Chapter 547: Life, Loneliness, Disease, Death

“Brother Erzhu, what do you think we should do?”

Because of the subtle change in the village towards Jiang Lan’s family, they felt a little uncomfortable.

Now, they could only think of a way to deal with it.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with the village now. Some people say that the wife of the Jiang family might be an immortal who had descended to the mortal world, while others say that she is a daughter of a rich family who contracted a strange illness.

As the village had always been fine and there were even some people who accepted her favor.

No one really cares if she is a demon anymore.” Liu Erzhu looked at the others and said with a heavy expression.

“Those women are settling down, but we’re still having bad blood with Jiang Lan.

If others see this, they might laugh at us for being petty.”

“I have a lot of family members. Actually, we have received some favors from the Jiang family before.

Now that I hear that we are targeting them, I feel like we are being looked down upon.

Wasn’t this caused by them? Are we the ones in the wrong?” The man surnamed Wu had a splitting headache.

“How should I put it? Little Brother Jiang really didn’t do anything. We’ve always been the ones who do not listen to him. Besides, he didn’t say anything when Big Brother Da Zhu gave us the prey they hunted.

On the other hand, we don’t share it with him.

This matter is getting out of hand. Just thinking about it makes me feel that we have gone too far.” The man surnamed Zhang also sighed.

“Those women are those women. It’s not good for us to say anything about them, but our matters have to be settled,” Liu Erzhu said.

“Brother Erzhu, what should we do? We are still in contact, but it’s actually a little awkward when we meet,” a young man said.

“Someone has to bow down.”

“Then who will be the one to lower his head?”

“We’re the ones who caused this. Although we’re rough people, we can’t be shameless enough to make the other party lower his head, right?”

“Then go over and apologize? That’s embarrassing. I can’t quite bring myself to say it.”

“What then?”

All of them indeed wanted their dignity, but they also wanted to resolve this matter as soon as possible.

How could they save their dignity and resolve this matter at the same time?

They were a group of boorish people. It was really hard for them to think.

“Actually, there is a way,” Liu Erzhu suddenly said.

The others also looked at Liu Erzhu, waiting for his good idea.

“Didn’t my Big Brother say back then? If we encounter any big prey, we should inform the other party and deal with them together.

Didn’t we discover one a few days ago?” Liu Erzhu looked at the surrounding people and said.

“But it’s not big enough. We can actually deal with it ourselves,” the man surnamed Wu said.

“It can be resolved, but we can only count on the Lin family’s kid’s archery. As long as he aims at the beast’s eye, we will win half the battle.

However, among the few of us, only the kid from the Lin family has good archery skills.

Other than him, there’s only Little Brother Jiang.” After saying that, Liu Erzhu looked at the young man beside him with ill intentions.

“Let’s just say that the kid from the Lin family has injured his hand. Then, if we go up and say that we have found a prey and need their help, won’t we have a way out?

Then we can apologize by hunting together,” said Liu Erzhu.

“Good idea. That way, we won’t lose face.”

“That’s what we’ll do, but the kid from the Lin family isn’t injured.”

Then, everyone looked at the Lin family’s kid.

“…” The Lin family’s kid was a little worried.

“I have both the old and the young in my house. Don’t…”

…

The next morning.

Jiang Lan left the village with Liu Dazhu. They were going into the mountains to hunt. These few days were the last few days they could hunt before winter hit hard.

The young lad from the Yang family sighed.

“These days, it’s really cold. Fortunately, our family has prepared quite a lot of things. There shouldn’t be any problems this winter.

If it’s not the long winter that is.”

Sometimes, the end of winter would be delayed by ten to twenty days because of the weather.

It didn’t seem long, but the impact was huge.

“Probably not. I’ll prepare a little more in the next few days and make a trip to the city.” Liu Dazhu smiled.

The young lad from the Yang family smiled. It was safe this winter. If he had a child in winter, there would be more people he needed to take care of next year.

