Ch 212 (Extra 23): The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

Lian Ou Side Story 4

It was inconvenient for young ge’er and little girls to enter the temple, so Huiming led Lian Ou and Lian Rong to the southern side gate instead. He sent a little monk to the side room to fetch medicine, then took a basin himself and went to draw warm water so Lian Ou could clean the wound.

Lian Rong hugged Lian Ou’s leg and cried loudly enough to shake the heavens.

“It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t spoken recklessly, Gege wouldn’t have been hit, wu wu wu… Ge, does it hurt…?”

Miao Hexiang could be considered one of the more indulgent parents in the village. Usually she did not restrain Lian Rong’s temperament much, which had spoiled her somewhat into being careless about seniority. But usually in the village, on account of the old Lian family’s face, even if the little girl had a sharp tongue, adults would at most scold her a couple times. At worst, they might pat her head or slap her bottom twice.

This was the first time someone had struck so harshly.

Seeing Lian Rong cry until snot and tears covered her face, Lian Ou felt both exasperated and amused. He sighed helplessly.

“Now you know, don’t you? Not everyone is like the villagers back home. No matter what happens there, people usually won’t truly use such harsh hands. Look at what happens outside. Who’s going to indulge you? From now on, restrain that mouth of yours.”

At the end, he poked Lian Rong’s forehead with one finger.

After saying that, he turned his head and saw that Huiming had returned with water at some point. He was also holding a clean cloth towel, thoughtfully watching the siblings speak.

For some reason, Lian Ou’s face reddened. He felt terribly embarrassed that Huiming had seen him scolding his younger sister.

He awkwardly accepted the items from Huiming’s hands.

“Thank you… Master.”

After hesitating, he added softly,

“This time, although our words were a little sharp, they really were the ones who struck first. They were also the ones trying to force a sale…”

Lian Ou nervously clutched the cloth towel in his hands.

“Master… can you not drive us away?”

His voice was low and humble, soft and weak, completely different from when he had just been lecturing his sister.

Huiming instantly looked away.

“I know you’re not to blame. However…”

He looked toward Lian Rong.

“Your brother is right. In the future, you should still be more careful with your words. You are doing business. Some customers are difficult, but you inevitably have to swallow some anger. Harmony brings wealth.”

With tears still in her eyes, Lian Rong nodded.

Lian Ou hurriedly said they understood.

Huiming said no more and merely sat to the side.

Lian Ou’s injury was under his ear and along his neck, a place he could not see himself. Lian Rong sniffled while dipping the cloth into water and wiping the wound for him.

“Hiss.”

The moment warm water touched the wound, a sharp burning pain flared. Lian Ou sucked in a breath and slapped Lian Rong several times.

“Gentle, gentle, be gentle…”

Off to the side, Huiming, who had been staring at the ground the whole time, quietly turned his back.

After the wound was cleaned, they applied the ointment the little monk brought over.

The ointment had been made by the temple monks themselves. Lian Ou did not know what herbs were used, but it felt cool and soothing when applied.

By the time everything was properly taken care of, Huiming had vanished somewhere. Lian Ou could only thank the little monk.

The little monk waved his hand.

“Patron, there’s no need to be polite. You can take this jar of ointment back and use it. It was prepared by our shishu. It doesn’t scar easily.”

“How can I accept that?”

Lian Ou was rather surprised.

But the little monk said,

“It’s fine. Senior Brother Huiming specifically instructed me. Also, carrying your basket for knot-making back and forth every day is troublesome. Our temple fair will continue for several more days. If you don’t mind, you can also leave the basket in our temple for safekeeping.”

“This… this…”

Lian Ou was truly a bit stunned.

He had been setting up a stall for some time now and had chatted a little with the surrounding vendors. He knew very well that the temple did not offer storage services.

If every stall were allowed to store things there, it would certainly be convenient, especially for those selling food. But then this little temple would not have enough space to hold everything.

A thought suddenly stirred in Lian Ou’s heart.

“This was also something your Senior Brother Huiming instructed?”

The little monk looked perfectly innocent.

“Yes.”

That evening when he returned home, the Lian family was naturally heartbroken after seeing Lian Ou’s injury.

Lian Shi blamed himself even more. If he had obediently accompanied his younger siblings, no one would have dared lay hands on them.

“Tomorrow I’ll go with you. If we run into that old hag again, I’ll break her legs!”

Lian Ou waved his hand.

“The masters at the temple already drove them away and won’t allow people from their village to attend the temple fair. It’s nothing serious. It doesn’t even hurt now.”

Miao Hexiang was terribly distressed. She cleaned the wound again and reapplied medicine, then took the little medicine jar and examined it.

“Where did this medicine come from? It smells quite nice, full of herbal fragrance. But is it suitable for this kind of wound?”

“The temple master gave it to me, so it shouldn’t be bad.”

