Ger, So Proud

Chapter 102

The clattering and banging noises finally subsided. Five or six pots of flowers from the flower stand crashed to the ground, porcelain pots shattered into pieces, soil scattered, flower branches in disarray, creating a mess on the ground.

“Hey, are you okay?”

He An cautiously pushed away the person on top of him and saw a familiar face.

“Ah—” Perhaps accidentally touching his wound, Luo Zhanming let out a painful cry. Seeing the person before him filled with concern, he wanted to smile back, but the pain made him grit his teeth immediately.

Ah Mu, worried about his young master and finally squeezing through, saw Luo Zhanming’s current state and immediately wore a worried expression. “Oh no, Young Master, your face is injured. What should we do?”

It seemed that the porcelain shards from the shattered flower pots had splashed onto Luo Zhanming’s cheek and chin, leaving two deep cuts that looked terrifying.

“Don’t jinx your Young Master—” Luo Zhanming reached up to touch and indeed found his hands covered in blood. Damn, could my face really be ruined?

“Doctor! Doctor! Quickly, let the doctor have a look. It won’t be serious.” He An tightly held Luo Zhanming’s hand, his tone anxious.

The middle-aged ger causing the trouble was restrained by Xu Yun and others. The doctor quickly came forward. The wounds on Luo Zhanming’s face were not severe. After the bleeding was stopped, they looked much better. However, he had just been hit by two flower pots on his back, which hurt terribly whenever he moved. It was likely swelling by now. But with so many people around and the situation unresolved, he didn’t let the doctor examine him closely.

Middle-aged ger saw trouble, scared, desperately signaled to his son and som-in-law. He struggled to break free from Xu Yun and others’ restraint, but it was futile. He said in a harsh tone, “Little Shopkeeper, release me quickly! You’ve harmed my old man, and I’m just causing a scene. Today, seeing your father and brother absent, you can’t make decisions. Another day, I will seek justice from your father and brother!”

“What justice do you want?” Hearing this, He An’s eyes flared with anger. He brushed off his robe and stood up from the ground, a half-blooming magnolia at his feet covered by porcelain shards and soil. “Brother Zhao, take these people to the official office! You want justice, right? We can confront the county magistrate face to face!”

“You, you—” The middle-aged ger’s mouth twitched, his expression intimidated.

“You want justice, and I also want justice. Disturbing the peace, intentionally injuring someone, plus the several flower pots you’ve destroyed, at least seventy to eighty taels of silver. If you can’t compensate me, your whole family will sit in jail for ten or eight years. How about that?”

He An signaled with his eyes, and immediately He Dalang stopped the attempts of the middle-aged ger’s son and son-in-law to slip away during the confusion.

“You yellow-mouthed kid! You dare to be so arrogant after causing someone’s life-threatening situation. You want to go to the official office? Fine, I will go with your father and brother another day. As for you, you have no say! You’d better release us soon. If my old man suffers any harm, I will hang myself in your shop. Even as a ghost, I won’t let you live in peace! Hmph!”

“Really—” Before Luo Zhanming could finish his sentence, he clutched his chest. This time, he was afraid he had suffered internal injuries. Looking at He An standing tall and proud, it felt like something was about to burst out from his heart.

“He can’t make decisions, but what about me?”

“Elder brother?”

Hearing He Ze’s voice, He An changed from his calm demeanor just now, relaxed, and ran to his elder brother.

“Well done. Any injuries?” He Ze patted He An’s head. He had seen everything just now, and his younger brother had grown up unconsciously.

He An shook his head, smiling happily, like a child.

“You said he can’t make decisions, but can’t I? Let’s go to the yamen together and confront them slowly.”

“I, I…”

“You dare not go? This time, you deliberately caused trouble in my flower shop. You have ulterior motives, and someone is instigating you?”

Looking at the clothes of this family, who could afford a dozen or so taels of roses!

“Well, Shopkeeper Xiao, let’s downplay this. It’s just a small matter. Why involve the authorities for such a trivial issue? Your rose allegedly caused harm to my father, and my dad damaged a few pots in your shop. Let’s settle this between ourselves. Making a big fuss won’t do any good for your shop’s reputation, don’t you agree?”

This time it was the son-in-law, who had been quiet until now, speaking up.

If He Ze had to comment, he would say ‘A barking dog never bites!’ When things come to this, think of what happened and just let it go.

“Not really, my roses don’t harm people. The cause of this person’s illness hasn’t been determined yet. How can you accuse us without any basis? Besides, is seventy to eighty taels of silver a small sum? Is it a small matter that Young Master Luo’s face was injured?”

Upon hearing the term ‘injured face’ again, Luo Zhanming’s eye twitched. He had already asked the doctor, and facial injuries were impossible, absolutely impossible!

“Oh, so he’s Young Master Luo from the Luo family! No wonder he looked familiar!”

“Oh no, Young Master Luo is the County Magistrate’s brother-in-law. This matter could escalate. How can we downplay it?”

