Chapter 11
He stood there awkwardly, one arm draped over the boy beside him, looking somewhat powerless.
His little sister, Zheng Shan, had just been speaking to these boys, and it was clear there was some tension between them.
All alone, she was small in stature, tilting her head back to face the older boys, who outnumbered her.
Her tiny body was tense, fists clenched tightly, and in her right hand, she still held half a flatbread.
The other half had been torn away and thrown to the ground, now covered in dirt.
Zheng Fa knew that this flatbread was made by their mother, who had given a bundle to the old man driving the cart that morning.
This piece was likely a special treat their mother had saved for his little sister out of affection.
Though the flatbread wasn’t worth much, for Zheng Shan, this kind of white bread was a rare delicacy, something she couldn’t have every day. There was no way she would have dropped half of it on the ground if there hadn’t been a conflict.
Knowing his sister so well, Zheng Fa could see the fear hidden beneath her stubborn demeanor.
He quickened his pace toward the four boys.
He heard Wang Gui’s hoarse voice say, “So what if your brother comes back? Do you think I’m afraid of him? Are you scared?”
He directed the question at the boy next to him.
“Not scared,” the boy replied with a grin.
“And you?”
“Who’s afraid of him? He doesn’t even have a father!”
Wang Gui seemed amused, laughing while clutching his throat, clearly still recovering from an injury.
Zheng Shan couldn’t help but interject, “When my brother comes back and sees you stealing my food, Madam will beat you again!”
In her mind, it seemed that being beaten by Madam was the worst punishment imaginable.
“Pah! What’s your brother’s status? Does he think he can command Madam?” Upon hearing the word “Madam,” Wang Gui’s laughter faded, replaced by a more pronounced anger. “Do you really think that just because I was sent back, your brother can become a young master’s servant?”
“Your brother can’t even read properly! Do you think Madam would take a liking to him?”
Wang Gui’s tone was filled with certainty.
Zheng Fa realized that Wang Gui truly didn’t believe he could replace his position as a servant.
But today, he seemed even more irritable than usual.
Typically, he would bully Zheng Shan, but it was usually just ignoring her or occasionally mocking the Zheng family’s situation in front of her.
It was rare to see Zheng Shan cornered like this at the village entrance.
Moreover, Wang Gui’s health was clearly not good.
Zheng Fa thought for a moment: he must have heard that Madam was selecting a servant for the Seventh Young Master and realized he had no hope of returning.
So he took out his frustration on Zheng Fa, who had the chance to go to the Zhao residence.
And his little sister made him even more intolerable.
That’s why he had deliberately come to trouble her today.
As he approached, the footsteps drew the attention of both groups.
Zheng Shan had been glaring at Wang Gui and his friends, her lips pressed tightly together, unwilling to show weakness.
But the moment she saw Zheng Fa, tears finally spilled from her eyes. “Brother, they stole my flatbread!”
Wang Gui and his friends showed a hint of panic.
After all, Zheng Fa was taller and walked over with a dark expression, exuding an unspoken authority.
Ignoring the three boys, Zheng Fa pulled Zheng Shan into his embrace, his heart aching as he placed the food box given by the old man in front of her.
“Look, brother brought you something!”
Zheng Shan sniffled, as if catching a whiff of something delicious, her tear-filled eyes fixed on the somewhat unfamiliar food box.
“It smells so good!”
Seeing her stop crying, Zheng Fa opened the lid of the box.
It was a three-tiered food box. The first layer held three small plates of snacks: one shaped like petals, another like butterflies, and the last one round and plump.
“Food!”
“Right, these are pastries from the Ju Xing Lou in the city. They were specially bought for you!”
“For me?” Zheng Shan pointed at her little nose with her chubby hand.
“All for you.”
Her joy was so simple that she didn’t even have time to wipe her nose and tears before breaking into a silly smile at Zheng Fa.
“Let’s see what’s in the next layer.”
Zheng Fa continued to coax her.
“Okay!” Zheng Shan leaned forward, holding her breath as Zheng Fa opened the food box.
“Meat! So much meat!”
The second layer contained just one dish, a large plate piled high with slices of meat, simple and unadorned.
But for Zheng Shan, it was probably the most meat she had ever seen in one place.
