Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 23 Brother Visits_1

Chapter 23: Chapter 23 Brother Visits_1

Gougou woke up and ran straight to the backyard after getting out of bed, relieved to find the river clam still in the basin.

He had just dreamed that the river clam had grown two legs and run away, and no matter how he chased, he couldn’t catch up.

Thinking about it, Gougou poked the clam with a stick again. The clam, sensing something poking itself, immediately retracted its exposed flesh and closed its shell, revealing several small pearls below. Seeing this, Gougou quickly picked them up and went to find Nanzhi.

"Mom, Mom, the river clam has given birth to babies!"

Nanzhi was rummaging through the storage room next door, trying to find something useful, when she saw Gougou running towards her with something in his hand.

She hugged the charging Gougou and then asked, "What’s the matter, Gougou? Why are you running so frantically?"

Gougou opened his wet little hands to reveal the smooth, round pearls, "Mom, mom, the river clam has given birth to little babies."

He then stretched out his hand towards Nanzhi, wanting her to have a clearer look.

In Gougou’s hand were five perfect pearls, which almost made Nanzhi’s eyes pop out.

How could there be five pearls in the river clam that Gougou brought back when she herself had opened dozens of them without finding a single pearl?

When she looked at Gougou again, Nanzhi felt her adopted son was shining all over.

Could this be Emperor Ou’s holy light?

"Mom, what’s wrong?"

Gougou, seeing his mother’s envious expression, was puzzled and reached out with his other little hand to touch Nanzhi’s forehead.

In the end, Gougou came to a conclusion, "Mom, you must be sick."

"..."

As Nanzhi looked at her silly son, her heart was filled with bittersweet emotion, and she nearly shed tears of envy.

"Gougou, these are called pearls, not the babies of the river clam," Nanzhi explained to Gougou.

Hearing Nanzhi’s words, Gougou seemed disappointed; the excitement he had while holding the pearls vanished, leaving only a sense of dejection as he muttered, "Then we can’t raise them to eat meat."

Nanzhi hadn’t expected such a comment from Gougou and after a moment of silence, she patted his little head, thinking it might be time to teach him the value of pearls, "Pearls can be sold for a lot of food."

Learning that the pearls could be traded for food, Gougou brightened up again and handed them all to Nanzhi, "Then, Mom, go sell the pearls and buy food for us."

Seeing the sensible side of Gougou, Nanzhi sighed internally, thinking who wouldn’t like such a child?

"Be good, Gougou. We’ll keep that river clam at home and see if it produces more pearls later on, alright?"

"Okay, Gougou will watch over it."

Gougou, as if taking on an important mission, took a little stool by himself and sat next to the wooden basin, watching intently as if afraid of missing something.

Seeing how earnest Gougou was, Nanzhi told him to stay under the eaves to avoid the sun while she went back into the storage room to continue tidying up.

Today, as they were eating the river clams, she recalled the scallop porridge her grandmother used to cook. Could the scallops of the river clam also be dried and stored?

Staple foods were easy to find, but in a few months when winter came, she and Gougou couldn’t eat just potatoes and black porridge every day. There were no greenhouses here, and she certainly couldn’t grow vegetables indoors with charcoal...

If she took the time now to catch more river clams and dried the cooked scallops, they’d still have some flavor to their food even without fresh vegetables, even if they were just eating black porridge.

As for the five pearls Gougou brought, they could certainly be exchanged for some silver, and buying enough food for the two of them wouldn’t be a problem.

But when winter arrived, our home needed a cotton quilt and thick coats. Previously, due to the illness of the two elders at home, the original owner had sold off the new cotton quilts as well, and last winter, my mother and I endured it with just an old quilt.

Nanzhi was carefully calculating what else the family was missing when there was a sudden knock on the door from outside.

After the incident the night before, Nanzhi dared not open the door directly, but instead stood at the door and called out.

"Who’s there?"

"Pangya, it’s me."

Hearing this nickname, it was nearly impossible for Nanzhi not to know who it was. Who else could it be but her two brothers?

"Big Brother, Ercheng?" Nanzhi, still somewhat puzzled, opened the door, "Why have you come?"

Hadn’t she just returned to her parents’ house that morning? Why had they come over in the afternoon?

Lin Yicheng looked at his sister with a smile, patted her on the head before speaking, "What, now even your big brother and Ercheng aren’t allowed inside?"

Only then did Nanzhi come back to her senses and step aside to let them in, yet she still couldn’t help but ask with some unease, "Big Brother, Ercheng, why have you come? Is there something wrong at home?"

"What could possibly be wrong at home? We just went to town to buy grain. Mother asked us to bring some to you."

Lin Yicheng entered the house empty-handed, while Lin Ercheng, seeing that his elder brother had no intention of coming out to help, followed suit somewhat speechlessly, carrying a sack in each hand.

Looking at the two bulging sacks on the ground, Nanzhi was still somewhat astonished. She had just sent grain back that morning; why did her mother send her brothers with more grain in the afternoon?

Being stared at by his sister with a puzzled look, Lin Yicheng felt somewhat uncomfortable before explaining, "We checked the prices in town this morning, and saw that grain prices are rising rapidly. Father said there’s no hope for this year’s autumn harvest, so we’ve stockpiled a good amount of grain at home. Mother said to send you some black porridge and old rice."

Lin Ercheng pointed to one of the sacks with a red mark for Nanzhi to see before adding, "Mother said, Gougou is still little and has a weak stomach, too much black porridge isn’t good. This sack is old rice, just make him some porridge on normal days."

As if worried Nanzhi wouldn’t accept it, Lin Ercheng reassured her, "Mother asked us to bring this, just take it. The family is still doing okay. If you run into any trouble, just give us a shout, your big brother and Ercheng can give you some support."

Nanzhi, hearing her two brothers speak, felt a tinge of sourness at the tip of her nose. She held back her tears and managed not to let them fall, "I’m fine here too, you don’t need to worry about me."

"No matter what, you’re still the youngest in the family, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about with your two brothers."

Lin Yicheng merely thought his sister was feeling shy.

Looking at the empty courtyard, Lin Ercheng also felt a pang of sadness.

In the past, his sister had married the best match in the village. In just five short years, how had things turned to what they were now? Ever since the last time she had come back to borrow silver, she hadn’t returned again. The family had thought she was managing somehow, but now, looking at this courtyard, where was the resemblance to the state it was in when he had walked her down the aisle?

"Pangya, why don’t you come back home with us?"

Before Nanzhi could even open her mouth to respond, there was suddenly a rapid knocking from outside the door.

"Lin Widow! Come out here!"

Hearing that, the faces of the two Lin men darkened instantly. They had thought their sister’s life was simply tough, but they hadn’t expected she would be subjected to someone else’s abuse.

"You little slut! If you have the guts, open the door!" The person knocking from outside was none other than Ms. Wu from next door.

After her mother-in-law returned to the house the previous night, she thought the matter was settled, only to be grabbed by her husband and beaten up the following morning.

She begged her mother-in-law for mercy, but her mother-in-law blamed her for taking them to East Mountain where father-in-law got bitten by a venomous snake, causing Li Tian to consider divorcing her.

Already in her thirties, where would she have the face to go back to her parental home if she got divorced?

Her mother-in-law considered divorcing her because of the silver, didn’t she? As long as she got the silver from Ms. Lin, her mother-in-law would surely calm down.

With this in mind, she had run over to knock on the door.

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