Chapter 54: Past
Editor: Atlas Studios
It was not that he was not angry with his daughter for making the decision on her own. Still, his anger simply dissipated as he looked at his daughter’s watery eyes and his innocent and carefree son.
However, Mu Yangling was very curious. “Father, what agreement does our Mu family have with the village?”
Mu Shi glanced at his swaying son and pointed at the small stool. “Move it over and sit down.”
Mu Yangling ran over to bring two stools over, then sat in front of Mu Shi with her brother.
Mu Shi said with a hint of melancholy, “I originally wanted to tell you when you grow up, lest you develop resentment in your hearts and grow crooked. But from the looks of it, you’re indeed the descendants of my Mu family. You’re kind-hearted and already know how to help others at such a young age.”
Mu Yangling blushed at her father’s shamelessness. Shu Wanniang, who was sitting at the door making clothes, burst out laughing. Only the naive Little Bowen gazed at his father proudly.
“Be serious. Don’t lead the children astray.” Shu Wanniang glared at him. “Since you’re going to tell them, explain everything clearly so that the children won’t have any doubts in the future.”
Mu Shi knew that she was talking about his aunt, Madam Fang-Liu. His relationship with his other relatives was alright, but he was completely estranged with Madam Fang-Liu, to the point where they wouldn’t even exchange New Year’s gifts.
Mu Shi stroked his son’s head and said, “This is going to be a long story. I need to start from your grandfather’s time.” Mu Shi looked at his daughter carefully as he said, “Ah Ling, you bear a 70% resemblance to your grandfather. You can imagine how handsome your grandfather is, right?”
Mu Yangling’s mouth fell open.
“Back then, when your grandfather settled down in Nearhill Village, it caused a stir in the surrounding villages. Not to mention those girls of marriageable age, even those married young wives forgot how to walk when they saw your grandfather.” Mu Shi looked at his daughter regretfully and said, “Unfortunately, although your facial features look like your grandfather’s, you didn’t inherit your grandfather’s skin color. You’re easily tanned, while your grandfather’s face was as fair as jade, even after being exposed to the wind and sun for years.”
Speechless, Mu Yangling touched her face. She was only nine years old now. Although she was a little tanned, her skin was delicate and smooth, while her pores were invisible. She thought she looked beautiful when she gazed in the mirror every day.
Little Bowen looked at his sister and then at his father. He asked, “Father, you definitely don’t look like Grandfather. Do you look like Grandmother?”
Mu Shi’s face darkened. “…I look like my grandfather.”
In short, Mu Yangling’s grandfather, Mu Yan, was drop-dead gorgeous. The moment he arrived, he captured the hearts of the ladies in Nearhill Village and the surrounding villages. Among them were Mu Yangling’s grandmother, Liu Erniang, and her third great-aunt, Liu Sanniang.
In the end, Mu Yan proposed to Liu Erniang, which really pissed off Liu Sanniang. Fortunately, Mu Yan was not without flaws.
Although he was handsome, he had no parents or siblings, and thus could be said to be a lone orphan. Furthermore, he only had a straw hut at the foot of the mountain to live in, and did not even have a plot of land to divide up. In contrast, the Fang family that Liu Sanniang later married into could be considered a good family in the village.
Liu Sanniang could only keep hinting that she looked down on Mu Yan and Liu Erniang in this aspect.
Although Liu Sanniang was jealous, she did not go overboard due to this feeling of superiority. Not long after, Mu Yan, whom she despised, bought a large plot of land at the foot of the mountain and splurged to build five tiled-roofed houses. In fact, the betrothal gift he gave was the most hefty ever in Nearhill Village.
That was when Liu Sanniang’s jealousy turned into hatred. Further deepening those emotions was the fact that Liu Erniang led an enviable life after marriage.
It was the Mu family’s man’s nature to dote on his wife, so Mu Yan did not let Liu Erniang work in the fields anymore. She just had to tend to the vegetable garden at home and do some housework.
When Liu Sanniang was 25 years old, she already looked like she was 30 years old. On the other hand, Liu Erniang, who was a year older than her, looked like she was only in her early twenties. As the two sisters lived in the same village day and night and saw each other every day, that kind of jealousy really gnawed at her heart.
