A Western Doctor's Happy Farming Life[3]

C301: Penalty

Wu Dahu frowned, and then he said in an unpleasing tone, "Are you coming here to mock or what?"

Wu Ke took a glance at the subordinates followed in behind who all got the punishment yesterday. And they were all being weak and pale in the face, which was totally a different image from the one they showed their extremely vicious looks yesterday.

Wu Ke snorted lightly, and then replied in a casual tone, "I am just coming here for watching a show, and am desire to see what punishment a man who slanders will get. If it is a light one, I think my brothers will never accept that."

Being mentioned by their own master, those men couldn't help but all raised their heads and looked into the direction where Wu Dahu and Xiaosi stayed.

Even though Xiaofan was still remaining his great calmness outside, inside him he was rather resigned.

Well, now it seemed that thing was getting complicated as troubles came at the same time. Both the two parties were putting pressure on him. Being as the responsible mediator as well as a judge in this case, he found himself was stuck between a rock and a hard place as he might provoke the dissatisfaction of one party to satisfy the another, while if the case was not dealt with well, Muhammad probably would criticize as well.

Therefore, his final decision was to... put all the responsibility on Muhammad.

Wasn't it the critical moment to utilize the power of Muhammad as the king in this empire? No matter whether Muhammad's verdict was reasonable or not, these two lords right in front would never make any excuse on it.

By thinking of this, he cleared his throat and then spoke abruptly, "I will report this event to the king and he will be the judge. Please wait here for a while, lords. Once there is a result, a subordinate will get you informed."

Just as he was about to detain Xiaosi and leave the place, he suddenly added as if something occurred to him in mind the next moment, "Since it is a misunderstanding and you are about to be the long-term neighbors in the future, why don't you get in peace and take down the prejudice?"

Wu Ke sneered, not intending to show a good face to Xiaofan, and he responded, "The premise of being reconciled is to have a good relationship at the very beginning, but I suppose that I have never had a good one with Lord Wu. Why don't you go report it first, Lord Xiao? I just hate to have that crime of stealing the bricks on my head."

Wu Dahu pretended to have not detected the hostility in Wu Ke's words, and he said to Xiaofan calmly, "We are all loyal to the king, not to the others. It doesn't even matter whether we are getting along well or not. As long as we can be used by the king, it is fine. But since Lord Wu wants an answer, you should give him one, Lord Xiao."

Xiaofan sighed as the two were both chasing him out, and he nodded to the other subordinates behind his back. And after that, he led them with Xiaosi detained leave this place.

After Xiaofan and his group left the place, Wu Ke stared at Wu Dahu leisurely while saying with a indifferent tone, "That makes sense, Lord Wu. We are all loyal to the king and not to the others. But I hope that you are not the only one to know this fact, you should also let your men realize that. Otherwise, even though the king has the intention to best utilize you, it would be kind of annoying for him to worry whether there will be a traitor or not."

While still frowning tight there, Wu Dahu found the deeper meaning in Wu Ke's words, and then he responded in a deep voice, "Well, I admit that they indeed have made a mistake this time, but I don't accept your statement about the traitor stuff. I hope you will be cautious on your statement, Lord Wu. I believe that you know what 'A repeated slander makes others believe' means.. Even though we don't have to get a good brotherhood, the king will never want to see us fighting with each other."

To his surprise, Wu Ke did not come to refute at all but snorted, turned around and left with his subordinates. Seemingly, he was persuaded by Wu Dahu.

However, Wu Dahu definitely knew that it wouldn't be that easy to persuade Wu Ke at all, otherwise this guy wouldn't have come here as soon as he got the news that someone was found guilty over the brick stealing stuff.

Yet in fact, it wouldn't be easy for them to tackle this issue perfectly.

The next morning, as soon as Wu Dahu woke up he heard the verdict for Xiaosi and the rest of Qingmu people who got involved in this scheme. It was neither serious nor a light one. They had to repent their error by helping all the reisdents build their houses, and only after the assistance was done could they build their own ones, while the deadline would be the day after half a month. If they failed to accomplish the mission by that day, they would be punished which was more serious.

Although Muhammad did not mention what the final penalty would be, Wu Dahu believed that it wouldn't be something that serious. After all, it could be inferred that Muhammad's intention was not to punish the guilty person brutally but exhausted the man spiritually and physically.

Even though it would be such a huge project for Xiaosi and his companions to help others build their houses within half a month, which would surely require them to work as beast of burden days and nights, they were lucky enough to be exempt from the physical penalty. And compared with the physical punishment, this was far lighter.

After accepting the mission, Xiaosi as well as his companions rushed outwards directly without even catching a chance to greet Wu Dahu. They had to hurry up anyway because the more time they wasted, the harder task they would encounter in the coming days.

If they didn't guess it wrong, what the king meant was that if they failed to accomplish the task within half a month, they would be handed over to Wu Ke and be disposed by him. The hell they didn't want to be punished by that demon.

As soon as Wu Dahu was about to enter Muhammad's tent, he greeted Wu Ke midway.

Wu Ke seemed to be quite pissed off on the face while there was still redness remaining. At the moment he saw Wu Dahu he paused, "Are you happy now? Oh sure you are. My men got that severe penalty but had done nothing, but your ones had done something evil like that but got such a light punishment. The king just asks them to do something everyone can do."

Wu Dahu sighed out of relief inside, but of course he shouldn't show it out right now in front of Wu Ke, or otherwise it would be like a complete defiance.

Instead of being cheerful outside, he frowned lightly, "What's the point for being happy? Do you really think that it is a simple and easy task for them? Please count yourself how many residences here they have to help construct. Even if they work as hard as they could without resting days and nights, they will only succeed making all the bricks. As for the houses, don't even think about it unless they all get extra limbs to work."

Even though Wu Ke was extremely unwilling to follow the logic Wu Dahu was showing, it was obvious that he had pondered about it subconsciously and found that Wu Dahu's words did make some senses.

The population in the Empire Mu wasn't that large, yet it wasn't small at the same time. It would be an easy task if they were to help build the generals' residences, but to help the whole population... Well, it would be kind of a miracle if they succeeded.

By thinking of this, he loosened his shoulder all of a sudden with his expression coming to relieve. And the next moment, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty as he recalled the fact he argued with Muhammad in the tent.

It turned out that it wasn't out of the king's prejudice to benefit Wu Dahu's side. He just failed to realize the deeper meaning of the king's decision, which in fact brought out an unfavorable condition to Wu Dahu's men.

Wu Dahu did not miss the expressional change on Wu Ke's face, and he did not intend to be entangled with Wu Ke further, so he sighed heavily while uttering in a deep voice, "Even though I know there is only a faint possibility out there for me, I still want to beg for the forgiveness. They are all just kids, they shouldn't be punished severely like that."