The Plough – Chapter 17

Ling Shu: my life is too difficult.
“What new development?”

Originally Ling Shu was ready to lie down but hearing what he said, he came back up to a seated position.

Yue Dingtang didn’t beat around the bush, he directly took out a gun and a bunch of bullets from a leather bag.

Things have developed to the present, not only was Ling Shu involved, even he could no longer stay out of it.

The culprit clearly didn’t want them to find out any more clues. But last night, they weren’t able to kill him, so their actions backfired. Instead, the culprit had made them certain that they were going down the right track.

“The gun and bullets were left by the shooter.”

Ling Shu took the gun from him.

“M1906, commonly called Derringer. Light and nimble, it’s convenient to carry around. From what I know, the key players in Nanjing and even some ladies use it for self-defense. This is a popular handgun. At present, the only way to buy this is through a foreign firm who imports it into the country, even though it’s expensive it’s relatively easy to buy.”

Yue Dingtang lifted his chin slightly. “Look at it more closely.”

If he said that he must have discovered something. Ling Shu looked at it very carefully, picking up a few bullets, looking at one after another, then putting them down. Then he picked up the gun again, after a while, his eyebrows raised.

“What is this?”

The gun was very new, perhaps it had only been used a couple of times, it was at least 90% new.

But Ling Shu discovered that on the trigger there was a sticky residue stuck to it.

He tried to dig at it with his thumb, after getting some off, he put it up to his nose to smell, he was slightly taken aback.

Ling Shu looked at Yue Dingtang, the latter nodded.

“It’s Patna.”

When they were looking around Du Yunning’s room, they accidentally stumbled on the opium residue under her bed.

And it was the same as this Patna.

“Too many coincidences turn into certainty. Can I assume that the two men who attacked us that night were also the ones who lured Du Yunning into trying opium?”

Yue Dingtang said: “Du Yunning once abhorred opium because her grandfather and her father were both heavy users of opium. Her grandfather also died because of it. She was also a educated person1More specifically, he is saying that she went to school, as it is the 1930’s – women had only just begun to go to school, before that they were still at home, or educated on confucian values, and cooking, cleaning, embroidery etc, so under normal circumstances she would absolutely not get into this kind of stuff.”

Ling Shu very naturally continued his train of thought: “After she got married, Yuan Bing was quite taken with her beauty in the beginning, but that didn’t last, all of Shanghai knows that Yuan Bing loved taking dancers out to play, and he even kept a few of them. Even though Du Yunning had a luxurious lifestyle, she was not happy at all. The more she indulged in the glory and wealth, the more empty her heart was. Under the lure of Hong Xiaoguang, she started smoking opium. This is perfectly plausible.”

Yue Dingtang: “So far we still don’t know what Hong Xiaoguang and his accomplices want from the Yuan family, but if they had been able to completely control Du Yunning then it would have been easy to achieve their goal.”

Ling Shu: “Why didn’t they go through Yuan Bing? This person has a weak temperament. He’s a philanderer, wouldn’t he have been an easier mark? And since he is the patriarch of the Yuan family, he must know more than Du Yunning. What he doesn’t know, there is no way Du Yunning would know.”

Yue Dingtang: “How do you know they didn’t try?”

They were both silent, the two of them just stared blankly.

Then, they looked at each other, as if they had just thought of something.

At this moment in time, the sound of someone knocking on the door was heard.

The two of them could only put their discussion on hold.

Yue Dingtang put away the gun and bullets.

“Please come in.”

The person who came in was Yue Chunxiao.

She was carrying a bag, there was a basket in her hand and behind her was a male servant, who was holding food boxes in both hands.

“Are you both alright? I brought some food for you.”

She put down the fruit basket, and she looked over Yue Dingtang. After confirming that aside from his arm he didn’t have any other serious injuries, her gaze fixed on Ling Shu.
“Are you Ling Shu? Do you still remember me?”

Ling Shu smiled: “Chunxiao-jie, how can I forget? Once upon a time, I went to Yue manor with Du Yunning, you even personally made us some snacks, at that time, Yue Dingtang and I even praised you.”