Lian Ou took the medicine jar back and held it in his hands, looking at it again and again.

Deep into the quiet night, Lian Ou tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.

He felt he was overthinking things. The man was a master from the temple. What did it mean for him to speculate about a monk like this?

But Lian Ou was one of the best-looking ge’er in Lantang Village. Since childhood, countless boys had openly or secretly tried to curry favor with him.

When it came to such matters, he was naturally a little sensitive.

Besides, this master… was not very skilled at hiding things.

If Lian Ou softened his voice just slightly, Huiming’s eyes would not know where to look. If he said just a few more words, the tips of Huiming’s ears would turn red.

Any more than that, and the man would no longer be able to bear it and would avoid him.

After testing it out, Lian Ou had gotten his answer.

Then he felt there was something wrong with himself.

Why test a monk?

Even after knowing the answer, what could he do besides satisfy his curiosity?

Now look what had happened. Not only did Huiming feel uncomfortable looking at him, even when Lian Ou glanced at Huiming a few more times, he himself felt rather uncomfortable too.

Fortunately, the Mid-Autumn Festival would soon pass, and the temple fair would end.

Once they no longer saw each other, that awkwardness would probably be washed away by time.

Lian Ou played with the cord in his hands. His skills were growing more and more practiced and refined, and the flawed pieces became fewer and fewer.

In the future, perhaps coming once a month or once every two months would be enough.

However, two days before Mid-Autumn Festival, the wealthy woman who had hit Lian Ou was escorted over by her village head and clan elders to apologize.

The day after the incident, the temple had forbidden anyone from their village to set up stalls at the fair.

That woman’s family was well-off and somewhat respectable in their village, so at first she was unwilling to lower her head. But she could not endure the fact that the entire village had been implicated. People took turns going to her door to curse her out. After hiding for a day, she was finally dragged over today to admit fault.

Lian Ou did not move closer. He only stood on tiptoe behind the crowd to watch the excitement.

Who would have expected that after Huiming exchanged a few words with the village head, too far away for Lian Ou to hear clearly, he suddenly looked in Lian Ou’s direction.

Their gazes happened to meet.

Immediately afterward, Huiming actually brought the people over.

“Apologize to him. From now on, your family is also forbidden from going near his stall.”

Huiming pointed at Lian Ou.

Then he took out a mandarin duck knot.

It was precisely the one that had fallen to the ground during the fight that day, been stepped on several times, stained with dirt, and ruined in appearance.

“Pay compensation.”

The woman bit her lower lip in humiliation and refused to apologize to Lian Ou. She did, however, pull a few coins from her purse and toss them onto the stall before pushing through the crowd and running away.

With a cold expression, Huiming turned to the village head.

“This is unacceptable. Your village still cannot…”

The village head’s face filled with panic. He was about to have someone catch the woman again when Lian Ou hurriedly said,

“Forget it, forget it.”

Having that woman apologize to him already made him feel terribly embarrassed.

But after speaking, he immediately regretted it a little.

What right did he have to interfere with how Huiming managed the temple fair?

Would he ruin Huiming’s rules?

Huiming glanced at him.

“Since the injured party says to forget it, then this will be the only exception.”

The village head let out a huge breath of relief.

Lian Ou also let out a breath of relief.

After the crowd dispersed, Lian Ou thanked Huiming.

Fights and scuffles were common in the countryside. He had seen people double down and refuse to admit fault. He had seen people beg for mercy. He had seen people muddle through and never mention right or wrong again.

But an apology?

Lian Ou had almost never seen one, let alone experienced it.

Everyone cared deeply about face. Asking them to apologize was like asking for their lives.

Now, thanks to Huiming, Lian Ou had nearly experienced it once.

Huiming shook his head, indicating there was no need to mind it, then handed the damaged mandarin duck knot to Lian Ou.

Lian Ou did not know what impulse struck him. Since he felt grateful to Huiming, he wanted to repay him somehow, so he said,

“No need. She already compensated me. If not for you, she wouldn’t have paid at all. Why don’t I give this to you instead…”

After saying that, Lian Ou lowered his head and belatedly noticed the mandarin duck pattern.

A few days ago, he would not have thought anything of it. At most, he would have felt the style was unsuitable and changed it for Huiming.

But now, he had only recently tested Huiming and already formed a guess in his heart, so things suddenly became awkward. Even his ears turned red.

Huiming looked at Lian Ou’s expression and stood there for a long while holding the mandarin duck knot.

In the end, he shook his head and gently placed it back on the stall before turning around and returning to the temple.

“Senior Brother?”

A dozing little monk in the courtyard rubbed his eyes and looked at the sky.

It was still early. Usually Senior Brother watched over the temple fair matters.

Huiming swept past him like the wind, leaving only one sentence behind.

“No need to call me for dinner. I’m going to the main hall to recite scriptures.”

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