She even rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
Zheng Fa lifted the third layer, which also held one dish: a plump, greasy roast chicken, laid out in a way that made it almost irresistible to Zheng Shan.
“Brother, is all this for me?”
Zheng Fa nodded with a smile, thinking to himself that the old man must have a kind heart. Compared to the fancy foods, this straightforward offering of large chunks of meat would surely make his little sister happier.
“It’s all yours, but you need to eat it quickly. Don’t let it spoil, or don’t come crying to me.”
“It’s for me, Mom, and you! We all have to eat quickly!” Zheng Shan shook her head, happily pointing at the food box. “I’ll eat, Mom will eat, and you’ll eat! We’ll definitely finish it all!”
Suddenly, she patted her belly with a worried look. “Brother, my stomach is growling! It says it can eat half of this all by itself!”
Finally, she forgot all about her earlier distress.
But the three boys behind Zheng Fa were feeling quite miserable.
Wang Gui was okay; after all, he had some experience, and his family was relatively well-off.
But the other two were just ordinary boys from the village, their families slightly better off than Zheng Fa’s, but they rarely saw such delicious food.
“Wang Ge, have you ever eaten anything from Ju Xing Lou?” one of them asked, swallowing hard.
“Who hasn’t? It’s not expensive! Next time, I’ll bring some for you!” Wang Gui replied bitterly.
He was actually more upset about Zheng Fa’s indifference when he approached. He couldn’t understand why, from childhood to now, Zheng Fa had never shown anger toward him.
It was mostly just this attitude of ignoring him.
Yet it was this very attitude that made Wang Gui feel a bit intimidated by Zheng Fa.
Now that he was in the city, serving as a young master’s servant, he felt he had seen more of the world and found Zheng Fa’s demeanor laughable.
But seeing him like this again, he felt a twinge of fear, as if facing the adults from the Zhao residence.
“What’s there to be afraid of? Even if I can’t be a servant back in the village, I’m still better off than a kid without a father,” he reassured himself, taking a couple of steps forward, wanting to say something.
Outside the village, the sound of carts and horses approached.
A young man stood on a cart, shouting toward Zheng Fa, “Zheng Xiong, I’ve come to see you!”
Zheng Fa turned around to see Huang Yu waving at him from the front of the cart.
Beside Huang Yu stood a plump middle-aged man, who also smiled at Zheng Fa.
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**Chapter 13: A Good Father**
Before Zheng Fa could respond, a middle-aged man walked out of the village.
“Manager Huang, what brings you here?”
The speaker was also tall and thin, resembling Wang Gui to some extent; he was Wang Gui’s father, the manager of the estate.
He was looking eagerly at the plump middle-aged man beside Huang Yu.
The plump man helped Huang Yu down from the cart but merely nodded coldly at the manager, offering no further pleasantries.
Huang Yu pulled Zheng Fa forward and introduced, “This is my father. I told him about you and that I wanted to come see you.”
The plump man, Huang Yu’s father, smiled more warmly at Zheng Fa than he had at the manager. “Zheng Xiaoyou, since Huang Yu and you are friends, may I be so bold as to call you my nephew?”
Zheng Fa nodded, glancing at the father and son, unsure of their intentions.
“This boy, Huang Yu, is a bit of a disappointment. I’ve always worried about how he would stand on his own. But with a friend like you, I feel reassured.” Huang Yu’s father gestured toward the cart behind him. “He wanted to see his friend, so I thought I’d bring some small gifts for this first visit.”
Seeing how cold Huang Yu’s father was toward the manager but overly warm toward Zheng Fa, the manager’s expression darkened.
But he could only endure it.
Though both were managers of the Zhao estate, the manager had only recently risen to his position five years ago, while Huang Yu’s father had been in charge for over three generations.
Moreover, even among estates, the one managed by Huang was larger in both output and area than his own.
There was a clear disparity in their status within the Zhao family.
When someone treated him coldly, he could only bear it.
Wang Gui, standing nearby, also sensed his father’s displeasure and felt even more resentful of the warmth shown to Zheng Fa.
Watching Huang Yu’s father lead Zheng Fa toward the cart, he couldn’t help but crane his neck, peering inside.
As he lifted the curtain of the cart, two large boxes came into view for everyone.
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