Chapter 11 — Mother and Son • Bloodshed Establishes Authority
“Ouch… someone is killing me! You useless thing, your wife is about to be killed, why are you still standing there? Ouch…it hurts! Ling Jingxuan you son of a bitch, you are killing me. Ouch…”
Dawa’s mother, who got beaten up again, sitting on the ground, cried out, sometimes scolding her man, sometimes scolding Ling Jingxuan, while again crying for the pain. Let alone Ling Wangshi, even her own man was impatient, frowning. This woman really had taken shamelessness to a new level!
“Daddy!”
Two buns held Ling Jingxuan’s thighs on each side, choking, with tears in the eyes, Ling Jingxuan’s killing feeling instantly dissipated. He squatted down and embraced them, “Be good, don’t be afraid, daddy will protect you.”
Eyes narrowed, killing light glazed in his eyes. What the fuck! As expected, that woman really took her man here, and even tried to beat his little buns under his eyes. If he didn’t beat her hard enough until she truly knew they were not someone she could meddle with, he would change his name to Xuan Lingjing!
“Jingxuan…”
Ling Wangshi looked his son and two grandsons holding together. Is there something wrong with her eyes? Her son is no longer a fool?
Hearing that, Ling Jingxuan’s body slightly shuddered, and he slowly looked up and saw Ling Wangshi’s tearful eyes, lips trembling, staring at him with great excitement. Only in her thirties, she, because of years of tough work plus a few years to worry about him, looked like in her 40s, but her foundation was good, she should have been very beautiful when she was younger. The most important thing was that she was a good mother protecting her son.
“Mom, thank you, if it weren’t for you, Xiaowen and Xiaowu might be bullied. Thanks to you for all these years. Now I’m no longer silly. I will take care of the two children and live well.”
Holding the children up, Ling Jingxuan looked at her seriously and said so.
Whether she was trying to protect the original owner or he, the beneficiary was always him. If she would treat them so well as always, he would take her as his own mother.
“Oh… you fool, why say thanks to your own mother? Jingxuan, my Jingxuan, you finally thought it through… woo…woo~”
Ling Wangshi, who was behaving like a shrew, could no longer hold it, holding him in her arms and crying. Her son was not stupid, not stupid anymore…
“Mom, don’t cry. Your son is all good. Shouldn’t you be happy?”
Ling Jingxuan helplessly held his forehead, he really did not know how to comfort others.
“Grandma… seeing you cry, I also want to cry, grandma…”
The little bun let go of Ling Jingxuan and dragged the hem of her garments, looking up at her with a pair of pitiful eyes. Big bun also did not want to be left behind. He took the hem of the garments on the other side and said, “Grandma, don’t cry, my dad is no longer silly, and our messy days will be over, we will be better. I will buy silver earrings for you. I saw others wear them before, sparkling, very pretty.”
This was always the big bun’s trick. Whether he was right or not, he would first picture a big pie. Ling Jingxuan seriously doubted whether he would really pay when the day came.
“Oh, I won’t cry. I still have to enjoy your blessing.”
Ling Wangshi pushed away her son and quickly wiped her tears, then squatted and embraced her two lovely grandsons, three generations looking so harmonious. By contrast, on the other side, Dawa’s dad was fed up with his wife. He pulled her up from the ground with force, ignoring her swollen pig face, and threw a slap in her face, and Dawa’s mom no longer dared to make any sound.
“Ling Jingxuan, you beat my wife black and blue. Today if you don’t give me an explanation, I will call the village head here and let him uphold justice for us.”
After fixing his wife, Dawa’s father moved forward, with a finger pointing at Ling Jingxuan, on that obscene and crafty face, full of anger and calculation. From time to time his thieving eyes peeped at the big barrel full of fish next to Ling Jingxuan.
