The Return of the Noble Abandoned Consort

Chapter 8: The First Purchase

Unable to get the reason from her son, Qiáo Wēi could only turn her questioning gaze towards her daughter. Qiáo Wàng Shū shook her head in response. She did not know what happened either; she had been playing with Xiǎo Bái when her older brother suddenly got into a fight.

At first, Aunt Liú lacked confidence in the situation. She was familiar with Jǐng Yún's temper and knew that he would not randomly cause trouble with people. Additionally, she was also aware of her son's character. She feared that her son had actually done something to wrong Jǐng Yún and that had caused Jǐng Yún to strike him in retaliation. But seeing that Jǐng Yún was not uttering a single word in his defense, any guilty conscious she had lingering in her heart immediately disappeared.

She straightened up. "How about it?" she huffed, her tone proud. "Can't get a straight answer? It's your son who's in the wrong; crazily going around beating people! Take a good look at Tiě Niú's injuries, it's your son and that little beast that caused it. I'm not going to let you get away with this, I will definitely be reporting this matter to the village chief!"

The village chief was actually a distant paternal cousin of hers. Qiáo Wēi who does not contribute anything, it was obvious whose side the village chief would favor. Moreover, she was an outsider. Bullying a villager, it wouldn't matter even if she was in the right.

This was the first time Qiáo Wēi felt the difficulty of survival. It wasn't that she lacked food, or that she lacked ways to earn money. No, it was the feeling of senselessness, the feeling of not having a home. She struggled for more than twenty years to get rid of this feeling of uneasiness. But in a blink of an eye, she was suddenly back in ancient times and she had to start all over again.

Qiáo Wēi took a deep breath and mentally pushed back the onslaught of emotions into the depths of her heart. "Then how would you like to handle the situation?" she asked Aunt Liú.

"Your son hurt my son," Aunt Liú said in an unhappy tone. "No matter what, you should compensate us. Who knows what kind of disease that little beast has? I'll have to take my son to town to find a good doctor; consultation fees aren't cheap!"

Saying so much and it turns out she just wanted some money. Initially unhappy, Qiáo Wēi broke out into a smile immediately upon hearing her words. "Then how are we calculating the compensation of you kicking my son? My son is still so small and I don't know how heavy your kick was. I also want to take my son to the town's doctor, why don't we go together?

Go together? What nonsense! Aunt Liú choked, feeling an itch in her teeth.

No one was truly responsible for this situation. However, if pursued, Aunt Liú's action against Jǐng Yún would be considered the most excessive. The little white dumpling biting people, Jǐng Yún hitting people, and even Tiě Niú letting his friends surround and beat up Jǐng Yún was all considered a child's scuffle. If Aunt Liú wanted to teach a lesson, she should have punished the little beast. But because she did not dare to provoke that violent snowball, she could only vent her anger at Jǐng Yún. Actually, Aunt Liú knew that she was in the wrong, but because of her domineering personality, she could not stand the thought of retreating.

Qiáo Wēi opened up her money bag and took out two taels. "This isn't for his medical fees," she said, tossing the taels to Aunt Liú. "Seeing that your son is so pitiful, buy him some sweets to eat."

Aunt Liú had already prepared herself to withdraw empty-handed but seeing that she was able to get two taels without much effort, she could only laugh happily in response. This was simply money from the heavens.

Qiáo Wēi moved to leave, pulling her two children behind her, too lazy to spare Aunt Liú another glance.

Along the way, her children were both very silent.

Qiao Jǐng Yún obviously had something weighing on his mind while Qiáo Wàng Shū was not completely understanding of the situation so was remaining quiet.

And because Qiáo Wēi was also not saying anything, the family of three of unusually hushed.

In in end, Qiao Jǐng Yún was unable to handle the silence. "Niáng [1]," he said in a quiet voice. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Qiáo Wēi asked with a soft sigh. "Sorry that you hit someone? Or sorry that you cannot tell me why you hit someone?"

Qiáo Wàng Shū looked over at her older brother curiously and saw that he was biting down on his lower lip.

"It's fine if you don't want to say it," Qiáo Wēi said. "Niáng will not force you. Niáng still stands by what I said earlier. I believe that you are not a child who would randomly stir up trouble. For you to do something like this, you must have been left with no other choice. Take your time to think things through, then come and tell niáng."

Qiao Jǐng Yún opened his mouth to say something but stopped. Even after struggling for a while, he was still unable to get the words out. But then he remembered something and turned to ask, "Niáng, why did you give them money?" Making money was not easy, but she had just randomly given some to Tiě Niú and his mother.

Actually, Qiáo Wēi felt distress thinking about the money but Tiě Niú was really injured. No mattered who was actually at fault, her son's pet had scratched someone and he must take responsibility for that. She did not want her son growing up to be someone who does whatever he pleased. There were so many criminals in the world, which one did not have his own difficulties? But even with such difficulties, could one just let them avoid responsibilities and consequences?

Qiáo Wēi mumbled to herself for a moment, thinking. Her son was still young, so she did not know how to best explain things to him. Finally, "I'm sorry," she said righteously. "Before when Aunt Liú came up the mountain to find trouble, niáng should not have hit her. Niáng demonstrated irresponsibly, causing you to learn something bad."

"Hitting... is not good?" Jǐng Yún asked.

"It depends on the situation," Qiáo Wēi answered patiently. "If you are endangered, you may have to strike out physically in order to protect yourself."

Jǐng Yún finally realized his mistake. "Today, I was not endangered so I shouldn't have struck out," he said.

Qiáo Wēi nodded in relief. "There are many ways to solve problems. If you want to learn, niáng can teach you. Now, can you tell niáng what happened?"

Jǐng Yún nodded and told her everything.

It turned out, it was simply because of her meal with Xú Dà Zhuàng.