Yun Xu-shi was harshly silenced by him and stared with his eyes wide open, unable to say anything for quite a while.
The village chief waved his hand. “Hmm, let’s handle it according to what Lin A-mo said.”
Yun Jiu, who had been listening to everything from inside the house, immediately started shaking his head when he heard that Lin Ye was going to be punished because of him, and staggered outside.
As soon as Lin Ye saw him come out, he hurried over and supported him. “What did you come out for?”
With his eyes swollen and red from crying, Yun Jiu did not dare look at Lin Ye. Instead, he looked toward the village chief. “Village Chief, this matter was my fault, so if someone has to be punished, punish me instead. I’m willing to take those twenty strokes on Lin Ye’s behalf.”
Lin Ye tightened his grip slightly. On one hand, he was annoyed that Yun Jiu had come out and was making things more complicated, but on the other hand, he was deeply moved that Yun Jiu was protecting him like this.
“How could I possibly let you take the punishment for me? Alright, stop making a fuss.”
Seeing the indulgent expression on his son’s face toward Yun Jiu, Lin A-mo suddenly wanted to go over and give him a couple of hard smacks himself. This was such an awkward situation, and he had finally managed to salvage the situation for Lin Ye, yet this silly boy was still here provoking those other ge’er.
As if sensing the resentment coming from Lin A-mo, Lin Ye once again sent Yun Jiu back into the house. After that, Lin Ye took all the twenty strokes himself. He understood Lin A-mo’s intentions, of course, and naturally would not waste his kindness.
When Lin Ye was taken to the ancestral hall of Yunjia Village to receive his punishment, the members of the Dong family were also brought there.
There were six people in the Dong family in total. Apart from the escaped Dong Suisui and Dong Lao’er, there were the two older members of the Dong family, Dong Lao-da, and a ten-year-old ge’er.
After hearing what those two children had done, they were also frightened out of their wits. Now that they had been summoned outside the ancestral hall and saw the grim expressions on the village chief and the others, they knew that this matter definitely could not be settled peacefully.
They were different from Yun Dali’s family. First of all, they were not originally from the Yun family clan. Now that they had caused such a major incident, whether it was to vent their anger on behalf of Lin Ye and Yun Jiu or to protect the reputation of Yunjia Village, there was no way they would be spared.
Because Lin Ye and the members of the Dong family did not have the surname Yun, they were not allowed to enter the Yunjia Village ancestral hall. They dealt with Lin Ye first, leaving the members of the Dong family standing aside.
Since several elders were present, the young men carrying out the beating did not dare to hold back too obviously, so Lin Ye’s buttocks took quite a beating. Lin Ye’s supernatural ability had not yet recovered. He was afraid that using it again would cause it to lose control, so he obediently endured all forty strokes. By the time the forty strokes were finished, Lin Ye was sweating cold sweat from the pain.
Yun Jiu, who had originally promised not to come out, was still standing in the distance with a pale face, watching. Every time Lin Ye was struck, Yun Jiu’s face became a little paler. If he had not been leaning against the tree beside him, he would probably have collapsed directly onto the ground. He was suffering—suffering so badly that he could hardly breathe.
While Lin Ye was being punished, those ge’er did not hesitate to whisper unpleasant things into Yun Jiu’s ears, but Yun Jiu simply let them go in one ear and out the other. At this moment, he could not hear anything. His entire mind was focused on worrying about Lin Ye, afraid that Lin Ye would be seriously injured by the beating.
When Lin Ye was helped home, there were simply too many people around him, so he did not notice Yun Jiu.
Yun Jiu also wanted to follow him, but Chen Yinling and the others immediately blocked his way.
Chen Yinling, who was standing at the front, had an extremely unpleasant expression. He raised his hand and viciously slapped Yun Jiu across the face.
“Isn’t it enough that you’ve already caused Lin Ye enough trouble? You really are an annoying person. If it weren’t for you, would Lin Ye have been punished?”
“Exactly! He’s a jinx. Otherwise, why did his husband die right after marrying him? We absolutely cannot let him marry Lin Ye. Otherwise, Lin Ye will also be cursed to death.”
As the several ge’er spoke, they did not forget to push and shove Yun Jiu.
Yun Jiu looked at them expressionlessly. There was not a trace of color in his face.
“All my life, I have never fought or competed with anyone for anything. No matter how others bullied or humiliated me, I could endure it again and again. But my endurance does not mean that I am a coward. I simply did not want to fight with you, because those things were never important to me. But things are different now. Him—I will fight you for him. I will compete with you for him. Because you will never understand how important he is to me.”
Yun Jiu spoke these words in a very calm tone, yet there was an unmistakably firm determination in his voice that allowed no argument.
The group of people, who were used to Yun Jiu always keeping his head down and remaining silent, were suddenly shocked when he said something like that. Especially when Yun Jiu said those words, the look in his eyes was so cold that it was as if they had suddenly fallen into an icy pit in the dead of winter.
It was not until Yun Jiu turned around and walked away coldly that they finally came back to their senses. They had never paid much attention to Yun Jiu before. But after being shaken by what Yun Jiu had just said, they suddenly realized that Yun Jiu seemed to have changed a great deal.
That Yun Jiu who was always timid and silent; That Yun Jiu who was so tall that he always hunched his back and kept his neck lowered; That Yun Jiu who, whenever someone harshly scolded him, would only foolishly nod his head… Suddenly, that Yun Jiu was gone.