“No, anyhow, the village head is my second grandpa. Someone may not be convinced. Let’s go to the county. I heard that Magistrate Hu is fair and impartial who should be able to deal with the dispute between us. Your son, along with a group of people, beat me into a coma for several days, your wife again beat Xiaowen’s face swollen like a stuffed bun. I will ask Magistrate Hu how you give me an explanation!”
Turning around, Ling Jingxuan gave him a cold look, twitched the corners of his mouth with disdain. Humph, wanting an explanation from him? Isn’t he afraid to break his tongue? Even if he would let it go, Ling Jingxuan would never!
“You…you beat my wife into a pig head, and now you back bite us! Don’t think I’m afraid of you before the magistrate?”
Dawa’s father was furious, glaring at him.
“Well, first of all, your wife was beaten in my house. As a married woman, why did you come to the house of a bachelor with two kids? If one says we have an affair, at least I am a scholar. How could I ever lay my eyes on such a shrew? The other day when your son beat my son, I still got a lot of witnesses. These days, your wife came to my house and clamoured loudly. I think many people saw it, too. Your son beat my son first, and your wife made a scene here after, and the injury on my son’s face was the solid evidence. If I don’t fight back, should I wait till she kills me? Since when did self-defense become a crime?”
With a cold snorting, Ling Jingxuan approached step by step, with a series of sharp questions, while Dawa’s dad was forced to retreat. Finally he clenched his fists and yelled, “Do you even have reason to beat people?”
The country’s people read few books. Although last year he just found a job as a waiter in the market, as for debating, he was obviously not good enough.
“It is written in the law of Qing Dynasty that whoever kills someone in self-defense is not guilty! Even if I kill her today, the magistrate can do nothing with me, let alone only two slaps.”
“You…you…”
No one knew whether the law he said was true. Dawa’s father only kept saying ‘you’ but no more words. Ling Jingxuan stepped forward again, close enough and said with a voice only the two of them could hear, “I what? Do you really want to see me kill your wife and that little bastard?”
“You, I will kill you…”
Unable to take it any more, Dawa’s dad threw a punch at him. Ling Jingxuan’s eyes showed a tricky light. He quickly turned his body sideways and dodged that punch, grabbed his arm and threw him away with nimble strength. Dawa’s father tried to steady himself, and then immediately pounced back. With suddenly murderous light showing in the eyes, Ling Jingxuan got a thumb size sharp twig, and before he rushed to his face, his thin body already jumped up and aimed at his arms with that sharp twig.
“Ah…”
Dawa’s father gave a cry like butchering a pig, holding the bleeding arm and getting on his knees, half a foot long twig deep inserting in his arm.
“Dawa’s dad…”
“Daddy…”
Seeing this, Dawa’s mother whose hair got disheveled and her son crawled over to his side. As they saw the blood on his arm, the mother and son almost passed out. One should know, in this era, a man was the pillar of a family, if the pillar collapsed, the widow and her son could hardly survive.
“He won’t die! This is the last time. If you dare come again, I don’t mind sending your whole family to hell.” Condemningly looking down at them, Ling Jingxuan cruelly said so.
For a moment, he really wanted to end his life, but at that very moment, he thought of the two buns. In this era where only reading was the noblest thing, the two kids had to read and pass the imperial examination if they wanted to make a rise in life, and scholars’ reputation was very important. As for how it had been like in the past, he would not care. At least from now on, he would not let people gossip that his kids had a murderer father, and even if he had to kill people, he would not do it in broad daylight. He had numerous ways to kill them without a trace.
The three of them were all trembling with fear, and even dare not have any eye contact with him. This time they were really frightened.
“Get lost!”
Hearing the harsh voice, the three of them immediately ran out, scratching and scrawling, like a ghost was chasing after them. After this matter, this unbelievable family would never have courage to seek trouble, at least in a short time, they absolutely dare not!
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Translator: LazyHermitGal
Author: LazyHermitGal
A Lazy Hermit Gal. A little support goes a long way! If you’d like to help me keep creating, you can do so at https://ko-fi.com/lazyhermitgal
