HUS Chapter 31: You Be My Timely Rain, I'll Be Your Clear Skies
HUS Chapter 31: You Be My Timely Rain, I'll Be Your Clear Skies
Dec 16, 2025
Cheng Dakuan lay on the bed, his face a sickly yellow.
He lived in the right courtyard of the eldest branch's first entrance compound, with a separate suite consisting of one main room and one side room.
His family didn't live at the manor, but now to care for him, his wife had brought the children up the mountain.
Leopard Head had two sons and one daughter. The eldest son was seven, the second son five, and the little daughter not yet a full year old.
With his wife needing to care for her husband, the eldest son very sensibly took on the responsibility of looking after his younger brother and sister.
He held his swaddled sister, bringing his younger brother to play in the courtyard, acting like a little adult.
Suddenly, four or five burly men in guard uniforms walked in.
Seeing their unfriendly expressions, the eldest quickly put his sister on the stone table, ran over to pull his younger brother close, and looked at them somewhat fearfully.
Those burly men walked to the front of Cheng Dakuan's room, their steps pausing slightly, their expressions becoming somewhat hesitant.
After discussing quietly among themselves, one of them coughed and called out loudly, "Is Sister-in-law Cheng home?"
Sister-in-law Cheng was sitting by the bed, looking at her unconscious husband with a worried expression.
In this era, a cold with high fever could truly be fatal.
When she first heard that her husband had gotten into trouble and fallen gravely ill, Sister-in-law Cheng felt the sky was falling.
Despite spring plowing being imminent, she couldn't care about that. She quickly packed a bundle and brought the three children up the mountain.
These past few days, she had washed her face with tears daily. She couldn't count how many times she'd imagined the tragic future of raising three children alone if her husband died.
Now, aside from taking medicine, drinking porridge, and getting up to relieve himself, her husband remained unconscious the rest of the time.
Fortunately, his high fever was gradually subsiding, which gave Sister-in-law Cheng some relief.
Suddenly hearing someone calling from outside, Sister-in-law Cheng wiped the tear stains from the corners of her eyes and walked out.
Sister-in-law Cheng was in her early thirties, with a decent appearance and considerable charm. However, with her husband working for the Yu family while she raised the children alone in the countryside, she inevitably bore the marks of hardship.
"Brothers, what is this about..."
Sister-in-law Cheng saw that they didn't seem to be here to visit Dakuan and felt puzzled.
The lead guard's expression showed slight embarrassment, "Sister-in-law Cheng, this residence was assigned to Cheng... big brother because he was Guard Commander. Now..."
He rubbed his hands together with an awkward smile, "Sister-in-law, you see..."
Sister-in-law Cheng immediately understood. They were here to evict them.
Sister-in-law Cheng's anger flared up instantly, her voice becoming shrill, "Brothers, my man isn't dead yet, and you're already in a hurry to make us vacate the room? Are you afraid he'll die in this room and ruin your good feng shui?"
Not all these guards were thick-skinned. Two of them immediately flushed with embarrassment.
The lead guard was also quite embarrassed, but thinking this was a pledge of loyalty to Commander Liu Yu, he hardened his heart and his expression turned stern.
"Sister-in-law Cheng, your man failed to properly protect the young master, which is why he received the Clan Head's punishment. That the Clan Head didn't kill him is already a tremendous grace. We can't push our luck here. Now Commander Liu has been generous and had us clean out that corner room by the west wall. If you move there yourselves, you can still keep some dignity. Otherwise..."
The new commander Liu Yu lived next door, separated by just one wall.
In reality, Liu Yu's residence and Cheng Dakuan's residence were originally one complete small courtyard that had been divided in two by a wall.
Sister-in-law Cheng was burning with rage. The friendship of years working together wasn't worth as much as the greed to monopolize a small courtyard?
My Dakuan isn't dead yet, and before the person has even left, the tea has already gone cold?