“That’s right! The County Magistrate has no children to this day. This youngest of the Luo family is cherished by the County Magistrate’s wife…”

…

Middle-aged ger turned pale upon hearing these discussions. His son-in-law stammered and dared not speak again. His son, always cowardly, immediately panicked and couldn’t help shouting, “Dad, what should we do? I don’t want to go to jail! Let’s return the money and leave…”

Thinking of leaving? He Ze’s eyes turned cold. They wanted to harm his family and still walk away unscathed? Even if they were just pawns, that was impossible!

He Ze gestured for a few people to block the door, ensuring this family couldn’t leave. After having the doctor treat the man lying down, and with the situation reaching this stage, the middle-aged ger dared not intervene again.

Unexpectedly, after careful examination, the doctor did not find the cause of the man’s illness. He Ze suspected something but for now, they had to wait for Xu Qingsheng.

As the sun reached its zenith, most of the onlookers dispersed, as not everyone had the leisure. The troublemaking family thought He Ze was going to let them go, and their expressions relaxed slightly.

About half an hour later, Lin Yu finally arrived with Xu Qingsheng. Xu Qingsheng carried a medicine box on his back, and the middle-aged man was stunned to see him.

“Doctor Xu?”

His husband had this illness for a long time, showing symptoms like epilepsy every spring, foaming at the mouth and convulsing. They had consulted many doctors over the years without improvement until they found Doctor Xu, whose prescription and advice to stay away from flowers and plants helped a lot.

He also knew that when his husband fell ill, it looked scary, but it was easy to treat. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be unconcerned about his husband’s life.

But now… Dr. Xu and the shopkeeper were familiar?

“So it’s you.”

He An explained what had just happened to Dr. Xu, who didn’t look pleased when he checked the man’s pulse.

“You must have thought your husband’s life was not in danger to dare act so boldly. How long has he been in contact with flowers and plants? Why didn’t you seek timely treatment? Stick to the previous prescription for half a month. If it’s ineffective, you might as well prepare a coffin for him.”

“Doctor! Dr. Xu, you can’t! When you treated him before, you said it wasn’t serious, and he would recover in two or three days! How… Dr. Xu, I don’t know how close you are to the shopkeeper, we didn’t mean it, please have mercy and save my husband!”

“Previously, your husband only fell ill for two or three days a year and came to see me. It wasn’t serious. But this time, you framed us for extortion, and how long has he been sick? Perhaps you even intentionally worsened his condition? Heaven forgives sin, but you’ve brought this on yourselves. This time, let’s leave it to fate.”

Xu Qingsheng sighed and said no more.

“Dr. Xu! Dr. Xu, you can’t do this, please, save my father…”

“Uncle Xu, you’ve treated this person before?”

“I have, sigh, never expected…”

With the truth now revealed, it was clear that this family knew their husband’s illness wasn’t caused by the roses in the flower shop, yet they still caused trouble. “Take them to the authorities. Regardless, there must be an account to settle.”

He Ze wasn’t one to be lenient. Immediately, he instructed Liu San and others to take them to the authorities. Thus, the farce finally came to an end.

“Brother, shouldn’t we find out who exactly wanted to harm us?” After tidying up the mess, He An asked.

“No need to ask. Brother has a good idea who’s behind this. If one plan fails, there will be another. Be cautious during this time, don’t let anyone take advantage of us. Of course, if anything happens, Brother will handle it.”

“Yeah, Brother, I got it.” He An nodded obediently and soon headed to the backyard.

Thinking that Luo Zhanming was having his injuries examined by Uncle Xu in the backyard, He Ze couldn’t help but feel a jump in his brow.

“Never mind, this time he’s cleared.”

He Ze and Lin Yu exchanged a smile.

…

Backyard.

Because the flower shop had insufficient inventory when it first opened, He Ze became cautious. He also set up two flower beds in the yard, leaving a path in the middle.

He An passed through the flowers and coincidentally met Xu Qingsheng coming out from the gate.

“Is everything okay? Are you hurt?” When the flowerpot fell, he only heard two loud bangs. The person in front of him protected him tightly. Although he was hit on the back and scratched on the face, he wasn’t hurt at all.

He An didn’t know what he was feeling at the moment—worry, distress, annoyance—and inexplicably, a hint of panic.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Dr. Xu’s medical skills are exceptional. If he says I’m okay, then I’m definitely okay.” Just as he said that, Luo Zhanming gestured for Ah Mu to leave.

“Does it hurt?”

Seeing He An furrow his brow, Luo Zhanming waved at him, “Come here.”

He handed him a bottle of powdered medicine. He An looked at him, and the latter leaned against the bed with a pale face, weak and pitiful. “Help me apply the medicine. I can’t see it myself. If it’s past the hour, my face might really be permanently scarred.”

He An obediently sat down beside him, carefully opened the bottle of medicine, and applied it to Luo Zhanming’s wound.

This wasn’t the first time He An had been this close to him, but his heart was pounding like never before, as if it might leap out of his chest.

Luo Zhanming had a striking appearance with his thick eyebrows and bright eyes, and his handsome, chiseled features gave him a distinctly masculine charm. However, the two long scratches on his jaw were quite noticeable, even though the bleeding had stopped.

“Why did you rush out like that earlier? If you really end up scarred, I can’t afford to compensate you,” He An said, biting his lip as he gently sprinkled medicinal powder on Luo Zhanming’s wound.