“Will Big Brother Jiang also have a child this year?” The young lad from the Yang family asked Jiang Lan.

Jiang Lan: “…”

“It’s up to fate,” he said ambiguously.

The young lad from the Yang family wanted to say that he wanted a boy and a girl at the same time but just as he was about to say it, he was stopped by Liu Erzhu and the rest.

He felt that something was wrong.

The other party looked serious.

“Er Zhu? What’s wrong with the few of you?” Liu Dazhu asked.

“Big Brother, it’s like this. Didn’t you say that we needed to deal with the big wild beasts together? We found a pig elephant. We could have dealt with it and we were almost ready.

But at the critical moment, the kid from the Lin family’s hand was injured.

We need someone to shoot down the pig elephant’s eye. Among us, only the Lin brat and Little Brother Jiang have the best archery skills.

That’s why we have come to seek your help.” Liu Erzhu said in a dilemma.

The others nodded as well, not daring to face Jiang Lan.

“I, I fell, but I can still help a little,” said the Lin family lad behind.

His hand was wrapped in blood.

It was a fake injury.

Liu Dazhu turned to look at Jiang Lan.

“We’re all from the same village, so we should help each other. What do you think, Little Brother Jiang?”

“Big Brother Liu is right.” Jiang Lan nodded, not putting on any airs.

“Then I really have to thank Little Brother Jiang.”

“I hope Little Brother Jiang doesn’t hold a grudge against us. We rough people have some dead brains.”

“Yes, yes. It’s all because of my wife who psyched me. I’ll go back and teach her a lesson tonight.”

After that, there was only one hunting team left in the village.

Jiang Lan followed these people and instantly understood a lot about the ups and downs of life.

Winter had arrived.

The villagers basically did not go out. The snow continued to fall.

Xiao Yu learned how to make clothes. She bought some fabric and began to make clothes for Jiang Lan.

Sister-in-law Liu was the one who taught her, and so did the girl from the Yang family.

Xiao Yu was happy throughout the winter. From time to time, she would prepare delicious food for the three children.

These three often came here. Of course, one major factor was the good food.

Liu Dazhu’s family did not stop them. They only told Jiang Lan and Xiao Yu not to spoil them too much.

The winter snow continued to fall. Jiang Lan prepared a lot of firewood. Whenever he was bored, he would cut some.

When Xiao Yu returned today, she was excited and disappointed at the same time.

“Darling, the little girl from the Yang family is pregnant and is going to be a mother. My stomach still has no reaction yet.” Xiao Yu looked at Jiang Lan with an aggrieved expression.

Jiang Lan found it funny and patted Xiao Yu’s head.

“Good luck.”

“Hmph!” Xiao Yu ignored Jiang Lan, planning to prepare a gift for the little fellows.

Although winter was tough, it still passed.

Spring had arrived and everything had recovered. Jiang Lan looked at the village and felt for the first time how harsh winter could be.

Xiao Yu was worried that the villagers would report that she was a demon.

However, after waiting for many days, there was no sign of this.

This delighted her. The village had accepted her.

Spring came and went quickly. In the summer, someone in the village held a wedding. It was Old Chen who married the girl from the neighboring village. She was also a young lady.

She was younger than the Yang family’s young lady, but not as delicate as the Yang family’s young lady.

Xiao Yu was especially happy to see the marriage.

“Darling, we didn’t eat anything during our wedding,” Xiao Yu said unhappily.

That was because you didn’t eat it, Jiang Lan thought.

After another few months, Xiao Yu bought new clothes for the three of them.

Liu Xiaoxiao and Lin Sisi were overjoyed.

“Did you make this Aunt Jiang? It looks really good.” Lin Sisi looked at the clothes she had brought flowers with her and was especially happy.

Liu Xiaoxiao had also specially washed her hair and was wearing new clothes.

Liu Dahu was also happy, but his reaction wasn’t as exaggerated as Liu Xiaoxiao and the others.

