The daily life of a space tycoon raising children, doting on his husband, and farming.

Chapter 39 The whole family is together
The thunder subsided, the rain lessened, and a pale dawn appeared on the horizon.

The morning breeze blew through the rain shelter, and the tiny flames in the fire that had been burning all night flickered and died out, turning into a wisp of smoke.

People gradually got up and started moving around, and soft voices could be heard.

Wrapped in a half-dry, half-wet quilt, Liu Er shrank back in the cold, just as he was about to take another nap, when the quilt was snatched away from him.

"Damn it! You dare to steal..." Liu Er raised his eyelids, about to burst into a tirade, but upon meeting Shen Qi's stern face, he immediately swallowed his words back.

Shen Qi said coldly, "Whose grandfather?"

"I, I." Liu Er immediately got up and gave up his seat, bowing and scraping with a smile. "It's still a bit warm here, sir. You can sleep here, I'll keep you warm."

"You're quite perceptive," Shen Qi said sternly. "Stick out your arm."

Liu Er didn't dare to ask any more questions and obediently stretched out his arm.

Then... he was tied up tightly with a hemp rope.

Liu Er: ?
"Officer, what...what are you doing?"

"You look like a bamboo pole, yet you bully men and women and wreak havoc on the village. How can you be so capable?" Shen Qi said coldly. "You like to sleep, don't you? You can't get enough sleep, can you? There are plenty of places for you to sleep in the prison. You can sleep there and never wake up again."

"Officer! Officer! I'm innocent!" Liu Er leaned back, resisting and refusing to leave.

Shen Qi drew his sword, its gleaming blade pointing at him. Liu Er immediately cowered, shrinking his neck and obediently following behind Shen Qi.

The villagers watched from the sidelines, and not one of them stepped forward to plead for him.

"Father, Father!" Liu Er cried out as soon as he saw Old Man Liu, "I've been wronged! Please plead for me!"

Old Liu sighed and turned his face away, his wrinkles seeming to have deepened.

From the day Erxiaozi started hanging out with Chen San, he knew Erxiaozi wouldn't have a good ending.

He tried to control the child, but the child had grown up and was independent; unless he broke the child's legs, he couldn't control him at all!

How many times has he apologized to people over the years?

To clean up this scoundrel's mess, all the family's money was spent. The eldest daughter-in-law had long harbored resentment, and the eldest son wasn't without his own grudges either.

If Liu Er hadn't been lazy and dumped the pig-feeding job on Yang Yang, how could Yang Yang have been trapped in the pigsty and almost lost his life?

He can't let his family fall apart for a good-for-nothing bastard!
Aunt Zhang was sobbing uncontrollably beside her. She opened her mouth to plead for mercy, but Madam Wen held her arm, her voice also trembling with tears, "Mother, Yangyang almost lost his life!"

Thinking of her unconscious grandson, Aunt Zhang paused in her sobs, her mouth opened and closed a few times, but she couldn't bring herself to plead for him.

"Brother, we're blood brothers!" Liu Er's eyes reddened with anxiety. "When you were little, you were bitten by a snake, and I was the one who sucked the venom out for you. I was bedridden for two days and almost died. Don't you remember?"

Liu Cheng certainly remembered that if it weren't for this reason, given Liu Er's scoundrel-like behavior, he would have separated from his wife long ago and lived independently. Why would he have almost fallen out with his wife?

“The police said you don’t deserve to die.” Liu Cheng clenched his fists and stared intently at his younger brother’s face. “The villagers will let you off the hook for our parents’ sake, but Liu Hu, don’t you know what you’ve done? You’re nineteen years old, don’t make our parents worry about you anymore.”

“Brother…” Liu Hu never expected that his older brother, who had always spoiled him even more than his father, would also stop caring about him.

He just bullies people and gets some benefits. It was Chen San who did the murders. He never killed anyone and was fine before. Why is he suddenly going to jail?

