Chapter 23

Village Head Zhou knew he had done Huo Lin wrong, but there was nothing he could do—he was the village head, and he had to think about the entire village, for the good of all of Pingshan Village.

Few of the village's young people now remembered what the Huo family had originally been, but he, as village head, remembered. Because the mark on Huo Lin's father's face was etched into his heart like a brand, and it gnawed at him day and night.

That was a criminal's brand, after all.

The Huo family was an unusual presence in the village. The villagers only knew that Huo Lin's father bore a criminal's brand on his face; they had no idea how serious that brand really was.

The laws of their Daliang Dynasty were still quite lenient.

Petty thieves were never branded on the face; they were given a chance to turn their lives around.

But for major criminals, murderers would be branded on the face and left to await their execution in the fall. Very few of those ever got out alive.

Yet Huo Lin's family had managed to escape and had lived in their village for two generations—that was worth looking into.

Were they exiled criminals of the court, or had they run off mid-sentence?

Pingshan Village's location was just too perfect for hiding court fugitives. No—more like it was the perfect place to hide from the world.

Three big mountains blocked off the road to the county seat. The family had tucked themselves away at the foot of the mountains. Huo Lin's father was also a hell of a hunter—his archery was dead on. Who knew what he'd done before? Robbery? Murder?

That would still be manageable—if caught, it wouldn't drag anyone else down. But if he was the kind of court criminal whose crime got nine generations of his family wiped out, that would be real trouble.

Village Head Zhou was just a village head, after all. Though he didn't know the names of those exiled for backing the wrong side in court politics, he had a gut feeling that type was the most terrifying—if things went south, the whole village could be wiped out along with them.

Village Head Zhou had once tried to sound out Huo Lin's father, Huo Yunfeng, while he was still alive, but Huo Yunfeng had always brushed it off like it was nothing.

He was a man of few words too, with a permanently grim face, and he never joined in with the crowd. His wife stayed shut up in the house all day too—the whole family lived like they were sealed off from the world.

In their first year in the village, folks still couldn't get a full read on him.

When folks met him on the road and saw him carrying that machete and bow, they kept their distance. Especially after the year he hauled a tiger down off the mountain—people would practically run the other way at the sight of him, scared he'd put an arrow through their eye.

Even though one year, when villagers went up the mountain to gather herbs and got trapped up there with the passes sealed by ice and snow, it was Huo Yunfeng who followed the tracks into the mountains and carried the man who'd fallen into a valley back out. Even though Huo Yunfeng had saved people more than once, the villagers still feared him—or rather, they feared him even more because of it.

The unknown crime and his extraordinary skill kept the villagers on edge.

Huo Yunfeng's wife was sickly all the time. Whether it was from the shock of what happened to their family or she was just naturally frail, after giving birth to Huo Lin, her health got even worse. Even with Huo Yunfeng out gathering medicinal herbs all year round, he couldn't keep her alive.

After she died, Huo Yunfeng never remarried—which is why the Huo family line was so sparse.

After Huo Lin's father died, the Huo family was down to just Huo Lin. From that point on, Village Head Zhou had been scheming ways to get him to leave.

As long as the Huo family left, he could actually build up Pingshan Village.

For so many years, his poor mountain village hadn't made a lick of progress, because he didn't dare let any government officials into the village—let alone build a road straight to the county seat.

Strictly speaking, their village wasn't that far from the county seat, but in between were winding dirt slopes, peach orchards, and farmland, plus a river running right across the front of the village. For hundreds of years, there'd been no bridge over that river—they always had to go around through Sun Family Hollow to get to the county.

If he could put in the work and build a bridge over the river, they wouldn't have to detour through Sun Family Village anymore, and the county would be just a half-hour walk away.

Then their village wouldn't be so damn poor.

And even if that project couldn't be finished in a short time, what about generation after generation? His son would eventually take over as village head, and he had to think about his son and grandsons, right?

He knew the story of the Foolish Old Man Who Moved the Mountains.

It should've been the perfect setup—right time, right place, right people.

When the village's corvée labor was turned into military conscription, he suggested to the yamen runner that Huo Lin go. At that moment, his mind just went blank and the words slipped out.

He hadn't meant for Huo Lin to die. What if Huo Lin made a name for himself on the battlefield and could atone for his crimes through merit?

And what if he did die...

Later, Huo Lin died just like he'd imagined.

Village Head Zhou's mood back then couldn't exactly be called good. His haggling with those knife-carrying runners had been a genuine attempt to make up for it.

Though he'd also genuinely wanted to drive Chen Jue out of the village.

Because Chen Jue was pregnant.

When Village Head Zhou found out Chen Jue was pregnant, his heart sank. His first thought was: just how hard were these Huo family members to kill? One dies, another pops up—their roots ran too deep to pull out.

He wasn't heartless enough to hurt Chen Jue. Having already done Huo Lin wrong was enough to keep him up at night with guilt.

He just wanted Chen Jue to take the kid and go back to her parents' place.

As long as she left Pingshan Village, she wouldn't be one of their villagers anymore, and she wouldn't be a Huo anymore either. Then if the court ever came looking to punish them, they wouldn't find her, and the village wouldn't get dragged into it.

So Village Head Zhou had said those words to Chen Jue in front of Huo Lin's memorial mound. It was just a shame his scheme fell apart when it met Chen Jue's clear, piercing gaze.

