Chapter 154: Resolution

Disclaimer: 

1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.

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Liu Shu made a big production of sitting down. Making his attitude plain, he saw, as expected, that the Village Head gave an even humbler demeanor, smiling even wider than before. 

“The incident before…. I didn’t expect it to involve Eldest Young Master…. Eldest Young Master is?” The Village Head also took a seat and asked. It seemed that up till now, he hadn’t figured out Liu Shu’s identity. He only knew that he was Yuelou Restaurant’s Young Boss’s dajiuzi. But from the way Liu Shu was acting today, it seemed that he too was a Young Master in his own right?

“Our Young Master’s family has opened two workshops and two shops in town. Eldest Young Master is surnamed Liu.” Uncle Xiaochen said lightly. Then he looked at the Village Head and said nothing. 

The Village Head was stunned! Two workshops, two stores! With an even humbler attitude, he quickly went and called his youngest son, “Quickly! Bring some tea over!”

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“Eldest Young Master! Our family has three Young Masters!” Uncle Xiaochen immediately corrected. 

The Village Head knew that they were here today to negotiate a settlement for that day. It concerned four taels of silver! But each time he started to try and speak of it, he was interrupted by Uncle Xiaochen. Combined with Liu Shu’s rather imperious manner, he had started to get nervous and lose steam. With a stammer in his speech, he said, “Oh… Eldest Young Master…. No, Eldest Young Master Liu, about the incident that day…”

The girl in green came back out with some tea. 

Liu Shu rudely interrupted, “The matter that day is your fault! Since you agreed to allow Shao Huai to plant flowers in the pond, then you shouldn’t have let it out to someone else! And if you agreed to allow someone else to use it, then you should’ve first informed Shao Huai, and given him time to remove his flowers! Was it easy to grow those flowers? Everyone says that villagers would never waste things – officials always praise the ordinary folk for their hard work. And yet, you saw how those people just destroyed everything in the pond. That goes against the grain! What do you have to say for yourself?!”

Having such a large accusation leveled at him, the Village Head panicked. After a long while, he finally managed to squeeze out, “But before he started to use it, I did say that at any time…. If someone else needed it, he would have to give it up.”

Liu Shu said, “Didn’t I just say? It’s fine to ask him to give it up, but you should’ve first told him clearly! Why did you keep completely silent, and just destroy the flowers in the pond? Who will compensate for the damages?!”

Uncle Xiaochen said coldly, “Our Eldest Young Master just wanted to buy some flowers, but nearly got beaten up. He got soaked by the pond and became all muddy. Who is at fault here?”

The Village Head’s face was all red. He anxiously stammered out, “But… but….”

The green clothed girl put down the tea and melon seeds and stood at Liu Shu’s side. When Liu Shu spoke, she would stare at him, looking him over, again and again. 

“Enough with this! If it weren’t for my father taking pity on Shao Huai all those years ago, allowing him to use the pond then, there wouldn’t have been any issues today! What a joke – my father hasn’t asked for any rent from Shao Huai, but he wants us to compensate for his loss! Then he should first cough up rent for using the pond all these years!” Seeing his father get more and more anxious, his youngest son finally couldn’t stay silent. 

Liu Shu coldly sneered, while Shao Huai’s face changed. 

The Village Head nodded frantically, “That’s right, that’s right – Eldest Young Master Liu, I took pity on Shao Huai before, so I allowed him to use the pond for free. At the time, I said that I didn’t need any rent, but I never said I would never require rent! Now that Shao Huai is doing well for himself, and he has paid off all his debt, shouldn’t we talk about rent?!”

Liu Shu coldly smiled and said, “Then let’s calculate everything. How much is the rent? I will go to the government office, and confirm if that’s really the price!”

The Village Head’s son’s face changed and the Village Head himself was staring. After a long time, he finally stammered, “That… This matter can still be negotiated, it’s still negotiable!” He looked at Shao Huai and said, “We’re all fellow villagers, there’s no need to go to the government office…. I am doing this for your sake as well! If we go to the government office, I can still speak up for myself – I am, after all, a minor official. But can you?”

Shao Huai really wanted to say something, but worried he would say the wrong thing. He just kept silent and looked at Liu Shu. 

Liu Shu also knew that what the Village Head was mostly concerned about was that he hadn’t previously informed the government office that he had rented out the pond, and had taken all the money for himself. If Liu Shu didn’t give in on this matter, he might take the opportunity to go and speak privately to the government officials. If that actually happened, it was likely that Shao Huai would be the one to suffer a loss. So he went along with the Village Head’s statement, “Hmph, there’s no need to try and scare me! Let’s just talk this over – that would be best. If you keep jumping and shouting here, then we really do need to go to the government office to discuss the matter!”

Uncle Xiaochen astutely moved to give him a cup of tea, “Eldest Young Master, have a drink. Don’t be angry!”

The Village Head could also tell that the winds had changed. He turned and scolded his youngest son, “Go in! Go back to doing what you should be doing! What are you doing just standing there? You’ve nothing to contribute to this conversation!”

The son was both angry and frustrated. He jumped up and huffed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Xiaocui, however, didn’t move an inch. She still stood at Liu Shu’s side, looking for all the world like she was with him. The Village Head hadn’t noticed her till now. He was just about to glare at her, when he thought of something. Closing his mouth, he decided against saying anything to her. So Xiaocui continued to stand at Liu Shu’s side without moving. 

