HE With the Cold Male Protagonist C29

Chapter 29: The Incident, Family Fortune Lost

The look of near-triumph on Jiang Yueming’s face froze, and at last he turned his eyes squarely toward him, narrowing them—this man no longer held even a trace of the respect he once did.

Before anyone could condemn Jiang Baiye for being heartless and ruthless, Jiang Baiye straightened his body and looked into the distance—

There, a chorus of terrified screams suddenly rang out, one after another!

“What’s happening?” At once, no one cared anymore about Jiang Yueming’s pitiful act or the old patriarch’s theatrics. Instinctively, they all hid behind Jiang Baiye.

“Help, help! Bandits have entered the village!” A young boy came fleeing in terror. Perhaps never having witnessed such a scene before, his legs went weak and he fell flat, which only made others cry out more frantically, urging Jiang Baiye to run.

Most outrageous of all, the old patriarch, using all the strength left in his body, dragged Jiang Yueming closer to Jiang Baiye, as though to push the burden onto him.

Jiang Yueming: “…”

Then he saw it—the whole village, men and women, young and old, all running this way. And their target was, clearly, to cluster around Jiang Baiye.

Jiang Baiye: “…” utterly speechless. He couldn’t carry them all.

Urged to flee by the frantic crowd, Jiang Baiye stood unmoving as a mountain. Some were steadied by his composure, while others bolted on their own.

Soon, the group causing the panic arrived. Those who hadn’t managed to run now turned pale, frozen in terror.

For this was truly a band of “bandits.” They carried not hoes or spades like the men who once came from Lijia Village to bluff, but real knives and real weapons. Their faces bore fierce, murderous looks, moving in a pack. Behind them, a man was tied with rope and dragged along the ground—already motionless.

The burly man in the lead swung his blade. “Where are your people? Where’s everyone from Qingshui Village?”

When his eyes fell upon the villagers cowering behind Jiang Baiye like chicks behind their mother hen, the big man strode forward, blade in hand. “Who are you? Where’s your village head?”

The oppressive aura pressed down, even making Jiang Yueming clench his fists. But then—the door of the Lu household suddenly opened, startling everyone.

A figure in white, a beauty that seemed beyond the mortal world, stepped forward without a trace of hesitation.

Jiang Baiye’s breath caught at the sight. Even though this had all been orchestrated by his own hand, he still instinctively wanted to tell him not to come closer.

Before the words left his mouth, Lu Lizhi was already beside him, face cold and solemn. Hidden in the wide sleeve of his robe was a dagger, as if ready to be drawn at any moment. He no longer resembled a cold, distant iceberg of silence, but a dangerous blade itself, willing at any moment to sacrifice everything to protect him.

Jiang Baiye seized his hand, gripping it tightly, as though wishing to crush it and swallow it whole…

Lu Lizhi endured the pain without showing fear, while in his mind he swiftly assessed the forces at play and how they might gain an advantage.

But the bearded bandit leader simply gawked at him, stunned.

Realizing this, Jiang Baiye immediately shoved Lu Lizhi behind him, covering him from view entirely, not letting even a corner be seen. Unhappily, he rapped his knuckles against the man’s blade. “What exactly are you here for?”

Such arrogance made the crowd behind him shiver.

Even Jiang Yueming felt a stab of frustration at his “foolishness,” fearing he would anger the thugs and bring death upon them all.

The big man snapped back to himself with a dull shake of the head, then shouted, “Someone in your village has committed a crime! Where is the headman? Come out and answer for this!”

“I’m here!” Wang Lizheng rushed over, accompanied by a group of young men with farm tools in hand. Wang Yujiao burst into tears, “Father, don’t come, wuu wuu!”

“What are you doing, making it look like I’m about to slaughter your whole village?” the big man grumbled.

But those words only made the villagers more terrified. The timid among them nearly wet themselves, so oppressive was the bandits’ aura.

“Brother, speak calmly, there’s no need for blades and weapons. If you’ve suffered some injustice, and if it is truly our fault, I will see justice done for you!”

Wang Lizheng’s words finally made the big man signal his men to put away their weapons. Then he kicked at the man on the ground.

The man rolled over, revealing a face swollen like a pig’s head. The crowd gasped aloud. “Jiang Dashan!”

“Dashan, Dashan, how could this be?” The old patriarch reached out his hand, but his body refused to move—clearly terrified of this gang.

The burly man yanked forward a weeping young woman. “This is my younger sister-in-law. One of your villagers dared to steal her away from my eldest brother!”

The villagers’ first reaction was not “adultery,” but “eldest brother”—at once recognizing that these were bandits.

“I didn’t, I’m not your elder brother’s woman, wuu wuu…” The woman’s face went pale with terror, shaking her head wildly. “I’m just a widow…”

“Didn’t you promise my eldest brother you’d be with him? Didn’t you say when he returned from escorting the caravan, you’d go with him? And now? You two-timing bitch, finding another man to keep you!”

“This dog of a man knew full well my elder brother often came to your place, already pledged himself to you. Yet he still slinked around you day after day! When my elder brother returns, he’ll butcher you both, the pair of adulterous swine!” The big man swung his fists, ready to strike her, but checked himself for she was a woman, and instead rained blows down upon Jiang Dashan’s face.

Jiang Yueming felt a chill of unease. Why such a coincidence, why did this happen today of all days… He suddenly glanced toward Lu Lizhi—but found Lu’s eyes fixed not on him, but on Jiang Baiye, his expression thoughtful.

The villagers quickly grasped the truth, realizing it had been a false alarm. At once, they turned upon Jiang Dashan with disgust and hatred. Their view of Jiang Yueming soured as well.

