Linxia

Chapter 26, Growing Up

The man was startled, his heart was shaken, he turned around and ran away.

"upbraid!"

With the dim firelight, Fang Lin saw the man clearly. It was the little beggar. He shouted loudly and thrust out with the wooden stick quickly.

Swish!
The opponent was extremely agile, and the stab that was originally intended for the opponent's thigh only hit the opponent's ankle while he was running. The little beggar staggered and took two steps forward before stabilizing his body. Then he continued to run, and the small figure ran into the distance like the wind and disappeared into the darkness.

Fang Lin chased for a while, but found that he could not catch up. Considering that he was too far away and would make Fang's father and mother worry, he stopped.

……

The little beggar's name was Gou'er. He ran in the darkness without even looking back.

Yes, Gou'er is his name. Like most other beggars, he has no father or mother. He has no idea where he came from when he was born, and he has no idea where he will go after his death.

He once saw wild dogs gnawing on the body of an old beggar, so he named himself Gou'er to remind himself not to end up like that.

As a beggar, going hungry is a common occurrence. Recently, I have been following these fleeing villagers, and things are a little better. Sometimes I can pick up things that have been dropped and exchange them for food, and sometimes I steal when I get the chance.

Gou'er once heard an adult in a family teach his son, 'People should not steal. If you steal once, you will be a thief all your life.' He was very disdainful of this statement - because it was because of stealing that he could stay alive and not starve to death, and sometimes he could even have a full meal, and he felt that this was very good.

He had stolen from lonely people and from villagers who were all together, and he had never failed. Today was the first time he was caught!

At this moment, the severe pain in his ankle interrupted the dog's memories. The pain became more and more intense, piercing his heart and bones, causing him to stagger again. But after stabilizing his body, he did not dare to stop and continued to run.

He knew that he couldn't stop, or he would be beaten to death if he was caught!
I kept running and running, and gradually I could no longer feel the foot below the ankle. I lost consciousness, my movements became deformed, and I started to limp.

'My foot is broken!'

This thought suddenly appeared in his mind, and Gou'er lost all his joy at stealing the silver. Instead, he felt a strong sense of regret, and then a huge fear came to his heart.

He knew that a beggar with a broken leg could not rob or steal, and even fellow beggars would bully him. The scene of wild dogs gnawing on the old beggar's corpse appeared in his mind again.

"what!"

The dog let out a loud cry of fear and fell to the ground. He struggled to get up but could not get up again. Dirt and leaves covered his body. He hugged his legs and looked at his ankles. In the dim light, he saw flesh and blood, dirt mixed into a paste, and the bones inside.

After a while, he raised his head woodenly and looked around. Endless darkness was coming from all directions like a giant beast, as if it was going to devour him.

……

Here, Fang's father and mother were also awakened by the noise. Even the leader of a group of villagers in the distance came over to ask, but when he learned that there was a thief, he hurried back.

Fang Lin turned back and asked around, only to find out that twenty taels of silver from selling his land and ten taels of silver from his family's savings, a total of thirty taels, had been stolen.

Thirty taels of silver, what does that mean?
A family like the Fang family, in a good year, could not save even one or two taels of silver after working hard for a year, but these thirty taels of silver were all the money the Fang family had.

At this moment, the Fang family's world collapsed.

"Our family's money!" When Fang Sun found out that the money was stolen, she felt like she had lost half her life. Her already ugly face became even paler, and she retched violently and burst into tears.

"Why are you crying?" Father Fang's emotions were also almost out of control. He was usually a man of few words, but he complained: "I told you not to eat damp and moldy food, but you didn't listen. If you hadn't left the village, would this have happened?"

"You blame me for everything?" Fang's mother also collapsed: "If you hadn't been so stubborn and wanted to save face, and hadn't taken the responsibility for the fourth room to the capital, wouldn't this be the case?"

The house was robbed. Because of this big change, Fang's father and mother had a fierce quarrel. Even though Tian Xuan was smart, she was at a loss and had no idea what to do.

"Dad, Mom, stop arguing! This will only make the already bad situation uncontrollable. Who is at fault in this matter? No one is wrong!" Fang Lin took a deep breath, looked at his father and said, "Dad, you are great. As a brother, you are worthy of my uncle; as a husband, you did not abandon my mother, you are worthy of my mother; as a father, you carry this family, no matter how hard it is, you never say a word, and never think of pushing it to me, you are worthy of me."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Fang's mother and said, "Who would like to eat damp and moldy food? Mom, I know you are doing this for me and for our family."

