Chapter 561: Debt
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling hugged Little Bear and cried hard. When Little Bear saw his mother crying, he closed his eyes and cried. After crying for a while, seeing that his mother did not stop, he stopped and looked at her in a daze. Then, he finally detected the stench that was wafting beside him.
He pushed away his mother’s head with all his might in disdain. There were still tears on his face, making him look a little pitiful.
Seeing this, Little Treasure quickly struggled down from the wet nurse’s arms to help his younger brother push his aunt.
Turning the guilt and sadness in her heart into tears, Mu Yangling burst out crying. She looked up at the two children in a daze.
Li Jinghua quickly got the two wet nurses to carry the children down and let them take a hot shower and change into clean clothes. Then, she held Mu Yangling’s hand. “Alright, I know you’re sad, but this matter isn’t your fault. You don’t have to blame yourself. We’ll just take care of them more in the future.”
Mu Yangling lowered her eyes and sat there in a daze for a while before nodding. “Sister-in-law, don’t worry. I have a plan.”
Li Jinghua sighed and caressed Mu Yangling’s shoulder. Mu Yangling frowned slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Li Jinghua hurriedly asked.
Mu Yangling shook her head slightly and said, “Sister-in-law, I’ll go wash up first. You should go back and rest too.”
Li Jinghua suddenly screamed and pulled Mu Yangling over to check her back carefully. Only then did she realize that there was a knife wound on her shoulder. After carefully tearing open the fabric, she realized that the wound was still bleeding.
Li Jinghua’s face turned slightly pale and she said, “I’ll call a doctor for you.” With that, she rushed out.
Mu Yangling opened her mouth, but she could only turn around and instruct Spring, “Go get a maidservant to get hot water.”
She had to wash the wound first before applying medicine to it.
In the end, Spring and a maidservant who had some medical knowledge applied medicine on Mu Yangling. Li Jinghua stood at the side and watched. When she saw that there was more than one wound on Mu Yangling, her eyes turned red.
Seeing Mu Yangling fall asleep on the pillow, even the doctor sitting outside could not help but admire her pain tolerance. It was impressive that she could fall asleep under such circumstances.
Mu Yangling slept until noon the next day before waking up. Guard One came in and reported, “The dead guards have already been cremated and buried. Lord Zhan bought the coffins for the villagers who died at the foot of the mountain and placed their corpses in the coffins. Fourth Madam, do you want to go down the mountain to take a look?”
Mu Yangling shook her head slightly. “There’s no need. Considering the country is still in chaos, it won’t do them any good for us to interact with them too much. Invite the village chief and a few elders in the village who have the authority to speak. I’ll discuss it with them directly.”
Bai Li came in and asked Mu Yangling to make a decision. “Fourth Madam, Eldest Master sent a pigeon over to ask if you want to return to Jingzhao Prefecture or go to Lin’an City?”
Although Qi Xiuyuan had occupied Lin’an City, he did not stay there for long. After leaving behind a portion of the soldiers stationed there, he led the soldiers to conquer and recover the country. Hence, he could not guarantee that Lin’an Prefecture was 100% safe.
However, Jingzhao Prefecture and the other three northern prefectures were the safest places since those were Qi Xiuyuan’s territories from the beginning. That was why he asked her this.
Mu Yangling sighed. “Although Jingzhao Prefecture is good, it’s too far away. Anything can happen during the month-long journey. Let’s go to Lin’an Prefecture.”
Mu Yangling wanted to stay here, but this place was too secluded. If the other party surrounded this place ruthlessly, they would be trapped.
“So, when do we leave?”
Mu Yangling was silent for a moment before replying, “The day after tomorrow.”
Today and tomorrow were enough for them to arrange everything.
The village chief came in with a white cloth tied to his waist while a few elders of the village followed behind him with sorrowful expressions. When they saw Mu Yangling, they did not dare to sit and only stood far away.
When Mu Yangling gestured for them to sit down, the village chief and the elders looked at each other before sitting down in fear.
At first, they were muddle-headed and thought that some bandits wanted to rob the Zhu family. However, the 3,000 soldiers who rushed to rescue them last night clearly let them know that the Zhu family’s identity was not simple. Perhaps their surname was not Zhu at all, and they were not merchants from the North.
However, the few of them knew better than to ask.
Although Mu Yangling had brought the two children to kneel to them yesterday, the murderous aura on those soldiers still made them wary, so they were a little cautious around Mu Yangling.
Mu Yangling did not explain her background and only said, “The villagers suffered injuries or died for me, so I will be responsible for them.”
Mu Yangling handed a booklet to Spring and handed it to the village chief. She said, “For the 42 people who died in battle, each family will be compensated with 20 taels of silver. This amount is a one-off thing. In addition, for those families with old parents aged above 50, a wife, or children below age 16, they will also each receive five taels of silver a year per person. Those who got injured during the battle will be compensated 15 taels of silver. I will pay for their medical expenses. As for those who are seriously injured and disabled, going forward, each of them will receive 10 taels of silver a year. The medical expenses will be calculated separately.”
“As for the other families in the village, they indeed suffered a shock this time. I still have some coarse grains harvested from the wasteland last year. I’ll get someone to send it to each family according to a certain ratio later. Village Chief, if you have any other requests, you can tell me.”
The village chief stared blankly at the booklet in his hand. Seeing that he was in a daze, an elder hurriedly tugged at him and looked up at Mu Yangling with a fawning smile. “Fourth Madam, this compensation is very generous. We have no objections.”
The village chief also came back to his senses and said, “Fourth Madam is benevolent, but I can’t make the decision alone. I still have to go back and ask the villagers for their opinions.”
Mu Yangling nodded. “Of course.”
Mu Yangling thought for a moment and continued, “I’ll waive the repayment for all the grains they borrowed previously, but I hope they can continue to farm my land as agreed upon.”
The village chief looked up at Mu Yangling.
Mu Yangling said, “Although those pensions and alimony seem to be a lot, it’s actually just enough to feed them. I don’t want anyone to develop a lazy personality because of this. Besides, if you want to live a better life, you still have to farm. You’ll plant sweet potatoes this year first. I’ll send someone to buy the sweet potatoes after they’re harvested and give you a fair price for them. Next year, I’ll try my best to get some corn seeds from the north. When the time comes, if the villagers want to, other than planting wheat and rice, they can also try to plant corn. As long as they’re willing to work hard, they’ll live well. If you guys encounter any difficulties in the future, I’ll definitely help you if I can.”
The village chief’s eyes turned red as he choked and asked, “Fourth Madam, can we really plant corn?”
Mu Yangling nodded slightly. “There are two types of corn seeds now. Let’s see which one you want to plant.”
The village chief got up and knelt down in front of Mu Yangling. The elders also knelt down one after another. Mu Yangling quickly went forward to help them up, her eyes slightly red. “Actually, I should be the one thanking you.”
“Fourth Madam, you don’t know how important these things are to us. They can allow our entire village to survive in this chaotic world. Even for those families which don’t have a man at home, they can still survive with these things.”
“But there’s only one life…”
To Mu Yangling, humans only had one life. Perhaps because she had died and reincarnated with her memories, Mu Yangling now had an even greater reverence for life.
Each human only lived one life. Even if one could reincarnate, it would be another life.
Therefore, she felt guilty. All of a sudden, she was indebted to 42 lives and 42 families.
This was the first time someone had died because of her. Whether it was in her previous life or this life, her worldview, outlook on life, and values did not allow her to accept such kindness as a matter of course.