Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 494: Leaving the City

Chapter 494: Chapter 494: Leaving the City

Wenwen froze to death, but she was not at peace even in death. Her skinny body was covered in wounds of various sizes. Her bright red blood had already frozen, crystallizing.

Xiaomi simply covered Wenwen with a thin blanket.

The door was wide open, but the house was bleak, devoid of anything that could keep the cold at bay.

Even Xu Qiuju was not at home.

Shen Zhiyu fell silent for a while. He was not sure if his guess was correct, but he still felt that Wenwen’s death might have something to do with Xu Qiuju.

After all, she had such a weak mother...

"Zhiyu, why did you come looking for me?"

Xiaomi wiped away his tears and asked, sniffing.

He was genuinely saddened by Wenwen’s death, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"I want to go outside the city to look for my father."

The kid was serious, showing no signs of joking.

Good news had come from the several villages outside the city. They had sent people into the mountains and forests to search for rat nests, and now they were almost completely eradicated.

With an endurance of five more days, they would withdraw most of the soldiers and return to defend the city.

However, the letter that Adai sent had no news of his father at all.

This was nearly impossible.

Unless something had happened to his father, it would explain why he couldn’t bring good or bad news to his mother.

His mother was too busy to look after him these days, which gave him a perfect chance to slip out of the city secretly and check on his father in the village.

After listening to his words, Xiaomi found it hard to believe. The outside world was so dangerous, yet he was not afraid!

"Do you really want to go?"

Xiaomi was uncertain and asked again.

"Yep."

The kid answered with determined eyes.

He wanted to see his father and go to the village outside the city to ask Er Dangjia for some herbs.

"When are we leaving?"

"We’re leaving now. I brought two Steamed Buns and a bag of water. If we move fast, we can get there in an hour and a half."

"Alright!"

The two children agreed and quietly slipped into the backyard immediately.

The two old hens raised in the backyard were originally huddling together for a nap. Hearing some noise, they woke up with beady eyes and saw the two kids climbing along the wall, which made them cluck incessantly.

When the kids heard this, they immediately climbed over the wall. When the guard of the Residence came, he only saw two frazzled old hens strutting around inside the fence, looking very agitated.

The guard didn’t know the reason and thought they were about to lay eggs, so he ignored them.

Seeing him about to leave, the two old hens became even more excited, even fluttering their wings as if they were about to fly out of the fence.

The guard thought the hens were irritable because they were about to lay eggs, so he simply picked up a grass mat from the side and covered the fence, completely blocking the semi-open chicken coop.

Being blocked, the two old hens became livid as their neck feathers stood on end, and their clucking got even louder and shriller.

Hearing the noise, a servant boy ran over. Just as the two were puzzled, a mouse tried to escape from the chicken coop and was crushed to death by the guard.

"So, it was a rat that got into the Residence. I thought these two hens were going to lay eggs."

While talking, the guard picked up the corpse of the rat with wax paper from the ground.

This stuff should be handled carefully and not thrown away at will. The best way was to take it to be burned to avoid other troubles.

"Honestly, these two hens can lay four or five eggs a day."

After dealing with the rat, one person took the carcass for disposal, while the other began to clean up the blood stains on the ground.

The two kids stealthily sneaked around, fearing they would be discovered by the patrolling guards.

After going around in circles for almost an hour, they finally arrived at a dog hole.

"Going out from here will directly lead into the woods outside the city. Then if we go east, we can reach the village."

As a former beggar, Xiaomi naturally knew where these dog holes would lead.

Now, many of the dog holes in the city have been blocked. Perhaps this one hadn’t been closed because it was too remote.

Watching Shen Zhiyu crawling out of the city, Xiaomi hesitated before dragging a rock over to block the entrance of the hole and covering it with weeds from the ground.

Only after the hole was concealed, did Xiaomi lead Shen Zhiyu straight into the woods.

The change in the land had caused the trees to wither and die one after another, and consecutive heavy snows and storms made them rot and collapse. The two children threaded their way through them, daring not to touch even a bit of them.

They were afraid they would be buried by these decaying trees.

"Zhiyu, we’re almost there," Xiaomi whispered, seeing the light up ahead.

"Okay," he replied.

The little guy clung tightly to his cloak, afraid of falling behind.

The soil in the woods emitted a faint, foul smell. Because of the cold and dampness, every step you took felt like stepping on something soft and greasy.

Being lightweight, Shen Zhiyu could only step on the footprints left by Xiaomi and move forward slowly.

The village was running out of herbs. Aze had led a group into the mountains early in the morning. The soldiers stationed here had been transferred to the neighboring village. Now there weren’t many men left in the village.

Xiaoqi was leading several fifteen to sixteen-year-old teenagers guarding the entrance of the village, ready to notify the villagers at the first sign of trouble.

"Xiaoqi, your swordsmanship is really awesome. When can you teach us?"

Boys of this age love to play. They used to think Xiaoqi was always cold and hard to get along with, and since he was a few years younger than them, they naturally couldn’t play together.

It was only a few days ago when they saw Xiaoqi demonstrating his swordsmanship that they all crowded around him.

After all, others killed rats with either firewood or hoes, and if they could wield swords, wouldn’t that look impressive!

"I don’t play it well."

Xiaoqi didn’t promise, he just shook his head.

He had learned all these from the leader in the camp, and even he had only studied it for three and a half years, not yet to the point where he could teach others.

"Xiaoqi, please teach us—"

As everyone was making a ruckus, they suddenly heard a noise from the nearby woods. Then came a few consecutive bangs, the already flimsy trees suddenly collapsed one by one, crushing a large area.

"What’s going on?"

Some people didn’t react and looked at the snow stirred up, their eyes wide open.

"Who is it! Come out!"

Xiaoqi had sharp eyes and spotted the vague figures hiding behind the trees at a glance.

Hearing Xiaoqi’s voice, Shen Zhiyu was stunned because it sounded familiar.

Xiaomi had never met Xiaoqi, so naturally he had no idea who they were.

But following the road in their memory, they should not have gone wrong.

"We came from Yan City and we mean no harm."

Xiaomi didn’t step out, but just spoke from behind the tree to clarify their intentions.

"From Yan City?"

Someone echoed.

"Yan City had already closed its gates. Where did you really come from? Tell the truth quickly!"

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