Because he had already taken a nap in the afternoon, Xia Huai'an was not sleeping deeply.
He woke up in the middle of the night, lying in bed and replying to WeChat messages, when he suddenly heard some movement.
Xia Huai'an picked up his dagger and headlamp, stepped out of the west room, and entered the courtyard.
The headlamp illuminated the entire courtyard, and Xia Huai'an spotted a stealthy figure beside the wild boar.
"Stop right there!" Xia Huai'an shouted sternly.
The figure started violently and tried to escape, but with an awkward gait, Xia Huai'an caught up in a few strides and kicked him flat to the ground.
"Trying to steal a pig, you've got some nerve!" Xia Huai'an twisted the intruder's hands behind his back, knelt with one knee on his waist, and held the dagger in his other hand right against the back of his neck.
The pig thief did not dare to move at all.
Yufang had also been woken up and came out into the courtyard.
"It's Lame Scholar!" Yufang recognized the pig thief. "How could it be you?!"
Lame Scholar's original surname was Zhao, and he could be said to be the most cowardly and timid person in Zushang Village, without exception.
It was said that he used to be quite learned and had a high probability of passing the imperial examinations, but during the county exams, he was reported for smuggling crib notes, instantly stripped of his scholar status, and had one of his legs broken, turning him into a cripple.
Later, he became the target of bullying by everyone in the village, and the locals mockingly called him Lame Scholar. Even his relatives ignored him, and one after another, they left Zushang Village; only his first wife, Shen Yun, stayed by his side.
"Yunniang and I are good sisters, how could the scholar come to steal from my place?!" Yufang reproached, extremely angry.
If there was any aunt or sister-in-law in the village who was closest to Yufang, it was undoubtedly Lame Scholar's wife, Yunniang.
Before Xia Huai'an appeared, Yufang and Yunniang spent all day digging wild vegetables and doing farm work together, and Yunniang had taught her many things.
"To think that whenever Yunniang mentioned you, she always praised you for being honest, sensible, and learned, and insisted you would never cheat and had suffered a tremendous grievance! I never expected you to do something so despicable today!" Yufang scolded.
Xia Huai'an was also somewhat curious and said, "I figured that tying this wild boar in the courtyard might attract unwanted attention, so I planned to take it to sell as soon as day broke. Even if someone from the village came to steal it in the middle of the night, I expected it to be those village ruffians and scoundrels. I never imagined it would be you!"
"I heard from the villagers that you're famously timid and cowardly, that even when people bully you to your face, you don't dare to fight back with a single word. How is it that you've grown so bold today as to come here and steal?!"
Lame Scholar did not make a sound.
"I'm talking to you!" Xia Huai'an stood up and kicked the scholar's backside. "How did you suddenly get so bold?"
He could see that Lame Scholar's physique was frail; he was not afraid of him getting up and running away at all.
Lame Scholar stammered for a moment and said, "Because... Yunniang said you are a good man."
"What on earth?" Xia Huai'an said angrily, "A good man is supposed to be stolen from, a good man is supposed to get the short end of the stick? Where is such bullshit logic in this world?!"
Lame Scholar lay on the ground and sighed, "Those other people are too vicious, I wouldn't dare provoke them. You're a good man, so maybe you'll go easier on me."
Xia Huai'an shook his head. The kind-hearted are easily taken advantage of. It seemed he wasn't ruthless enough, if even a pushover like Lame Scholar dared to steal from his house.
"It looks like if I don't make an example of you today, everyone in the village will think I'm easy to bully!" A fierce look flashed in Xia Huai'an's eyes.
Lame Scholar did not beg for mercy. He said, "I stole, so I own up to it! You can beat and curse me all you want, just don't tell Yunniang."
"I'm going to tell Yunniang!" Yufang said, burning with anger. "To think she always holds you in such high regard! I never expected you to be this kind of person!"
Lame Scholar panicked, immediately crawled up, and kowtowed to Yufang: "Elder Sister Xia, please don't go! Yunniang, she... she is sick, she really can't handle this!"
"What's wrong with Yunniang?" Yufang asked.
Come to think of it, these past few days her life had revolved entirely around Xia Huai'an, and she hadn't seen Yunniang.
Last night, Yufang had gone from door to door asking for help, but she knew Yunniang's family situation very well, and since Lame Scholar had trouble getting around, Yufang hadn't gone to their house to seek aid.
When the pork was distributed this morning, Yunniang hadn't been seen watching the crowd either.
Lame Scholar wept and said, "Yunniang is dying! She hasn't had a proper meal in days, and there's no salt at home. Her body is weak and swollen; whenever you press her flesh, it leaves a dent. For the past two days, she's been delirious and lying in bed most of the time. I read in books that if she doesn't eat something nourishing soon, she probably won't last a few more days!"
"I'm useless and couldn't find any food, and driven to desperation, I got the courage to steal the pig. I didn't even plan to take the whole thing—I just wanted to slice off a pig's ear or tail to help nourish Yunniang."
Hearing that her good sister's condition had become so dire, Yufang burst into tears and looked at Xia Huai'an with pleading eyes.
Xia Huai'an understood that the current situation was not suitable for making an example of the scholar.
However, the village had just been ravaged by bandits, and every household was struggling. If word got out that he was providing relief to Lame Scholar's family, the villagers would surely beat down his doorstep begging for grain.
Xia Huai'an thought for a moment and said to Lame Scholar, "You have hands and feet, you should provide for yourself through your own labor! Today, you will chop two hundred catties of firewood and deliver it to my house. If you finish before dark, I promise to send some food over to Yunniang. If even a single catty of firewood is missing, you can just fend for yourselves and die!"
