Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 33_1

Chapter 33: 33_1

After Nanzhi finished the sweet potato, Madam Liu exchanged a few words of small talk and then left. Her two daughters-in-law hadn’t rested much at all last night and had been helping to bandage the wounded today. She was going to mind the children, which would allow them to rest for a while.

As the sun slowly moved from its zenith toward the west, Shen Miaomiao woke up after sleeping for an hour and a half.

Looking at the people resting under the tree, she smacked her lips, then turned to Nanzhi, "Sister Nanzhi, are you hungry?"

Nanzhi adjusted her position while holding Gougou, freeing her sore right hand before replying, "Hungry."

Shen Miaomiao rubbed her empty stomach, hearing it growl a couple of times before speaking somewhat sheepishly, "Sister Nanzhi, I’m sorry to trouble you. I’m going to find my mother."

She had intended to come over and help, but ended up sleeping here for so long. Thinking this, she didn’t wait for Nanzhi to reply and ran off with a flushed face.

Nanzhi didn’t say much and just continued fanning Gougou with her freed hand.

The weather was so hot now that, even though she picked a leaf to fan Gougou continuously, the back of his neck was still soaked with sweat.

Gougou opened his eyes, looked at Nanzhi who was fanning him, and after a moment of confusion, called out, "Mom."

Nanzhi, seeing the dazed look on Gougou’s face, smiled and asked, "What is it?"

"Mom, your face is so dark."

"..."

The warmth of the moment was punctured, and Nanzhi, shaking her head, handed over the sweet potato that Madam Liu had given her to Gougou.

"Good boy, Gougou, get up and eat the sweet potato."

Gougou took the sweet potato and nodded obediently.

Waiting until Gougou finished eating, he seemed to remember something and looked at Nanzhi, "Mom, can we go home, please?"

"Right now, it’s not clear if it’s safe. We don’t even know if we can go back."

Gougou looked at Nanzhi, his little brows almost twisting into knots with worry.

"I, I want to go home to see the River Clam."

Nanzhi was somewhat surprised by this remark—she had thought Gougou just wanted to go home, not that he wanted to check on a river clam. Could it be that Gougou had taken the river clam as a pet?

Remembering those news stories she had seen about the deep bonds children form with their pets, she assumed Gougou was worried about his "pet" and its safety, "Don’t worry, Gougou. In a while, I’ll ask Grandpa Li Zheng to see if we can go back home to check."

She was also worried about whether the grain she had stored in the cellar had been buried.

Gougou, recalling the dream he had of the giant river clam running around on two legs, suddenly burst into giggles.

Nanzhi simply took it as the innocent play of a child and thought no more of it.

She took Gougou to find Shen Dashan.

Shen Dashan was also worried about food. His household had both the elderly and the young, not to mention his daughter-in-law was in postpartum confinement; how could they go hungry?

If word got out that Shen Dashan let his daughter-in-law starve during her confinement, he could forget about saving face.

After hearing Nanzhi ask if they could check on their home, he glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention before asking in a low voice, "Girl, can you tell your uncle how you knew the earth would quake?"

Nanzhi hesitated after hearing the question, wondering how to explain.

Should she say she and Gougou both had a dream about it?

Should she say based on a dream she made everyone in the village sleep on the levee late at night?

Shen Dashan saw that Nanzhi seemed troubled and didn’t press further. After all, if it weren’t for Nanzhi, he probably would have been crushed under his house’s beams by now.

"I’m not sure if a second shock will come, but since it has been quiet for so long, going home to get some food will probably be fine as long as we’re quick," he said.

Shen Dashan reminisced about the earthquake more than twenty years ago. Although it wasn’t as severe as this one, it had still caused intermittent tremors for two days. Back then, Lihua Village hadn’t built this dam, and everyone had slept by the roadside. Some, who didn’t believe in superstitions, went back to sleep in their homes, only to encounter another tremor; they didn’t survive.

But to quickly go home to fetch some grain shouldn’t be a problem.

"If you want to go back home to get something, be quick about it. This morning when we went to rescue people, we saw that the Li Family’s house had collapsed, but we didn’t really see much of yours since it was behind the courtyard wall. However, your house is made of brick and tile; it shouldn’t have any big problems. Just grab enough for two days, and if there’s no trouble by tomorrow, everything should be fine."

After all, the Shen Family’s house had been newly built six years ago, which was certainly much more sturdy than those other houses that were ten or twenty years old.

Nanzhi nodded and said, "Eh, thank you, Uncle Li Zheng."

After thanking him, Nanzhi, with Gougou in tow, went to find Auntie Liu.

"Girl, what’s the matter?"

Auntie Liu, seeing Nanzhi and her son approaching, moved aside to make room.

Nanzhi waved her hand and nudged Gougou forward a bit, "Auntie, I’d like you to keep an eye on Gougou for a moment. I want to run back home to see if I can fetch some grain."

Auntie Liu seemed worried after hearing Nanzhi’s words and asked, "Is it safe to go back now...?"

"I’ll be quick, it should be fine. Uncle Li Zheng said we’ll probably have to stay on this dam for another day, so I’m going to get some sweet potatoes and such."

After speaking, Nanzhi glanced down at her clothes, feeling a bit embarrassed, she added, "And the clothes I’m wearing now aren’t very comfortable, I’ll just change them and come right back."

Auntie Liu observed Nanzhi’s clothes, which were so dirty their original color was indistinguishable, and looked at the grimy Gougou, then nodded, "Okay then, I’ll look after Gougou for you. Just be quick."

"Eh."

With someone to watch Gougou, Nanzhi felt relieved.

As she walked, seeing the ruins and collapsed walls around her tightened her heart. If her own house had collapsed, she surely couldn’t take Gougou to live in a cave, could she?

With her worries, Nanzhi hurried towards her house. It wasn’t until she saw her own courtyard wall that she slowed down.

After inspecting the courtyard wall, she found that besides a few bricks falling off, it didn’t seem to be much affected.

This was somewhat unbelievable. Nanzhi looked at her courtyard and then the Li Family’s house next door, which couldn’t have collapsed any more, and Auntie Liu’s house, which had half collapsed.

Could it be that her courtyard was of better quality?

Feeling doubtful, Nanzhi nonetheless opened the courtyard door. Her heart, which had been hanging in suspense, suddenly relaxed upon seeing her house intact.

Far from being collapsed, even the broom that she had casually left standing by the door yesterday hadn’t moved at all.

Seeing the sight before her, Nanzhi felt it was unbelievable. She quickly went into her house to check and saw not a trace of any earthquake damage.

Nanzhi was not foolish; even if her house was of high quality, for an earthquake this size to leave even the broom undisturbed was definitely abnormal.

After some thought, Nanzhi looked up at the sky, wondering if her unseen husband was protecting her home.

With that in mind, Nanzhi bowed to the heavens.

"Thank you so much, I’ll definitely remember to have Gougou burn paper for you during holidays and festivals."

Having finished thanking her inexpensive husband, Nanzhi hurried back into the house, changed into clean clothes, and filled a small bag with chestnuts and sweet potatoes as provisions.

Before leaving, she didn’t forget to check under the eaves in the backyard to see if the River Clam was still alive.

Looking at the River Clam, as big as a basin, lying quietly in the bowl, occasionally opening its shell to spit out some of its white flesh assured her. She drew some water from the well, poured it into the wooden basin, and then left.

The River Clam in the wooden basin, watching Nanzhi leave, opened its shell proudly, exposing its tender flesh to the cold well water.

This family couldn’t do without it, right? Not otherwise, the house would have collapsed. Feeling smug, it circled in the wooden basin before closing its shell to lie quietly again.