It was only when Mu Shi was born that she managed to turn the tables.
When Mu Shi was first born, he didn’t really look like the Hus. However, he grew too quickly. At the age of five, he already had long limbs like a seven-year-old child. By then, his eyes were beginning to show signs of his Hu lineage.
The first to discover it, Liu Sanniang started spreading rumors in the village. At first, she suspected that Liu Erniang was cheating on her husband because Mu Shi did not look like his parents.
Mu Shi’s father was, needless to say, a thing of beauty, and his mother was also a delicate and pretty woman. On the other hand, even though Mu Shi was handsome, he was too muscular. In addition, his facial features were deeper than children of the same age. Under Liu Sanniang’s malicious intent, rumors instantly started spreading.
Liu Erniang wanted to die, but Mu Yan understood that it was because his son looked too much like his father. At this moment, he could only calmly admit that he was half-Hu.
As the Hu people and the Han people had always been at war, there had been many intermarriages in the past few years. Although the Liu family was angry at Mu Yan for hiding it previously, they let this matter go when they saw that he was sincere in admitting his mistake.
However, Liu Sanniang was unwilling to let it go. First, she instigated the children in the village to ostracize and beat up Mu Shi. Then, she ganged up with the women to shun Liu Erniang.
As Mu Shi was highly skilled in martial arts, very few children in the village could defeat him. Hence, it was the other children in the village who were beaten up by him. The parents naturally had objections seeing this. It was fine if it was once or twice, but after many times, the people in Nearhill Village came to think that Mu Shi was brutal by nature due to his Hu lineage, and was always bullying the children in the village.
Meanwhile, Mu Yan and Liu Erniang did not take the children’s quarrels to heart. By the time they realized it, the Mu family had already been excluded by the entire Nearhill Village.
At that time, Mu Shi was merely seven years old. From then on, he no longer had any playmates. Most of the time, he followed his father into the mountains to hunt or squatted outside his house to play by himself.
Liu Ting and his brothers came to play with him from time to time, but every time they returned, they would be ostracized by the children in the village.
Sensing that something was wrong, Liu Daqian and Liu Erqian secretly investigated. In the end, they found out that the culprit was their younger sister, Liu Sanniang. This resulted in internal strife within the Liu family, but they could only swallow this bitter fruit. Other than calling Mu Yan and his wife over and scolding Liu Sanniang and forbidding her from slandering the Mu family again, there was nothing else they could do.
It was precisely because Liu Sanniang could tell that her maternal family was unwilling to blow things up that she did not restrain herself.
Therefore, the relationship between the Mu family and Nearhill Village gradually became tense until the military disaster 15 years ago.
In the winter 15 years ago, during the snow disaster in the north, a group of Hus secretly crossed the border to the south and plundered their way south. The Yuan family’s army chased them all the way. Although they chased most of them out of the Great Zhou, there were still scattered soldiers who escaped. More than 40 of them escaped to Nearhill Village.
At that time, there were many young and strong men in the village, but very few people dared to pick up weapons and resist. The 348 people in the 48 families in the village were almost like lambs waiting to be slaughtered. In the end, it was Mu Yan who drew his bow and shot arrows, protecting the entire village as they retreated into the mountains.
Mu Shi was familiar with the forest and was assigned by Mu Yan to lead the way. Meanwhile, Mu Yan led the young men in the village to resist at the back.
In actuality though, Mu Yan was the one who did all the heavy lifting. The only other person who helped at all was Liu Erniang, who was slashing haphazardly at the side with a big saber. By the time he was carried back, Mu Yan had been stabbed 17 times and was on his last breath. He had killed 21 people all by himself.
He only had time to take one look at his wife and child before closing his eyes. Overwhelmed with grief, the already-injured Liu Erniang breathed her last with her dead husband in her arms that very night.
Having lost his parents overnight, Mu Shi suffered a huge blow. That was when he developed a bitter hatred for the cowardice and incompetence of the people from Nearhill Village.