Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 26 Divorce_1

Chapter 26: Chapter 26 Divorce_1

By the time Li Liang invited Shen Dashan back, the courtyard was already empty, leaving only a pile of wood planks scattered on the ground.

It was not until he brought Shen Dashan into the house that he went to call the village doctor. Regardless of circumstances, his brother had been beaten, and it was best to have the village doctor look at him.

Shen Dashan looked at the pale-faced Old Li lying on the bed and asked, "I wonder why Brother Li called me over."

"I had Li Zheng run an errand." Old Li glanced at Shen Dashan and forced a smile uglier than a cry, which represented his last bit of dignity. He had always cared about face, yet he turned into this sorry state now.

Looking at his demeanor, Shen Dashan did not feel sorry for him at all. He was most knowledgeable of what kind of person Ms. Wang was, who could blame her for turning out like this?

Although that’s what he was thinking, Shen Dashan only nodded politely and said, "It’s no trouble at all. You can just tell me whatever you need."

"Cough, cough, cough."

"Ms. Liao, bring us some paper and a pen," said Old Li, coughing a few times before gesturing at his daughter-in-law.

Liao Hui complied and brought the prepared paper and pen upon her father-in-law’s command.

"Li Zheng, over these years, my lack of management has caused Ms. Wang to make a fool of herself, damaging the reputation of the girls in Lihua Village as a consequence," Old Li declared.

Speaking thus, he was reminded of the faint pain in his right leg, but he continued anyway, "I have let down the villagers. I asked you here today because I want you to write a divorce decree for me."

Shen Dashan was stunned upon hearing this. He was aware of the recent incident at the Li Family. After hearing the news, his wife, Ms. Zhou, had informed him about it. When Li Liang came to solicit help, he thought that they wanted to accuse Forest Girl and had prepared a reply accordingly.

Was Old Li actually planning to divorce Ms. Wang?

"This..." Though Shen Dashan was beginning to have some suspicions, he didn’t dare to make a final judgement. After all, it wasn’t his place to interfere in the Li Family’s affairs.

His eyes unfocused, Old Li seemed lost in thought, reminiscing about something until the pain in his right leg gradually brought him back to his senses: "I want to divorce Ms. Wang."

"After more than thirty years, in the end, I was actually..." he trailed off.

Remembering how his life wasn’t worth more than three taels of silver to his wife, Old Li had tears welling up in his eyes, his sentence dying on his lips.

It wasn’t until the next day, when Nanzhi was packing up to take Gougou to the East Mountain to gather chestnuts, that she learned about this incident from Liu Dama and the others.

This hadn’t happened in Lihua Village for decades, divorce at this age, let alone such an older couple like Old Li and Ms. Wang.

Moreover, considering all the disreputable things Ms. Wang had done in the past, the news of Old Li seeking divorce became a sensation in the village.

"Divorcing her?"

Nanzhi looked at Liu Dama in disbelief. Old Li and Ms. Wang had been married for several decades. Despite all the outrageous things Ms. Wang had done in the past, Old Li had barely reprimanded her. But now, at over fifty, he had decided to give her a divorce decree?

"Right, isn’t it bizarre?" Liu Dama also felt it was astonishing. When Ms. Wang had driven her own daughter to death, Old Li didn’t talk about divorcing her. It was peculiar that he wanted to do it now.

"I heard that it’s because Old Li was bitten by a snake. They needed silver to treat his leg - three taels of silver! But Ms. Wang didn’t want to give it." Teased by the gossips, Aunt Guihua hurriedly added the latest news that she knew.

"Really?" Liu Dama turned to Aunt Guihua and asked, "Didn’t the Li Family get fifteen taels of silver from that incident? And after adding everything they’ve earned, weren’t there twenty-five taels in total? How could they not afford three taels?"

Aunt Guihua glanced around to be sure that no one from the Li Family was present before she continued, "My nephew saw it with his own eyes! He was running an errand at the Aegis Clinic yesterday and happened to run into the Li Family. The doctor at the clinic said that three taels of silver could save the leg, but not only did Ms. Wang refuse to give that amount, she also made a fuss, accusing them of being heartless and trying to cheat them out of their money."

"And thanks to the clinic’s doctor who gave him a free injection, otherwise, Old Li might not have lasted until he got home."

A few people around also heard this. They sighed. Poor old man Li, halfway into his grave and still suffering such hardship in his old age.

"Maybe they’re feasting on meat every meal at home, otherwise how could all that silver be gone?"

An old lady joked. Even she could afford three taels of silver, it was only because Ms. Wang was a miser. Everyday penny pinching was one thing, but being stingy even on events like these was truly odd.

"If they were having meat daily, would Shi Tou be running around stealing Gougou’s wild egg? Isn’t that right, Lin girl?"

Nanzhi, who was initially enjoying the gossip, suddenly got called out and could only nod stupidly and grin.

"If I had to say, Lin girl, you have two brothers so capable at home. Why didn’t you call them over earlier? Wouldn’t have needed to put up with Ms. Wu’s bullying."

Aunt Guihua looked disappointedly at the grinning Nanzhi. They used to think Nanzhi had no one to rely on in her family, hence she lived such a downtrodden life. They could stand helping her out daily, but after a while, seeing her being essentially putty in anyone’s hands, they just found her incompetent.

If only she had a tougher personality, at least Gougou, like a family pet, could suffer a little less from Shi Tou’s bullying.

"..." Nanzhi didn’t know how to justify herself. She felt suffocated by the actions of her past self.

She could only keep silent.

"If I may say, you were doing good yesterday. You’re rearing Gougou alone now, if you don’t toughen up, people will treat you like a punching bag."

Aunt Liu nodded in agreement, especially in these difficult times. Being too soft could invite all kinds of abuse, especially for a gorgeous young widow like Nanzhi.

"I protect Mama." Noticing the women’s conversation, Gougou was a bit unhappy. He was a man, he could protect Mama.

Thinking of this, he displayed a slightly unhappy frown, leaving everyone around laughing.

"Yes, yes, yes, our Gougou can protect his Mama." Aunt Liu smiled, squinting her eyes at Gougou. This little fellow indeed was a sensible and filial child.

Aunt Guihua looked at Gougou with a face full of maternal love and teased, "Then you must eat more, grow strong and sturdy like your uncles."

Gougou thought about what his two uncles looked like and then nodded seriously, "Mmm!"

The group laughing and chatting arrived at the Chestnut Forest, the woods were already bustling with early arrivers.

Nanzhi glanced at the chestnut burrs piled everywhere in the forest, deep in thought.

"Girl, what’s on your mind? Hurry up and join us, there are no more chestnuts here, we need to go further in."

Aunt Liu rushed Nanzhi who was daydreaming.

Though the Chestnut Forest was vast, with so many villagers, another two days and all the chestnuts here would be picked. If they wanted to gather more, they would have to wait for the ripe ones on the tree to fall.

If they were quick they could gather more to keep at home. After all, there were quite a few lazy families in the village.

"Eh, let’s go."

With a nod, Nanzhi then took Gougou by the hand and caught up with the others.

The deeper they went, the taller the chestnut trees grew, and there were more people gathering chestnuts than before.

But for some unknown reason, Nanzhi suddenly felt a sense of inexplicable panic.

As it turned out, by the time Aunt Liu’s party had filled a basket with chestnuts that morning, she had only filled half.