Chapter 107 – Of Course We Will Compensate
Yan Shuyun was petite and slender. When Liu Qianhe waved her away, she was sent staggering backward several steps.
Fortunately, Yan Shuqin was standing behind her, and quickly helped her maintain her balance just as she was about to fall.
“Third sister, are you alright?”
Tears welled up in Yan Shuyun’s eyes.
“Elder sister, I’m fine, but our house will be gone.”
Yan Xiaosi slightly furrowed his brows, almost imperceptibly.
It was just a dilapidated grass temple, was it worth the Yan family making such a fuss?
After Yan Shuyun was waved away, Yan Shuxue stepped forward, tugging at Liu Qianhe’s sleeve and begging earnestly, “Village Chief Liu, we don’t intend to occupy this grass temple forever, we’ll move out. Please give us a bit more time.” Once they left the grass temple, their family of five would become street wanderers. Thinking about the silver coins they now had, as long as they saved a bit more, they could afford to buy a plot in Shaoyao Village, then build a simple house. That’s why she begged Liu Qianhe for more time. But under the pressure of the Yan family, how could Liu Qianhe agree? He frowned, impatiently responding to Yan Shuxue, “We’re already into autumn, and the rice and corn of every household need to be harvested soon. Demolishing this grass temple at the end of the village to build a drying field is of utmost urgency. You better pack up and move out today.”
Move out today!
Upon hearing this, Ms. Zhong and Yan Shuqin’s faces instantly turned pale.
They had anticipated the old man driving them out of the grass temple, but they didn’t expect him to be so resolute, not giving them any time to prepare.
“Village Chief, we are all your villagers, you can’t do this.”
Yan Shuxue desperately clung to Liu Qianhe’s sleeve, refusing to give up.
Liu Qianhe’s only piece of cheap, coarse silk clothing was accidentally crumpled by Yan Shuxue. Seeing the wrinkled sleeve, Liu Qianhe’s frown deepened.
This was his only piece of silk clothing.
Stupid girl, she had no idea to be gentle.
Burning with rage, Liu Qianhe tried to jerk his sleeve back from Yan Shuxue’s grip with a strong swing of his arm.
His sleeve didn’t come back, but a crisp tearing sound was heard instead.
The clothing was too cheap and coarse; with that pull, the sleeve ripped open.
Yan Shuxue quickly let go, looking at Liu Qianhe’s torn sleeve, her face full of apology: “Village Chief Liu, I didn’t mean to.”
His only piece of silk clothing was torn. Liu Qianhe felt as if his heart, liver, spleen, and lungs were all in pain. He was so angry that he was practically fuming, glaring at Yan Shuxue fiercely.
“You stupid girl, you owe me a shirt.”
Their home’s silver was limited, if they had to compensate for Liu Qianhe’s clothing, there would be even less hope of building a house.
Yan Shuxue bit her lip, extremely upset in her heart.
“Village Chief Liu, I didn’t mean to, I really didn’t mean to.”
“Just because it wasn’t intentional doesn’t mean it’s over. Do you know, I spent five taels of silver on this shirt.”
At this moment, Liu Qianhe completely disregarded his status as village chief, directing his anger at Yan Shuxue.
Knowing that Yan Shuxue, a young girl, couldn’t afford the silver, his furious gaze fell on Ms. Zhong. “Shuxue’s mother, Shuxue damaged my clothes, you should compensate me.”
Liu Qianhe’s clothes were torn because of Yan Shuxue, but it wasn’t entirely her fault. For a moment, Ms. Zhong didn’t know how to respond.
Just as she was frowning, a clear voice rang out.
“Village Chief Liu, my second sister was just holding your sleeve. It was your own forceful swing that tore your sleeve. Everyone here saw it. Asking my mother for compensation is rather unreasonable, don’t you think?”
Liu Qianhe shifted his gaze to Yan Xiaosi, arguing: “If it weren’t for Yan Shuxue holding my sleeve, would I have swung my arm so hard?”
“That’s because you, Village Chief Liu, couldn’t control your temper due to your hunger, and you swung your arm forcefully, damaging your own sleeve. Is it fair to blame others?”
Yan Xiaosi’s words sparked laughter among the villagers watching the scene.
The onlooking villagers started to speculate.
Did Village Chief Liu have such a fiery temper because he didn’t eat enough at night?
The laughter of the villagers made Liu Qianhe’s face turn dark with anger: “Yan Xiaosi, what nonsense are you talking about?”
“Look, look, Village Chief, your liver fire is flaring up again. It seems that the Village Chief’s wife hasn’t taken good care of you.”
“Ha ha ha……”
At this, most of the people present burst out laughing, even Yan Bozhang’s mouth twitched upwards uncontrollably.
This nephew really had a sharp tongue, being able to insult people without using foul language. No wonder the old man was fond of him.
When it came to verbal jousting, Liu Qianhe was no match for Yan Xiaosi. He simply glared and demanded from Ms. Zhong: “Ms. Zhong, I’m asking you, will you compensate for the clothes or not?”
“Compensate, of course we will.”
Yan Xiaosi didn’t let Ms. Zhong speak. She crossed her arms over her chest, smiling as she stared at Liu Qianhe: “Mother, didn’t the old Yan patriarch give me half of the medical expenses a few days ago? That’s exactly five taels of silver. You go and get it.”
Ms. Zhong didn’t understand what Yan Xiaosi was up to, but seeing that the girl was calm and confident, she went inside, fetched five taels of silver from where they kept the money, and handed it to Yan Xiaosi.
“Xiaosi, here’s five taels of silver.” Yan Xiaosi took the silver, waved it in front of Liu Qianhe, and said, “Village Chief Liu, I happened to see the clothes you’re wearing in a ready-made clothing store when I went to Daxing Town for the market last time. I even asked the price out of curiosity, and the boss said that the shirt and trousers together cost five taels of silver.”
These words were indeed true. When they went to the clothing store to choose clothes for Long Hao last time, they saw this outfit.
“That’s right.” Desperate to get the five taels of silver in Yan Xiaosi’s hand, Liu Qianhe blurted out his agreement.
Yan Xiaosi glanced down at him and said, “Then please, Village Chief Liu, take off the clothes you’re wearing, give me the damaged set, and I’ll give you these five taels of silver.”
This request was quite reasonable.
Upon hearing Yan Xiaosi’s words, the expression on Liu Qianhe’s face cracked with anger.
Take them off! At this time of year, it wasn’t very cold during the day, everyone wore one piece of clothing and a pair of trousers. If he took them off, wouldn’t he be left with only his underpants?
In front of all these men and women, Liu Qianhe couldn’t bring himself to strip down to his underpants. He still needed to save face.
“Yan Xiaosi, what nonsense are you talking about?”
Yan Xiaosi suddenly turned cold, “I’m not talking nonsense. Either Village Chief Liu takes off the clothes he’s wearing now and gives them to me, and I’ll give you the five taels of silver, or if Village Chief Liu doesn’t agree, then I’ll consider it as Village Chief Liu being magnanimous, forgiving my second sister.” The Liu family wasn’t poor. When it came down to face versus five taels of silver, Liu Qianhe weighed his options and ultimately chose to save face.