The Village Head then said to Liu SHu, “My son’s temper isn’t very good… He’s a little stubborn.” Then he looked at Shao Huai. 

Filled with loathing, Shao Huai looked away. 

Liu Shu then said, “I am not unreasonable. After thinking about it, why not do this! Since Shao Huai used the pond for free, and you destroyed his flowers, then let them mutually cancel each other out. Shao Huai will forfeit the four taels of silver, but you cannot try and approach him for rent! We will settle it like this, what do you think?”

The Village Head naturally couldn’t ask for more! What he was most afraid of was losing all the money he had just received to Shao Huai. That money was his life! If Shao Huai was willing to forfeit his compensation, that was all to his favor! He immediately nodded and said, “Eldest Young Master Liu is fair! That is the best… It mutually cancels out!”

Liu Shu waved his arms, “But there must be proof of this. I will write something, and the both of you will put your handprints on it. That way, we avoid any future incidents!”

The Village Head was wary when he heard, “What do you want to write?”

Liu Shu saw that the Village Head was cunning. He mentally sneered, and said, “I’m not writing much of anything, I am just going to clearly note down what was agreed. You cannot approach Shao Huai for money for the pond in future!” As he spoke, he took out the piece of paper he had drafted at home and passed it to the Village Head. “Can you read?”

The Village Head nodded, “Yes, yes!”

Uncle Xiaochen rolled his eyes – this was a Village Head? There wasn’t even an ounce of self respect in him. He just judged others by whether they had money or not. When he was in front of a monied person, he behaved like a dog!

The Village Head looked at the paper – there weren’t many words. It just said that Shao Huai had used the pond at xxx location for three years. In these three years, the Village Head had agreed for him to use it, and that he didn’t need to pay any fees for it. From the eighth month of this year, Shao Huai had stopped using the pond and so on.

The Village Head looked it over – nothing was said about him collecting any rent, so he nodded, found some ink and put his handprint on the sheet. Shao Huai too put his hand print down. 

Now that the discussion was over, Liu Shu got up to go. The Village Head too stood up, smiled and asked, “Are you leaving so soon? Do you want to stay for a meal first?”

The one called Xiaocui was exceptionally anxious. She urgently asked, “That’s right! Stay for a meal!” 

Even Liu Shu wanted to roll his eyes at that! He waved his hands and said, “No, it’s alright, I won’t intrude any longer. I still need to discuss matters with Shao Huai. Now that the water lilies and lotuses are no more, we need to discuss what he can provide instead!”

The Village Head’s face froze, then he hurriedly pasted a smile on. 

Liu Shu went out with Shao Huai, and headed over to his place. 

Shao Gui and Shao Rong were both waiting anxiously at home – they didn’t know how everything was going. Seeing everyone safely returned, they all relaxed and quickly welcomed everyone in to sit. 

Liu Shu passed the acknowledged document over to Shao Huai and said, “Hold onto this. Although this doesn’t really count for much, the Village Head shouldn’t try and rake you for rent after this. As for the flowers in the hillside, what Shi Cheng said makes sense. But you must be extremely careful. If you can’t find anyone suitable, don’t try and force it. It would be better if the land goes back to waste than to allow the Village Head to catch onto it and hold it over you.”

Shao Huai nodded, “I understand. I really need to thank you for this. I don’t know what to say.”

Liu Shu told him not to be too courteous, and that if anything were to arise in the future, he could come look for him for help. “And if I’m not around, you can look for Xu’er. She would be able to find Shi Cheng, and think of a plan. As for the water lilies and lotuses, we still want to plant them in our pond. When you’ve the time, come over and see what would be suitable.”

Shao Huai quickly nodded, and again repeatedly offered his thanks. Shao Gui and Shao Rong too joined him. Liu Shu then made his excuses and left. 

The three Shao siblings tried to keep him, but he still went off. 

When Liu Shu returned home, he shared what happened with Liu Xu’er. Liu Xu’er knew that the issue had been temporarily resolved, and finally relaxed. At this time, Liu Shu needed to put all his attention on studying. Liu Lin and him had decided that in the second month next year, they would participate in the national examinations. 

They had discussed the matter with Liu Changgeng and He shi. Their parents had both been rather surprised as they hadn’t thought their sons would be considering it. 

Liu Shu smiled and said, “We’re just doing this for the experience – we will see what kind of questions come out, and also determine my and Liu Lin’s level. We’re not doing this to actually become xiucai, so we won’t be disappointed if we fail.”

Liu Changgeng nodded, “That would be best – I’ve seen so many people study as though they’re crazy, to become xiucai…. Please don’t do that to yourself. We don’t need you to become xiucai. Just go and see what it’s like.”

Liu Lin smiled and said, “That’s right, I’m just doing it to have a looksee… That’s right, dad, mum, you shouldn’t just give lip service to this! You’d better not just be saying that, but secretly hope for something else. And if you really hope for it, dage has more hope. You’d best not look at me…. I am just there to accompany him for it – I definitely have no hope of being a xiucai.”

Liu Xu’er giggled at that. 

Liu Lin smiled and said, “What are you laughing at? It’s true.”

Liu Xu’er smiled and nodded, “That’s best – like dage said, there’s no need to be disappointed if you don’t make it. If you can, that would be great, but if you can’t, it’s no big deal. Just try it and see where you stand. After all, we still have our business – we don’t need to become officials.”