Chapter 92: If you can't get close, you'll cause a commotion!

After the crowd dispersed, the sky was dim.

In the main hall of the county office's rear courtyard, the candles had already been lit.

Qian Youde walked back to the county office in a daze; when he stepped over the threshold of the main room, he didn't lift his foot high enough, and his toe almost caught on the threshold.

Fortunately, Old Liu beside him was quick-eyed and quick-handed, grabbing his arm.

Qian Youde steadied himself, took two breaths, his cloudy eyes rolled twice, as if he had just woken from a dream:

"Quick..."

"Quickly go to the study… find that painting… that River and Mountains Snow Clearing Painting…"

He spoke, his voice low and hoarse, as if only half a breath remained.

Old Liu stared for a moment, not moving.

"Hurry up!"

Qian Youde suddenly raised his voice, breathless as he shoved Old Liu, pushing himself a step sideways:

"And… harness the horse… quickly harness the horse…"

"Send… send it to Lord Li… my fellow examinee from years ago… he's now in the court… he can help me… he can…"

Could today's affair actually be resolved?!

Liu Er had been worried all the way; hearing this, his eyes lit up instantly.

He reached out to steady Qian Youde's arm, guiding him indoors, his voice soft and sweet, with a soothing, child‑coaxing tone:

"Sir, don't rush, sit down first, sit down and speak."

Supported by him, Qian Youde staggered to the couch and flopped down, the embroidered cushion sinking deep under his weight.

Liu Er sat beside him, placed both hands on his shoulders, kneading gently, his voice fervent and sticky:

"Sir, after we've delivered the gift, will everything be alright this time?"

It's not fair to blame them for being negligent!

After all, who could have imagined that the princess's entourage and the scenes from storybooks differed so much—just a county constable accompanied her as she came charging in on horseback?

If this matter passes safely, at worst…

…we'll just kowtow the next time we see that princess.

Liu Er's mind was full of thoughts about the days ahead, yet he didn't notice Qian Youde's old face visibly stiffen.

Suddenly, the earlier scene flashed in his mind—

That woman on horseback, her brows sharp, her gaze cold as a blade.

When she said "Abolish you," her tone was flat, as if commenting on what to eat today.

That flatness is more terrifying than anger; anger is a surge of qi, and with qi there's room to ease.

That flatness… means she doesn't regard him as a person at all.

That's also why, at first sight, he felt she was certainly not an ordinary pond‑dweller.

Would someone like her really tolerate others offending her?

Moreover, setting up checkpoints at the city gate to extort money, forcibly levying the "pacification levy," seizing seedlings from people's fields, and allowing her subordinates to blackmail and extort…

Any one of those would be enough to make him drink a pot of tea in frustration.

Qian Youde's whole body began to tremble slightly, soon shaking so violently that Liu Er couldn't ignore it.

Liu Er's hand paused, incredulous he called out:

"Sir…?"

Those two words were like two needles, pricking into his mind one by one.

Qian Youde jerked his head up, his eyes rolled, suddenly recalling something, and he shoved Liu Er hard with effort, gasping:

"You, you go! Call them back!"

"Don't look for the painting yet, don't harness the horse. Go tell the servants to gather all the valuable things in the house…"

What "gathering the household goods" means needs no explanation.

That one sentence alone announced the gravity.

Liu Er had still been thinking about future wealth and honor; hearing this, he froze on the spot.

And what shocked him even more was still to come—

Qian Youde paced the room, then, while counting on his fingers, muttered to himself:

"Paintings, antiques, gold and silver vessels, land deeds—all together make seven shares."

"One share for the eldest son's family, one share for the second son's family…"

"One share for my wife's natal family… one share for the married‑away daughter… one share each for the two granddaughters who married out… all divided."

He said this, paused, his cloudy eyes rolled twice, as if checking whether anyone had been left out.

Liu Er sat on the edge of the couch, clutching the cuff of his water‑sleeve, his knuckles whitening one by one.

"Sir~"

He spoke, his voice still soft and sweet, but a string inside was pulled tight, tight to the point of breaking:

"You just said… seven shares?"

Qian Youde nodded, then shook his head:

"Six shares… no… seven shares…?"

Who did we miss?

Impossible—we've accounted for everyone at home, even the married‑out granddaughters each got a share; who'd say he isn't benevolent if we told them?

"Yes, Sir first said seven shares."

Liu Er repeated it, let the number linger in his mouth, then smiled.

That smile was a bit more natural than before, but a thin layer of something floated up in the depths of his eyes, making his eyeballs look dark and bright:

"What about the remaining share?"

Qian Youde stared blankly for a moment.

He was already old, his mind slow; after thinking for a while, he suddenly slapped his thigh, looking suddenly enlightened:

"Yes yes yes—and there's also Mom and Dad!"

"Mom and Dad have been dead for years…… I haven't properly sacrificed to them these years…… If I encounter disaster this time, I'm afraid I won't be able to burn paper money at their graves in the future……"

"That remaining share…… let's burn it all for Mom and Dad…… so they can have a bit more abundance down there……"

After saying that, his whole body seemed to have set down a burden, his eyes half-open half-closed, the corners of his mouth even twitching up slightly, as if he felt satisfied with his thorough arrangement.

Liu Er said nothing.

He sat at the edge of the couch, his hand sliding down from the water sleeve and hanging at his side.

