Li Qingshan was unable to stop her, having no other choice than to let her do her thing. He was already convinced about the existence of ghosts and gods, but he highly doubted the existence of some yin qi or evil here. After all, there was an actual daemon with him. If something were wrong, the black ox would obviously tell him. There would be no need for her.
After sprinkling the water, the witch acted like she had just helped Li Qingshan tremendously, babbling a great deal once again. She went on about how Li Qingshan was fortunate enough and all of this had been granted by the god, and how now was the time to send the god off. As for the best item to offer to the god, it was obviously the huge head that had remained from the wild boar.
Only then did Li Qingshan understand the reason for her appearance. “It’s probably not to feed the god but to feed you, right?”
The witch flew into a great rage over Li Qingshan’s snide comment. She straightened herself up and said in a different voice, “Li Qingshan, ignoring the advice of this god will bring calamity unto you.”
Li Qingshan knew this was her act of inviting a god to possess her body. When regular villagers were met with this move, even the brave ones would pale in fright and kneel down and smack their heads against the ground. Even the Li Qingshan of the past dared not take her lightly, but it was all different now. He crossed his arms like he was looking at a joke. “Everything, whether good or bad, is brought on by man himself. What’s it got to do with gods? Please leave!”
Seeing how this move of hers was actually ineffective, the witch awkwardly turned back to normal. She said sinisterly, “Just you wait!”
Soon after the witch’s departure, calamity arrived as expected.
A villager came to tell Li Qingshan to pay a visit to the ancestral hall. The village was small, but it had many rules. In order to separate from his brother’s family, he needed to go to the ancestral hall to split the property before the village elders. However, that would only happen when one side proposed separation. Did his elder brother beat him to it?
Li Qingshan felt slightly uneasy, but the black ox had vanished off somewhere. He could only go with reluctance.
The so-called ancestral hall was just a small room at the end of a very long entrance, but it was one of the few masonry structures in the village. It enshrined the memorial tablets of the ancestors of the Li and Liu families.
A few elderly folk sat to the two sides of the pitch-black house. The one in charge was the village head of Crouching Ox village. He was in his sixties and was completely hunched over. He was also a member of the Li family. In terms of seniority, Li Qingshan even had to refer to him as grandfather.
The couple had already been waiting there. As soon as they saw Li Qingshan, they glared at him viciously, as if he would be afraid of them, with a slight pleasure of payback.
Li Qingshan ignored them, only greeting the various elders. Afterwards, they began to divide the family property with the village head presiding over the process.
Originally, Li Qingshan thought that all he had was a black ox and some land. However, the matter was far more complicated than he had imagined.
The village head was solemn and impartial, issuing Li Qingshan with many miscellaneous items. It was so elaborate that it came down to a single spoon, a pair of chopsticks, and so on.
Whenever an item was mentioned, the sister-in-law would twitch painfully, and her gaze towards Li Qingshan would grow more and more vicious.
Li Qingshan remained unfazed and composed. These day-to-day objects could all be used. It would save him repurchasing them all.
After a whole hour, the village head finally stopped and looked at both sides with his cloudy eyes. “Do you have any issues with this?”
The elder brother and sister-in-law both agreed to it, but Li Qingshan felt that something was off. “Grandfather, what about the bit of farmland?”
“What farmland?”
Li Qingshan was stunned. When his parents were about to pass away, they had been crystal clear about this right in front of the village head, as they were afraid that his elder brother would harass him. They wanted this elder of high prestige in the village to ensure fairness.
The sister-in-law had already started explaining it all, “You were young, so you didn’t know. The two old fogies borrowed money without returning it. It has been given away as compensation a long time ago.”
Li Qingshan was enraged. “What did you just call my parents? Why don’t you say it again?” His feelings for his parents were not particularly deep, but they were still the parents who had given birth to him in this life. How could he allow someone to insult them casually in public?
However, the elder brother had already shielded the sister-in-law, and a few men had walked in from outside too. Clearly, they had made preparations beforehand.
Li Qingshan noticed that these men were all scoundrels and ruffians of the village. Normally, they would just mess around, harassing men and seizing women. They were not people who would value their ties as fellow villagers. They would show no mercy if they took action.
The village head secretly cursed the stupid woman and sighed. “I've already checked the promissory note.”
“Where’s the note?”
The elder brother said, “We’ve already burnt it after taking it back.”
“May I ask who the money was owed to?”
The sister-in-law said complacently, “The village’s caretaker Liu. If you’re brave enough, go ask for it. I would like to see whether caretaker Liu will skin you alive or not. That’s right, I just want to harass you, you little ungrateful bastard.” The bit of land was good farmland. It sold very well, basically making up for them not getting any boar meat. She had made up her mind. She would buy a chicken to eat as soon as she got home.
Li Qingshan shook all over from anger. His nails dug into his palm.
With his experiences across his two lives, how could he not know the inside story? Farmers treated their land as their lifeblood. Why would they give it away as compensation so easily? Their parents had lived off the land for their entire lives, so why would they have to borrow money?
They were clearly working together against him. Having lost the land, he could only go work on caretaker Liu’s farmland if he wanted to be fed. No matter how furious he became, he had to endure it. It was truly well-schemed.
At home, Li Qingshan was treated coldly by his elder brother and sister-in-law, but at most, he was just slightly worse off for food and clothing. It was still acceptable, but it was nowhere near as twisted as right now. In his past life, he frequently browsed the internet and thought he had seen all the darkness society that had to offer. He even fumed and cursed over it. However, now that it all happened to him, he truly found it incredibly indignant.
If he yielded, even if it were just to follow the village’s arrangements, he would lose the opportunity to appeal the matter forever.
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Chapter 4: Drunken Murder | Legend of the Great Sage
The atmosphere in the ancestral hall grew tense. The village head’s expression sank. “What, Li Erlang, you’re not satisfied with my arrangements?” The ruffians began to rub their hands, eager for action, while the leader with patchy hair held a woodcutter.
The other elders either closed their eyes or tried to persuade him, “Xiao Er, don’t act rashly.” “You’re no match for them.” “Caretaker Liu is permitting you to keep helping out with work on his land. He’ll pay you a little more. Won’t you still be fed?”
Li Qingshan responded vaguely and left the ancestral hall somehow. As left, he was even tripped by the patchy-haired leader, almost falling over and leading to a roar of laughter from behind.
Along the way, he came across the witch. She smiled complacently. “A calamity, a calamity. It’s still not too late to give offerings to the god right now.”
Li Qingshan returned to his new house below Crouching Ox hill and lied down. He felt no happiness at all.
Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 1-Chapter 100)
Dream Teller's books
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 101-Chapter 200)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 201-Chapter 300)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 301-Chapter 400)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 401-Chapter 500)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 501-Chapter 600)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 601-Chapter 700)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 701-Chapter 833)