His head and neck were both bandaged, he was wearing the patient’s gown. He had a soft smile on his face, he looked like a cute little helpless animal in need of love and care.

Yue Chunxiao already liked him but seeing the real person before her eyes, she found that he was even better looking than she remembered. Her heart erupted with affection from his smile.

“Why are you so hurt! What did the doctor say? I think this hospital doesn’t look that great, how about I get someone to find you a better one!”

She moved in closer to inspect his wounds, the more she saw the more she felt sorry for him.

“Why would you suddenly hurt your head, what will we do if it leaves a scar? Are you feeling dizzy, can you move?”

“I’m fine, Chunxiao-jie, it’s just a scrape on the back of my head but the rest of me is fine.”

“That’s even worse! A head injury is no joke, just like broken hands and feet. Jie brought you some food and drink over, there is Chinese food and Western food, but the time it took to get here was a little long, the taste may be a little different from when it was freshly made, open them yourself to see what you’d like to eat!”

Yue Dingtang saw the two of them talking and laughing, he had no words.

If one didn’t know, they’d think that the two of them were brother and sister, and he was just some passerby.

“Have you both forgotten that I’m also here?”

Yue Chunxiao turned around and stared at him.

“It’s not like you’re gravely hurt, isn’t it just a graze on the arm, you just need some rest and it’ll be fine. Ling Shu hurt his head, he needs to recover, otherwise if he has any problems in the future, what should we do?”

Yue Dingtang:……

Yue Chunxiao was puzzled: “I still don’t know, why on earth did you both get hurt? And to the extent of having to stay over at the hospital. The person that came to report to me didn’t explain it clearly, I thought you were both in a car accident!”

Ling Shu: “Lao-yue’s arm is a gunshot wound, but luckily he wasn’t hit, the bullet grazed him.”

Yue Chunxiao’s face changed, first she stared at Yue Dingtang with great detail after confirming that he was fine, then she turned to look at Ling Shu and took a deep breath.

“Are those also gunshot wounds?”

Ling Shu said in a cute manner: “At the time, Yue Dingtang was trapped by a gunman, I rushed out to save him, I just suffered a few heavy blows, it’s not serious.”

Yue Dingtang:……

He thought that what Ling Shu was saying was a little deranged, but it was also true that he had saved his life, this was without a doubt.

If it hadn’t been for Ling Shu’s kick at that time, now he would have been lying down in the morgue facing the tears of his san-jie.

Yue Chunxiao on hearing this was greatly alarmed.

“What gunman? Why would that happen? Who have you both offended? should I send a telegram to da-ge and er-ge and tell them to rush back!”

Yue Dingtang lowered his voice: “We can sort this out ourselves, no need to worry da-ge and er-ge.”

Seeing his expression Yue Chunxiao thought for a while and then looked at Ling Shu again and she felt her heart ache again.

“Child, you’re Dingtang’s saviour, and from today you’re also the saviour of our Yue family. From now on I’ll treat you like my own brother, you don’t need to be polite with me,if you need something just ask. Quick come take a look at what jiejie has brought you to eat!”

She asked the servant who came with her to open the boxes up one by one.

The aroma of steamed pork and sweet and sour fish was the first to come out and occupy the room, whilst the ginseng chicken soup followed slowly in an orderly manner.

Even though Ling Shu had just finished the chicken soup that Ling Yao had brought, that did not prevent him from salivating when he saw the sweet and sour fish.
As soon as Yue Chunxiao saw that she laughed and quickly took out the chopsticks, and gave it to him.

“The sweet and sour fish is best when it is freshly made. The skin is crispy and the meat is tender, sweet and sour. The batter will become soft after a long time, and the sweet and sour sauce will also be too sticky, and the taste will disappear.”

Yue Ding Tang, on the other hand, preferred the pork knuckle dish.

The stew was so soft that all the bones were removed, and the vinaigrette from the soya sauce was wrapped around the pork skin, reflecting the crystal shine.