In her grief and fury, Sister-in-law Cheng's tears suddenly streamed down. She collapsed and cried out, "You really are Dakuan's good brothers! My man hasn't even taken his last breath, and you're already eager to drive us out."
She dropped to her knees with a "thud," "I'm begging you, please, if you want us to leave, at least wait until my man's coffin lid is nailed shut. I'm afraid if he wakes up and learns his brothers have treated him this way, he'll be angered to death. I'm begging you..."
As Sister-in-law Cheng spoke, she began kowtowing repeatedly with "bang bang bang" sounds, frightening the guards who quickly jumped aside.
With Sister-in-law Cheng pressing them like this, the lead guard's face also flushed red with awkwardness and difficulty.
He said awkwardly, "Sister... sister-in-law, we're just following orders. Please don't make things difficult for us little people..."
Liu Yu was listening from the other side of the wall just then. Hearing this fool implicate him, his face grew hot with embarrassment, and he became somewhat angry from shame.
Seeing their mother being bullied, the Cheng family's two sons quickly ran over to try to pull her up.
Sister-in-law Cheng, like someone possessed, just kept kowtowing. Her forehead was already bleeding. The two children were terrified and began wailing loudly.
The baby girl in swaddling clothes on the stone table, hearing her mother and two brothers crying, also began wailing.
At this, several tough men who could kill without changing expression broke out in cold sweat across their foreheads.
This wasn't something humans should be doing!
But... having come this far, if they left with their tails between their legs, wouldn't Commander Liu make them suffer later?
The lead guard hardened his heart and said harshly, "Sister-in-law Cheng, no matter how you cry and make a scene today, it's useless. Quickly vacate the room and keep some dignity. Otherwise, brothers will have to help you be dignified!"
On the other side of the courtyard wall, a cold, smug smile appeared at the corner of Liu Yu's lips.
His instigation for these people to come here today wasn't because he was eager to monopolize the entire small courtyard, but rather to anger Cheng Dakuan to death.
He knew all too well how formidable Cheng Dakuan's abilities were.
For a full twenty years, he had lived in Cheng Dakuan's shadow.
Liu Yu was unwilling to live in Cheng Dakuan's shadow his entire life, especially now when no one knew whether the eldest branch would continue to exist.
Once the eldest branch experienced "the tree falling and the monkeys scattering," the higher he had climbed now, the more useful he was in the Clan Head's eyes, the better his prospects would be then.
Therefore, he had to quickly remove this "stumbling block" that was Cheng Dakuan.
These past few days, seeing Cheng Dakuan's condition gradually improving, he couldn't eat or drink, anxious and restless.
Over these twenty-plus years, he had followed Cheng Dakuan, standing guard in wind and snow, accompanying the Clan Head on thousand-mile journeys. He understood Cheng Dakuan's personality and temperament all too well.
He knew that when Cheng Dakuan woke up and discovered his wife crying and children wailing, the whole family stuffed into a storage room with a window so small even a head couldn't fit through, given Cheng Dakuan's temperament, he would surely be enraged.
With extreme cold and high fever having injured his internal organs, and in his weakened state suffering emotional turmoil, even if Cheng Dakuan didn't die, he would be left with an incurable ailment, posing no further threat.
Inside the room, Cheng Dakuan lay on his back. In his daze, he vaguely heard crying and shouting, growing increasingly clear.
Cheng Dakuan thought hazily, "Could it be I'm already dead? Are my wife and children mourning?"
Gradually, his consciousness began to clear, and he could hear the crying, shouting, and scolding outside.
Cheng Dakuan immediately felt a surge of rage. Thirty years of iron bones shattered to dust.
As his throat moved, he spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm onto the bed, blooming into a glaring red plum blossom.
With a "clang," the door was pushed open, and two guards walked in. These were soldiers he had personally trained!
The two guards had just stepped one foot inside when they saw two fierce gazes, like those of a cornered beast.
The two guards immediately shuddered, caught in a dilemma.
Didn't Commander Liu say he was at death's door?
How is this...
