“Big brother?” Seeing Jiang Zhen carrying a fish, Jiang Chengxiang cried out uncertainly, showing surprise on his face.

On the second day of his marriage, he had seen Jiang Zhen lose his temper, but he didn’t take it too seriously. But now . . . his eldest brother was almost like a different person.

Jiang Chengxiang was surprised at his first sight of Jiang Zhen and then was disgusted at the second sight when he saw that his eldest brother was wearing his clothes. 

Before, he heard from Butcher Jiang that his eldest brother has moved to his house, but he had not thought that the man would wear his clothes. Jiang Chengxiang never liked others touching his things, and for a moment, he was disgusted with Jiang Zhen. 

“Chengxiang, this is your big brother?” the man brought by Jiang Chengxiang looked at Jiang Zhen with a smile.

This man’s name was Yang Jing, and he was indeed a government official.

The government officer’s position in Hecheng County was basically handed down from generation to generation, from father to son. Because of this job, he could easily get some oil or water. As a result, government officers generally have a good life, and they often continue to do so for several generations, making them quite rich.

But this Yang Jing was different; he likes to gamble. He always loses all his money and has a bad life. Because of this, when Jiang Chengxiang asked him to help frighten some people, he was willing to come and make some extra money. 

“Yes, this is my eldest brother.” Jiang Chengxiang looked again at Jiang Zhen. “Big Brother, come home with us.” Old Madam Jiang would make a scene after being wronged by Jiang Zhen, but Jiang Chengxiang was reluctant to do so. He did not want the villagers to see this jest.

Jiang Zhen took one look at Jiang Chengxiang and another look at the official next to him and frowned.

He had a faint feeling that something was wrong.

Although he has acted recklessly these days, he has not gone too far. In fact, there were more people who acted more excessively in the countryside than him—drinking, gambling, ruining the family’s property, beating their wives, families driving out old people from their homes and letting them die by themselves, harming neighbors, or stealing chickens . . . In Hexi Village and the villages near Hexi Village, there were many much worse people than him. 

And for such people, everyone will say a few words at most because most of these people are vicious and no one dared to offend them, so Jiang Zhen never stood up for himself at all, but now . . . What did Jiang Chengxiang want to do coming here with a government officer?

Jiang Zhen took a defensive look at Jiang Chengxiang then slowly relaxed. The soldiers always come to subdue any situation, so there is no need for him to hide.

With a fish in one hand and a bamboo pole in the other, Jiang Zhen fell far behind Jiang Chengxiang and Yang Jing while they walked towards the Jiang family house.

“Your big brother doesn’t seem easy to mess with,” said Yang Jing, leaning closer to Jiang Chengxiang. 

“It’s just a false pose, big brother Yang. If you take the lead, you will easily take him down,” Jiang Chengxiang complimented Yang Jing.

“Of course.” On Yang Jiang’s face was an expression of gloating. He added, “Yesterday’s roast chicken was delicious.”

“Big Brother Yang, let’s eat again tonight!” Jiang Chengxiang immediately said that there was a good family roast chicken shop in Hecheng County where the roast chicken was fried in oil and then burned with special brine. The taste was exceptionally delicious and the price was not cheap. However, he was always willing to spend money for good relations with others and did not feel bad about it.

When the three of them entered the village, they attracted many people’s eyes because Yang Jing was dressed in the Yamen official clothes, and because of this, nobody dared to come and say hello.

After a short time, they arrived at the Jiang family house.

“Third son, you’re back! Your Excellency, please come in!” When old lady Jiang saw Jiang Chengxiang and Yang Jiang coming with him, her face lit up. Then she gave Jiang Zhen a look of pride and disgust.

Obviously, these people are going to do something today! Just as Jiang Zhen thought of it, he heard Jiang Chengxiang say, “Jiang Zhenwei, you kneel down before your parents!”

I guessed it right . . . Jiang Zhen looked at Jiang Chengxiang but did not kneel down.

Jiang Zheng did not kneel. Jiang Chengxiang, who wanted to suppress him with this momentum, frowned. He also felt vaguely that something was wrong. But when he saw Jiang Zhen standing there motionless, he thought he felt wrong. He looked at Jiang Zhen in an earnest manner and said, “Big Brother, do you know what you have done wrong?” 

“What did I do wrong?” Jiang Zhen looked at Jiang Chengxiang calmly.

“Big Brother, you are father and mother’s son. You shouldn’t point a knife at your parents. This is disobedience and lack of filial piety!” Jiang Chengxiang said. 

“The punishment for disobedience and lack of filial piety is beheading.” The government official had been watching the drama before him, but at this time, he looked at Jiang Zhen and said that darkly.

“Do you have the guts to stab me now, you debt collector!” old Madam Jiang shouted to Jiang Zhen. “Tomorrow, I will go to the yamen and tell them that you are disobedient and unfilial. Let the officers arrest you and chop off your head!”

“Eldest, you’d better admit your mistakes today, or we’ll be rude!” Butcher Jiang also added. After chatting with his youngest son yesterday, he learned that when children were unfilial, the parents could sue their children at the yamen. He did not want his eldest son to die, but he decided to use this method to teach his son a good lesson and make him obedient again.

Jiang Zhen knew that these people should only be threatening him. If it was only the  Jiang family threatening him, he could certainly make a scene, but now there was a government officer.