The Yun Jiu now walked with his back straight. Although his face looked battered and miserable, the feeling he gave off was completely different. The way he spoke and the coldness in his eyes when he looked at them were vastly different from the Yun Jiu they had known before.
So different that, for a moment, they had forgotten how to argue back.
“Was that really Yun Jiu just now?” one of the ge’er asked quietly.
Chen Yinling stared blankly at him, then could not help snorting. He had actually been intimidated by Yun Jiu? Really, this was simply ridiculous!
After Lin Ye and Yun Jiu left, there were still many people gathered outside the ancestral hall. The village chief and the others were dealing with the members of the Dong family.
Although Lin Ye had been punished, everyone knew that the incident between Lin Ye and Yun Jiu had mainly been caused by the Dong family’s ge’er.
The ge’er who had just been humiliated by Yun Jiu turned around and directed all the anger they had been holding inside at the Dong family. If it were not for that shameless Dong Suisui, Lin Ye would never have decided to marry Yun Jiu. So, in their eyes, the people who had caused them to lose the chance to marry Lin Ye and live a good life were none other than the members of the Dong family.
For a while, Yunjia Village was anything but peaceful.
Lin Ye was taken directly back to the Lin family. The old doctor personally went to the Lin family to examine and treat him. Although his injuries looked frightening, they were only superficial wounds, so he would be fine as long as he took proper care of them.
After his wounds had been treated, Lin Ye could not help asking Lin A-mo, “Where’s Yun Jiu?”
Lin A-mo glared at him and smiled. “You’re already in this state, and you still have the time to worry about him?”
“If something like this happened, Yun Jiu will definitely be bullied by those young ge’er. A-mo, I’m worried about him. Could you have someone bring Yun Jiu here?”
Lin A-mo could not argue with him, so he had no choice but to personally leave the house.
Lin A-mo had an eye condition and very poor eyesight. When he first met Lin Ye, he could only vaguely make out a person’s silhouette. Later, Lin Ye repeatedly treated him with great care. Although the results were not particularly obvious, his eyesight gradually recovered somewhat over time.
As soon as Lin A-mo walked out of the house with his walking stick, he saw several ge’er squatting outside his home, each of them with red-rimmed eyes, looking like abandoned little rabbits.
“Uncle Lin, how is Lin Ye-gege?” The moment the ge’er saw Lin A-mo come out, they immediately surrounded him.
Lin A-mo waved his hand. “Go home. He’s fine. He’ll be alright after resting for a couple of days.”
But the several ge’er were unwilling to leave. When they saw Lin A-mo heading out, they followed behind him.
“Uncle Lin, where are you going?”
Lin A-mo looked at these ge’er. When they had first moved to Yunjia Village, some people had already wanted to arrange marriages between their own ge’er and Lin Ye because of how handsome Lin Ye was. But at that time, Lin Ye had said that he did not want to settle down yet, and that he had not met anyone he liked.
Lin Ye had made it clear more than once that he had not met the person he liked—and of course, that included these ge’er from Yunjia Village. Yet these ge’er still refused to give up.
Uncle Lin: “Let me tell you something. Lin Ye has already decided to be with Yun Jiu. He had already told you before that he doesn’t like you. You silly children, why are you still making yourselves suffer like this?”
Hearing what Uncle Lin said, several of the ge’ers looked at one another. One of them unhappily muttered, “But Lin Ye doesn’t like Yun Jiu either. If this incident hadn’t happened, Lin Ye wouldn’t have married a ge’er like Yun Jiu. Anyway, I just can’t feel at ease about it. Whenever I think that Yun Jiu is going to marry Lin Ye in the future, I… I really can’t accept it.”
“Exactly. Exactly. If Lin Ye had taken a fancy to some handsome ge’er, and we weren’t as good-looking as that ge’er, then even if we lost, we could accept it. But it just happens to be Yun Jiu. I’m simply unwilling to accept it.”
Uncle Lin opened his mouth, but he really didn’t know what else to say, so he could only sigh. He shook his head and turned around, heading toward Yun Jiu’s house.
This time, the ge’ers did not follow him.
Actually, no matter what Uncle Lin said, those who disliked Yun Jiu would still find him annoying. After all, this was hatred over having one’s husband taken away. How could it be resolved just by saying a few words?
When he arrived at Yun Jiu’s house, Uncle Lin did not go inside. He simply called out from outside, “Yun Jiu, are you at home?”
Yun Jiu, who had a slight fever, was sleeping in a dazed state. When he suddenly heard Uncle Lin’s voice outside, he hurriedly got up from the bed and almost fell headfirst onto the ground. Fortunately, his arms and legs were long enough for him to support himself. Otherwise, he would have taken quite a nasty fall.
Yun Jiu staggered out, his face carrying an unnatural flush. The moment Uncle Lin saw him like that, he knew that Yun Jiu had become ill after being put through all that.
“Come on. Since you are already one of our Lin family now, for these next few days, come over and help take care of that child Lin Ye.”
Anyway, things had already come to this point, so there was nothing left to avoid.
Generally, among poor farming families, once a couple had been formally settled together, whether or not they actually held the wedding, they were already considered one family. Even if one person simply moved into the other’s home, nobody would say anything. Because here, many people could not afford to hold a wedding ceremony. Often, they would simply inform their neighbors, and that was considered a marriage.
When Yun Jiu arrived at the Lin family’s house, he went straight into Lin Ye’s room. It was only after Lin Ye saw with his own eyes that Yun Jiu had arrived that he finally fell into a hazy sleep.
Moonlightjie On RUHIP Chapter 015
Shaan On RUHIP Chapter 015