Wei A’er, upon seeing Zhang Fei dressed like an educated person, with clear eyebrows, bright eyes, a kind face, and seemingly without malice, figured that there was nothing the brothers had that he could possibly covet. So, he slightly let his guard down and invited Zhang Fei into the house to sit down.
Wei Ada, however, seemed not to have recovered. Perhaps he was a little shy. He did not follow them into the house but sat in the courtyard, his gaze frequently darting towards the house.
“One and a half acres of land?”[1]
Zhang Fei asked in confusion, “You’re saying their family only wanted one and a half acres of your family’s land, in exchange for betrothing Ayun to your elder brother?”
Wei A’er nodded, “Yes.”
Zhang Fei frowned, “I’ve heard that A’yun is a renowned beauty around here. If they just wanted one and a half acres of land, I believe many people in the vicinity would be willing to have her hand in marriage. They may even be willing to offer more land.”
Wei A’er said, “Brother Zhang, you don’t understand. Our land happens to bisect their land, and the river runs through our land. If they acquired our one and a half acres, they could open a new canal, irrigating all their fields.
They’ve long wanted to buy our land, but that land is our ancestral property, and we brothers have always refused. It wasn’t until… until they proposed this marriage that we agreed. But who would’ve thought that it would bring such a disaster?”
“I see.”
Zhang Fei appeared thoughtful, then asked, “Did they say anything else? For instance, whether Ayun was willing to marry your elder brother.”
Wei A’er thought for a moment, “That wasn’t mentioned. In matters of marriage, shouldn’t one obey one’s parents’? Both of Ayun’s parents have passed away, so her uncle is now in charge. So naturally, he would be the one who decides.”
Zhang Fei frowned again, “Did they describe Ayun’s character, or her thoughts on this marriage?”
Wei Er thought again, “Her uncle, Fang Datian, did say that Ayun is pretty, gentle, virtuous, and kind-hearted. As for Ayun’s view on this marriage, he didn’t say.”
Zhang Fei’s eyes lit up, “Really? Did her uncle really say that?”
Wei Er nodded earnestly, “He did say those things. Actually, we would know of that even if he didn’t say it. Otherwise, we brothers wouldn’t have agreed.”
Zhang Fei smiled and asked, “Do you still think so now?”
Wei A’er shook his head right away.
She had come with a weapon to kill. How could she be gentle and kind-hearted.
“That’s right!”
Zhang Fei nodded with a smile.
Seeing that Zhang Fei was only asking some unimportant questions, Wei A’er curiously asked, “Why are you asking these things, and how do you plan to help us?”
Zhang Fei slightly opened his mouth, suddenly said, “Can you call your elder brother in first, I need to confirm something.”
“Alright!”
Wei A’er managed to call Wei Ada into the room after some effort.
Zhang Fei looked at Wei Ada and said, “Your injuries seem to have all healed?”
Wei A’er said, “My brother is tough. Except for his finger, the rest were minor injuries.”
Zhang Fei said, “Is that so? Can I take a look?”
“Huh?”
Wei Ada tightly held onto his clothes.
Zhang Fei laughed and said, “We’re all men, what are you afraid of.”
Wei A’er said, “Brother, just take off your clothes and let Brother Zhang take a look.”
Wei Ada hesitated for a while, slowly took off his clothes, his face was as red as a monkey’s butt.
Zhang Fei felt a headache coming. Why did things have to be so awkward.
After the check, Zhang Fei first let Wei Ada put on his clothes, and then said, “Can you take me to see that one and a half acre field?”
Wei A’er led Zhang Fei out of the village, along the path to the west, and Wei Ada just followed them quietly, always with his head down, as if he was too ashamed to meet people.
Zhang Fei saw this and was rather moved. These two brothers had difficult lives!
After a while, Zhang Fei followed Wei A’er to a small hill.
Wei A’er pointed to the distant fields and said, “Look, there is our family’s field, and the ones on both sides are fields of the Fang family.”
