The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 161: Chapter 161: The Tramp

After packing up their stall, the group arrived at the edge of town.

Hu Liang still had to escort Cao Yunyun back to the Cao family’s home, so they had to part ways.

This had become their routine. In the morning, Cao Fugui would bring his sister to town before heading off to work. Then, after the Hu family finished their business for the day, Hu Liang would escort her home.

In the countryside, there weren’t as many restrictions on engaged couples seeing each other.

Watching the two walk off into the distance, Widow Xie shook her head and sighed. "My sons are all grown up. They know how to care for someone."

Hu Dacheng, pulling the handcart, immediately declared his loyalty. "I care about you the most, Ma!"

Widow Xie, however, was not having it.

"You? You’re a good-for-nothing all day long. I don’t need you to care for me. You should worry about yourself. You’ll have plenty to cry about in the future when you can’t find a wife and end up an old bachelor."

Hu Dacheng scratched his head. "What’s so great about a wife, anyway... Right, Dabao?"

He turned to ask Dabao, who was sitting on the cart, trying to find an ally.

Dabao simply turned away, showing him the back of his head.

"You ungrateful little brat! I’m the one pulling you right now!"

Widow Xie and Ji Huan helped push the cart. Chatting and laughing, the group soon reached the village entrance.

From a distance, they saw a group of children gathered under the large banyan tree, their jeers and cheers carrying over from time to time.

Since winter began, the villagers had rarely left their houses, and few people came over to this spot to gossip. Today’s lively scene was naturally quite curious.

Hu Dacheng stopped the cart and yelled over, "What are you all doing?"

Unconsciously, Hu Dacheng had become much more cheerful than before.

In the past, his father was gone, his family was poor, and his mother had a bad reputation. Because of all this, none of the other kids his age in the village would play with him. In fact, they even took pleasure in bullying him, and the younger children would join in on the ridicule.

But unlike Hu Liang, who kept everything bottled up inside, he wasn’t one to dwell on things. That was probably the only benefit of being so thick-skinned.

He was so oblivious he didn’t even know why he was being isolated. And, of course, he also had no idea when everyone had started wanting to play with him again.

"Dacheng, come quick! There’s a beggar here!" an older boy in the crowd called out, waving him over.

A "huazi" was a beggar. Hu Dacheng immediately lost interest. "What’s so interesting about a beggar?"

Another, younger child giggled, revealing a row of uneven baby teeth. "This beggar is so dumb. He doesn’t even know how to dodge when you hit him. Look, I’ll show you."

The older boy who was leading the group gestured for his friends to move aside so Hu Dacheng and the others could see.

A person was lying face down on an open patch of ground not far from the tree’s roots.

Judging by their build, it was probably a man. However, a mess of dirty, tangled hair covered his face, making it impossible to see his features.

He wore an ill-fitting cotton jacket that was tattered and torn. It was caked with either mud or filth, and the smell was clearly awful, as all the children were pinching their noses.

Someone took the lead and threw a clod of dirt at him.

The beggar didn’t react at all.

Seeing this, the other children were eager to try as well.

Some threw stones at him, while others tentatively prodded him with sticks.

But they didn’t dare get too close, afraid the beggar might get angry and jump up to hurt them.

However, it turned out the beggar was not just dumb, but an idiot. He just lay there, motionless, allowing them to bully him.

The little rascals thus grew bolder, acting even more "heroic." They all took pleasure in tormenting this fool, even clapping and cheering from time to time.

Ji Huan frowned as she watched. This sort of childlike, innocent cruelty... sometimes it was just...

She walked forward with a stern expression, deliberately trying to scare them.

"It’s almost time for lunch. Aren’t you all going home? Aren’t you afraid of getting a beating? You bully someone like this, you’d better watch out or someone will beat you up too."

Hu Dacheng also shouted over, "Yeah! What’s so tough about bullying a beggar? If you’ve got the guts, why don’t you take me on!"

Ever since the Hu family started making money from their stall in town, a lot of the village kids liked playing with him. He held a certain amount of sway among them.

That, combined with the "power" of the staff Ji Huan had wielded here before, made the rascals look at each other before scattering in an instant.

Widow Xie took out one of the buns she had saved for Ximei, Xiao’an, and Hua, and had Hu Dacheng give it to the beggar.

"Sigh, he looks like a pitiful one..."

Hu Dacheng walked over to the beggar, squatted down, and offered the bun. "Here."

No response.

"You’re not eating? It’s filled with meat. It’s delicious! I only got one for myself."

Still no response.

Hu Dacheng looked back at Ji Huan. "Sister Wan..."

Ji Huan stood a step away, her brow slightly furrowed. She pointed to the empty space beside him. "Just put it there."

Hu Dacheng had no choice but to wrap the meat bun back in its oiled paper and place it by the beggar’s hand. He even added a reminder, "Make sure you eat it. Don’t let a dog snatch it away."

The beggar still seemed to hear nothing.

On the way back, Widow Xie couldn’t help but speculate.

The wars had just ended, but there was no conscription this year. Besides, the fighting had been over with unprecedented speed, so the court hadn’t even had time to raise taxes...

"It must be because of the snowstorms. He probably ran out of food at home and had to become a beggar."

"But he wasn’t asking for food. Maybe he’s not a beggar, but a refugee."

The distinction didn’t really matter anyway. Ji Huan was used to lumping them all together as "homeless."

"It’s so cold out. Where does he sleep at night? Living from one meal to the next... Just think about it..."

This was a perfect example of Widow Xie having a cold exterior but a warm heart. In comparison, Ji Huan was not nearly as compassionate.

She hadn’t always been this way.

She too had once been a Young Pioneer, with a bright red scarf fluttering on her chest. She even had a glorious history of giving her entire year’s worth of New Year’s money to an old man who came to the village begging, only to receive a tag-team beating from her grandpa and grandma afterward.

But later, everything changed...

Back in college, her coursework was already demanding, and she had to work part-time to cover her living expenses. Money was always tight.

One time, she had no classes in the morning, so she was rushing to her part-time job. After getting off the subway, she bought a savory crepe, planning to eat it on the go.

But after just a few steps, she saw a man lying on the ground, his legs twisted at a bizarre angle.

He lay there, kowtowing repeatedly, begging passersby for a handout.

A huge crowd of people flowed past him indifferently. Not a single person offered a helping hand.

Ji Huan looked at him, then at the savory crepe in her hand.

Finally, with a pang of regret, she placed the crepe into the man’s bowl.

The man’s mouth hung open as he looked up at her, his lips trembling.

Ji Huan thought he was moved and wanted to thank her. She waved her hand, said "You’re welcome," and walked away quickly.

But when she turned the corner, guess what she saw?

The same man who had claimed to be a cripple was now pedaling a bicycle, speeding around the corner up ahead. His legs were pumping like they were on fire, faster than any normal person could manage.

Ji Huan was dumbfounded.

’My savory crepe... And I had even splurged today and asked the lady to add two eggs, only to feed it to a scammer!’

’And the scammer probably wasn’t even grateful. Thinking back on the man’s expression, it hadn’t been gratitude at all. It was a look that clearly said, ’Where did this idiot come from?’’

Full of indignation, she went back and told her roommates. They burst out laughing and even asked her, "You know why he was riding so fast? He was rushing to his next gig!"

Ji Huan not only felt cheated, but she also felt like her intelligence had been insulted. She stewed over it for a whole semester.

Later, after running into this kind of thing more often, she was no longer surprised by it.

If the children hadn’t been so annoying today, Ji Huan wouldn’t have wanted to get involved. It was just that the way this homeless man appeared had stirred up some rather unpleasant memories.

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