The villagers had dispersed on their own, and the yard instantly became silent.
The village chief stood in the yard with an excited look on his face, and wanted to say some words of encouragement to Suldak. But seeing this scene, he didn't understand what happened for a moment. Shouldn't he be happy that the child returned safely from the army?
Of?
"Sheila, what's wrong with the children?"
In terms of seniority, the old village chief is much taller than Surdak's mother, and he is used to calling her by this name.
The gray-haired old woman gave the old village chief a forced smile and said, "Please come and sit in the house!"
Although the inside of the stone house looks a bit old, it is full of the atmosphere of life.
The atmosphere in the room was a bit dull. Old Sheila, Natasha, and Rita stared at Suldak with vigilance in their eyes, not only with confusion, but also with strong hatred.
Little Peter, who was only four years old, seemed very happy and insisted on sitting in Suldak's arms despite the objections of his mother and aunt.
The old village chief sat on the only chair in the house and smoked a dry cigarette. He glanced at Suldak, finished the last puff of cigarette, then knocked the wooden pipe twice, put it into the pocket containing the tobacco, and smashed it.
Ba opened his mouth, and he probably saw that there seemed to be a barrier between the people in the room.
But the old village chief didn't think about anything else. After all, Surdak was only 17 years old when he left home. He was drafted into the army not long after he got married. Now he has returned and is a head taller than himself. The old village chief said to Surdak
Dak's impression was not very deep in the first place. He only felt that the figure and outline looked somewhat similar to that of the previous boy. It was normal for his appearance to change a bit.
After all, Surdak returned to the village personally accompanied by Lord Bird, the tax collector.
Moreover, after being away from home for so long, Surdak still recognized his sister and childhood playmate at a glance. The family members were cold-faced and unwilling to speak to Surdak. In the eyes of the old village chief, maybe Surdak was
After joining the army, Duck seldom wrote letters to his family, which made his family worried and frightened, so he was complained by his family.
The old village chief thinks that as long as you talk about some things, it won't be a problem.
He sat in the room and thought: Maybe Sheila's family was bullied by the shrewd women in the village. They never dared to speak out before. Now that his son has returned from the army, some accounts must be settled. He is also worried that Surdak will become a
After becoming a knight, it would be bad if someone who is young and energetic gets killed.
The old village chief decided to coordinate, and asked:
"In the end what happened?"
Old Sheila and Natasha's eyes flickered, they looked at each other and then stopped talking.
Seeing the reaction of Suldak's mother and wife, the old village chief became more sure of his guess that he must have encountered some grievances, so he said to old Sheila:
"Now that Surdak has returned, there is nothing else to say. Your son has become a noble knight. Any complaints you have in your heart should be diluted by this."
The old village chief felt that most of the women in the village had never seen the world, and maybe they didn’t know what a knight meant, so he said to them:
"When I heard the news from the tax official's entourage today, I was also shocked by it. How much merit do you need to make to be selected as a knight by the noble lord? Our village of Wall has never had a knight in so many years.
Knight, knight! Tax collector Bird told me that our whole village will no longer have to pay taxes. Even if we pay taxes, they will be handed over to Duck. Now he is so bad that even I have to call him knight.
grown ups."
Speaking of this, the old village chief couldn't help but smile. Taxes are the largest expenditure in Wall Village every year. The land here is barren, and the food produced is not enough for his own family. Where is the excess to be taxed? What if?
If I have to pay taxes to Surdak in the future, maybe I can be accommodating and pay less.
The old village chief touched the pipe in his tobacco bag, and finally held back. He only said: "If you have anything to say, tell Suldak behind closed doors. Even if the lawsuit reaches the city of Helensa, don't worry.
People take care of it.”
Hearing what the old village chief said, Sheila and Natasha's eyes became more worried.
"Just today, people in the village competed with people from Guta Village for the pasture boundary, and they injured three people. In the afternoon, I suddenly heard that a knight had appeared in our village, and Guta Village actually took the initiative to send three soldiers over.
The bags of tree rice are the compensation they gave us. We have always borne the death and injury in the battle for the pasture boundary. When has there been any compensation? In the final analysis, it is related to the birth of a knight in our village of Wall." said the old village chief.
When I hear this, I can't stop smiling from my face.
Every year, Wall Village and Guta Village make a lot of money for the pastures in the valley. Most of the time, Guta Village, which has the upper hand in numbers, takes advantage.
This year, the situation suddenly turned around. The reason is that someone in Wall Village became a knight and returned safely from the front line.
The old village chief said proudly: "At the boundary of the grassland in our village, Guta Village took the initiative to step back ten meters. Look, when did those guys in Guta Village give in? As long as Surdak is there,
We no longer have to be afraid of those guys in Guta Village."
Speaking of this, the old village chief was also full of emotion. He recalled that he had been working hard and silently for Wall Village for so many years, and now finally a young man who was better than himself had taken over this responsibility. He looked at Su with a look of relief.
Erdak said:
"As the village chief, I have been serving as the village chief for so many years. It's time for me to take a break long ago."
The old village chief coughed twice, stood up, bent over and walked out, saying as he walked:
"I'm going to see how the room arranged for Mr. Tax Officer Bird is arranged. In recent years, Mr. Tax Officer Bird has taken good care of him. Naturally, I can't neglect Mr. Tax Officer."
When he reached the door, the old village chief turned around again, and said earnestly to old Sheila, who was about to follow him out:
"Old Sheila, you will have good days in the future. Don't hold anything against your mind. Just let it go if you can. Otherwise, if you take revenge now, when little Peter grows up, his children will do better than little Peter.
Do you also want to settle the grudges from the past?"
The old village chief glanced at little Peter nestling in Suldak's arms with his cloudy eyes, bared his yellow teeth and said:
"Even if you don't think about others, you should think about Peter!"
This last sentence took away the last bit of courage that Old Sheila had.
Originally, she wanted to chase him out and quietly tell the old village chief that her child was afraid of being switched and that a stranger was sitting at home, but now she couldn't say these words. She glanced at Peter with a worried look on her face.
, the child's innocent eyes were filled with a happy smile, and the stranger was taking out a handful of candies from his arms.
Old Sheila could only agree dullly:
"oh"
Watching the old village chief slowly disappear into the night, old Sheila closed the door, turned around, walked to Suldak, and took little Peter from Suldak's arms.
Little Peter didn't want his grandmother to hold him, but he couldn't break free no matter how hard he struggled. Old Sheila handed little Peter to Natasha and ordered:
"You two take Peter to bed first, and we'll talk about anything tomorrow!"