The Butcher's Little Husband - Chapter 113

Afterward, he turned to introduce Wei Wu. “This is Li Wenxuan, the butcher in our village, and that’s his father, a hunter. You may not know, but Wenxuan’s brother is very promising. He’s now a high-ranking official in the capital, and he might return soon.”

The village chief’s words carried an implicit threat. 

Wei Wu understood the meaning — their village had powerful backing, so they shouldn’t be targeted.

He sized up the situation. The man named Li Wenxuan was a martial artist, and his father carried a bow and arrows. Both of them looked formidable. Moreover, they had strong connections. 

With that in mind, Wei Wu smiled and said, “Haha, it was all a misunderstanding earlier. Sun Lao San from our village didn’t handle things properly. Now that we’ve cleared up the misunderstanding, we’ll take our leave.”

After they left, the village chief let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Li Wenxuan and his father had arrived in time. Otherwise, they would have suffered.

While the village chief felt there was no real danger, Li Wenxuan still thought something was off. If someone had ambitions, they wouldn’t let things go so easily. There was likely more to this.

When the father and son returned home, Tian Xiaoman heard the noise outside the door and immediately asked who it was. 

His sudden outburst startled the little boy in his arms. He quickly patted him to calm him down.

“Don’t worry, Xiaoman, it’s me!” Li Wenxuan jumped over the yard wall and knocked on the door.

Tian Xiaoman, relieved, rushed out with the little girl in his arms. “Are you okay? Did you get into a fight?”

“No, no, don’t worry, I’m fine!” Li Wenxuan smiled and reassured him. He was even in the mood to tease the little boy, who had just woken up and was looking around.

Father Li stood outside the door, helpless. Seeing there was no one to open the door for him, he jumped over the wall himself.

The court had already discussed the response to this drought and locust disaster. Because Li Yiran was a local, he submitted a memorial requesting to return to his hometown for relief work.

Since everyone was watching this matter closely and even officials who would normally want a cut felt there was no profit to be had, they agreed to his request. He was not afraid of being watched, and when necessary, a local was stronger than an outsider.

After learning his request had been approved, Li Yiran finally felt a little relief. He only hoped nothing would happen at home in the time it took him to hurry back.

On Wei Wu’s side, Sun Lao San heard they had come back and returned, and he waited by the road in resentment. “Wu boy, why did you come back like this? Where’s that man? Did you teach him a lesson? Damn him, daring to hit me!”

Wei Wu glanced at him coldly. “Don’t cause trouble for me in the future. And draw as much water as everyone else does. What do you need all that water for?”

“Hehe, didn’t Xiangyun say he hadn’t had a good bath in a long time? So I thought—”

Before Sun Laosan could finish, Wei Wu picked him up and threw him aside. “The people in this village aren’t easy to mess with. Be careful in the future!”

“Peh, what the hell…” Sun Lao San only climbed up and muttered a curse once they were gone.

“Big brother, are we really just not doing anything?”

“Wait until I find out clearly,” Wei Wu said.

If Tian Xiaoman knew that Sun Laosan drew so much water just for a bath, he would definitely spit in disgust. In these circumstances, even if he had his own well, he wouldn’t dare use it like that. At most, he would use some water to wipe down Little Tuanzi.

This year, the drought was especially harsh, making the weather unbearably hot. Every time Little Tuanzi played for a while, he would be drenched in sweat. 

Tian Xiaoman felt sorry for him and would use a wet cloth to wipe him down, so he wouldn’t wilt like a withered plant.

Liu Xilin had also been staying at their home these days. Some days ago, his Amu came looking for him again, saying the village had no grain and that she wanted to take him back to “raise him properly.”

After much thought, Grand-amu Liu decided to agree. Their household truly did not have much grain left, and these days Liu Xilin had visibly grown thinner. Anyway, after the drought they could bring him back. No matter what, she could not let her grandson keep starving and wasting away.

But because she did not trust Liu Xilin’s Amu, Grand-amu Liu specially took the only two eggs left in the house and begged Li Wenxuan to help her ask around.

Li Wenxuan could never accept the eggs. Liu Xilin was his apprentice, and what could a master ask for after helping his apprentice? 

So the next day, he went up to the county.

The news he uncovered was shocking. It turned out Liu Xilin’s Amu planned to sell him for money.

His Amu had once run a small business, but when the drought came, business dried up. Without income, they survived off their savings for a while, but things were getting worse. A man who heard of their plight suggested they sell Liu Xilin for five taels of silver. With food prices skyrocketing, five taels of silver could buy more than a hundred kilograms of food.

Liu Xilin’s Amu agreed, thinking that maybe his son would follow a good master and wouldn’t have to suffer in the countryside.

When Grandamu Liu found out, he was furious and wanted to confront Liu Xilin’s Amu. If nothing worked, he was even prepared to die at his door to force the government to intervene.

Tian Xiaoman and his friends stopped him, and when Liu Xilin’s Amu came to take him, they confronted him and drove him off. 

Fearing they would come to take him, Grandamu Liu begged Tian Xiaoman’s household to shelter Liu Xilin for a while, offering food in exchange.

Li Wenxuan agreed without hesitation and invited Grand-amu Liu to stay with them as well. But he refused. 

Besides, if it brought other people to the Li family’s door, that would be trouble. When it came to neighbors and villagers, who would be able to help then?