In this situation, asking them to go in and carry Leopard Head to the storage room for placement, they really couldn't bring themselves to do it.
At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out in the courtyard, "What are you doing? What's happened to Commander Cheng?"
Yang Can came from Accountant Li's place. Thinking he had nothing else to do at the moment, he headed toward Cheng Dakuan's residence.
These past few days he'd been busy. After pulling Cheng Dakuan from the water dungeon, sending him back to his residence, and arranging for a physician to treat him, Yang Can had gone to attend to his own affairs.
He figured that since Cheng Dakuan had been Guard Commander, with the guards looking after him, there was nothing to worry about.
As for Cheng Dakuan's persistent high fever, Yang Can knew it was an external manifestation produced by the body's immune system working to restore bodily functions.
In this situation, one had to rely on the physician's prescriptions and medicine, but also on Cheng Dakuan himself to pull through. Whether he was there watching or not made no difference.
Now that he'd finished his immediate tasks, he had intended to come check on him, but hearing crying from the courtyard, Yang Can's heart jumped with alarm.
He rushed over in quick strides and, arriving at the courtyard, saw a woman kneeling on the ground crying loudly, with two children beside her pulling at her while also crying.
Several guards stood there at a loss.
Yang Can assumed Cheng Dakuan hadn't made it through and had died, which prompted his question.
Once he understood the situation, his expression immediately darkened, "Although Cheng Dakuan is no longer Guard Commander, how he's to be settled isn't for you to decide!"
Yang Can pointed at the house, his voice stern, "Whether he continues to live here or not, if he doesn't live here, who this house is assigned to, that's First Steward Li's business. Who authorized you to act on your own?"
The guards stammered under Yang Can's questioning, not daring to answer.
In the neighboring courtyard, Liu Yu stamped his foot. He was tempted to come clean up the mess, but after taking two steps, he stopped hesitantly out of cowardice.
This Steward Yang clearly intended to protect Leopard Head. If he went out now and claimed complete ignorance of this matter, it would be unconvincing.
After hesitating, Liu Yu still played the turtle withdrawing into its shell, as if his non-appearance meant the incident had never happened.
Ultimately, Liu Yu was just someone with great ambitions but little talent. Even his malice could only be sneaky. He lacked even the courage to be openly villainous.
"Regarding how to settle Cheng Dakuan, this steward will discuss it with the First Steward. It's not your place to act on your own authority. Get out!"
With Yang Can's rebuke, the group of guards who were already caught in a dilemma felt as if granted amnesty and hurriedly fled.
Yang Can gently consoled Sister-in-law Cheng for a few moments. Hearing the baby on the stone table still wailing, he quickly had Sister-in-law Cheng go soothe the child first.
Yang Can patted the two children's heads, straightened his clothes, and walked into the room.
Leopard Head was propping himself up on one hand, trembling as he tried to sit up.
When he was humiliated earlier, he hadn't shed a single tear, but now his eyes were already blurred with tears, unable to even see Yang Can's face clearly.
Seeing him in this state, Yang Can quickly rushed forward several steps, supporting him, and said happily, "Dakuan, your illness is improving! Lie down, lie down, don't get up."
Yang Can pressed him back onto the bed. Seeing him open his mouth to speak, Yang Can smiled, "You don't need to ask. I understand."
Yang Can sat down by the bed and said, "Since you left the water dungeon, the Clan Head hasn't asked about you. Don't feel disheartened. The Clan Head's handling of you this way means that what happened before is already in the past."
He patted Leopard Head's large hand, "I said before, as long as you don't die, there will always be a day for a comeback.
First, get well. When the time comes, I'll take you to HAPPY, I'll take you flying!"
Master Yang was speaking incomprehensibly again!
However, this time Leopard Head didn't ask him to explain what "happy" meant.
Leopard Head smiled, nodding emphatically with a smile, and said, "Master Yang, I trust you! From now on, I, Leopard Head, will fly with you!"
[NEXT CHAPTER]