A smile still hung on his face, but that smile had frozen, like a face painted on paper—complete with brows and eyes, yet devoid of any liveliness.

Qian Youde kept muttering, his voice growing more and more indistinct, lower and lower, like someone talking in their sleep:

"The elder family's inkstone is from the Duanxi old pit, worth quite a bit of silver…… Second Brother likes calligraphy and painting, so give him that 'Pine Wind Painting'…… The daughter's dowry was rather meager back then; this time we'll add a bit more……"

His voice buzzed in the room, like a fly bumping against glass—buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, over and over, endless.

Liu Er didn't hear a word of it.

He sat there, with only one thought turning in his mind, going round and round, like a blindfolded donkey walking in circles, never able to leave that circle.

Whether it be six shares or seven shares……

None of it was his.

He served that old thing for three years...... three years!

Pouring tea, handing water, beating his legs and rubbing his shoulders, accompanying him through night after night of incessant coughing, and by day still having to put on a smile to cheer him up.

He dressed himself up like this, sang opera for him to hear, fed him tea to drink, and let those hands of his, like withered tree bark, roam over his body.

Three years.

In the end, he didn't even get half a share.

He was worse off than those two granddaughters who married out.

He was even worse off than a pile of paper money burned for the dead.

"That person, that person was right!"

A flash of inspiration went through Liu Er's mind, and he suddenly thought of today's 'County Magistrate'; Liu Er felt that in appearance he was certainly not inferior to that person by much.

But why could that person become an official while he could only be discarded?

Liu Er's mouth corners were still twitching up, but that was no longer a smile.

That was a habit, formed in youth from lowliness, etched into the bones, a mask that cannot be taken off.

His eyes fixed on Qian Youde, watching the folds on that old face tremble, watching that mouth open and close as it spoke words that had nothing to do with him.

He suddenly found it quite funny.

It wasn't laughing at others, it was laughing at himself.

Laughing at himself for once thinking that following the County Magistrate would bring a good life.

Laughing at himself for having, over three years, bit by bit saved up and hoped, thinking that someday this old thing would remember him.

So what happened? When the family property was divided, he ended up worse off than a pile of paper money.

"【If one is to serve others with one's looks, one must find someone who can afford the price.......】"

Liu Er kept recalling it in his mind.

The sky outside had already turned completely dark.

It wasn't nightfall, but dark clouds covering the sky.

The first bolt of lightning split down, white light pouring in through the window, whoosh—illuminating the whole room blindingly bright——

The white jade Guanyin on the table, the brocade mattress and bolster on the couch, Qian Youde's gray‑white hair and sagging old face, Liu Er's smile frozen on his face——

Everything was laid bare in that instant, like a painting whose cover has been lifted.

Qian Youde was startled by the sudden brightness, his eyes flickering; he stopped his muttering, and seeing that Liu Er still hadn't left, he couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed:

"You lazy bum, why aren't you moving yet?!"

Liu Er, scolded, rose to obey as he had done countless times before.

But after taking two steps, he realized the County Magistrate's position was now precarious, and he not only had failed to share in a good life by following him, but was also to be discarded; for a moment he simply didn't want to go any further.

He stopped in his tracks, standing beside the table.

The white jade Guanyin still stood there, eyes lowered.

But at some point, a crack had appeared between its brows.

An ill omen.

Definitely an ill omen.

Liu Er's fingers gripped the Guanyin's waist, wanting to stroke that crack.

But the moment the statue was in his hand, that icy touch instead sparked another thought in him.

The lightning struck for the third time.

Qian Youde kept muttering, not noticing at all that the face not far away under the white light had lost its smile.

Under the strong light, the man's brow and eye contours looked especially sharp, his cheekbones high, his jaw square; after shedding all his coquettish pretense, that was a man's face.

A young, angry, face pushed to the limit of endurance.

Liu Er held the Guanyin statue and turned around.

His movement was still so light, so light it was like raising a hand and doing a water‑sleeve gesture on stage.

But this time, what was held in hand was not a water sleeve, but a solid white jade Avalokitesvara weighing over ten catties.

Thunder rumbled overhead.

Qian Youde finally noticed the movement behind him.

He turned his head, and in the next instant, he met Liu Er's eyes blazing with fierce fire.

Qian Youde couldn't react to anything, merely blurting out in confusion:

"Liu Er?"

Liu Er laughed.

As the Avalokitesvara statue came crashing down, Qian Youde's expression hadn't even had time to shift from confusion to fear——

【Bang——!!!】

【Boom——!!!】

Inside the county office, the Avalokitesvara statue shattered together with the thunder of the vaulted ceiling.

The heavy rain still fell.

Outside Big Pass Village, the village road.

The rain poured down, making every step difficult.

Horse hooves stepped in the muddy ground, threatening to sink.

Du Shanü gripped the reins with one hand and struggled to wipe the water from her face with the other, while Chinu kept clinging insistently:

"Kiss me."

"Hurry up, hurry up and kiss me!"

"Why are you willing to kiss Yu Baobao but now unwilling to kiss me?!"

?? The first day of April, this chapter is a thousand characters longer than usual, dear readers!

? Everyone, have eaten your fill~ Remember to move your little money-making hand to cast your vote, haha~ Thanks everyone (*^▽^*)