Chapter 61 - 62: Crawl Back

Chapter 61: Chapter 62: Crawl Back

Unfortunately, their night was destined to be a restless one. Not long after everyone had fallen asleep, the tightly shut city gates creaked open.

Many people shot upright, their eyes fixed on what was ahead.

"Is someone coming out?" A person leaning against the city wall noticed someone moving on the ground in the moonlight.

"What is that?" Many people crowded around. By the light of their torches, they could finally see two figures covered in blood, crawling painfully on the ground.

"Isn’t that He Tuliang? Looks like he got caught. How did he get so badly injured?" Even those who had been pushed out of the city before had only suffered minor scrapes. But seeing him crawling on the ground, leaving a trail of blood behind him, it looked like he had been beaten with a paddle.

"Tuping, your older brother is out." He Cao Gen, the village chief of Geda Village, turned and ran to where He Tiping and his family were resting. That family was truly carefree, all of them bundled under their blankets, snoring away.

After he called out several times, it was Gu Yuanfeng who finally sat up. "Village Chief, what are you doing up so late instead of sleeping?"

"Sleep, sleep, sleep! Your family’s He Tuliang is back! He’s lying on the ground at the city gate right now. You’d better hurry over and take a look." He Cao Gen was fuming. ’As if I wanted to be making a fuss this late at night.’

"What? My eldest is back?" Mrs. He Zhou, who had been pretending to be asleep, immediately sprang up. "Where is he?"

"Right at the city gate up ahead. Hurry up and bring him back." After saying this, He Cao Gen immediately turned and left, ignoring any further questions they shouted after him.

Mrs. He Zhou kicked Mrs. He Yang, who was beside her. "How can you still be sleeping? Get up and welcome your husband back!"

"Husband," Mrs. He Yang murmured, still groggy with sleep and slow to react.

Seeing her pathetic state, Mrs. He Zhou could only turn and vent her anger on He Tiping. "What are you still doing here? Hurry up and go to the city gate! Your brother doesn’t know we’re over here now.

And you, my second son’s wife, hurry up and heat up the buns. Your older brother will definitely be hungry when he gets back."

Gu Yuanfeng meekly agreed and carefully took the buns from Mrs. He Zhou. These weren’t just any vegetable-filled buns, but proper multigrain ones. If she so much as broke a piece, her mother-in-law would scold her for half the day.

"You’re all a bunch of useless mouths to feed! I don’t know what your family taught you, but you’re good for nothing but eating." Ever since the last incident with the Gu Family, Mrs. He Zhou couldn’t stand the sight of Gu Yuanfeng.

When He Tiping reached the city gate, he found a large crowd gathered around two human shapes lying prone on the ground.

"He Tuliang, what happened to you? Why are you both injured in the same place?" Several village chiefs who had rushed over upon hearing the news squatted in front of them and asked. But the two men, as if by prior agreement, refused to say a word.

"Say something! Are there any other villagers still detained inside?"

"Were they muted or something?"

Someone tried to pry their mouths open, but the two men skillfully avoided them in unison.

"Their mouths look fine to me. Don’t tell me they were wronged inside and are now taking it out on us?"

"If you know what’s going on in there, you’d better tell everyone," Gu Sanbu said urgently when he saw He Tuliang facing him. "Are there any of our fellow villagers still inside? If you know anything, just spit it out. Everyone is getting anxious waiting."

But no matter how much everyone asked, the two men’s lips remained sealed.

However, a Government Official standing to the side started to laugh. "These two are quite something. They tried to deceive our Lord Prefect himself. This is just a small punishment from His Lordship."

"Impossible!" He Tiping, ignoring his brother’s pathetic state on the ground, stepped forward to object. "My brother is just an ordinary citizen. He would never do something like that."

"Ordinary?" The Government Official laughed until he had to hold his stomach. "They dared to fabricate a divine miracle. What’s so ordinary about that?"

"A divine miracle?" Everyone present looked at each other in confusion. Gu Sanbu was the first to recover. "How could ordinary folk like us ever encounter a divine miracle? Were they delirious or something?"

"They must have been. I heard people who are delirious often can’t tell the difference between reality and dreams." Li Cuicui, who had run over to get the news, breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the people on the ground were not her family members.

While others didn’t recognize Lan Tian, she spotted him immediately. In her eyes, neither of these two were good people. ’This is the perfect time to kick them while they’re down,’ she thought.

"Thankfully, His Lordship didn’t believe their nonsense and wasn’t fooled by them." Under the glares of the other village chiefs, He Cao Gen also stepped forward. According to their prior agreement, if there was a problem with someone from his village, he would be held responsible too.

"I told you so! Our captain didn’t believe it at first and took them to see the Lord Prefect. He ended up getting implicated and reprimanded because of them. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been ordered to watch them crawl all the way to the city gate." Having had to watch the two of them crawl all the way, the Government Official had long since grown impatient and didn’t mind recounting their embarrassing tale.

Those who had been about to offer a helping hand silently drew back. Some even turned and left on the spot.

Seeing the crowd gradually disperse, the Government Official snorted coldly, shot a look of disgust at the two on the ground, and also turned to leave.

"Don’t just leave him here. What an utter disgrace." He Cao Gen pointed at He Tiping. "Take him back yourself. I doubt anyone is willing to help now. If you can’t carry him, let him crawl back on his own. He should be used to it after crawling all the way from the Prefecture City. A little further won’t make a difference."

He Tiping looked at his filth-covered brother and could only grit his teeth. He tried to help him up and lean him against his own body, but the moment he moved, He Tuliang started wailing, "OW, OW! Can’t you be gentler? Are you trying to kill me?!"

Startled, He Tiping quickly let go. But just as his brother was about to fall back to the ground, he quickly grabbed him again. This time, He Tuliang’s cries grew even louder. "Do you know what you’re doing? Have you got a brain in your head? If you can’t lift me by yourself, go get help! Are you trying to kill me so you can have the family property all to yourself? I always said your wife is a piece of trash, and you’re no better!"

Gu Sanbu shook his head. ’I really don’t know what Dashishi saw in that family back then.’ With an older brother-in-law like that, it was no wonder her life was so miserable.

"Dad, what about this person? Should we just leave him here?" Gu Shulin asked, pointing at Lan Tian off to the side.

Gu Sanbu turned to look at Li Cuicui, who was so frightened she quickly backed away, waving her hands. "This has nothing to do with me! I may know him, but our families have absolutely no connection."