Lame Scholar wore a look of disbelief. "You aren't going to beat me?"
Xia Huai'an looked Lame Scholar up and down and sighed, "Forget it! With this frame of yours, if I beat you up on top of that, would you still be able to chop firewood?"
"You really are a good man!" Lame Scholar stood up. "Too bad good men don't always get rewarded!"
"Say another word and I'll change my mind!" Xia Huai'an pointed at the courtyard gate. "Get lost!"
Lame Scholar used a tree branch as a crutch and limped his way out of the courtyard.
Seeing that Yufang was still crying, Xia Huai'an comforted her, "Don't worry too much. In a moment, you can steam a few extra buns and quietly take them over to Yunniang."
"I'm not crying because I'm worried!" Yufang shook her head and said, "I was just thinking that if I hadn't met Big Brother, my situation right now might be just like Yunniang's!"
Times are hard, and simply staying alive is extremely difficult.
Yunniang could hardly be called anything less than diligent and virtuous, yet she was struggling even to survive.
"Do you think Big Brother's task of chopping two hundred catties of firewood is too much for Lame Scholar?" Yufang asked. "Yunniang said his body is weak, and I'm afraid he'll find it hard to do such heavy physical labor."
"That will depend on how strong his determination to save his wife is," Xia Huai'an said.
It was still dark, and there were at least a dozen hours left until nightfall. Even a cripple, if he had to crawl, could manage a few round trips; it wasn't impossible for him to chop two hundred catties of firewood.
Yufang nodded slightly, thinking to herself that if she were in Lame Scholar's position and asked to chop two hundred catties of firewood to save Xia Huai'an, she would definitely persevere!
As the two of them were talking, Lame Scholar returned and re-entered the courtyard.
"Haven't you given up yet?" Yufang blocked the path in front of the wild boar.
Lame Scholar hurriedly waved his hands and said, "That's not it! I just wanted to... borrow a firewood chopper."
Xia Huai'an lent both the firewood chopper and the back basket to Lame Scholar, who expressed his gratitude, bowed, and quickly left the courtyard, disappearing into the darkness.
"Ah! He's also a tragic soul," Yufang sighed. "Since I can't sleep anyway, I'll go knead the dough and steam the buns."
"I won't sleep either. I'll help you make the meat filling." Afraid that Yufang would be too stingy with the meat, Xia Huai'an decided to handle it himself.
As the two of them busied themselves in the back kitchen, Yufang brought up the matter of Lame Scholar.
According to Yunniang, Lame Scholar's family was quite well-off when he was young, and he had attended the private school in the county town from a tender age. He was exceptionally clever, and at the age of eighteen, he participated in the county examinations, where he had a very high chance of earning a scholarly degree.
At that time, a kinsman of Landlord Chen from Xiaoyu Township was also participating in the county examinations that same year. Having heard of Lame Scholar's talent and reputation, Landlord Chen sought him out at his home, offering a hefty sum of money for Lame Scholar to write a fine essay in the examination hall for his kinsman to copy in order to secure a degree.
As for the chief examiner in the examination hall, Landlord Chen had already taken care of everything.
Lame Scholar regarded obtaining a degree through his own merit as paramount and flatly refused. Although Landlord Chen was displeased, he did not press the matter further.
Who would have thought that inside the examination hall, just as Lame Scholar was about to finish his answers, the chief examiner suddenly accused him of smuggling crib notes, and even found a scroll of fine-script crib notes hidden up his sleeve.
Despite his desperate denials, Lame Scholar was dragged out of the examination hall on the spot, his exam was invalidated, he was given ten strikes with the paddle, and he was banned from taking the examinations for the rest of his life.
When the results were later posted, the kinsman of Landlord Chen from the same cohort made the list with a score ranking in the top three of the county exams, and his examination essay was also publicly displayed.
After twists and turns, when Lame Scholar finally managed to read the essay, he discovered it was virtually identical to the answers he had originally written. Only then did he realize that the so-called cheating was a trap set by the Chen family!
The Chen family had framed him and forced him out, while his invalidated examination paper fell into the hands of Landlord Chen's kinsman, who copied it to stand out and win a scholarly degree.
Lame Scholar beat the grievance drum and took his case to the county yamen. However, the magistrate accused him of slandering someone with a scholarly degree, ordered twenty heavy board strikes, and directly snapped the bone in one of his thighs.
Unable to endure the beating, Lame Scholar signed and pressed his fingerprint to a false confession admitting to cheating and making false accusations, only then managing to escape with his life.
Ever since then, the high-spirited youth became the Lame Scholar of today.
Lame Scholar originally had several paternal cousins, but unwilling to be implicated, they one by one cut off all ties with him. His family fortunes declined, leaving only Yunniang by his side to care for him.
Yunniang was Lame Scholar's child bride, and the two had been together for nearly twenty years now, truly relying upon each other for survival!
Of course, these were all Yunniang's side of the story. In some rural rumors, it was said that Lame Scholar simply lacked sufficient talent and cheated on the exam, and that getting his leg broken after falsely accusing the top three scorers of the county exam was nothing more than what he deserved.
A thought stirred in Xia Huai'an's heart: if what Yunniang said was true, then Lame Scholar genuinely possessed real learning and talent. The difficulty of earning a scholarly degree in ancient times was exceptionally high; placing in the top three of the county exams—while perhaps not quite Ivy League level—was at least on par with a top-tier university.
"If he truly is a talent, he might just be useful," Xia Huai'an thought to himself.