Chapter 55: Compensation, A Satisfactory Answer
Translator: Antonia
“What? I have to pay thirty taels?”
Wang Yushan murmured and collapsed onto the ground, his eyes vacant.
He couldn’t find an excuse to refute. If he dared to say the bullshit that old Wang wasn’t his father, it would prove him unfilial; if he dared to spit out dirty words, it would prove him disrespectful.
Ning Shaoqing didn’t even take a look at him, as if one glance at him would distain his eyes, waving his sleeves, “Here is Ning’s house. Head and elders, please hurry to have a discussion. It’d be better not to delay the auspicious time for the ceremony of house warming-up.”
Now that the house had belonged to the village, which gave it to him, then reasonably, the house belonged to Ning at present.
A lot of fellow villagers would flog the cur that had fallen into the water, so Ning Shaoqing didn’t need to worry.
The spine of Ning Shaoqing in the house was as straight as jade stone. The straight figure, bathed in the warm sunshine reflected from outside, seemed to be surrounded by a layer of golden glow, which then instantly illuminated the entire house and Mo Qianxue’s heart as well.
Mo Qianxue slowly stepped in.
Ning Shaoqing stood under the main beam of the house, hands at back, and didn’t look back.
The two of them stood shoulder by shoulder, one taller and the other shorter, one handsome and the other delicate, an unspeakably perfect match.
After a moment, Ning Shaoqing reached out to grab Mo Qianxue’s hand and Mo Qianxue held back tightly. The two didn’t look at each other but rested their eyes on the red patch on the main beam, telepathically enjoying the tranquil in the house, as if there were only them left in the world.
It was unbearably noisy outside.
“I don’t have the money.”
“You don’t have the money or you don’t want to pay back? Or you don’t regard yourself as a Wang? You don’t regard old Wang as your father?”
“No, no, no…”
…
Wang Yushan took out the only ten taels of silver and wrote down a twenty taels IOU, promising that the money would be sent to the ancestral hall within three days, so that the incident was settled.
A few filial and honest guy came forward to kicking him before driving the discomfited guy out of Ning’s house and then the Wang village.
Upon leaving the Wang village, he heard the cursing of his son from behind, “You stupid old thing. You said we could get both the recipe and money. Now what? We didn’t get the recipe and have to pay them…”
“You little bastard. How dare you curse me! …”
“Because you’re a useless old thing. I’ve told manager Liao to sell him the recipe at two hundred taels. Now we don’t have the recipe, the two hundred is gone too…”
Looking at the father and son that were fighting and cursing each other while walking away, the fellow villagers shook their head. What a retribution! The father didn’t respect old Wang, so the son wouldn’t respect him either.
*
“Sir are we being too tough?”
“Do you think so?”
Ning Shaoqing smiled and, holding Mo Qianxue’s hand, walked out of the house.
No one would be clearer than Ning Shaoqing about the feuds between different clans and the thought of the village head. Since he had stepped in, he would certainly give Mo Qianxue a satisfactory answer.
Outside, like nothing had happened, the village head and elders were sitting in main chairs and discussing something.
All wives had taken their seats at the table set in the backyard and all dishes were well-prepared. Until the couple take their seats, the feast could begin,
“Dear fellow villagers, please allow me to make a brief speech.”
Letting go of Mo Qianxue’s hand, Ning Shaoqing stood in the middle of the yard and his cello-voice spread around.
“My wife and I have been taken great care of by our fellow villagers, but we never officially expressed our gratitude, which has made us uneasy for a long time. Therefore, taking this opportunity of our new house’s warming-up ceremony, we’d like to donate twenty taels of silver to the village for the restorage of the ancestral hall.”
This was to…?
To appease Wangs so that no one would bad-mouth behind them?!
Mo Qianxue was astonished instantly, but all of the villagers were happy.
The ancestral hall of the Wang village was not only a symbol of the Wang clan. All villagers sitting here believed that the ancestors worshipped in the hall would bless not only Wangs, but also the whole village and all villagers.
The face of the village head changed again and again and finally settled on a smile.
To be honest, he was thinking to himself that Mr. Ning was too mean. It wasn’t expensive to buy a house at fifteen taels, though after all the benefits went to the Wang village, so he made no comment.
He was just a little disgusted and worried that if this Mr. Ning remained to be so mean in the future, he was afraid that even later the workshop started its business, the Wang village couldn’t get any good.
Now Mr. Ning was willing to donate twenty taels, five more than the fifteen, it meant that Mr. Ning was not a mean person. He was just scholarly proud, valuing the clan rules and customary rituals. The village head now admired him completely.
“On behalf of the Wang village, I would like to thank Mr. Ning for his generosity. I promoise that in the future, the whole village will give you a hand when you need it.”
“Right! We will!”
“Mr. Ning is our children’s teacher, we should…”
“If you need me…”
People present began to express their stance.
In the past, every time they repair the ancestral hall, they had offered both labor and money. This time, Mr. Ning made a donation, so they wouldn’t have to spend a penny and make the ancestral hall better. For sure, the villagers felt grateful to the Ning couple.
This scene made Mo Qianxue speechless.
Great idea! What a clever man! With almost the same amount of money, merely five taels more, he managed to yield such a result.
That fifteen taels would have been spent miserably, but this twenty taels was spent with honor.
Seeing Ning Shaoqing’s gentle smile, which didn’t take a bit pride, Mo Qianxue was reminded of the word classy.