Lin Laogen’s name was very famous in Liushu Village. Although every household in the village knows one another, when it comes to Lin Laogen, the people in the village have a basket of gossip about him.

The specifics have to start from when Lin Laogen was young. He was a very capable young man in the village, and when he came of age and enlisted in the army, he was named as one of the top ten men in the village.

At that time, everyone praised him as someone strong, able to work, and capable, but behind his back, they said that his brain was too stupid, and he was too honest and kind-hearted– he wouldn’t come back if he went to battle with strength and no brain, but who knew that he not only did he come back in the end, but he also brought back hundreds of taels of silver.

Listening to other men in his company, Lin Laogen had the luck of a fool. Once he had entered the barracks, not only was he assigned to the safest area for the army, but later he temporarily encountered the good luck of the battlefield, killed a small general of the enemy army, and won a large amount of silver.

It was precisely because of this huge sum of money that the Lin family, the poorest in Liushu Village, became a rich household in the village. He built a big house and bought a good field. In the end, Lin Laogen also arranged a marriage with a beautiful wife.

However, Lin Laogen’s good luck seemed to end here. After getting married, his wife got pregnant very quickly, but who knew that the first child she gave birth to was not only a ger, but he was also an ugly ger with a large green spot on his face.

The long-tongued women in the village all talked about the child being an unlucky star in the family, and the old woman of the Lin family didn’t like him either, so she threw the baby directly into the woods. Fortunately, Lin Laogen didn’t dislike the poor child and already loved him as his son, so he went to the forest to pick the child up. Lin Laogen, who had always been filial and obedient, had angrily quarreled with his mother.

Later, it seemed that as if it was confirmed that his ger was a catastrophe, the Lin family’s luck became bad; not a single thing went well, the harvest in the fields was not good, and the family environment gradually became tense again.

To make matters worse, after giving birth to a young son, his beautiful wife stole the silver taels from the family and ran away with another man. Lin Laogen went after them, but not only did they not repent, they also broke his leg, making him limp back to the village. This made the Lin family the laughing stock of the village, and they were the ones chattered about during tea and dinner– the old woman of the Lin family blamed everything on the fault of the eldest Lin child and asked Lin Laogen to throw away the ger.

However, although Lin Laogen usually listened to his mother’s words, despite being as filial as a soft bun, he protected his two children tightly, and he didn’t agree with anything his mother proposed regarding his children. In anger, he proposed splitting the family up before his mother finally stopped.

After all, even if Lin Laogen had a lame leg, he was still a strong laborer. Without him, the second and third child, who were busy with their work at home, would not be able to cope. More importantly, the old woman of the Lin family was biased and did not want to let the third child work, and also burdened the eldest and the second with the hard work to make money and help the youngest son marry a proper wife, so this family was not divided in the end.

However, Lin Laogen– no one knew whether it was because he was stimulated by his mother’s throwing of his baby, or that he suddenly became smart- but the money he earned since then, except for his normal offering of filial piety, was never to be handed in again. His ger required a proper dowry, and his son was smart and could read; he wanted to be able to send him to school. He didn’t listen to his mother’s words– apart from not moving out, the family still ate together and worked in the same fields, but it was no different from splitting the family.

Usually, though, as long as his two children were not involved, Lin Laogen was still very honest and easy to talk to, but once his two children were involved, his bull-like temper would rise.

Especially his ugly ger, he didn’t let others speak badly of his ger, so now Zhou Laotai’s words immediately angered him- his face turned red in anger.

Lin Laogen’s roar frightened the surrounding villagers, and Zhou Laotai also shut up and took a step back, for fear that his arrogant temper would prompt him to come up and beat people.

“Daddy, that’s her! She scolded our ger, saying that our ger was ugly and that no one wants him, and that if a matchmaker comes to our family to propose marriage, she would have to poke that matchmaker to see if they were insane!”

The child who complained just now, that is, Lin Laogen’s youngest son, Lin Tianbao, continued to add fuel to the original complaint- now that his father was here, he dared the old woman to curse his brother, hmph!

Saying that Lin Amo could not marry was one of the sources of Lin Laogen’s anger; his eyes became redder, and there was an aura of wanting to beat others.

Zhou Laotai was frightened by his appearance, and she no longer dared to stay in front of the raging bull– turning around quickly, she stiffly said, “I don’t have to care about you, bastards”, and hurriedly left with her skirt lifted at the corners.

As soon as she slipped away, the fight stopped. The village chief patted Lin Laogen’s shoulder and said a few words to comfort him, and then greeted the villagers who were watching the liveliness of the events and persuaded them to leave. Despite being a small village, such trivialities like this were enough to bother him as the village chief.

