Chapter 4: Who is this person?
Xingnong left the city. As she walked, she organized the original owner’s memories and didn’t notice that there was an extra bead in her pocket.
This body was tired and hungry, aching all over, and even more dizzy. She just wanted to find a place to rest as soon as possible.
Xingnong walked for almost an hour according to the original owner’s memory and finally returned to the entrance of Plum Blossom Village, where she met Madam Gu and Shen Xinghui, who had hurried into the city after receiving the news.
Xingnong recognized at a glance that these two people were the original owner’s maternal grandmother, Madam Gu, and the original owner’s younger brother, Shen Xinghui.
Xingnong discovered that her original owner’s maternal grandmother actually looked a bit like the dean of the orphanage from her previous life.
It’s just that she was too thin and walked with a limp, while the old dean was a slightly plump, kind-faced old woman.
But Xingnong still couldn’t help but feel a sense of closeness in her heart.
In her previous life, she grew up in the orphanage until she was five years old before she was taken away by her master. The old dean of the orphanage treated her very, very well. Xingnong’s name was given by her. She regretted that she hadn’t had time to properly show filial piety to the old dean before she passed away when she was seven years old.
“Sister!”
“Xingnong!”
The two hurried to the original owner.
Madam Gu grabbed Xingnong and looked her up and down worriedly, “Did you go report to the officials? Didn’t I tell you not to? Why are you so disobedient? Are you hurt? Let me see.”
“I’m fine.” This incessant concern really resembled the old dean a bit.
Madam Gu’s face changed when she saw a little blood on Xingnong’s pants, “You were caned? How many times? Does your butt hurt?”
Madam Gu was extremely anxious. Why wouldn’t this girl listen?
“It’s fine, only five strokes.”
Hearing that she was hit with five strokes, Madam Gu’s heart ached terribly. Five strokes would have caused her butt to bloom, how heavy were the blows?
If it weren’t for the wrong place, she would have wanted to take off Xingnong’s pants to check.
“The nail board? Did you roll on the nail board?” Thinking of something, Madam Gu grabbed Xingnong and checked her all over, even lifting her sleeves to inspect.
This kind of care from an elder warmed her heart, and she couldn’t help but say, “Grandma, don’t worry, I didn’t roll on the nail board. I didn’t report to the officials later.”
Madam Gu carefully checked and confirmed that she hadn’t rolled on nails before she let out a sigh of relief. Her expression was very stern as she said, “Shen Xingnong, Grandma is telling you, you are not allowed to report to the officials in the future! Do you understand? If you dare to report to the officials again, I won’t acknowledge you as my granddaughter!”
Xingnong nodded, “Yes, I won’t.”
This obedient and well-behaved appearance made Madam Gu’s nose tingle. She said with some heartache, “You child, have you been wronged? It’s Grandma’s fault.”
How much wrong must this child have suffered to become so obedient?
She wasn’t usually so obedient.
It was all her fault for being useless, making this child start protecting this family from such a young age.
Seeing that Madam Gu wanted to cry, Shen Xinghui hurriedly said, “Grandma, sister, let’s go home and talk about it! Sister, you must be hungry.”
Shen Xinghui was the child of the original owner’s aunt.
The original owner only knew that her uncle was originally a refugee scholar. His family had all died, and it was Madam Gu who saved him when he fainted from hunger on the side of the road. Later, he married her aunt. A year after their marriage, just as her aunt became pregnant, he went to the capital to take the imperial examination, and then he disappeared.
Three years later, he sent a steward to pick up her aunt to the capital, but the steward said that the journey was long and the child was too young to be taken care of. It wouldn’t be good if something happened, so he didn’t take the two children away.
Her aunt said she would come back later to pick up the two children and go to the capital.
But more than ten years had passed, and she hadn’t returned, nor was there any news. The reason was unknown.
✿✿✿
And Madam Gu only told the two siblings that their parents were working for the emperor and couldn’t leave without permission, otherwise, they would be beheaded. When they had time, their parents would be able to come back and take them to the capital to enjoy a good life.
Xingnong felt that this was just a kind lie that Madam Gu used to comfort the dragon and phoenix twins.
Madam Gu pulled Xingnong forward, “Yes, yes, yes, go home! I’ll check your wounds when we get home.”
So the three hurried back to the village.
They met several fellow villagers along the way, but no one greeted them. Those villagers even glanced at the three of them with very disgusted and disdainful eyes, as if the three of them had dug up their ancestral graves.
Two women were even being sarcastic:
“Bad people’s feng shui is the same as murdering for money, harming everyone, harming the whole village. How do they have the face to stay here?”
“That’s right, if I were her, I would have jumped into the river and killed myself long ago. How could I have the face to live in this world and harm others?”
Madam Gu held the hands of the two children tightly, especially Xingnong’s, and walked even faster.
Xinghui’s face flushed red.
Xingnong turned her head to look. One of these two was Aunt Li, who seemed to be sisters from the same village as Madam Li.
The other was Madam He, the famous loudspeaker in the village, who loved to gossip about others.
The villagers already looked down on the original owner’s family. Now that they believed the words of that fortune teller, they showed their dislike even more.
Madam Gu clenched Xingnong’s hand even tighter, afraid that she would rush up and argue with others. That would ruin her reputation even more. Their family was already having a hard time, and this child was almost seventeen years old. No one had come to propose marriage yet. She was so worried that she reminded her, “There are gods three feet above your head, don’t pay attention to what others say.”
Madam Gu had long been accustomed to even more unpleasant words. When she was young, she gave birth to two daughters. Later, Shen Chongshan died in battle, and she raised the two daughters alone. Many village women looked down on them and gloated over their misfortune, secretly saying that she was a jinx and a bane to her family.
She just thought that everyone was jealous of her because after all, Shen Chongshan was the man that all the women in the village wanted to marry back then.
Later, her eldest daughter became pregnant before marriage. The villagers felt that she was immoral and vulgar, ruining the reputation of the girls in Plum Blossom Village, and almost drove them out of the village. Now with the fortune teller’s words, everyone in the village looked down on their family, and they all wanted to drive them out of Plum Blossom Village.
She refused to leave, to spite them!
Madam Gu held the hands of the two children and walked even faster.
~
The original owner’s home was in the middle of the village, inside a narrow alley.
As the three passed by the largest house in the village, a two-story blue brick and tile house, a gentle-looking, barely handsome man came out. As soon as he saw Xingnong, he immediately glared at her and blocked the three of them, “Shen Xingnong, you bastard! How dare you hurt Miss Mingzhu? Are you going crazy like your mother?!”
“What do you want to do?” Madam Gu immediately stepped forward and blocked the two children.
Madam Gu knew that Xingnong liked this Shen Dabao, but he didn’t like Xingnong at all. He really wasn’t a good match.
Shen Dabao glared at Xingnong angrily, not taking Madam Gu seriously at all.
He looked as if Xingnong had killed his whole family.
Aunt Li and Madam He stopped and watched the show gloatingly.
Xingnong recognized at a glance that this was the man the original owner had a crush on, Shen Dabao, the eldest son of the village chief of Plum Blossom Village. The original owner went to report to the officials because of what he said. She looked at him indifferently, then turned to Xinghui, “Xinghui, who is this person?”
