Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 38_1

Chapter 38: Chapter 38_1

"Yueyue, time to eat."

Xiaoqi released his clutch on his little sister and handed over the larger sweet potato to her.

The little girl, still somewhat groggy, took the sweet potato and held it up to her brother’s mouth, whispering, "Brother, eat."

"Brother has one too, Yueyue eat," Xiaoqi said as he gently patted his sister’s head, eyes filled with adoration.

Watching Yueyue nibble on the sweet potato bit by bit, Xiaoqi felt a wave of relief wash over him.

Now that those two were dead, his sister would no longer be bullied. He was going to take care of his sister himself, making sure she had enough to eat every day.

Shen Dashan and several village elders had set up a table nearby where some families contributed silver, and those who couldn’t contribute silver had their men provide labor instead. Nanzhi also hurried back to bring over some food.

"Li Zheng, my family doesn’t have any silver and we have no labor to offer, so I can only contribute twenty catties of chestnuts and ten catties of sweet potatoes."

Shen Dashan was slightly surprised to see Nanzhi approaching but very satisfied with her offer, nodding his head. "Good, that’s very thoughtful of you."

He gestured for Shen Qingchuan to take note of it.

Ms. Liu also came with a small cloth bag, "Li Zheng, my family doesn’t have much silver left, so here’s 500 wen as my contribution."

"It’s the thought that counts."

The contributions continued steadily for half an hour, totaling nineteen taels of silver and over seventy catties of food. After tidying up, they arranged for several men to drive donkey carts to the town to order coffins.

As the donkey carts moved further and further away, Nanzhi felt a sudden unease stirring in her heart, and the dream from last night made her somewhat fearful. After hesitating, she decided to get up and find Shen Dashan.

Shen Dashan and the village elders were discussing where to bury the bodies when they saw Nanzhi approaching. They stopped talking and waited for her to speak.

"Li Zheng, I need to talk to you about something."

Shen Dashan and the elders exchanged glances before nodding and following Nanzhi to the side.

"Girl, just say what you need to," Shen Dashan said with a gentle look in his eyes, as if he were looking at his own daughter.

Since Ms. Lin had married into Lihua Village five years ago, she had always been a gentle soul. Even when tragedy struck the Shen Family, everyone thought she would complain, yet she continued to serve her in-laws without a word of grievance and even sold land to support them when her in-laws fell ill.

Life had been harsh for them, and as Li Zheng, he had only managed to coax more help from his household, but today he realized how many households in the village had been silent as if their lips were sealed when it came to donating. Only Nanzhi had brought forth thirty catties of food.

Nanzhi didn’t know what Shen Dashan was thinking, only feeling that his gaze was exceptionally affectionate, which made her somewhat uncomfortable.

"Li Zheng, I was just thinking, with the earth tremors two nights ago, could it mean that it’s not very peaceful outside?"

Shen Dashan was taken aback by the question, not sure how to respond, "They’re just going to order coffins; surely nobody would target them, right?"

Nanzhi looked troubled and glanced at him. "But outsiders wouldn’t know that, would they? If some ill-intentioned person sees a few men each driving a donkey cart to town, they might think they’re going to buy food."

Nanzhi’s voice was low, but as it floated into Shen Dashan’s ears, it felt like a blow to his head.

"Girl, do you know something is going to happen?" Shen Dashan suddenly blurted out instinctively.

After he asked, he too was taken aback. Why would he ask her such a thing?

"I’m just worried, maybe I’m overthinking it," Nanzhi stammered, her subconscious telling her not to let others know she had dreamt all of this.

Otherwise, it would be easy for people to label her a goblin.

Shen Dashan’s brows furrowed, but he didn’t press further and simply nodded, indicating he understood.

Nanzhi breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly ran off. The way Li Zheng looked at her just now reminded her of how her high school headteacher used to look at them.

Scary.

The Shen Family elders saw Nanzhi hurriedly running away and smiled, "Why does this girl act like a child?"

Seeing Shen Dashan looking worried, they felt it strange. Hadn’t he just been cheerful? Why had his expression changed all of a sudden?

"Dashan, what’s wrong?"

When Shen Dashan heard the elder asking him, he quickly said, "It’s nothing serious, it’s just that Ms. Lin’s words just now reminded me."

The elders, hearing it had something to do with Nanzhi, became curious.

"What did she say?"

"She said that since the earthquake, there might be unrest outside."

"This..."

The elders looked at each other, realizing they had only been concerned about where to bury the corpses and had forgotten the most basic question.

Lihua Village was considered wealthy among the villages. Now that it was in such a state, could the other villages be any better off?

Their villagers knew that Tie Niu and the others were going to order coffins, but others didn’t know. Seeing their procession, they would probably think they were going to buy grain for the village.

And even if they couldn’t snatch the grain, the ten taels of silver down payment they had just handed over were likely not safe either.

Thinking of the consequences, the faces of the elders darkened as well.

"Dashan, call some more people and hurry after them, in case something really happens."

Shen Dashan nodded and quickly left.

He had to visit not only the Coffin Shop but also check on the grain prices and buy some herbs.

Only when Nanzhi saw Shen Qingchuan and Shen Qinghe leading a group of men with tools toward the outskirts of the village did she feel relieved.

As long as there were no aftershocks today, she could take Gougou back home.

Thinking of her own bed at home, Nanzhi felt a bit cooler just at the thought.

"Mother, can we go and catch fish in the river?"

Gougou wiped the sweat off his face and pulled at Nanzhi’s sleeve, pleading.

Nanzhi instinctively wanted to nod and agree, but she caught herself and grabbed his little hand, "Your hand still has scars, you can’t go into the water."

Gougou pouted, with his little face all but expressly showing three big characters spelling ’unhappy’.

"Gougou is a man, and men aren’t afraid of pain. I want to go catch fish in the river, it’s so hot here."

Nanzhi laughed and playfully patted his little bottom, "Men also have to listen to their mother. You can play in the water when the scab on your hand falls off."

Knowing he couldn’t go, Gougou had to give up and sat down obediently next to Nanzhi.

"Mother, can we go home now?"

Nanzhi looked at Gougou sitting obediently beside her and whispered soothingly, "If nothing happens this afternoon, we can go home."

Gougou, upon hearing her words, just nodded and rested against Nanzhi.

Until the sky darkened and no aftershocks occurred, many people took their children and went home.

Even if their houses had collapsed, resting in their own courtyards was better than squeezing together on the dam to sleep.

Just as Nanzhi was about to take Gougou home, she heard a commotion not far away.

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