Chapter Eighteen Return to the Lin Family

  Li Mingfeng felt depressed, this was the second time he had been knocked unconscious. The dizzy and numb feeling was really uncomfortable. Rubbing his still painful head, Li Mingfeng sat up from the bed.

  This was the room he lived in yesterday, this was his first feeling, it seems that after fainting, it was someone from the Lin family who saved him back. He also didn't know why the horse would suddenly throw him off, could it be the legendary evil horse hair?

  Just as Li Mingfeng was lost in thought, creak, the door opened.

  "Old master, are you awake? Wait a moment, I'll go and report to the master." Lin Sheng came in and then turned around and ran out.

  Before long, Lin Dehai ran over quickly, his legs were even better than those of a 20-year-old young man. After entering, Lin Dehai made a move that Li Mingfeng never expected. With a "thud", Lin Dehai actually knelt down in front of Li Mingfeng's bed, and tears fell uncontrollably.

  "Mr. Lin, what are you doing? This won't do." Li Mingfeng hastily got out of bed to help Lin Dehai, but as soon as his foot touched the ground, he felt a sharp pain in his calf. Losing balance, he fell back onto the bed.

  Seeing this scene, Lin Dehai was so frightened that he hurriedly supported Li Mingfeng, his face turned pale with fright.

  "What's wrong with my leg?" Li Mingfeng was also scared out of his wits, this fall from the horse could have left him disabled.

  "Don't worry, old master. You fell off the horse and broke your leg, but we've already found a doctor to set it for you. The doctor said that as long as you don't move around too much, you'll be fully recovered in a hundred days at most." Lin Dehai noticed Li Mingfeng's concern.

  "How could my horse lose its hoof?" Li Mingfeng asked calmly.

  Upon hearing this, Lin Dehai's face suddenly turned pale and colorless.

  Seeing this expression, Li Mingfeng was not stupid enough to know that his broken leg had something to do with this old man. Lin Dehai has been paying attention to Li Mingfeng's expression, seeing his face suddenly turn cold, and also understand what Li Mingfeng has realized.

  After a moment of hesitation, Lin Dehai stuttered and told everything.

  The Lin family actually has seven people, Lin Dehai and his son Lin Xing Sheng, as well as the young servant Lin Sheng. Li Mingfeng had seen them all before. Lin Dehai also had a wife, He Shi, whom Li Mingfeng had not met. Due to the separation of men and women, He Shi avoided them during meals.

  There was also a maid named Xianglan attending to Mrs. He, and she had made breakfast too; however, in the Xiang family, even maids were not allowed to see outside guests.

  There are two more people, one is Lin Sheng's father Lin Zhong, and the other is Lin Dehai's daughter Lin Wan'er, and things went wrong because of these two.

  The Lin father and son have been diligently studying poetry, and Mrs. He is also a lady who does not go out of the main gate or step over the threshold, and all the miscellaneous matters in the house and the collection of rent from the fields are handled by Lin Wan'er.

  Li Mingfeng arrived that evening, Lin Wan'er took Laojia Nu Lin Zhong to the tenant's house downstairs to collect rent. That day was quite busy, several tenants were poor and desperate, so things dragged on until late at night before they finished.

  But just as Lin Wan'er was about to leave, a tenant came to report that there was a horse outside eating the grass fodder. This grass fodder also belonged to the Lin family, and since it had been stolen, they would have to ask the owner for compensation, so everyone tied up the horse and waited for its owner to come looking for it, intending to extort some more silver from them.

  At this time, the sky was already very dark, and the winter night was cold. No one could keep watching the horse all the time. In order to prevent the horse owner from taking advantage of the darkness to ride the horse and run away, everyone set up a tripwire on the road. Unfortunately, Li Mingfeng was tripped by this tripwire.

  Lin Wan'er and Lin Zhong, along with the other tenants, waited overnight but didn't see the horse's owner come looking for it. After daybreak, everyone went their separate ways to rest, but before they could fall into a deep sleep, they heard the sound of horseshoes, followed immediately by Li Mingfeng's mournful cry.

  Lin Wan'er heard that the thief who stole the grass feed was caught, and she was secretly delighted. Generally, outsiders like this would be fined heavily before being let off, and now it seemed like another small fortune was coming her way. Lin Wan'er felt that the silver coins were beckoning to her.

  At the place where the tripwire was set, Lin Wan'er saw Li Mingfeng dressed in a typical Confucian scholar attire. In the Qing dynasty, dress codes were extremely strict, and this outfit was characteristic of a Confucian scholar's uniform. This sight nearly scared Lin Wan'er to death - being accused of murdering a Confucian scholar would be enough to bring disaster upon the entire Lin family.

  Lin Wan'er hastily called Lin Zhong and the other tenants to carry Li Mingfeng back to the Lin house, and also invited a doctor to diagnose and treat him. When Lin Dehai learned that his daughter had turned against her own family's benefactor, he was both shocked and furious. If Li Mingfeng hadn't still been unconscious, he would have immediately asked the family to discipline that unfilial daughter by beating her half to death.

  After listening to Lin Dehai's narrative, Li Mingfeng's face turned iron-green. If it weren't for the fact that he still had to rely on the Lin family's care in the short term, he would have long since raised his old fist to teach Lin Lao a lesson.

  Thinking of his situation, Li Mingfeng forced a relatively gentle smile and said: "Mr. Lin, don't worry, this matter is also my fault for rushing to meet with the governor in Guangzhou, otherwise things wouldn't have turned out like this, you shouldn't blame Miss Lin too much either, it was an unintentional mistake."

  This sentence is quite clever, bringing up that fictional Guangzhou governor to let Lin Dehai know that he's not some powerless guy, if he were to anger him, then the Lin family would be in trouble. The second half of the sentence mentions Lin Wan'er again, although it says she's not to blame, but how could Lin Dehai possibly let this girl who offended a noble go unpunished?

  As expected, Lin Dehai scolded: "This unfilial daughter, a few years ago helped the family manage some property and had some small achievements, but she didn't know her place. Now she's made a huge mistake. If I don't teach her a lesson today, who knows, tomorrow she might even plot against County Magistrate Lao."

  The more he spoke, the angrier Lin Dehai became. He turned around and ordered Lin Sheng, who was standing beside him: "You stay here and attend to Master Li."

  Lin Sheng nodded in agreement.

  Lin Dehai told Li Mingfeng that he was guilty, pushed open the door and shouted into the courtyard: "Lin Zhong, bring out the eldest sister"