops are growing here. My father wants to purchase some grain from the villagers this year. I never expected that poor mountains and harsh waters would produce troublesome people. I haven’t even started buying grain yet, but my hand was hit first.”

In recent years, harvests have been good for every household. Besides the grain submitted to the imperial court, each family also had surplus grain to sell.

With more grain, meat became expensive. Everyone wanted to sell some grain to buy meat, but grain was cheap, and many rice stores stopped buying it.

Now hearing that Yan Ye was here to buy grain, the villagers’ minds became active.

The Village Chief was the first to step forward, stroking his beard, and asked Yan Ye if what he said was true or false.

Yan Ye slightly raised his chin, assuming the air of a young master, “Today, whoever comes out to testify for this young master, to confirm that this young master’s hand was indeed hit by her, this young master will be the first to buy the grain from that witness.”

As soon as these words were spoken, someone in the crowd couldn’t help but step forward first.

“Young Master Yan, I will testify for you. It is true that Little Madame Song hit you. This Little Madame Song is really something; she should just hit her child, how could she hit you?”

Little Madame Song hadn’t left yet, and upon hearing this, she wanted to retort, “He was the one who came over for me to hit.”

“And me, I also saw Little Madame Song hit Young Master Yan…”

“I saw it too…”

Voices like these rose one after another. The Village Chief, wanting to sell the grain, didn’t stop them.

Seeing that it was almost enough, the old servant also spoke, “My young master’s hand is the hand that holds the pen and uses the abacus. What are we to do if it’s broken by an ignorant woman like you?”

Little Madame Song looked bewildered. Her husband finally stopped acting like a quail, walked over, and humbly wanted to apologize.

“Young Master Yan, my wife really didn’t mean to hit you. She just wanted to hit that jinx and accidentally hit you. Please be magnanimous and don’t bother with her.”

Seeing her husband act this way, Little Madame Song also realized the matter had become serious, “Yes, Young Master Yan, please be generous and don’t stoop to my level, a mere woman.”

“It’s fine if I don’t stoop to your level,” Yan Ye said gently.

Just as a look of joy appeared on Little Madame Song’s face, thinking the matter was over, she heard him take a sharp turn, “Then accompany me to the best clinic in the county town, pay for the treatment of this hand of mine, to prevent any lingering problems in the future.”

The county town’s clinic? Little Madame Song rolled her eyes, wanting to faint. How much silver would that cost her!

Seeing her wanting to feign fainting, Yan Ye coldly snorted, “Do you want to report it to the officials, or pay for the treatment of this hand of mine? You decide.”

Upon hearing “report to the officials,” Little Madame Song’s husband’s face turned pale with fright. He raised his hand and hit Little Madame Song, “It’s all your fault, you wretched woman, why did you have to hit someone properly?”

Little Madame Song couldn’t pretend anymore, she jumped up, “How can you blame me? It’s all that jinx’s fault! If you want silver, go find him.”

Yan Ye disagreed, “The villagers here all saw that it was you who hit this young master.”

Upon hearing this, Little Madame Song plopped down on the ground and wailed, “Heavens above, someone is bullying me! The young master from the county town is bullying me, a village woman! I don’t want to live anymore!”

Little Madame Song’s husband saw his wife acting like this, silently turned his face away, only feeling ashamed. He also didn’t want to pay the silver, so he let his wife throw a tantrum.

The Village Chief scolded, “Get up quickly! What kind of behavior is this? You’re making our village lose face!”

Little Madame Song didn’t care about face, “My family has no money, how can we pay for the silver? This is asking for my life!”

The woman who had introduced the new dish that morning poked her head out from the crowd, “Little Madame Song, didn’t you just marry a ge’er and receive betrothal gifts? How can you have no money?”

“Exactly, don’t make our village lose face. Pay the silver quickly.”

Anyway, they weren’t the ones paying the silver, so they wouldn’t feel bad. Besides, if Little Madame Song refused to compensate this young master with silver, and what if he didn’t buy their village’s grain, it would be a huge loss.

For their own benefit, everyone spoke up to persuade her.

Yan Ye wouldn’t waste time lingering here with Little Madame Song. He instructed his servant a few words and strutted away from the crowd.

“Young Master Yan left?”

“Did he let Little Madame Song off?”

Just as everyone thought Yan Ye wouldn’t pursue the matter, the old servant coughed and said sternly, “As long as Little Madame Song does not compensate our young master for his medical expenses, our young master will not purchase the grain from the village.”

“Ah? How can this be? This won’t do!”

“That’s right, my family wants to sell grain to buy meat!”

“Our family too, we haven’t tasted meat in half a year.”

As soon as the old servant spoke, Little Madame Song was instantly stared at intensely by many pairs of eyes. The way these people looked at her made Little Madame Song’s scalp tingle, and she scrambled back into her house.

However, the matter did not end there.

After Yan Ye spread the word, many villagers who wanted to sell their grain held grudges against Little Madame Song. Every few days, people would cause trouble at the Village Chief’s house, demanding that the Village Chief tell Little Madame Song to pay the silver.

Now, as soon as Little Madame Song went out, she could feel the villagers always looking at her with resentful stares. After a while, she simply hid at home, cursing Song Yi, and didn’t even leave the house.

