Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 219: Little Wooden Man

Chapter 219: Chapter 219: Little Wooden Man

Noticing that Granny Xu’s face had turned somewhat pale, Su Tao became suspicious.

Could it be that someone was looking for her to cause trouble?

After calming Granny Xu down, Su Tao cautiously approached the door.

"Who is it?"

Hearing a familiar voice from inside, Chi Sheng was taken aback. How come Su Tao was in Niuniu Village?

"Miss Su Tao?"

Recognizing Chi Sheng’s voice from the yard, Su Tao turned to Granny Xu and said, "Granny Xu, I know the person outside. He means no harm."

"Really? Since you know him, let him in."

Granny Xu’s face relaxed, and she nodded in agreement.

With Granny Xu’s permission, Su Tao finally opened the door.

Seeing that it was indeed Su Tao standing in the yard, Chi Sheng couldn’t help but ask curiously, "Miss Su Tao, what brings you to the village?"

"I’m visiting a relative."

Su Tao let them into the yard, carefully bolted the door again, and then went back into the yard to sit down.

"What brings you here?"

Granny Xu observed the two of them, a little puzzled.

"We came to the village to look for someone and thought to seek some water in your house."

"Looking for someone?"

"Yes, we are here on behalf of our elders to search for an old acquaintance."

Chi Sheng said firmly.

"Searching for an old acquaintance..."

Granny Xu repeated the phrase, a look of confusion in her eyes.

"Who are you looking for?"

As Su Tao brought out two bowls of water, she asked with raised eyebrows.

"Granny Xu."

Su Tao paused mid-motion handing the water over, and Granny Xu’s face turned three shades paler.

"What do you want with Granny Xu?"

"To ask for a wine recipe."

After saying this, Chi Sheng briefly paused before adding, "Grandpa Xu has sent us to find her and ask for the recipe for the invaluable wine."

"He sent you?"

Granny Xu’s voice trembled, and the hand she reached out shook uncontrollably.

Seeing Chi Sheng and Xiaoqi nod, Granny Xu suddenly let out a derisive laugh. Su Tao tried to offer her a seat, but found the old woman’s eyes were already brimming with tears.

"After all these years, after so many years, he has never come to see me. Instead, he sent you to ask for the wine recipe?"

Granny Xu spoke, tears streaming down her face.

In her youth, she had fled to this place with Xu, thinking that they would lead an ordinary life of farming and weaving. But in the end, she realized she had ended up with an unfaithful man.

Although she resented him after his departure, a part of her hoped against hope.

What if he had no choice but to leave?

What if there was something he just couldn’t say?

What if... what if he came back in a year’s time?

Because of these vain hopes, she had been waiting in this village night and day since she was twenty-three.

Forty-three years had gone by, and she had aged into an old woman with silvery hair, only to find that all he wanted was the recipe for the wine.

Granny Xu hunched over, her cloudy eyes, dulled by age, welling up with large tears that fell onto the yellow mud, leaving deep marks.

Seeing Granny Xu like this, Su Tao felt a pang in her heart.

She had met Granny Xu two and a half years ago, when she had just come to Yan City. Unable to enter the city and settle down because of her refugee status, it was Granny Xu who had taken her in out of pity and brought her to Niuniu Village.

Throughout their companionship of over a fortnight, she saw that Grandma Xu would sit blankly in the courtyard all day, staring at the entrance. Despite establishing her own business in Yan City and wanting to move her to the city life, Grandma Xu would only shake her head in refusal.

From her perspective now, was Grandma Xu afraid that on the prodigal man’s return, she would be out of sight?

Su Tao felt uncomfortable inside. The moment Chi Sheng spoke, she thought of Xu Sheng from Qing Fenghan.

Xu Sheng was already seventy years old this year. He was always solitary in the stockade. This time, when he invited them to find someone, she was somewhat curious too.

After all, ever since Xu Sheng entered the stockade at the age of twenty-eight, he never mentioned his past to anyone. Everyone assumed he was a loner who couldn’t survive on his own, and hence chose to live in the mountains.

Until now, they only discovered that he used to have a family in his earlier years.

Thinking about Xu Sheng’s current situation, Chi Sheng felt somewhat melancholic.

There must have been some misunderstanding between these two old people...

"You may leave. If you want the wine recipe, only he can get it by coming to meet me himself."

Grandma Xu wiped her tears with her kerchief and waved her hand to refuse Chi Sheng’s request.

She wanted to see what that heartbreaker of her youth looked like now.

Chi Sheng didn’t say anything more. Instead, Xiaoqi spoke up: "Grandpa Xu cannot climb down the mountain."

Grandma Xu was taken aback and looked over at Xiaoqi: "And why not?"

"Grandpa Xu lost one leg. He can’t descend the mountain, he will fall down."

Xiaoqi answered truthfully and added: "His eyes cannot see anything anymore. He can’t make his way to the village."

"Retribution...all retribution..."

Grandma Xu muttered to herself. But her voice didn’t sound happy, just melancholy. She burst into tears again, her tears falling like rain on the mud at her feet.

Su Tao helped Grandma Xu to sit down, looking at Chi Sheng, wanting to say something more.

"Miss Su, if you have something to say, just say it."

Noticing her gaze on him, Chi Sheng sighed.

"Did the old man say anything else?"

Su Tao looked at Chi Sheng, her voice full of inquiry.

Pausing for a moment, Chi Sheng began: "Old Master Xu only mentioned that he had wronged Grandma Xu. If she had already remarried, we were to ignore this affair. However, if Grandma Xu was still waiting for him, we were to tell her...to tell her that he had passed away."

The news made Grandma Xu look more desolate. Would he rather she believe that he was dead than come to see her?

Seeing the faraway look on Grandma Xu’s face, Su Tao hurriedly asked, "Do you know why Old Master Xu left in the first place?"

"He never stated his reasons."

Chi Sheng shook his head. Su Tao looked disappointed. Grandma Xu had been waiting for him for decades. Despite not thinking it was worthwhile, she was still hoping to give Grandma Xu a more comforting answer.

"You may leave now, I will not hand over the recipe for the wine."

By this time, Grandma Xu had stopped crying. She seemed older than before, lifeless.

Having lived in such dire straits for so many years, in the end, it all boiled down to wishful thinking.

"Grandma, Grandpa Xu asked me to give this to you."

The atmosphere fell silent when Xiaoqi suddenly pulled out a small wooden figure from his pocket and handed it to Grandma Xu.

The wooden figure was less than two inches tall and the face of the figure had worn off because of being handled for many years.

When the wooden figure was placed in her hand, a glint lit up in Grandma Xu’s grey eyes.

Trying to open her eyes wider, she examined the shiny wooden figure closely.

After a while, Grandma Xu finally sighed and got up unsteadily with the help of her walking stick.

"You wait here, I will fetch the wine recipe."

As she walked away, Grandma Xu hunched more than before. Her head of silver hair swayed softly in the wind, but the wooden figure was clutched tightly in her hand, as precious as a pearl.

"Xiaoqi, when did Grandpa Xu give you the wooden figure?"

"Just before we left, he gave it to me in secret."

Looking at Chi Sheng, Xiaoqi’s face was still uncommonly calm for his age.

Xu Sheng loved children. Perhaps it was because he was old, or maybe it was because Xiaoqi was the quietest in the stockade, but he always told Xiaoqi many, many stories.

In those stories, there was always a certain girl...