Chapter 4 - An Evil Heart
"No! Young Lord Wang, this is absolutely unacceptable!" The village chief shook with anger, standing in front of the hobbled middle-aged man.
A thug was about to beat the village chief but noticed that all the villagers had gathered around him. There were no fewer than a hundred people.
He backed down when he saw this scene.
"What are you doing? You want to rebel? You don't want to farm anymore?! You want to be refugees?!" One thug shouted.
However, none of the villagers backed down; many of them even took out their farm tools. They looked ready for a fight.
Just when they were in a stalemate, Chen Shan, Chen Chen's father, suddenly stood up. He said in a deep voice, "Lord Wang, go and ask your father. Does he not remember Longxing Mountain at all?"
Lord Wang's face changed at those words.
His family was originally a small landowner. They only became big landowners because his father, Wang Hu, had made military exploits as a soldier, and was rewarded a lot of land by the county.
And most of his father's credit was made at Longxing Mountain.
Now this muddy peasant seemed to be saying it had something to do with his family.
But no matter what, he couldn't do anything here today. Although this group of peasants was pathetic, that was precisely why they were not afraid of death.
If they really made a big deal and he failed here, it would be too embarrassing.
Thinking of this, he snorted coldly. "Forget it! In three days, someone will come here to collect the farm rent! If you can't pay it, don't blame me for being ruthless. Our Wang family is always right! Let's go!"
He greedily glared at the little girl before ambling away.
His group of thugs followed along, not forgetting to spit at the villagers before they left.
...
After a while, the villagers all dispersed. Everyone went back to their house, trying to find a way to raise the land rent.
Chen Shan and Qin Rou also returned home. They were both relieved to see that Chen Chen had come back safely. Qin Rou even tugged on Chen Chen's ear as she complained. "Did you have to show off how fast you can run? Don't run around next time, alright? There are too many bad people in this world."
When she had realized Wang Feng's preference, she suddenly felt that it was too dangerous for her son to go out by himself. He was so good-looking, after all!
Chen Chen evaded his mom's hand with a sheepish expression.
"I know. But at least I found some money!"
"What?!" Chen Shan and Qin Rou exclaimed in unison. They were both extremely surprised, but before they could ask, Chen Chen took the initiative to change the subject.
"Dad, what did you mean when you were talking to Wang Feng? Do you have some connection to the Wang family?"
Hearing Chen Chen's question, Chen Shan's wrinkled face showed a glimmer of sorrow as he confided, "Twenty years ago, I went to join the army with Wang Feng's father..."
"Dad, you two were war comrades?" Chen Chen asked in surprise. He had never heard Chen Shan mention anything like this before.
Chen Shan laughed at himself when he heard the words. He explained, "Back then, Elder Master Wang was worried about his son's safety, so he forced a bunch of us tenants' sons to join the army too. Just so we could protect Wang Hu.
"The Longxing Mountain battle was brutal; all of the other tenants' sons died to protect Wang Hu, while he simply hid in safety.
"After the war, he even took my military merits and received a lot of rewards."
"What? How could this have happened?" Chen Chen's voice suddenly rose an octave, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Although he had only been in this world for a few years and had very few opportunities to come in contact with the outside world, he knew how serious it was to steal war merits. How could Wang Hu dare to do such a thing?
Seeing Chen Chen's doubt and confusion, Chen Shan sighed and said, "Back then, our parents were at the mercy of Master Wang. Why would we have desperately protected him on the battlefield otherwise? If I dared say anything about the stolen military merit, I was afraid that your grandparents back home would not see you before they died."
Chen Chen went silent for a while after hearing this.
His grandparents had died when he was two or three years old. He was a time-traveler, so he still had vivid memories of the two elders.
"When your grandpa and grandma passed away, the Wang family had already become one of the most important families in the county. I was just a tenant; I didn't have any power, and I still had to support you and your mother. So I stopped thinking about all those military achievements and decided to live a stable life.
If that Lord Wang wasn't so despicable today… I wouldn't have ever mentioned what happened back then. You probably don't know that Little Duo's uncle was one of the tenants' sons who died protecting Wang Hu."
The room became silent.
Qin Rou helped straighten her husband's messy hair, and when she heard those words, her eyes became filled with tenderness.
She was touched by how her husband was willing to let all of this go, just for her and Chen Chen's safety.
Chen Chen was also speechless.
It was bad enough that the Wang family had stolen military merit. Now they also wanted to hurt the families whose sons had died for them?
They were too evil!
...
The more Wang Feng thought about it, the angrier he became on the way home. How could his magnificent Wang family lose out in front of a bunch of peasants?! He couldn't bear the thought of it!
Thinking of the lovely young girl, he became even more frustrated, his steps speeding up.
When he arrived at Wang mansion, before he even saw his father, he started to shout, "Father! Today I was bullied in Stone Village. Also, there was a villager there who was talking about Longxing Mountain. What is that about?"
As soon as he stopped talking, a middle-aged man rushed out from the back of the house, slapping his face without hesitation.
"You misfit! What are you hollering on about?!"
After slapping Wang Feng, Wang Hu wiped cold sweat off of his forehead. This rebellious son of his really deserved a beating for shouting about Longxing Mountain so loudly!
"Father! You hit me!" Wang Feng clasped his cheek in disbelief.
"I really want to beat you!" Wang Hu raised his hand as if to strike again but was stopped by a young woman who had arrived a few seconds earlier.
"Father, don't hit older brother anymore. What has upset you so much?"
Wang Hu's anger dissipated the moment he saw Wang Suqin, his daughter.
His daughter was not a waste, like Wang Feng was. Not only was she extremely talented in martial arts, but according to the county magistrate, it seemed that she had the talent to cultivate immortality. Her potential was unlimited.
Wang Hu became happy whenever he saw her.
"It's not anything big. He just mentioned something from the past that he shouldn't have."
"What shouldn't be mentioned? You have bragged about your exploits at Longxing Mountain so many times!" Wang Feng was still confused.
Wang Hu was about to hit his son again, and was stopped once more by his daughter.
"Father, what happened? Please explain," Wang Suqin asked curiously.
When Wang Hu heard those words, he became a little embarrassed. He pulled his two children into the inner house, only then telling them the story from the past.
"Suqin, they were just a bunch of farmers. Isn't their merit my merit? If I hadn't led them to join the army, they wouldn't even have had a chance to do all of it!"
Wang Hu took those events for granted, not even mentioning the tenants' sons who had died for him.
In his opinion, he deserved everything. After all, his status was that of a noble.
Wang Suqin frowned upon hearing this, saying solemnly, "Father, you are doing this incorrectly."
When Wang Hu heard his daughter, his face flushed red all of a sudden. He was about to argue with her and talk about the principle of respect and inferiority when Wang Suqin spoke up once again.
"If this incident becomes known to others, it'd really damage the reputation of our family. Father, why don't you nip it right in the bud? If our family's reputation is damaged, how can I cultivate immortality? The death of a few pathetic people is nothing compared to the reputation of our family or my future! Father, you need to figure this out!"
Hearing this, Wang Hu's gaze stiffened, his expression soon becoming fierce.