CHAPTER 742: CHAPTER 742: FOOLISHNESS

Le Niang collapsed in despair, wailing: "It was you who gave me the idea; it was you who took me to meet Company Commander Qin. Everything was so well spoken of before, so why has it suddenly changed? I won’t marry Wu Da, I won’t! He hammers iron with his father every day, stinking of sweaty filth, utterly nauseating, and I am the dear sister of the small Section Leader, practically an official’s daughter. I refuse to marry him!"

She then sneered with a threatening tone: "I’m going right now to find Company Commander Qin. Once he lays his proper eyes on me, he’ll surely fall for me and take me as his second wife!"

Le Niang was the only daughter in the family, spoiled rotten; having said her piece, she dashed outside, with Section Leader Lin unable to stop her in time.

Suddenly there was a loud thud—she collapsed right outside her own house door.

Section Leader Lin was shocked, knew it was the work of You An’s gang and immediately called out to Mrs. Lin: "Mother, Le Niang has fainted, quickly, bring her inside."

"Le Niang, Le Niang, my child, what’s happened to you?" Mrs. Lin, in tears, propped Le Niang up and took her inside the house, pinching her philtrum.

After much effort, they barely managed to rouse Le Niang, but she was stubborn and struggled to run out again to find Company Commander Qin.

Section Leader Lin was terrified to his core; with a single chop, he knocked Le Niang unconscious, and said to Mrs. Lin: "Mother, Le Niang’s gone mad. Let’s lock her up for a while. Once I’ve settled the marriage with the Wu Family, only then let’s release her."

Mrs. Lin was utterly stunned, grabbing hold of Section Leader Lin’s hand: "Second son, are you truly going to marry Le Niang to the Wu Family? Although the Wu Family runs a shop in town, Company Commander Qin will be a General in the future, and a General’s second wife is still a lady of status. Not marrying her off would be foolish."

"Mother, what time do you think it is to still talk like this? Wake up! I am no longer with the Military Office, our family can’t reach for a marriage with Company Commander Qin!" Section Leader Lin was screaming so hard he was nearly hoarse but still couldn’t wake his mother from her delusion.

Section Leader Lin had no choice but to say: "Let’s leave it at that for now, in time you’ll understand."

Saying this, Section Leader Lin stopped dealing with the rest of the family and entered Mrs. Lin’s room, closing the door behind him. He searched and gathered all the house deeds, land deeds, and stored silver, taking them all with him.

Seeing him lock himself in the room, the Lin couple became anxious, pounding on the door: "Second son, second son, open the door, what are you doing in there? Come out at once!"

But Section Leader Lin ignored them, and before Lin Da could break down the door, he found those items and placed them on himself. With a creak, he opened the door and directly said: "Big brother, let’s divide the property. If you agree to divide the property, we’ll split everything in the house evenly."

"Ptui! You as the second son dare dream of splitting the family wealth equally with the eldest? What nonsense you speak!" Mrs. Lin started making a scene again: "We’ll give you the old house, plus two acres of land and three taels of silver—get out."

She ridiculed further: "Having lost the position of the small Section Leader, do you think you can still play lord at home? The head of this family is your big brother."

With a whoosh, Section Leader Lin drew a knife and placed it on Mrs. Lin’s neck: "Mrs. Lin Zhu, don’t think just because you’re the eldest sister-in-law I wouldn’t dare to kill you. Push me to my limits, and taking your life is nothing more than a swing of the knife. Then I can say you were unfaithful, and I was helping my big brother clean house. Your poverty-stricken family won’t dare to make a fuss if I give them three taels of silver."

"And as for my big brother, do you think he’d rather keep you around, or would he be happy to wait for your death to marry a fresh young maiden?"

Section Leader Lin looked over at Lin Da: "Big brother, your little brother has saved up some personal money over the years, enough to buy you a pretty and virgin daughter-in-law."

Upon hearing this, Lin Da actually hesitated, not immediately coming to Mrs. Lin’s aid.

Seeing this, Mrs. Lin cried inconsolably: "Oh God, I must have been blind to marry an animal like you, scheming to wait for my death to marry some young and beautiful girl!"

Mrs. Lin wanted to fight Lin Da, but with a knife held to her neck, she didn’t dare to move and could only cry and curse non-stop.

With a bit more force, Section Leader Lin’s knife made a small cut on Mrs. Lin’s neck, frightening her into collapsing on the ground as she cried and begged, "Second brother, I know I was wrong, for the sake of the son and daughter I bore for the Lin Family, please don’t hold it against me."

Her two children also ran out and knelt, pleading with Section Leader Lin: "Second uncle, please don’t kill our mother."

Section Leader Lin only meant to scare Mrs. Lin to stop her from causing trouble; he wouldn’t actually kill her in front of everyone.

Section Leader Lin didn’t let up immediately but said once more: "My position as Section Leader has been taken away, I am no longer part of the Military Office. If you don’t want to be revenged upon by others, you’d better keep in line."

Ever since he had become a Section Leader, his family had been unbearably arrogant, with Mrs. Lin Zhu being the most egregious; she had offended everyone in the village and even bragged back at her mother’s house, deceiving several families with her mediation and money, saying that she would arrange their daughters to marry him and spinning them around in circles with lies.

He was aware of this matter; initially, upon hearing it, he was quite smug, thinking he was a golden son-in-law, with girls from ten miles and eight villages eager to marry him.

Only now did he realize how foolish he had been then!

If only he had been a bit wiser, he would have not ended up in this current predicament.

"Uh-huh, we will definitely be honest, very honest," Mrs. Lin quickly agreed, fearing that Section Leader Lin would kill her.

Section Leader Lin continued: "Company Commander Qin didn’t become a company commander as a refugee by being someone easy to deal with, he even participated in the suppression of river bandits back in the day, with countless bandits dying at his hand. Now that he has grown stronger, he’s more formidable than before. If you dare to plot against him and end up dead, don’t say I didn’t warn you."

Mrs. Lin shuddered when she heard this: "I said Company Commander Qin shouldn’t be trifled with, he has killed river bandits after all, such a person has too much killing energy, he cannot be provoked lightly."

Lin Da was still somewhat unwilling; he really wanted to become Company Commander Qin’s uncle by marriage: "Second brother, it was you who said that our Le Niang was more than suitable for Company Commander Qin, and that the Gu Family’s daughter was simply too beautiful, only fit to be a concubine. Once Company Commander Qin marries our Le Niang, we could use her to arrange a marriage with the Gu Family’s daughter to become his concubine, also letting him see Le Niang’s virtuousness. Why have you changed your tune now?"

Hearing this, Section Leader Lin wished he could slap himself; he couldn’t believe he was so arrogant to have said such a thing before: "That’s why I’m facing retribution now; I’ve lost the position of Section Leader and the responsibilities of the Military Office. Does big brother still want to pull at Company Commander Qin’s whiskers?"

Lin Da trembled cowardly; he dared not trouble Company Commander Qin, but he thought they could trouble Gu Jinli; after all, she’s a young lady who needed to maintain her face and reputation. Stirring her up would certainly make her obedient.

Seeing right through Lin Da’s thoughts, Section Leader Lin scoffed: "My position as Section Leader is gone all because you offended Miss Gu. Do you think Company Commander Qin will let you off if you dare to trouble her again?!"

He further said: "Do you really think Miss Gu is easy to bully? If she wanted to deal with our family, she could just refuse to buy our Mingya Grass, or directly accuse our Mingya Grass of being problematic, report us to the county government and have us arrested. Do you fancy spending time in the county jail? Her father and big brother have dined with County Magistrate Zheng."