He looked like a big brother.

Jiang Lan gave Liu Dahu a wooden sword. Liu Dahu was overjoyed.

Xiao Yu laughed at the side. Actually, the clothes were all bought. Those that she made all didn’t look good. Only her husband wore those.

Then came august.

Jiang Lan stood at the entrance of the house of the Yang family and waited quietly.

“Why hasn’t the baby come out yet?” A man surnamed Yang walked around and looked at the house worriedly.

Today was the day his wife was about to give birth. He could not calm down no matter what.

Xiao Yu and Liu Qianyu had already gone to help, so Jiang Lan was also here.

After a long time, the sound of children crying could be heard from inside.

The baby was born.

“Yes, yes. It’s a big fat boy.” Sister-in-law Liu’s voice could be heard.

The few of them immediately went up to look at the child who was carried out.

“Wow, Darling, Darling, look, he’s moving,” Xiao Yu exclaimed.

Jiang Lan: “…”

After a long time, Jiang Lan dragged Xiao Yu back to avoid embarrassing himself.

A month later, the young lad and lady from the Yang family brought their son to look for Jiang Lan and asked him to help come up with a name for their son.

Because Xiao Yu would teach Liu Dahu and the others how to read, everyone knew that Jiang Lan could read.

Thus, they thought that Jiang Lan was really a scholar who had abducted a young lady from a rich family.

This matter had almost become a consensus. Everyone slowly forgot about the matter of the scales. Since no one mentioned it, no one cared.

“Why don’t you call him Yang Shuming?” Jiang Lan casually named.

There was not much deeper meaning.

“Yang Shuming? That’s good. He can be smart just by reading. One look and I can tell that it’s a cultured name.” The young lad from the Yang family looked excited.

Jiang Lan: “…”

In the end, he wrote out the name.

Yang Shuming.

Another winter came and there was suddenly news from the neighboring village that there were demons causing trouble in that village.

This frightened the villagers. They did not dare to leave the village and were on tenterhooks every day.

Liu Dahu and the others were still running towards Jiang Lan.

“Aren’t you afraid of being captured by demons? Demons are very dangerous. They eat humans.” Xiao Yu transmitted this common knowledge to Liu Dahu and the rest every day.

He was afraid that these little guys who did not understand reason would be fooled by demons.

“Mother said that we can come to Aunt Jiang’s house to play,” Liu Dahu said.

“That’s right, that’s right.” Liu Xiaoxiao nodded.

“My parents didn’t say that. I was pulled out by Brother Hu,” Lin Sisi said.

After winter passed and there were no more demons in the neighboring village, everyone was relieved.

They were more or less safe.

Three years passed in a flash. Dahu turned eight years old and had started working for his family.

He was born with great strength, so his help was very useful.

Lin Sisi was also eight years old. She had also started to help her family with some small matters.

The seven-year-old Liu Xiaoxiao was still dirty. She brought the three-year-old Yang Shuming around.

“Xiaoming, you’re running so slowly.” The dirty Liu Xiaoxiao mocked.

Xiao Yu looked at these people and felt a little worried. These people were getting naughtier as they grew up.

However, every time she came back from the flea market, she would buy food for these little guys.

Another year passed.

The Yang family now had another girl.

The other young people in the village also got married one after another and had children the following year.

Xiao Yu felt a little uncomfortable as she looked at Jiang Lan. She always felt that it was Jiang Lan’s fault.

Another seven years passed. Jiang Lan looked to be thirty years old, while Xiao Yu looked to be twenty-nine.

This year, Lin Sisi and Liu Dahu were already fifteen years old. One was slender and elegant, while the other could go into the mountains to hunt. Both of them were of suitable age for marriage.

The neighboring village came to the Lin family to play matchmaker and wanted to marry Lin Sisi. When Liu Dahu found out, he ran straight to Lin Sisi’s house and said that he was here to propose marriage.