Song Yi hid in the mountains for two days, and only found out what had happened these past two days after coming down the mountain.

Knowing that Little Madame Song was forced to pay silver by that young master, Song Yi couldn’t help but think of the scene that day. He didn’t know why the man wanted to help him, but Song Yi was happy to see the man make Little Madame Song compensate with silver.

“I wonder if the injury is serious.” Song Yi’s lips parted, and then he turned and ran back into the mountains.

In the evening, the largest house in the village was knocked on loudly. The old servant came out to open the door and saw nothing. Just as he was wondering, he found a chicken by the doorstep.

Whose family sent this chicken?

The old servant looked around, didn’t see anyone, and after waiting for a while, no one came to claim it, so he took the chicken inside.

“Young master, I don’t know who left a chicken at our door.” The old servant brought the chicken to the main hall, completely puzzled.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of the villagers using this chicken to curry favor with their young master, but thinking carefully, these villagers were so poor they couldn’t even afford meat, so how could they send a chicken to the young master, and without leaving a name?

Yan Ye glanced at it and saw that it was a chicken raised by a village family. As for why it was here, looking at the grass rope on its feet, he guessed it was deliberately sent to him by someone.

“We’ll stew chicken soup tonight.” Yan Ye’s voice held a smile, clearly indicating he knew who sent the chicken.

The old servant responded yes and took the chicken to the kitchen.

Not long after, the aroma of chicken soup wafted out, making Song Yi, who was hiding outside the house, unable to help but swallow.

Ever since he fell on hard times, his life had plummeted, no longer like the Grand Eunuch he used to be, whom everyone flattered.

Song Yi covered his grumbling stomach, planning to go up the mountain to dig for some wild vegetables to eat.

He couldn’t catch wildfowl like pheasants or rabbits. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have done what he did earlier today. He originally wanted to go up the mountain to catch a rabbit for the man, but after squatting for several hours, he didn’t see a single rabbit hair. In the end, he still went and stole the chicken Little Madame Song was raising.

Yan Ye opened the door holding a bowl of freshly stewed chicken soup and saw a thin figure about to leave, “Hold on, since you’ve brought the chicken, why don’t you come in and sit for a while?”

Song Yi didn’t expect the person to come out and call out to him. His body stiffened, and for a moment, he didn’t dare to turn his head.

“You are Yi Ge’er, aren’t you?” Yan Ye suddenly called out his name.

This person knows his name! As soon as Song Yi thought about why the man would know his name, he remembered what happened on the day Qing Ge got married. His eyes darkened, and he turned back to nod slightly at the man, his face expressionless.

Presumably, this person would also dislike him because of his previous actions.

Anyway, what does he need others’ liking for?

“My name is Yan Ye. Thank you, Yi Ge’er, for the chicken today. Why don’t you stay and have a bowl as well?” Yan Ye invited him. Seeing how thin the ge’er in front of him was, he could guess that he wasn’t living well.

“No thank you. How is your hand?” This was the reason Song Yi waited so long before leaving after delivering the chicken. He wanted to see if the man’s hand injury was serious. Little Madame Song always hit him fiercely, and coupled with him deliberately causing trouble that day, Little Madame Song would be even less merciful.

Yan Ye looked at the somewhat awkward person, his eyes flickering, “It’s nothing serious, it just hurts a bit when writing. With good rest, it should be fine. It’s just…”

“Just what…?” Song Yi’s eyes were anxious, looking eagerly at him.

It was rare for someone to be willing to help him after he had fallen on hard times. How could he harm that person? Song Yi thought guiltily, lowering his head a bit.

“It’s just that it would be great if I had someone literate by my side to write for me when I’m doing calculations,” Yan Ye said awkwardly, a calculated plan forming in his heart. This was the method he thought of to temporarily keep Song Yi by his side.

Although Song Yi was from Song Family Village, he was different from other little ge’ers. He had entered the palace and climbed to such a high position; it was impossible to say he was illiterate.

As expected, Song Yi obediently fell into the trap Yan Ye had set for him, “If you don’t mind the person writing for you being a ge’er, I can help you.”

“Really? Would this trouble you?” Yan Ye asked with feigned concern.

Song Yi shook his head, “Your hand was injured because of me. It’s only right that I help you.”

“In that case, I won’t be polite. Yi Ge’er, please come in, and perhaps have something to eat with me.” Yan Ye couldn’t wait to lure the person into his territory.

Song Yi, who grew up in the scheming environment of the palace, never expected that someone he met for the first time would be so ill-intentioned, let alone have ulterior motives towards him.

It was the third day, and seeing that Yan Ye still had no intention of buying their grain, the villagers became restless. It happened that this day was Qing Ge’s return home day. People passing by the Song family house heard laughter and joy inside and immediately became angry, starting to curse at the entrance, “If it weren’t for Little Madame Song offending Young Master Yan, how could everyone’s grain be unsold?”

“Smell that, is that the smell of meat?”

“It really is. Everyone else is suffering because of her family’s misfortune, but her family is doing great, eating well and enjoying themselves.”

“My children are crying every day wanting to eat meat. I can’t stand it. Let’s all go together and tell Little Madame Song to pay Young Master Yan the silver.”

“I agree. Why should her family live comfortably while everyone else has to live miserably?”