Chapter 28: Suffering
Old Madam Yun, accompanied by her two young granddaughters, rode in a Cheng family carriage, surrounded by guards, to redeem the remaining six young girls who had been sold by the Yun family to other families as maids. Every time she saw one safely redeemed, the smile on her face grew a little wider. When all six had returned, Old Madam Yun was so happy that she could hardly see her own eyes. She hugged one and kissed another, all of them were her heart’s delight. She inspected the children to see if they were injured or suffering. If they were injured, she cursed the family that had no humanity. If they were suffering, she wept for a while while holding the child. When she saw all eight of her beloved granddaughters surrounding her, all of them holding snacks and munching on them, she felt that all the hardships of the past were nothing.
These are the granddaughters of my eldest brother, and these are the granddaughters of my youngest brother. Although they are all granddaughters, they are all so-called jinxes who were rejected by their daughters’ families. The eldest is only twelve years old, and the youngest is only seven years old. They are all thin and small, with yellow hair, but the old lady thinks they are all heavenly beings.
“Grandma, you won’t send Xiaonan to the Zhangs’ again, will you? The little master there beats me all the time, and he lets the dog chase me. I’m scared.”
The old lady lifted up Xiaonan’s skirt and saw that her legs were covered in scars. Her heart ached like a knife. Cheng Dong was already furious, but hearing this, he put down his sword and walked to the closed door of the Zhang family. He lifted the millstone on the millstone in front of the door. The millstone weighed 300 catties, but it seemed light in Cheng Dong’s hands. He smashed the millstone with both arms against the dark door, and heard a loud boom. The two doors shattered together. The Zhang family members who were hiding behind the door ran back to the house in a panic, and a twelve or thirteen year old fat boy with a black dog on a leash was about to enter the house.
Cheng Dong took a step forward, grabbed the little fat boy by the collar, and threw him away. The little fat boy fell to the ground with a beautiful dog-like bite, and most of his teeth fell out. A fat woman came out with a cry, hugged the little fat boy, pointed at Cheng Dong, and screamed, “How dare you hurt people in broad daylight? Aren’t you afraid of the law?”
Cheng Dong slowly grabbed the black dog, and with a single hand, the black dog twitched twice and then stopped moving. Seeing that the black dog was dead, he turned to the mother and son. As soon as he saw Cheng Dong turn around, the little fat man stopped crying, and his mouth full of blood sank into his mother’s arms without daring to make a sound.
Perhaps the motherly instinct gave the woman the courage to hold her son tightly and shout for help. A middle-aged man in his forties ran out and kept on prostrating himself on the ground, hoping that Cheng Dong would spare his family.
“I’m not qualified to spare you. When the Duke returns from the Longyou army, you’ll know what the law is.” After saying this, Cheng Dong stepped over the middle-aged man’s body and left the courtyard.
The old lady stood at the gate with her son Nan in her arms, watching Cheng Dong punish the little fat boy. Nan was smiling, his fists clenched tightly.
“Little miss, look, the fat boy who bullied you has lost his teeth, and the black dog that bit you has been killed by me. I will peel its skin and leave it for you to use as a mattress, and I will give the meat to me to stew and eat.
Cheng Dong was full of flattery in front of Xiaonan, and although Xiaonan and the old lady were still in rags, Cheng Dong did not dare to be disrespectful. Others don’t know that the Cheng family is helping the Yun family and acting as benefactors. Cheng Dong has been traveling with the old Cheng Dong since he was a child, and he knows his master’s character too well. Since Lord Yun appeared, the master has looked up to him. Now it has developed to the point where he is on the same level as his son and nephew. Seeing the various wonders of Lord Yun, it is only right that he will rise to the top in the future. Now is the time to please the old lady.
“Uncle is really amazing. Did my brother send you? Is my brother even more amazing than you?”
Cheng Dong of course would not say that your brother is a disgrace to the Zuowei, and he can’t even draw a bow, let alone fight. But looking at the little girl’s hopeful eyes, he could only say reluctantly, “Of course, otherwise how would His Majesty have made your brother a nobleman?”
The little girl heard this and slipped out of the old lady’s arms, and ran to the middle of her sisters to tell them how great her brother was, and that she would never be afraid of being bullied again.
Seeing the children’s joy, the old lady thanked Cheng Dong with a bow. Cheng Dong said, “The old lady has never met my lord, but I have met several young heroes at the age of 15. However, they are all insignificant compared to my lord. The old lady can rest assured that the Yun family will prosper with my lord. I will return to Longyou in a few days. I wonder if the old lady has anything to tell my lord.”
The old lady thanked Cheng Dong and asked him to pick up a letter from the fiefdom the day before he left.
The old lady declined the invitation of the Cheng family to live in the Cheng residence, but instead took the 43 members of the Yun family, including women and children, to the Yun family fief at the foot of Nanshan.
The Hundred Cavalry Division made inquiries and found only 43 people. There was no news of the rest, so they had to report accordingly.
Emperor Li Er issued an edict to comfort the Yun clan, and Empress Changsun granted money and silk. Mrs. Cheng sent 2,000 copper coins as promised, and brought 50 male and female servants for use. Due to their weak health and many injuries and illnesses, she specially invited a famous doctor to take care of the women and children.
Yun Ye opened his mouth wide and breathed as hard as he could. Next to him was Cheng Chumu, and behind him were the third son of the Liu family, the second son of the Ge family, and the youngest son of the Pei family. It was not his mother who was suffering. If you didn’t count quickly enough, you would get a beating. The people holding the rods were all experts, and they knew how to hit people without hurting them.
But the bastard who was counting on purpose counted wrong. It was hard to get to eighty, but when he got down, it was forty-one. He didn’t dare to make a suggestion, and whoever did was beaten.
Yun Ye felt like a groundhog in a game of whack-a-mole. His head was full of bumps, and he wanted to faint, but there was no sign of fainting.
For two whole months, the hellish training made the 200 unlucky bastards feel like they were dying, and they were all descendants of heroes and wealthy families. There were only 100 people in the beginning, and with Yun Ye, there were 101. Who knew that Chang Sun Wuji heard the news from somewhere and forced 100 more people into the camp.
Lao Cheng was originally furious, unwilling to let Changsun take advantage of him, and not wanting to be dragged into the general’s tent by Changsun. When the two of them left the tent, they were both smiling, and Lao Cheng happily agreed to Changsun’s request. I don’t know what advantage Lao Cheng took, and he didn’t give Yun Ye a single bit, making Yun Ye despise these two old faggots from the bottom of his heart.
Just as he had recovered his breath, he climbed ashore, soaking wet, and saw the leather backpack that was modeled after Yun Ye’s backpack. Needless to say, it was filled with sand, wet sand that had been soaked in water. The five-kilometer cross-country race began. For dinner, everyone desperately adjusted their bodies to carry the bags and ran to the camp.
Yun Ye was dragged by Cheng Chumo and stumbled across the finish line. The two of them threw away their backpacks and rolled and crawled towards the dinner table, grabbing the pancakes and shoving them into their mouths, regardless of whether their hands were clean. They didn’t care about the food, they just wanted to fill their stomachs first. Not only them, but all the men who reached the finish line looked the same, no longer the so-called noble demeanor of the usual days.