As I was wearing it quickly, the little fish flew away

Hearing the clan leader say this, Old Niu was terrified. You know what the consequences would be if there was no village or family protection in ancient times. When Old Niu thought of this, he really wanted to beat Niu Er to death.

"Chief Yu, I know this is the fault of my Niu Er. Now I will hand him over to you for you to deal with." Old man Niu winked and asked Niu Da and Niu San to push out the tightly tied Niu Er.

Haha, you are playing tricks on me! Do you really think that I am the chief of the clan for nothing? You want to play tricks on me? Let me see how I will deal with you.

"Old Niu! You see, it was your second son who did this, and you admitted it, but it's true that Erzhu almost lost his life. You handed Niu Er over to us, and we have no way to deal with him. Can we kill him? Wouldn't that bring shame to our Yu family?" The head of the Yu clan said with a smile. "It's a bit too much to drive you out of the village just because of such a small matter. How about you pay Erzhu the money for seeing the doctor and getting medicine, and then repair the road from the village to the county town, and then we'll stop here. No one should mention it in the future. What do you think?"

"Okay." Old Niu winked at Niu Da and Niu San, meaning that Niu Er could be untied. "Then Chief Yu and Brother Yu will sit at home." This meant inviting Chief Yu and the Yu family to come into the house for negotiation.

"Okay, then come in and sit down." Patriarch Yu turned to look at his younger brother, motioning for them to go in and talk together.

"Okay then, let's listen to big brother and go in and talk." With that, Old Man Yu led everyone to follow the Niu family and the clan leader into the Niu family's courtyard.

The Niu family's courtyard was OK. Although the Niu family had fled famine a few years ago, they were probably well-off. The main house was made up of three large blue brick and tiled houses, with three adobe wing rooms on each side. To the east were the rooms of the three brothers, Niu Da, Niu Er, and Niu San, and to the west were the kitchen, firewood room, and toilet. The courtyard wall was a half-man-high fence made of bamboo.

When the head of the Yu family came in, Niu Da's wife had already served tea and placed it on the table in the main hall. (Because Niu Er's family fled from famine, there was a big age difference between Niu Da, Niu Er and Niu San. Niu Da was in his early 20s and married a woman named Hua. They had two sons and one daughter. Niu Er was only 11 years old and Niu San was 8 years old. The four older sisters who fled from famine all died, so Niu Da was only nine years older than Niu Er.)

Everyone entered the house and sat down. The head of the Yu family and Old Man Niu sat in the main seat. (The head of the Yu family sat in the main seat because of his status, and Old Man Niu sat in the main seat because this was his family.)

"Then Liu, please tell me how much money was spent on Erzhu's illness!" Patriarch Yu looked at Liu and motioned her to come out and report the expenses of Erzhu's medical treatment so that they could claim compensation from the Niu family.

"Yes," Liu said, "When Erzhu came back yesterday, he was covered in blood. I was so scared that I quickly asked him to go to the county to see a doctor. (Zhu Yujia Village is only 3 li away from the county town, which is 1.5 kilometers, about the distance of two laps of a football field.)" Liu paused and continued, "Yesterday the doctor said that the child was seriously injured and needed acupuncture and medication, so I spent taels yesterday. The doctor also said that he would need a follow-up examination in half a month, which would probably cost another taels."

"What? Twenty taels were spent yesterday. Is this robbery?" Immediately, Old Lady Niu (Niu Er's mother is 42 years old this year) screamed.