Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 220: That child of 220

Chapter 220: That child of 220

Whenever Xu Sheng would engage in conversation, Xiaoqi would sit quietly by his side, listening to this lonely old man slowly unfold his past.

The three of them sat in the courtyard for a while before old lady Xu, leaning on her crutch, slowly emerged from her room.

"This, this is the recipe for Thousand Gold Wine. You can take it and tell him that I no longer owe him anything in this life."

Upon receiving the wine recipe, Chi Sheng prepared to bid farewell with Xiaoqi, but old lady Xu spoke again.

"Taotao, you should go back."

Su Tao looked at old lady Xu with anxiety, reluctant to leave her alone, but she ultimately gave in. She promised to come back and check on her in a couple of days.

Once old lady Xu guaranteed that she would be fine, Su Tao, alongside Chi Sheng and his party, left the village.

On the way, Chi Sheng couldn’t curb his curiosity any longer, asking Su Tao, "Miss Su, how did you come to know old lady Xu?"

He quietly made inquiries about Su Tao’s background since he met her.

But what he learned were just lauds.

Praises for her being one of the few female merchants in Yan City, praises for her Bodhisattva-like heart, praises for her unparalleled beauty and talent.

The Su Tao in their words was too perfect to be an ordinary young lady.

"I came to Yan City as a refugee many years ago. With so many displaced people, I couldn’t get into the city. Old lady Xu took pity on me, a young girl, and took me back to Niuniu Village. After I got some help and settled down in Yan City, I wanted to bring old lady Xu to the city to live out her old age, but she refused. Worried about her being alone, I made a point to visit her in the village from time to time."

Su Tao talked about her past ordeal lightheartedly, as if it were just a game and not something horrifying.

Yet Chi Sheng’s lips tightened slightly.

He knew all too well how dire those years of famine were.

During their rounds to catch people down from the mountains, they were often cursed at. Gradually, those people they took became less resistant and more accepting, begging them to take them in.

How different were they, forcing people into becoming bandits, from those monstrous Goblins?

What he didn’t expect was that Miss Su was also part of that ordeal.

Chi Sheng’s gaze became complicated, looking at Su Tao with mixed emotions.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Su Tao, feeling a bit uncomfortable under his gaze, turned her gaze towards Chi Sheng and teased. "Did you fall in love with me?"

Dressed in a pale green dress with twin buns on her head, the young girl’s straightforwardness made Chi Sheng stay rooted in his spot.

The vague figure in his memory was gradually becoming clearer as if that person was also laughing at him. Despite his efforts, a veil of fog constantly shrouded the figure.

[Ding - Chi Sheng’s favorability +5

The current favorability is 25, Host, please continue to work hard──]

The system’s voice suddenly rang in her mind, and Su Tao’s beautiful eyes widened.

His favorability increased by five points?

For the rest of the journey, the three of them did not speak. At the entrance to the village, villagers often hitched up their bullock carts to wait for passengers.

It only cost two wen coins per person to go from Niuniu Village to Yan City.

The cart driver’s face perked up when he saw them coming, especially when he recognized Su Tao, his enthusiasm visibly heightened.

"Miss Su, are you heading back to Yan City?"

The cart driver was a middle-aged man in his forties, his skin dark. When he grinned, his slightly yellowed teeth were visible.

"Mm-hmm."

Su Tao smiled and nodded, then making use of the stool the driver had put aside, she climbed onto the Bullock Cart.

"Young Master, are you riding the Bullock Cart? It’s two wen coins per person."

Seeing Chi Sheng and Xiaoqi staying motionless, the driver quickly beckoned to them.

Chi Sheng looked at Xiaoqi beside him, then nodded for Xiaoqi to get on the Bullock Cart first.

After waiting a while longer, two women arrived, and only then did the driver lead the bullock away, leisurely heading towards Yan City.

"Miss Su, are you going to see Old Lady Xu again?"

One of the women glanced at Chi Sheng, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, before she turned to look at Xiaoqi sitting beside him and then began chatting with Su Tao cheerfully.

"Yes."

Su Tao didn’t show any particular warmth towards this woman, instead she just politely nodded slightly.

"In my opinion, Miss Su, you better keep your distance from that Old Lady Xu. She’s a notorious bad luck charm. Otherwise, why would her husband have left so abruptly? Even their child... ah, it really is tragic!"

The woman even slapped her own thigh, her face expressing deep regret.

"What happened to her child?"

Hearing the woman mention Old Lady Xu’s child, Chi Sheng turned towards her and asked.

The two women looked at each other then at Chi Sheng before they finally spoke, "That child was a monster from the moment it was born! The entire village says it carries a curse and is destined to live and die alone!"

"Yes, yes, anyone who gets close to her is bound to encounter bad luck! Lee’s daughter-in-law in our village, the villagers advised them to move to the west of the village, but she didn’t listen, insisting that their own house had good Fengshui. As a result, within a month, she drowned to death!"

The other woman wore a grieving expression, which caused Xiaoqi, who was sitting at the side, to frown disgustedly.

He knew this look all too well - after those two people died, many people in the village had looked at him and Yueyue in the same way.

But in the end, wasn’t all his family’s food stolen by them?

Now the two women were like a floodgate had been opened, spewing out a string of "unfortunate events" supposedly caused by Old Lady Xu.

The more Su Tao listened, the more indifferent her facial expression became, and by the end, her eyes seemed to be glazed over with a layer of frost.

She didn’t believe in any ghosts or spirits. Even if she was transmigrated, how could a decent person like Old Lady Xu possibly be the bad luck charm these people were describing?

Chi Sheng’s face did not look too good either. It was not until they arrived at Yan City that the two women finally stopped talking. They each gave two wen coins to the driver before heading toward the city.

"Miss Su, don’t listen to the nonsense of those two people. Old Lady Xu is a very good person, it’s just the villagers don’t like her."

The driver was forty-six this year. When Old Lady Xu and Xu Sheng came to Niuniu Village, he was merely two years old. Though he was young, his impression of them was still clear. Back then, all the children in the village liked going to the Xu Family because they could always get a piece of candy.

Then when he was four, Uncle Xu suddenly disappeared. From then on, the villagers stopped their kids from going to the Xu Family. He would occasionally sneak over to knock on the door of the Xu Family, but never got another piece of candy after that.

Everything was still okay until the day Old Lady Xu gave birth. The midwife said that she had given birth to a monster, and thereafter, the villagers avoided her like she was a venomous snake. Even the children would quickly scuttle away at the sight of her.

But due to his defiant nature and his frequent mischief leading to beatings from his father, he would often run into Old Lady Xu on his tear-soaked walks. Old Lady Xu’s smile had disappeared, but during the times she was giving him medicine, she would gently blow on him to make him feel better.

Even though every time after applying the medicine, he would get another beating from this father, to him Old Lady Xu was a good person and that always stayed with him.

"I know." Su Tao’s expression improved slightly. After she paid the fare and got off the Bullock Cart, she left Chi Sheng and Xiaoqi still on the cart.

"Young Masters, we’ve arrived."

Upon seeing them still motionless, the driver felt a bit puzzled.

"Uncle, what about the child that Old Lady Xu gave birth to? What happened to it?"