Chapter 35

Faced with the pestering of the original owner’s two older brothers, Ding Gui said lightly, “Fine, let’s not say anything more then. Like the old saying goes: if the words don’t agree, even half a sentence is too much.”

With that, he continued scattering lime.

Ding Rong and Ding De were left staring at each other wide-eyed — not even their blatant threats were working anymore.

What the hell?

Had Ding Gui taken the wrong medicine or something?

Just then, Miao Dayou from the village came over to help. He was the original Ding Gui’s only friend in the village. Both of them were meek by nature — if anything, Miao Dayou was even more timid than Ding Gui.

His family didn’t have any sibling disputes, but they were dirt poor. He was the only son of his generation, and only sons in the village were always the most bullied.

After suffering for years, the old couple of the Miao family gave their son one mission in life — have more children. More kids, more luck, and the Miao family would finally rise up.

But the more kids they had, the poorer they became.

While fleeing from famine this time, Miao Dayou had to bring along his elderly parents, a gentle-tempered wife, and six kids — the oldest just ten years old and the youngest still needing to be breastfed. Life was hellish.

He came now to talk to Ding Gui about something.

But seeing Ding Rong and Ding De there, he didn’t dare speak — he just quietly helped scatter the lime.

Just then, Ding De, still not over his earlier anger, muttered sarcastically, “Two useless cowards without even a pair between them — shame on the whole Aozi Gou Valley.”

Hearing that, Miao Dayou hung his head even lower. He was running around doing the hard labor, being ordered around by everyone, his head drenched in sweat — but he didn’t dare talk back to Ding De.

It was at this point that Ding Gui finally dug up some memories about the man before him.

Oh!

So they were friends after all.

Sigh. The blame lies with his memory not downloading everything at once. He could only remember things bit by bit after encountering people himself.

Now that he recalled, Ding Gui felt a twinge of guilt. He didn’t realize he and Miao Dayou were this close — if he had, he would’ve brought him something to eat last night.

It was too late to give food now, but he could still help out in the face of some people’s bullying.

Thinking of this, Ding Gui suddenly stood up—

“Agui, the lime’s done. Let’s go,” Miao Dayou tugged at his sleeve, worried he might get into a fight with Ding De. He just wanted to take Ding Gui away from all this mess.

Ding Gui felt a pang in his chest.

As he followed Miao Dayou out, he saw the smug, satisfied expressions on Ding Rong and Ding De’s faces. In the end, he couldn’t hold back — he turned and pointed at them:

“You’d better watch yourselves. If either of you bullies Dayou again, I’ll fight you to the death.”

Then he turned and left.

“……”

Ding Rong and Ding De were once again frozen in place. After a while, they exchanged looks — damn, Ding Gui had really gone mad. Were those words really something that could come out of his mouth?

Ding De was so furious he was about to charge after him, but Ding Rong grabbed him and said coldly, “Use your head. We don’t even know how long Lord Lu will keep us in town. If we fight among ourselves, others will take advantage. We need to tolerate this for now. When the time is right, we can still use our third brother like the brother he is.”

“Fine, I’ll listen to you this time.” Ding De clenched his fists. He’d hold back for now.

On the other side, Ding Gui and Miao Dayou reached a street corner.

Miao Dayou was worried. “Why did you have to provoke your brothers? You know what they’re like — let them say what they want. That way, they won’t keep making trouble later.”

“No, Dayou, listen to me. If they dare bully you again, you’ve got to be ruthless. If you’re tough, they’ll be scared.”

Ding Gui spoke with righteous anger. His fury made the veins on his forehead bulge.

But Miao Dayou was the opposite — head drooping, he squatted on the ground. “Forget it. I can’t take on either of them. I just want to raise my kids. And anyway, there are bad apples in the Miao family too. I have to put up with them the same.”

Actually, not everyone in Aozi Gou Valley had the Ding surname — half were Miao.

The old folks used to say the Ding and Miao families came from two feuding villages. They’d been holding grudges for decades.

One day, a local magistrate came and, tired of their fighting, merged the two villages into one — Village.

And so, two major surnames had lived side by side for over a hundred years.

On the surface, things seemed fine. But whenever it came time to divide houses or land, someone would step up and say it was unfair to the Miaos… or the Dings.

Miao Dayou’s words reminded Ding Gui — he too had been bullied by his Miao cousins.

Everyone has their own suffering, and there was no time to tell it all.

Ding Gui sighed, then clenched his jaw. “Wait here. I’ll be back.”

Miao Dayou awkwardly nodded.

He had actually come to borrow some food from Ding Gui.

He knew Ding Gui wasn’t having an easy time either. But right now, if he didn’t swallow his pride and ask, two of his kids might not make it.

He wanted to ask… but he also didn’t want to make things hard for Ding Gui.

When he saw Ding Gui walk away without saying anything, Miao Dayou slumped back down, letting the scorching sun bake his head.

He desperately wished the sun would burn a good idea into his brain.

That morning, the Lu family had handed out food — porridge and steamed buns. But the kids had been starving for days. The portions were gone in a few bites. They even licked the bowls clean.

Before long, Ding Gui returned and pulled out a two-jin bag of millet from his clothes. “Hurry, take this home. Tell your wife to cook porridge for the kids.”

“Agui, this…”

He hadn’t even hoped for much — but now he had so much in his hands, Miao Dayou was so moved his eyes turned red. “You’re giving all this to us? What about your family?”

Shame, guilt — it all overwhelmed him. He wished he could just die on the spot.

Ding Gui clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. We still have some left. Just don’t let anyone see. Take it home first, then come back to work.”

“Really?” Miao Dayou still hesitated.

“Of course it’s true. Go!”

With things as they were, Miao Dayou had no choice. He nodded, hid the grain in his sleeve, and ran off.

But just after he left, Wang Dafeng, who had sensed something was wrong, came chasing after Ding Gui.

The old lady had been napping upstairs. She thought she heard movement in the kitchen below. Their millet was hidden under the grindstone — and she was worried some villager might be sneaking around.

She hurried down and just caught a glimpse of Ding Gui sneaking off with something in hand.

She rushed to the kitchen and—oh dear! The bag of millet under the grindstone was gone!

So she quickly chased after Ding Gui to get to the bottom of things.