Chen Jue had seen right through him and warned him.

Village Head Zhou felt embarrassed and a little guilty at the same time. He didn't know how he'd slowly become this kind of person.

He'd been tormented by that criminal brand on the Huo family for so many years, unable to sleep or eat in peace, day and night. Especially when he saw his youngest son taking a shine to Chen Jue, he felt even worse.

And so, step by step, things had come to this.

Now it was too late to say anything—Huo Lin had come back from the dead.

Village Head Zhou stared blankly at the light spilling out of the Huo family's stone house. Just like many years ago, every time he looked at the light from those three rooms, it felt like a sword was hanging over his head, and he never knew when it would drop.

What's meant to come will come. If Chen Jue had told her husband about how he'd tried to drive her away, he'd apologize to Huo Lin too.

He just didn't know whether Huo Lin knew he'd conspired to send him to the front lines.

If he knew, then...

Village Head Zhou dragged his heavy feet forward.

Uncle Zhou and Zhou Dajiang stood up and hurried to the door to greet him: "Village Head, what brings you here?"

Village Head Zhou walked into the yard and immediately spotted Huo Lin sitting there. He just sat there, making no move to get up and greet him. Village Head Zhou's heart dropped. In the past, even though Huo Lin was quiet, he'd still been polite to him as village head—he'd greet him when they met, and step aside when they crossed paths on the road. He knew his place.

But now Huo Lin just sat there, calm as can be, looking at him. What did he mean by that? Had he found out what he'd done and decided he didn't have to show him respect anymore?

Village Head Zhou's heart was heavy, but he forced a smile: "Dalin, you're back. That's great. How'd the war go?"

Chen Jue caught Zhou Qingzhu secretly rolling his eyes. He hated hearing Village Head Zhou spout all that official crap—never three sentences without bringing up the battlefield, like he knew anything about it.

Only then did Huo Lin stand up and say flatly, "Village Head."

Village Head Zhou gave him a long, hard look. Seeing that there was no change in his expression, no change in his voice, and no mention of the battlefield, his worry eased up a bit. He figured Huo Lin probably didn't know.

Village Head Zhou felt a weight lift off his shoulders and instinctively turned his concern to Huo Lin, asking how he was feeling. Once he knew Huo Lin was okay, he smiled and asked how they were getting by now, saying he'd be allocating them land so their family could settle in and live well...

He was talking a lot more than when he usually put on his official airs. Among those present, only Uncle Liu seemed to know something; the others thought it was odd, and what was even stranger was how indifferent Huo Lin was to Village Head Zhou's warmth.

If Village Head Zhou usually talked to people like this, they'd have felt really honored.

Village Head Zhou went on talking for a while before it finally hit him that he was the only one talking.

Whenever he showed up, nobody else really chimed in—he was, after all, some kind of village official, and the villagers were all respectful and stiff around him, instinctively keeping their distance.

With that in mind, Village Head Zhou figured it was time to head out.

As he was leaving, he asked Huo Jilin once more: "Dalin, did you all win? You came back last, so you should know, right? That Grand General of Valor of our court—he won, right?"

He wanted to confirm whether Huo Lin had distinguished himself. If he had, that would be great...

This time, Huo Lin answered: "Village Head, I wasn't the last one back. When I left, we were winning."

Won? So does that mean he earned some merit?

Village Head Zhou asked, sounding eager: "So that counts as earning merit, right? Any idea if there's a reward?"

Huo Lin said indifferently: "Maybe there is."

Village Head Zhou, seeing how indifferent he looked, froze for a moment and said sheepishly: "I get it—the court will hand out rewards for merit step by step."

Village Head Zhou couldn't think of anything else nice to say. Dealing with the Huo family had always been like this—no matter how much he said, they'd just toss back a word or two.

Especially today, facing this Huo Lin who'd just come back from war, he felt a wall between them, like they weren't even the same species, like the difference between heaven and earth.

Here he was, a village head, and he was left speechless in front of some young whippersnapper.

Finally, Village Head Zhou couldn't take Huo Lin's coldness anymore, said a quick goodbye, and left.

After he left, the others, even though they didn't want to leave, knew they should—Huo Lin had just gotten back and needed to rest up, plus the couple had just been reunited and must have a ton to talk about.

So they also laughed and said their goodbyes.

"Brother Huolin, Jue Geer, we've been barging in on you for so long—don't get annoyed with us. Today was just so great." Zhang Yan said to Chen Jue, smiling.

Chen Jue, looking at Zhang Yan's big belly, said: "It's dark out, so take a lantern with you when you go. Oh, by the way," he looked over at Aunt Zhou, "Auntie, Zhang Yan's due this month, isn't she?"

Aunt Zhou was Zhang Yan's mother-in-law, and Zhang Yan's family were all pretty nice people.

Aunt Zhou was really careful about this pregnancy of Zhang Yan's, and sure enough, she said: "Yes, Old Doctor Tang Fangzhou from the county said the baby's due this month."

Tang Fangzhou was that old doctor from the county, really experienced in pediatrics and gynecology—his pulse readings were never wrong.

"Have you lined up the midwife yet?" Chen Jue asked. Now that Huo Lin was here, he was afraid he'd forget about it later, so he wanted to ask now.

Since Zhang Yan was about to give birth, it was best to get everything ready early.