Then, Liu Dahu was chased out.

How could a child propose?

This made Liu Dahu very anxious.

In the end, Xiao Yu told him that the Lin family had already rejected the matchmaker from the neighboring village. Liu Dazhu had already gone to propose marriage.

Liu Dahu’s silly look made Xiao Yu laugh. She hugged Jiang Lan’s hand and laughed until she couldn’t stand up.

Lin Sisi turned her head shyly and said, “Who wants to marry Brother Hu?”

“That’s not what you said yesterday,” Liu Dahu said anxiously.

“Brother Hu, you’re so silly,” said the dirty Liu Xiaoxiao disdainfully.

The ten-year-old Shuming nodded.

He wasn’t that strong but he could read. If he could write as well, he could earn some money for his family.

On the way back, Xiao Yu said worriedly.

“Xiaoxiao is also getting married. What should we do?”

Xiao Yu was troubled. She had already found a husband for Xiao Xiao. Naturally, he was the son of the Yang family’s young lady, Yang Shuming.

They were pretty compatible.

Jiang Lan didn’t mind. He didn’t understand such things.

He was thinking about how many years more he could hunt.

The following year.

Liu Dahu and Lin Sisi got married.

Xiao Yu was moved to tears. She had watched and taught these two people growing up.

They were finally married today and would be adults in the future.

She was getting old.

After this year, Liu Xiaoxiao was like a fool. She had been dirty and spoke in an unclear manner.

This made Madam Liu extremely worried. No one came to matchmake her, nor did anyone come to propose marriage.

She wanted to marry her off casually, but Xiao Yu disagreed.

She had been working hard on this.

Two years later, Liu Dahu’s son was born.

Xiao Yu hugged the child and cried with joy. Another child had been born.

She had become more senior and older.

Liu Dazhu’s arm was injured when he went out once and he began to retire. Liu Erzhu’s son also forced his father to retire. They had many sons.

After that, Jiang Lan led the hunting team from the village to hunt everywhere.

He had taught Liu Dahu and Liu Erhu many things. He did not favor anyone from the younger generation who could be taught. He taught them all.

Everyone could feel that Uncle Jiang was a knowledgeable old man.

Liu Dahu and Liu Erhu were both part of the family. They had their own responsibilities and did their best in all aspects.

Liu Dahu worked even harder. Jiang Lan had watched him grow up.

He also learned a lot.

He had already made up his mind.

After a few more years, he would be able to take over the hunting team and let Uncle Jiang retire. He would take care of Uncle Jiang and Aunt Jiang.

Another year passed. This year, Liu Xiaoxiao was already eighteen years old. Sister-in-law Liu could no longer wait. What if her silly girl did not get married?

Just as she was feeling troubled, the Yang Family came to the Liu Family to propose marriage.

It was Yang Shuming and Liu Xiaoxiao’s marriage. This shocked Madam Liu.

Yang Shuming was a fast learner and could earn a living in the city. Why did her silly daughter get chosen?

The young lad from the Yang Family was also very curious, but he couldn’t dissuade his son, so he could only agree.

The following year.

Yang Shuming had married Liu Xiaoxiao.

After the marriage, Liu Xiaoxiao’s hair was no longer dirty. She was filial, sensible, and elegant.

Everyone was shocked. Only then did Madam Liu know that her daughter was pretending to be stupid just to wait for Yang Shuming to grow up.

When Xiao Yu said that it was her idea, Madam Liu was furious for a long time. She said that she was not an unreasonable person. Why did she not tell her about this?

Xiao Yu smiled happily.

However, Xiao Yu soon stopped smiling. It was another three years.

Aunt Zhang fell sick and passed away.

Xiao Yu was stunned when she heard this news.

For the first half of her life, she experienced all kinds of joy. The little fellows grew up and a new life would appear once in a while.

After this, what she had to face was the withering of the old.

The turning point in her life had begun.

She watched as the people she knew and was familiar with left one by one.