Jiang Chengxiang’s ability to find the government official showed that he had some connections in the county town. If he made a scene at this time and firmly denied his mistake, the Jiang family may actually sue him for disobedience and unfilial piety, which, in ancient times, was indeed a felony.

But to not cause a scene? Did he really want to allow the Jiang family to suppress him?

Now that he was not afraid of the government official or charges of disobedience and lack of filial piety, did Jiang Chengxiang have any means to get ahold of him?

Many thoughts flashed through Jiang Zhen’s mind. At the same time, the feelings belonging to Eldest Jiang appeared again.

There was fear and anger in that mood. The man who had been mistreated by his own parents for more than twenty years still had persistence after his own death.

He did not work for a period of time after he had nearly died. He ate a chicken and some eggs at home. Now these people even went after his life regardless of their blood ties . . . You can imagine in how much pain Eldest Jiang was.

“Will you be accusing me of disobedience and unfilial piety?” Jiang Zhen raised his head and glanced at the faces of the people in front of him, remembering all their expressions in his heart.

“Big Brother, if you keep making trouble, father and mother will sue you for disobedience and for being unfilial!” Jiang Chengxiang said. Everyone was afraid of the yamen in this village. He was clear how afraid everyone would be if caught by the yamen now. He only needed to wait for his elder brother to turn soft.

It’s just that things didn’t seem to go the way he thought. Jiang Chengxiang looked at Jiang Zhen with some pride but found that there was no expression of fear on his face and his face was still cold. For some reason, Jiang Chengxiang’s heart gave a thump and his body felt a little cold.

“A jinx like you should be caught and beheaded!” old lady Jiang said. Because of the presence of the government official, she was no longer afraid of Jiang Zhen. She even hoped that the government official would really take Eldest Jiang away. Without this jinx she surely would have a better life in the future.

Madam Jiang really wanted to kill him . . . When Jiang Zhen saw this, his heart was filled with grief and indignation. This was not his own emotion. What he wanted to do was to spread his full anger.

“Well, disobedience is being unfilial, is it? Then I will show you some right now!” Jiang Zhen suddenly said, as soon as his voice fell, he threw the fish in his hand towards old lady Jiang’s face.

When the fish fell on old lady Jiang’s face, she couldn’t help screaming. At this time, Jiang Zhen held the sharpened bamboo pole he took with him every day these days and then jabbed it at Zhen Jiang.

When the bamboo pole hit old lady Jiang, it directly swept her to the ground. Jiang Zhen stabbed the sharpened end of the pole in Butcher Jiang’s leg.

The sharp bamboo pole pierced Butcher Jiang’s leg. The bleeding made him cry out in horror.

Jiang Zhen, however, did not show any mercy. He hit him on the shoulder, knocking him to the ground.

Jiang Zhen’s sudden anger shocked Jiang Chengxiang and the official, who stood foolishly and couldn’t respond at all. Jiang Zhen was already looking at them by then.

Jiang Zhen’s eyes were very cold. Jiang Chengxiang trembled unconsciously after meeting his eyes. “What do you want?” 

“Aren’t you going to accuse me of disobedience and unfilial piety? I’ll just kill you first.” Jiang Zhen sneered and directly stabbed Jiang Chengxiang’s thigh.

“Ah!” Jiang Chengxiang thigh was stabbed, and a bloodstain suddenly appeared. He looked at Jiang Zheng in horror. He didn’t expect Jiang Zheng to actually do it. 

“Stop it!” Yang Jing pulled out a knife from his waist and looked at Jiang Zhen in horror. When ordinary people see a government official they became like quails, but this man dared to do it! “Don’t you want to die? I’m going to put you in jail! “ 

“You want to arrest me? Then I’ll kill myself first.” Jiang Zhen hit Yang Jing with the bamboo pole.

Yang Jing, with a nearly two feet long waist knife, wanted to cut Jiang Zheng, but Jiang Zheng had already distanced himself from him. How could he cut him down now? 

As a weapon, the bamboo pole was not comparable to a knife in some respects, but in some ways, it was better than a knife; at least, it was long enough.

There was some distance between them. Yang Jing could not cut him with the knife, but he could hit Yang Jing with the bamboo pole.

Jiang Zhen’s bamboo pole hit the knife in Yang Jing’s hands, making it directly fly out, then he hit Yang Jing with the pole again.

If it was in modern times, Jiang Zhen would never fight against a police officer similar to that of an ancient yamen officer because it was an easy way to get killed.

If he committed a crime in modern times, he would be caught in less than two days, and he couldn’t fight modern weapons through physical force alone. In this case, of course, he couldn’t foolishly confront the police.

But these were the ancient times.

Although artillery was already used these days, it would only be used in the army. In most places, it was not bad for soldiers in the army to have a knife, and he was not afraid of others who use a knife against him at all!

There was not even a camera here, which meant that, even if he committed a crime, as long as he ran far away and was not recognized, he could start over somewhere else. 

In fact, it was also very simple to run, although in ancient times the traffic was inconvenient, it was also inconvenient for those officials!

Of course, Jiang Zhen had no intention of committing a crime or escaping. He was still waiting to marry Zhao Jinge.

He now . . . just wanted to beat up these people who didn’t have good eyes.

Yamen – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamen

Edited by : Faro

Proofreader: Taalia

Translator Lajna

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