"After my mother passed away," Yu Daming continued, "it was also Young Master Bao who provided the Silver Coin to help me and my three brothers properly bury our mother. Young Master Bao has been a great benefactor to my family, and I, Yu Daming, have always kept that in my heart."
An Jing understood and her smile became more genuine, "The Uncle San who came to Jiuping Village with you wanting to take me away, is he your younger brother?"
"Yes, he’s my third brother, Yu Sanming."
An Jing was startled, "And what are your other two brothers called?" Surely there isn’t one called Xiaoming, right?
Yu Daming answered truthfully, "My second brother is called Yu Erming, and my youngest brother is called Yu Xiaoming."
...So there really was a Xiaoming.
An Jing fell silent and was about to say something when she heard Yu Daming add, "The four of us brothers have already discussed it. If the landlord were to pass away , we would persuade Young Master Bao to leave the Wang Family. He shouldn’t stay and be mistreated here anymore. The four of us will take good care of him. Even if we cannot offer him wealth, it is certainly better than staying in a home where he’s constantly belittled."
Touched by this, An Jing felt that Wang Youbao was indeed reaping the rewards of being a good person. She said aloud, "Lead the way, please."
Yu Daming then turned around and led the way once more.
The Wang Family’s home really was very large, with many winding corridors. Without someone to guide her, An Jing thought she might just end up circling back to where she started.
Since Madam and Wang Youtao didn’t allow Wang Youbao to stay in Landlord Wang’s room, he had been keeping watch by the door. During this time, Wang Youbao had been in low spirits, hardly able to eat, and had lost about twenty taels in weight.
When An Jing and Xiao Changyi saw that Wang Youbao had lost weight, it was the noticeable kind that clearly showed how much thinner he had become, and they both were slightly taken aback. Of course, Wang Youbao was still quite hefty.
It was really because Wang Youbao had been so overweight before, that even after shedding twenty taels, he was still much heavier than the average person.
Wang Youbao sat listlessly by the door of Landlord Wang’s room. The moment he saw An Jing and Xiao Changyi arrive, his eyes finally showed some life, and he got up and walked toward them.
"An Jing, Changyi, what brings you here?" Wang Youbao said, honestly surprised and delighted.
"We came to check on you. It’s been a long time since you visited us, so we wanted to see how you are," An Jing said with a smile.
Wang Youbao gave a bitter smile and said, "I can’t leave." He had always kept vigil by his father’s door, not venturing anywhere else, for fear of living with lifelong regrets.
An Jing’s mood grew heavy, and she asked with concern, "How is your father now? Has he gotten any better?"
"It’s the same, he’s just clinging to life." As he said this, Wang Youbao’s eyes brimmed with tears. His father lingering , neither alive nor dead, was truly suffering. It would be better to die sooner and be freed from this misery.
An Jing felt even heavier at heart. Indeed, this prolonged suffering was distressing not just for the son, Wang Youbao, but also a torment for Landlord Wang himself.
Just then, they heard the sound of Landlord Wang’s voice from inside the room calling out, "Bao, my Bao, where have you gone? You are not my Bao, get out of the way. Quickly, call my Bao over; I want to see my Bao..."
Upon hearing Landlord Wang call for him, Wang Youbao immediately turned around and attempted to enter his father’s room. However, he was blocked by two men standing guard at the door. Wang Youbao loudly called for his father, trying to force his way in, but the two men, having trained a bit, successfully stopped him, preventing Wang Youbao from entering at all.
Wang Youbao was so anxious that he started to cry. His father was calling for him, and yet he couldn’t get inside...