The Village of the Oxen Heart

“Hey~ let me tell you, that Shangjing City, it’s huge! Just walking, you couldn’t finish it even in days and days!!”

“Do you know how wide the roads in Shangjing are? I’ll tell you—twenty carriages could race side by side with room to spare!”

“And the girls in Shangjing’s pleasure houses? Tsk tsk tsk, never mind their looks—just one call from them and your bones would go soft.”

“And the people there? They eat like it’s New Year’s every day! Even the stray dogs on the street get meat!”

Beneath the big tree at the head of Niuxin Village, Gouwa sat smugly on a large rock, cradling his rice bowl. He was regaling the nearby tenant farmers—none of whom had ever seen the world—with a vivid, exaggerated tale of his recent trip to Shangjing.

These people had barely traveled a hundred li from the village in their entire lives. Naturally, they had no frame of reference. Gouwa had them completely spellbound. They forgot to eat, their minds racing with fantasies of the Shangjing City he described.

Gouwa basked in their gasps of amazement, a smug sense of superiority swelling in his chest.

Then, like a general heading off to battle, he waved his hand grandly. “Hmph, I’ll tell you, Shangjing is nothing special. I didn’t think much of it. If you want to talk about real grandeur, you have to see the Imperial Palace where the Emperor lives!”

“That place—the pillars and roofs are inlaid with gold, and the floors you walk on are made of jade. Just imagine how much that’s worth.”

“Hey! Normal people can’t get into a place like that. But I got in! Want to know why?”

“You know that big dumb oaf? The one who used to be the head of Niuxin Village’s militia? Well, he’s the Emperor of Daliang now.”

“Don’t forget, he’s my senior brother. That makes me, Cao Cao, a relative of the imperial family, doesn’t it?”

“Hmph! Outrageous! This is getting more and more absurd!” Wu Fuzi, who had been eavesdropping, could no longer hold his tongue.

For Wu Fuzi, the Son of Heaven on high was not to be profaned.

If he ever passed the imperial examinations, he would become a disciple of the Emperor himself after the palace exam.

“You brat, watch your tongue! You can say that here, but if the authorities hear you, you’ll lose your head!”

“Hey~! You bookworm, just because you have a little ink in your belly doesn’t mean you know everything. What the hell do you know?”

“Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous! You scoundrel! Don’t ever come to my school again!”

“Ha, that’s a joke. When has your Grandpa Cao ever set foot in there? You couldn’t pay me to go.”

Seeing that the two were about to come to blows, the people nearby quickly intervened, and a fight was averted.

“Hey, Gouwa,” someone piped up. “If your senior brother is the Emperor and Shangjing is so great, why did you come back?”

Gouwa, still sitting there, shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth and said with a look of utter disdain, “Gao Zhijian begged me to stay with him. Said Shangjing was too big and he had no one to talk to.”

“But am I the kind of person who forgets his roots? I told that fool right then and there: ‘Fool, don’t blame your junior brother for being indifferent to fame and fortune. Even if you were the Emperor, even if you were a god in heaven, if I, Cao Cao, don’t want to go, I won’t go!’”

He saw the looks of admiration all around him and a flicker of pride crossed his face. But he had already figured it out.

A man who looked like him, even if he lived in Shangjing, would still be secretly looked down upon, quietly despised. Gouwa knew it well: compared to normal people, they were freaks.

He had a thick face; it didn’t bother him. But when his daughter grew up, she would have stones thrown at her from a distance, and people would whisper behind her back.

So why should he grovel and force himself to stay where he wasn’t wanted?

Zhao Wu and Xiaoman also had no intention of staying in Shangjing. Gouwa figured their reasons were the same as his.

At least here in Niuxin Village, this was their territory—the land of the crippled and the deformed. No one dared look down on them here.

Having finished spinning his tall tales to the tenant farmers, Gouwa felt immensely pleased with himself. He picked up his empty bowl and ambled lazily back towards the Bai Family Compound.

Just as he stepped through the gate, he saw Lyu Xiucai coming out, greasy traces of food still around his mouth. “Xiucai, morning! Had breakfast?”

Lyu Xiucai looked at the man’s shiftless demeanor, his eyes full of contempt. This guy had no ambition. The moment he had free time, he ran off to brag to others. He would be left far behind soon enough.

When he himself became a master like the old teacher, that bastard would just have to wait and regret it!

Seeing that Xiucai wouldn’t acknowledge him, Gouwa didn’t take offense. He was just humming a tune as he entered the main hall.

As soon as he walked in, he saw Yang Xiaohai and his “big wife” clearing away the dishes.

A year had passed, and Yang Xiaohai had shot up another few inches. Perhaps it was the good food in Niuxin Village, but Gouwa noticed that Yang Xiaohai was now nearly as tall as he was, and his features had grown much sharper.

Gouwa tossed his bowl onto the table. “So? Has that fool found your parents yet?”

Yang Xiaohai shook his head. “That eunuch told me to go back and wait. Said they’d send someone to let me know when they found them. Maybe it’s taking a while.”

“Two people, and it’s taking this long to find them? Doesn’t seem like this Emperor is all that powerful,” Gouwa declared smugly, then clasped his hands behind his back and sauntered away.

After Gouwa left, the pear-faced woman beside him looked at Yang Xiaohai. “Don’t worry. They’ll be found eventually.”

“Mn. I’m not worried.” Yang Xiaohai had just spoken when he suddenly felt a pair of hands snake around from behind him, pulling him into a soft embrace.

Yang Xiaohai struggled for a bit before finally breaking free. First, he nervously looked up at the ceiling, then, face flushed crimson, he said to the woman in front of him, “What are you doing?! Senior Brother Li is upstairs!”

The woman looked at the young man’s flustered face and gave a simple, honest smile. “Don’t be shy. Besides, I wasn’t doing anything.”

Yang Xiaohai shot her a glare, couldn’t be bothered to retort, and picked up the wooden tub full of dirty dishes before heading towards the kitchen.

“What are you doing that for? I’m your wife, aren’t I?” The woman picked up the slop bucket and followed him.

“No! I never said you were my wife!”

Yang Xiaohai tossed the dishes into the pot of boiling greens and began washing them with practiced speed.

He scrubbed for a long while before realizing it had grown too quiet. When he turned around, he saw the woman leaning against the kitchen door, silently crying.

“Are you disgusted with me? Because I was pulled out of a bandit den? If you are, just say it. I won’t hold you back.”

Faced with this, Yang Xiaohai was at a loss for how to respond. His only instinct was to not let the woman in front of him feel hurt.

“No, it’s not that... I just don’t understand. I don’t know what to do.”

The woman’s tear-streaked face broke into a smile. She wiped her face with her hand, stepped into the kitchen, and casually pulled the door shut behind her. “It’s alright. It’s fine if you don’t understand. I’ll teach you. I’ll teach you everything.”