This family again! Always dragging them into chaos, frightening them out of their wits.

Such a disgraceful scandal—after this, marriages in their village would suffer. Who would dare marry a daughter into such a place? People would say the men of Qingshui Village were all lechers!

Jiang Yueming drew a deep breath, attempting to salvage, “We haven’t clarified the truth yet—”

“Clarify what? I said all along, why’s your father never home when he works in town? Turns out he’s got another household there!”

“Just earning a few taels of silver and he already dares to stray! Poor Madam Li, knowing nothing. And that young woman, doesn’t she look to be with child?”

As they spoke, Madam Li, face ghost-white, came stumbling forward like an empty shell. She squatted down, shaking the unconscious Jiang Dashan with all her strength. “Wake up! You bastard, what the hell is this? Wake up, wuu wuu!”

The big man’s face darkened. “So tell me, how are you going to settle this? My elder brother’s face is lost, his woman gone, the silver he spent on her gone—likely squandered with this dog of a man. The brat in her belly—who knows whose it is!”

Wang Lizheng wanted no part of this sordid mess and shoved it all onto the old patriarch.

The patriarch stammered incoherently, too afraid even to speak properly, let alone negotiate. In the end, they were forced to hand over thirty taels of silver in compensation. The bandits left one final threat: “If we see this dog of a man in town again, we’ll beat him every time.”

Even before this, Jiang Dashan’s job as a clerk at the general store had already been ruined.

Now, the once-wealthy patriarch was left with less than five taels of silver. Jiang Yueming, who had planned to take a sum to cultivate friendships, could not even ask, his face dark with rage.

Before he could untangle the threads of cause and effect, Wang Yujiao—always devoted to him—came to him. Her first words were: “The wounds on your back… were they real?”

Jiang Yueming gave a bitter smile. “So you too… think what you like.”

He turned to leave, but Wang Yujiao hurriedly cried, “I’m sorry! Please don’t go. I’ve saved some silver. I don’t know if it’s enough, but if you’re having trouble with your studies…”

His lips curved faintly, unseen by her.

“Then can you still do what you promised me before?” Wang Yujiao nervously twisted her sleeve. “Not to spread the word that Lu Lizhi likes men.”

Jiang Yueming suddenly turned back. “Do you care about him that much?”

“It was I who broke the engagement first. If I were also to expose his secret…” Wang Yujiao hadn’t quite believed before that Lu Lizhi truly liked men. Before today’s scandal, she had already fallen hopelessly for Jiang Yueming, and thus bore guilt in her heart. To break the betrothal by using his fault felt wrong. At least Lu Lizhi had admitted that if she said nothing, he would soon withdraw himself.

But today, seeing his hand so tightly entwined with Jiang Baiye’s, she finally realized he truly might love men. She had never before seen her former fiancé like this—willing to give his whole heart to protect and rely on someone, his closed-off self slowly opening.

Thinking of this made Jiang Yueming’s malice boil hotter. “Your father already said if this secret spreads, everyone will think it’s my doing, and our whole family will be driven out of Qingshui Village. Do you think I’d dare? Do you not trust me? Looks like I need never return here again!”

Panic seized Wang Yujiao. “No, no, I’m not doubting you! My father only said that because Qingshui Village was founded back when everyone fled famine, built by Grandfather Lu himself. He doesn’t want the descendants of such a man of great merit to be shamed…”

Jiang Yueming’s expression turned weary. “Yujiao, don’t you know? Everything today was orchestrated by Lu Lizhi. And you still defend him.”

Before she could reply, he warned darkly, “You had better be careful. You can never know a man’s heart. You broke off your betrothal—perhaps one day he, or Jiang Baiye, will come to trouble you!”

With her mind heavy, Wang Yujiao left. Jiang Yueming hoped she would prove clever, do something to please him.

Back home, facing the newly awakened Jiang Dashan, the hysterical sobbing of Madam Li, the old patriarch collapsed sick once more, and the helpless, bewildered Jiang Linger, Jiang Yueming felt not a flicker of emotion. Taking the two taels Wang Yujiao had saved with such effort, he immediately set off for the prefectural city.

This time, he would find a way to break Jiang Baiye and Lu Lizhi apart. The opportunity lay in the corvée soon to be conscripted by the court, for the building of flood-draining canals in An, Xuan, Chang, and Chong Prefectures.

He would see Jiang Baiye go, and never return!

Watching Jiang Yueming leave without further action, Lu Lizhi finally allowed himself to exhale.

He turned toward his empty writing desk. Jiang Baiye hadn’t come to practice characters in many days. Ever since that day of turmoil, when Lu asked him for the book he’d been reading, his face had changed at once. Since then, he had invented excuse after excuse not to come.

Lu Lizhi did not know what mistake he had made. He wanted to give him the storybook he had worked so hard to write, but never had the chance. Jiang Baiye busied himself endlessly with the workshop, and occasionally went into the mountains, but no longer brought him meals three times a day.

Naturally, Lu Lizhi began refusing the food Madam He brought. Now that he could support himself, he no longer needed Jiang Baiye’s pity.

Yes, pity. He pitied the weak, built coops for chickens, played with the dog, tended his black horse with care, even rescued injured wild animals to nurse them back. Just as he had once rescued Lu Lizhi himself—weak and ill—and, once he was healed, smiled and let go, never looking back.

Even when the little deer pressed close to him, longing for his touch, he had sent it back to the forest without hesitation.

Time slipped by in a blink. The summer solstice arrived.

Author’s note:

Jiang: Currently wallowing in self-loathing, do not disturb~

Lu: No need to come back anymore.