After everyone had dispersed, Lin Laogen’s anger subsided under the persuasion of the village head, and when he looked at his ger, his expression turned worried.

“Amo, why were you arguing with Zhou Laotai again? Didn’t Dad tell you? That old lady is not afraid of anyone despite her age. You are still a ger; no one’s saying anything now, but when this matter spreads out, nobody would come to propose marriage. Dad already told you some time ago that you were too fierce, so why don’t you listen to your father’s worries…”

“What “too fierce”? Dad, people think I’m ugly– I know where I was wrong, but I was so angry that I quarreled with Zhou Laotai today. You see what Zhou-ger has been beaten into; if I didn’t help, Zhou-ger would be dead!”

Lin-ger has a cheerful and sloppy temperament. He didn’t care what outsiders thought. Anyway, he has been accustomed to being pointed at and spoken about since he was a child. He didn’t care about what was being said.

The child Lin Tianbao nodded in agreement and stood by his brother’s side. “Father, this time, we really can’t blame my older brother for being impulsive, because the old woman of the Zhou family was too much. Besides, my brother won’t be unable to marry. Brother Haisheng has already confessed to liking him; it’s just you who hasn’t agreed.”

“Hush!” When he heard his brother’s words, Lin-ger, who had been acting indifferent just now, blushed in embarrassment.

“I’ve known this for a long time now!”

Lin Tianbao stuck out his tongue at his brother.

“No way! No! We can’t get married to the Zhao family. The Zhao family’s old couple is not sincere. When I was in the military with Zhao Dachong, the man always tricked me into helping him. The Liu family is also famous in our village. These are two bad people together! That child is just like his parents, a thief. He wants to marry you for the work you’ll do for their family; you won’t live a good life with them!”

Hearing the words of his two children, Lin Laogen’s expression suddenly changed, and his silly and honest character suddenly became serious, wanting to relay the seriousness of his words to his family.

“Yes, yes, Dad, anyway- let’s take Zhou-ger back to our house and hide him for two days, can’t we? If he goes back now, Zhou Laotai would definitely beat him to vent her anger…”

Seeing their father staring at them with a serious expression, the Lin family brothers immediately nodded their heads seriously, while pulling the thin Zhou-ger who was standing next to them to change the subject.

But Wu Qingyuan, who had been watching the few people, clearly noticed that Lin-ger’s sparkling eyes flashed with a sly look. Lin Tianbao also blinked at his brother, and the two brothers were not as innocent or naive as their father believed.

“Father, who is he?”

At this time, the crowd had already dispersed, and only a few of them were left. After Lin Laogen nodded and agreed to temporarily take in Zhou-ger, the relieved Lin Amo finally noticed him and asked his father curiously.

Lin Laogen realized that when he was anxious just now, he had forgotten the other matters, and slapped his head and hurriedly introduced Wu Qingyuan.

“See here, I forgot about you, Brother Wu. Sorry for this embarrassment. These two were the ones I’ve been telling you about just before- my ger Lin Amo, and my son Lin Tianbao.”

After speaking, he introduced him to the two brothers of the Lin family.

“Amo, Tianbao, this is Wu Qingyuan. He was here to find relatives, and he wants to stay in our house for a while…”

“Ah, he wants to live in our house?”

The two Lin family brothers said in unison and then looked at Wu Qingyuan with a little bit of hesitation.

Although the country folks were simple, and the people here were much warmer and friendlier than the apocalyptic people, Wu Qingyuan was a strange man after all. There would still be many suspicions regarding what kind of character he had. And their family was full of unmarried gers and girls, so it was inconvenient for a big man to live there.

Although Lin Laogen was called dumb and a fool by others, he was not as stupid as others thought he was. He had considered these issues, but they were not a problem for him.

He smiled at Wu Qingyuan and excused himself. “Amo, wait a minute,” then he pulled his ger to the side, and he showed off the copper coins earned from Wu Qingyuan today as he explained excitedly.

“Amo, don’t worry, Brother Wu is not a bad person. Even if he has bad intentions, could your father, second uncle, and third uncle be unable to beat him? Besides, this village is our territory, and he can’t do anything bad. Look, this is the money he gave Dad today. He said that as long as Dad helps him go to the surrounding villages to find news about his relatives, he would pay Dad lots of money. Also, despite living in our house, Dad was not doing it for free, so I charged him eight copper coins for accommodation for one night. Anyway, the room in our house was empty. It’s so cost-effective. Don’t you think Daddy is smart…”

In the end, Lin Laogen’s tone had a taste of self-complimenting.