“What’s the matter with you?” Jiang Zhen asked again. He had never had the patience to deal with others unless it was Zhao Jinge.

“Boss Jiang, can you help me? My father owes Liu Heitou money. He won’t leave our family alone,” He Qiusheng said. He lowered his head, and he felt a bit embarrassed at the thought of his parents’ demands. He didn’t want to steal other people’s men, and he didn’t think he could do it. As for being a concubine . . .

He used to think that, as long as the man who proposed marriage to him had money, even if he was a bit older or if he wanted to marry him to fill a house, it would be fine, but he had never considered being a concubine.

In Hexi, even Zhao Dahu only had one wife, but there were a few concubines in the county town. Yet, he heard that the life of the concubines in the county town was very difficult. It was just . . . if he wanted Jiang Zhen’s help, he needed to pay a price, right? Their family had nothing to give except for him.

He Qiusheng turned around various ideas in his mind, thinking about what to do next, when he heard Jiang Zhen say firmly, “Not helping.”

At the beginning, when Liu Heitou wanted to take He Qiusheng away, Jiang Zhen made a move because he felt that it was not good that He Qiusheng was being taken away as a minor. But it didn’t help He Qiusheng let Liu Heitou write off the account. Even if he could repeat that situation now, there was no need for him to come up with the money.

And there was a reason for this. Whether Liu Heitou had deliberately designed it or not, it was a fact that He Qiusheng’s father borrowed money and was not forced to do so. He was in no position to let other people write off his debt. Moreover, he gave Liu Heitou some face this way. Even if Liu Heitou was beaten, he would not come to trouble him, if he found he was difficult to deal with. But he still had the help of his family if it went too far. Liu Heitou had a lot of people under him, and they all had a way of making trouble for him.

Of course, there was another reason why he did that. He didn’t want to be pestered by He Qiusheng’s father. That kind of person, who knew clearly that his family had no money but still borrowed money in order to gamble, had no bottom line. He was capable of anything. If he were to help them pay off the gambling debt this time, next time, Father He would probably dare to borrow money everywhere under his name. When that time came and something happened to the He family again, would he have to help again?

Jiang Zhen always felt that everyone was responsible for their own life, so when he rescued the two women from the hands of the water bandits, he let them go without saying anything. After he rescued He Qiusheng from Liu Heitou’s hands, he did not care about their family’s debt and let them handle it themselves.

You can save others once, but not for a lifetime. If you want to live a good life, you still have to rely on yourself.

“Liu Heitou is vicious. He will kill my father, as well as my brothers and then . . .. You . . . I can do anything as long as you are willing to help,” He Qiusheng said, summoning his courage to look at Jiang Zhen.

“I won’t help,” Jiang Zhen repeated. Now that he had someone, it was even less likely for him to help. He didn’t want Zhao Jinge to misunderstand and be sad.

“Why? Why don’t you want to help me when you’re so strong?” He Qiusheng couldn’t help asking.

“No matter how powerful I am, I have nothing to do with you!” Jiang Zhen said, ignoring him. Then he directly went to work on the other side. In his opinion, these fourteen or fifteen-year-olds were the most difficult ones to get along with. If it was not necessary, he didn’t want to have contact with them at all.

He Qiusheng looked at Jiang Zhen, who was ignoring him; he felt frustrated and walked away. He was obviously very good-looking, so why didn’t this Jiang Zhen take him seriously? He wanted to go, but he thought of his mother, who had been wiping her tears these days, and his two brothers, who were already beaten up. He gritted his teeth and chased after him.

“Brother Jiang, please help me! Can’t I pay you back later? My father borrowed thirty silver. As long as you make Liu Heitou remit the debt, I will pay you fifty silver later.” He was good-looking and if he was merciless, even fifty silver would be offered as a bride price!

Jiang Zhen didn’t even bother to speak this time. It was not a question of silver at all. Old lady Jiang liked making trouble, but at least, she didn’t gamble. But what about He Qiusheng’s father? He was a bottomless hole. The He family didn’t think of any way to deal with this bottomless hole, and kept trying to fill in the money, which would only make this bottomless hole grow bigger and bigger.

“Boss Jiang, you can beat up Liu Heitou. You are powerful. Please help me!” He Qiusheng pleaded again.

“I didn’t do it right at the beginning.” Jiang Zhen was a bit annoyed. “You better get out of here quickly, or I’ll beat you!” When Jiang Zhen spoke, he pointed his axe at He Qiusheng. The cold and gleaming axe pointed at him startled him and he fell to the ground.

Jiang Zhen left again, but He Qiusheng did not dare to follow him this time. He had no choice but to walk gloomily back to the village.

When Zhao Liu came to deliver food to Jiang Zhen, she saw He Qiusheng at a glance and immediately felt a thumping in her heart. She also knew that Jiang Zhen had saved He Qiusheng from Liu Heitou. She wanted to ask Jiang Zhen, along with Zhao Fugui, about that yesterday, but Jiang Zhen gave them one hundred silver and they were so stunned that they forgot. Now . . . He Qiusheng came here to find Jiang Zhen, didn’t he?

Zhao Liu looked at Jiang Zhen, her future son-in-law, and the more she looked, the happier she was. Now she felt that Jiang Zhen was a piece of meat that everyone wanted to eat. He was immediately raised even higher in her heart.

After passing by He Qiusheng, Zhao Liu quickly found Jiang Zhen.

Jiang Zhen bought land with a tree forest on one side and a bamboo forest on the other. Because no one took care of them, the two forests had become too dense. Jiang Zhen planned to cut down some trees and some bamboo, so that the land below could have some sunshine. In the future, he would sweep away the leaves and the bamboo, and plant some seeds, so that green vegetables could be grown. The ducks and the chicken, they all could eat vegetables as well.

Edited by : Faro

Proofreader: Taalia

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