Then it was Tian Xuan: "Sister Xuan, you have always been silent, but you have silently taken on the most tedious and trivial things in this family. I know all of this, and I have written it all down here."

Fang Lin pounded his chest, "So, what is the most important thing for our family? The thirty taels of silver? Wrong! Absolutely wrong! It's you, Dad! It's you, Mom! It's you, Sister Xuan! It's me! As long as the four of us are here, this family will be here! On the contrary, if even one person is missing, what's the point of having the thirty taels of silver?"

These words saved Mr. and Mrs. Fang from losing control of their emotions and calmed them down.

"Actually, Dad and Mom, you should have more confidence in me. That's thirty taels of silver! That's only thirty taels of silver! In the future, we will have three hundred taels, three thousand taels of silver. When we look back then, today's incident may not be a big deal, just a trivial matter."

I have to admit that although the pie in the sky is low-level, it is useful. Thinking according to what Fang Lin described, Fang's father and mother's eyes gradually showed light.

"Yes, today a lot of bad things happened one after another. Mom fell ill and our house was robbed. But the more it is at this time, the more we should not fight among ourselves."

Fang Lin's voice became increasingly high-pitched, as sonorous as iron and stone: "Is this hurdle difficult? Difficult! But we can get through it if we grit our teeth! Is the road to the capital city far? Far! But we can get there as long as we walk!"

"Dad, you carry this family on your shoulders, and you hide all the hardships in your heart. I know, but you don't have to be so strong. If you are tired, just tell me and let me help you share the burden. Mom, you also need to trust me more. Just put everything else aside, rest and take care of yourself... Because your son has grown up!"

The emotions were built up to the extreme, and the last sentence, 'Your son has grown up', made Fang's father and mother burst into tears in an instant - Fang's father turned his head and wiped his eyes; Fang's mother laughed while crying.

Tian Xuan stared at Fang Lin in a daze.

She knew from childhood that she was Lindi's wife, but she didn't know what love and liking were. But at this moment, she seemed to know, she knew her heart was beating fast, and she wanted to throw herself into his arms.

If one day Fang Lin asked her when she fell in love with him, she would tell him that it was at this moment!
Seeing that Fang's father and mother were calm, Fang Lin brought up the theft again: "The thief was the little beggar at night. When he ran away, I stabbed him and I could feel that I hurt his bones. He is disabled. The thirty taels of silver can be used to buy his foot."

He had heard that someone fell off a cliff, climbed up and was still able to run and jump, but died not long after. The same thing happened to the little beggar. Don't think that he ran away after being stabbed, but it would definitely be difficult to wait for the outbreak afterwards. Under the medical conditions of this era, he would most likely be disabled.

After hearing this, Fang's father and mother felt a little more balanced and cheered up to continue counting and sorting things. Fortunately, the jade bracelet given by Grandma Fang and the wild ginseng given by her uncle's family were under the quilt, and other things like dried black fungus, dried beans, grain, etc. were still there. It was a blessing in disguise.

With the previous lesson in mind, this time Fang Lin discussed with Fang's father and mother and directly wrapped up the more valuable things, such as bracelets and wild ginseng, and sewed them into the quilt. Then the family lay down and continued to sleep.

……

After what happened that night, Fang's father, Fang's mother, and Tian Xuan were all so exhausted from the intense emotional stress that they soon fell asleep again with steady breathing.

Fang Lin couldn't sleep.

If you ask, did he feel heartbroken when the thirty taels of silver were stolen? The answer is yes.

Fang Lin had imagined what to do after arriving at the provincial capital with a little start-up capital, and had come up with more than one plan, but now, all of them were destroyed.

But no matter how angry or heartbroken I am inside, I can't show it.

Because he is the man of this family - a man is someone who has to take on responsibilities when a family encounters difficulties!
"If this is a test for me, then please come on. I will use this raging fire to forge your impure will into steel!" Fang Lin thought to himself.

Alas!

The wind is getting stronger tonight, and the sound is as sharp as a baby crying. Under the strong wind, the trees are torn and swaying, and the leaves are flying like raindrops.

On a night like this, the wind is howling, the clouds are rolling, and a storm is brewing above the towering sky.

……

(End of this chapter)