Chapter 27: A Midnight Warning!
“Ah...”
A piercing, agonized scream echoed from Aunt Liu San.
Though she was unharmed, the shock had clearly shaken her deeply. Her eyes blazed with fury as she glared at Lu Chuan and Su Ruan.
“How dare you treat me like this?”
Aunt Liu San appeared somewhat guilty.
Lu Chuan, however, paid her no mind.
“Aunt San, I truly apologize! Our grain supply is still insufficient. We’re already anxious about how to handle the tax collectors who will come to collect the annual grain tribute in a few days.”
“As for my wife,”
“there’s no need for your concern!”
“I happen to enjoy this kind of thing, Aunt Liu San. Farewell, no need to see you off...”
With that, Lu Chuan turned away, ignoring Aunt Liu San’s frantic protests.
“See, I told you the trouble is only just beginning!”
Lu Chuan spread his hands helplessly.
“Besides, this is still the easier part.”
To hate those who have, to laugh at those who do not, to despise the poor, to fear the wealthy—
such is human nature.
Most villagers mocked Lu Chuan because his family was indeed poor. When the land was divided, he received parcels that were infertile and harsh, resulting in meager crop yields.
Every year was an arduous struggle.
This year, even more so—they risked freezing to death amid the biting wind and snow.
Now, a poor man suddenly grown wealthy, the first to feel provoked were those who had once looked down on him.
“Master...”
At that moment, Bai Siyu’s face showed concern. After a brief pause, she spoke, “Perhaps we should avoid going into the mountains these days?”
“Afraid?”
Lu Chuan smiled.
He could tell Bai Siyu was not adept at handling domestic squabbles.
“No,”
Bai Siyu replied sheepishly, “not afraid, just finding it rather troublesome.”
“No worries. In the next few days, I’ll find a way to make some bricks and repair our house.”
“There’s no need to go to the mountains. Once these matters are settled, I’ll make another trip to the county town.”
Lu Chuan still needed to buy more grain.
And there was also the loom Bai Siyu had been longing for.
“Actually,”
Su Ruan sighed softly, “sometimes I understand them.”
“Though I’m not a soldier, I have traveled extensively and witnessed the hardships of ordinary people.”
“Nowadays, although the warfare in Bingzhou has lessened, life for the common folk remains difficult. Most barely manage to get by.”
“It’s precisely because of this that they become more calculating.”
Pausing, Su Ruan sighed again.
“But understanding does not mean acceptance.”
“When it happens to you personally, it still feels unfair, infuriating!”
Lu Chuan patted Su Ruan’s head.
“Enough, don’t overthink it. Leave these matters to me.”
Chen Miaomiao stood quietly nearby, silent and still like a wooden doll.
Yet within her heart stirred strange thoughts.
This Lu Chuan didn’t seem so detestable after all.
But what then? How were they to live here going forward?
The thought weighed heavily on Chen Miaomiao’s mind.
That night, she lay restlessly beneath the covers, Su Ruan beside her.
“You...”
Chen Miaomiao opened her mouth, as if to ask something, but fell silent.
“Miss Dieyi,”
Su Ruan spoke calmly, her tone neither sorrowful nor joyful, as if relating a trivial fact, yet her words carried an unmistakable distance.
“I sense an unusual aura about you. After careful observation, I don’t think you are Han.”
Chen Miaomiao was momentarily stunned but remained silent.
“I don’t care who you are, nor what mission you carry,”
“or where your future lies.”
“Since you are part of this family, you must behave simply and honestly. Both I and Master Siyu will treat you well.”
“Whether it’s food or necessities, as long as we have it, you will not be deprived.”
“But you must never bring trouble from the outside here.”
“Although Master is capable, this household cannot withstand much storm or strife.”
Su Ruan’s voice was calm yet resolute.
“You can take my words as a confession or as a warning.”
“If one day, I find our peaceful life disrupted because of you, I will never let you off.”
Her tone turned icy.
Chen Miaomiao hesitated.
“I know something of your past. Don’t you long for revenge?”
Chen Miaomiao asked.
For a moment, Su Ruan did not know how to respond.
“I don’t know. To say I have no desire for revenge would be a lie. But even if I do seek vengeance, I will never involve Master.”
Chen Miaomiao turned her gaze toward Su Ruan, her eyes filled with puzzlement.
“Since you followed him, you cannot sever ties with him. Your identity, Master Siyu’s identity, or even mine,”
“though it may seem insignificant now, could at any moment utterly destroy him.”
Chen Miaomiao said quietly.
“I will never allow that to happen.”
Su Ruan replied calmly.
“You don’t really understand him. You’ve only been with this family for a few days. Why do you support him so fiercely?”
Chen Miaomiao asked, bewildered.
“You don’t understand!”
“But you will.”
Su Ruan said enigmatically.
Chen Miaomiao asked no more and slowly closed her eyes.
The next day, after waking, Lu Chuan began practicing a set of martial arts forms in the courtyard.
In just a few days, he felt his body grow stronger. The sound of rushing wind accompanied each punch.
Su Ruan watched him, a hint of surprise in her eyes.
Lu Chuan’s progress was extraordinary.
Lu Chuan himself found it strange. This time, his practice of Xingyiquan felt different from his previous life—
much smoother.
The troubles and difficulties he had encountered before were entirely absent.
This left him with a measure of confusion.
But in the end, it was a good thing.
After practicing, Lu Chuan set about building a brick kiln.
Actually, constructing the kiln was not particularly difficult—it was simple enough once you knew how.
The real challenge lay in the firing process.
The bricks had to be fired at a temperature between 1000 and 1200 degrees Celsius.
Maintaining around 1100 degrees was ideal.
Too low or too high would ruin the bricks.
Without a way to measure temperature, he had to keep adjusting and testing by trial.
He modified the size and position of the vents.
Moreover, finding fuel was a struggle—coal was not easy to come by these days.