Zhang Fei looked in the direction of his finger. He, who had never farmed before, understood at a glance that the fields on both sides were irrigated entirely by the winding river in the middle. Coincidentally, this river just passed through the Wei family’s field, perfectly avoiding the two fields of the Fang family.
If the Fang family got this field of the Wei family, not only could they connect their two fields into one, but they could also directly dig a canal in the middle to benefit all their fields.
Zhang Fei suddenly asked, “How many acres of land does their family have?”
Wei A’er said, “Are you asking about the Fang family or that wicked lady’s family?”
Zhang Fei was taken aback and said, “Does Ayun’s family also hold land?”
Wei A’er immediately said, “Her family still has about three acres of land now.”
While speaking, he pointed to a further place, “Look, the fields behind that willow tree all belong to that wicked lady’s family.”
Zhang Fei looked far away, after a while, he said, “I heard that both of Ayun’s parents have passed away, so if she marries into your family, what happens to her land?”
Wei A’er said, “Naturally, they would belong to the Fang family. They certainly wouldn’t be so generous as to gift those three acres of land as dowry to our family.”
So it was a plan to kill two birds with one stone. Zhang Fei asked again, “How many acres of land does the Fang family have in total?”
Wei A’er pondered for a moment and said, “There are three brothers in the Fang family, and now they own about 82 acres of land around here.”
Zhang Fei was surprised and said, “That’s considered a wealthy household!”
Wei A’er curled his lips and said, “Actually, during our grandfather’s generation, their family and ours were not much different. It’s just that over the years, they gone around marrying off their daughters, exchanging a lot of fields from other farmers. They have also been purchasing land over the years.”
It seemed like this family was habitual offender. Zhang Fei nodded, after pondering for a while, he suddenly said, “Eight acres of land.”
Wei A’er was stunned and asked, “What do you mean eight acres of fields?”
Zhang Fei said, “Eight acres of land in compensation, how does that sound?”
Both Wei A’er and Wei Ada were stunned.
“Eight acres?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Zhang Fei nodded and said, “If you think it’s too little, I can help you fight for more, but I can’t guarantee that it will be more than this.”
Wei A’er shook his head quickly and said, “It’s not too little, not too little at all. Can you really help us get eight acres of land in compensation?”
Eight acres of land, for ordinary farmers like them, was unimaginable. That could feed several more people!
Zhang Fei nodded.
Suddenly a very small voice came from behind, “I thought you mentioned a wife?”
Zhang Fei turned his head to look, only to see Wei Ada’s head shrinking. He immediately laughed and said, “You would have eight acres of fields. Would you not be able to find a wife?”
In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed. During this period, Zhang Fei kept in touch with the Wei brothers and conducted secret investigations into some people related to the case.
At the same time, he was also working hard to recover his health. In fact, his previous physical condition was not enough to take him through a complete lawsuit. It was a great fortune that he didn’t fall seriously ill.
One day, in the evening, Liu Hai came to the entrance of the prefectural office, stretched his arms and asked the guards, “Were there any complaints today?”
The two bailiffs shook their heads.
Liu Hai heaved a sigh of relief, having gotten through another day without trouble. He then reminded the guards, “It’s a busy season, stay alert!”
Just as his words fell, someone shouted, “Mister Liu, Mister Liu.”
Liu Hai recognized the voice and looked in its direction, exclaiming in surprise, “Zhang San?”
The man was indeed Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei quickly approached the gate, panting, “Mister Liu, the prefectural office is not closed for the day, is it?”
Liu Hai was puzzled, “Why are you here again?”
Zhang Fei chuckled, “What else could I do here. I’m here to file a complaint, of course.”
With that, he handed over the complaint document.
Liu Hai looked at the complaint document in Zhang Fei’s hand, his mouth twitching. If looks could kill, Zhang Fei would probably have been reduced to ashes.
[1] The numbers are converted from the ancient Chinese unit of measurement into acres. So the numbers in the story would not be nice round numbers in acres.