Her gaze swept across the crowd, unexpectedly meeting a pair of cool, aloof eyes. Shang Wan's lips curled slightly; yes, it was she who had complained to Shen Qi.

Liu Hu didn't even know Chen San had woken up; he was useless to her for a long time. Since Shen Qi happened to be in Elm Tree Village, she simply took him along.

Liu Hu's pupils constricted; this woman had never intended to let him go!
"Chen San is...uh! Uh uh uh!" Liu Hu had barely started speaking when Shen Qi covered his mouth with a cloth, and Liu Hu could no longer utter a single word.

Liu Hu was extremely unwilling and, contrary to his previous obedience, began to struggle frantically.

Shen Qi had no patience for such scoundrels who plagued the village. He slashed at Liu Hu with his scabbard a few times, and Liu Hu jumped up in pain. He soon became obedient.

The Liu family couldn't bear to watch and had already gone elsewhere.

On the other hand, Luo Si, who had lost his leg, also ended up in jail.

Unlike the Liu family, the Luo family protected Luo Si fiercely. Old Master Luo stood in front of Luo Si and claimed that if he wanted to take Luo Si away, he would have to kill him first.

Dan Dajun was annoyed. He was such a clear-headed old man last night, how could he be so confused about Luo Si's matter?

Shang Wan was also somewhat surprised.

Xiao Huan knew some things from hanging out with the aunts and wives last night, and she whispered some gossip in Shang Wan's ear.

"The Luo family originally had four sons. The third son died young. When Aunt Wu gave birth to Luo Si, she had a difficult childbirth and almost lost both her and her baby. It was Aunt Wu who begged the midwife to save the child. She passed away right after the baby was born."

"Uncle Luo felt that Luo Si was someone Aunt Wu had risked her life for, so he doted on him extra, even more so than his grandchildren. Uncle Luo also repeatedly told Luo Da and Luo Er to protect their younger brother, and Luo Si was always the first to receive any good things from the Luo family."

Shang Wan was speechless. The whole family had doted on and spoiled them, and yet they had raised a scoundrel who was causing havoc in the village? The Luo family's parenting was terrible.

"Last year, Luo Si was taken to a gambling den by Chen San and lost a hundred taels of silver. When the gambling den came to collect the debt, Uncle Luo took out all his savings and borrowed a lot from the villagers to pay it off. He still hasn't paid it off."

"Sister, look at their clothes." Xiao Huan pointed to the patched clothes on Luo Da and the others. "Luo Da and Luo Er are both good hunters. I heard they are particularly accurate archers, hitting the target nine times out of ten. They also do a good job in the fields. If they hadn't spent all their earnings on cleaning up Luo Si's messes, they wouldn't be in such a situation where they can't even afford a decent set of clothes."

Shang Wan had noticed before that the Luo family was dressed very poorly, and the three children's faces were sallow, as if they were starving.

Although it's normal for villagers to have a few patches on their clothes, only the Liu family can compare to the Luo family with so many patches on top of each other.

Neither family was lazy; both men and women were hardworking, yet they both raised a good-for-nothing son.

If it were Shang Wan, who had carefully raised such a wicked child, she would have beaten him to death long ago to avoid harming herself and others.

Seeing that Shan Dajun and the Luo family were deadlocked, Shen Qi walked over and swept his sharp eyes over the Luo family members, "Obstructing the police to arrest people is punishable as an accomplice. Do you want your whole family to go to jail together?"

Dan Dajun still cared about the sentiments of fellow villagers, but Shen Qi was different. He directly presented the Luo family with a choice: either Luo Si would go to jail, or the whole family would go together.

Who wants to go to jail these days?

The Luo family's attitude softened, and their daughters-in-law, Liu and Wang, took the children and left.

Although Old Man Luo protected his fourth son, he was still rational and did not want to harm his whole family.

Unsure whether Shen Qi was bluffing him, he turned to look at Lu Chengjing sitting not far away and asked, "Scholar Lu, is there really such a law as 'equal punishment'?"

(End of this chapter)