The meat can’t just be fatty meat, but it has to be fatty and lean and it just melts in the mouth.

With this dish of stewed pig’s knuckles, Yue Dingtang could finish an entire bowl of rice.

The two had just started eating when Ling Yao came back and she’d brought back a bag of oranges.

Yue Chunxiao just turned around, and the two pairs of eyes met each other. Ling Yao’s smile froze.

Yue Dingtang had heard the complaints made by his san-jie at home, and he was afraid that she was going to say something snarky. He was about to create a diversion, but Yue Chunxiao had already spoken.

“You came to see Ling Shu.”

Her attitude seemed to be normal.

Ling Yao said yes, and nodded her head in agreement. Seeing Ling Shu was in the midst of eating sweet and sour fish, her smile disappeared immediately.

Ling Shu quickly put down his chopsticks, he tried to pacify the situation: “Jie, you’re finally back, I’ve been waiting for you to come back with my oranges for so long!”

Ling Yao’s eyebrows twitched: “You’re already eating fish, why would you want to eat oranges now? You just bumped your head, now you’re trying to ruin your stomach as well?”

Ling Shu: “Of course not, I love eating the oranges that you buy!”

Ling Yao said coldly: “I’m taking the oranges home, you should drink some more plain boiled water.”

Yue Chunxiao couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Why are you taking it out on the kid! He’s already seriously injured, why can’t he eat a bit more to recover? Why would anyone be eating oranges in the middle of winter, it’s freezing cold outside. How could anyone swallow this, you might as well have bought them in a tin! If you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t make Ling Shu suffer with you!”

Ling Yao was furious: “This is my younger brother, it’s not your brother. What’s it got to do with you!”

Ling Shu: “……Jie, Chun Xiao-jie, I wanted the oranges, it’s my fault. Please both of you don’t get worked up.”

Yue Chunxiao: “Look how good this child is! He is not my brother but I think of him as my own brother. I’m actually worried about him, aside from disciplining him and scolding him, what else do you do?”

Ling Yao: “Well it’s better than you! Ever since we were in high school, you’ve always loved to show off, like a hen, clucking here and there all day long, don’t think I don’t know, that you always speak ill of me behind my back! ”

Yue Chunxiao: “I’ve been speaking ill of you? Why don’t you ask yourself, who among the female classmates actually liked you when we were at school, and you still say that I was talking about you behind your back? You had a different outfit on every day, and you’re saying I’m the one that likes to show off?!”

Yue Dingtang supported his head with his hand.

Yue Dingtang was usually very well-spoken and eloquent with his words and he had never been rendered speechless, but at this moment he really couldn’t intervene.

— He’d finally understood what it meant to be a bystander caught up in a war between women.

He couldn’t help turning his head to look at Ling Shu.

The latter had already laid down on the bed, the quilt is covered up high and displaying a “I’m resting, please don’t disturb” kind of face.

Yue Dingtang:……

He was in a hurry and ran to Ling Shu’s bedside.

“Ling Shu, what is it, wake up!”

The two women immediately stopped arguing and looked towards Ling Shu with nervous faces.
Xiao-di, are you okay!”

“Quick, call a doctor!”

The doctor rushed in, there was also the nurse following closely behind him.

“Where does it hurt?”

Ling Shu hung his head, he looked weak and pale, utterly pitiful and helpless.

“I don’t know, I just felt a bout of dizziness, I couldn’t even sit up in the bed, I had to lie down.”

Without the sister’s seeing him, Yue Dingtang gave Ling Shu a thumbs up for his acting skills.

Ling Shu thought to himself – my life is too difficult.

4 thoughts on “The Plough – Chapter 17”

  1. Their sisters are already treating them like their own brothers lol. I guess there won’t be too issues when they do get together.
    Thank you for the translation! The updates have made my day

    Reply
  2. Ah hah haha. But I still want to know more about LS especially about what he was doing in freezing snow with a gun…and how is it connected to someone framing him. Is he some special force or sniper…? Hmmm

    Reply

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