Li Gui got up and prepared breakfast. She put on her usual clothes and left without doing anything out of the ordinary.
She walked to the entrance of the train station in town.
After taking the train and walking for more than 10 kilometers upon reaching the station at her destination, she finally arrived at the entrance of Datian Village.
She stood in the village and looked at the familiar scene.
However, for a long while, she did not dare to walk in.
She had too many acquaintances in this village. The fact that she returned so suddenly might lead to a lot of gossip and mockery, or even worse situations than that.
When Li Gui remarried and left the village, she still looked relatively young. Given that she moved to the city after her remarriage, everyone thought that she would have a good life there. There were even people who envied her.
Yet her aged appearance now made her look like a completely different person from before. Nobody would have expected this.
Li Gui took a deep breath and quickly walked in.
Since she was already here, she definitely had to go in. It would be good to see her child. She could not be a mother who did not take care of anything, right?
Fortunately, there were not many people in the village at the moment. Everyone was busy with the farm work.
Li Gui quickly walked towards Qiao Zhuang’s house and soon arrived at the doorstep. As this was where she and her ex-husband used to live, she thought that Qiao Mei was still staying here.
1
Every time Old Madam Li went to look for Li Gui, she would tell her how tired she was from taking care of Qiao Mei and what bad things Qiao Mei had done. In short, Old Madam Li liked to talk about how much she had suffered.
However, she never mentioned any positive things related to Qiao Mei. She also did not talk about anything that had nothing to do with her.
For example… to her, this house was an unimportant matter.
“Who are you? Who are you looking for?” Wang Qin was the village accountant. She was usually not very busy and was resting at home at the moment.
Being Qiao Zhuang’s second daughter-in-law, she was not very familiar with Li Gui. In the past, she also did not pay much attention to Li Gui.
After so long, Li Gui had aged a lot.
However, Li Gui immediately recognized Wang Qin. She walked forward and asked curiously, “You’re Wang Qin? Are you here… Is Qiao Mei at home?”
Wang Qin froze.
She did not quite understand how someone could come here to look for Qiao Mei given that this was no longer where Qiao Mei lived. How strange.
“Who are you?”
“I… I’m Qiao Mei’s mother. I’m Li Gui.” Li Gui averted her eyes and did not dare to look at Wang Qin directly. She thought it was normal that Wang Qin did not recognize her given the way she looked now.
“What?”
Wang Qin was shocked. She checked out this woman in front of her, who looked like a wizened old lady, and really could not recognize her at all.
The skin on her face and hands, and almost everywhere else that was exposed, was wrinkled. Her skin tone was sallow and tawny and she looked like someone in her fifties.
1
A person like this… could she be the person who was previously known as the most beautiful girl from Datian Village?
1
Oh my goodness!
“Oh it’s you… Hahahaha!” Wang Qin took a few looks and laughed as she pointed at Li Gui. However, she quickly covered her mouth and asked, “Why are you looking for Qiao Mei?”
Li Gui looked at her reaction and felt terrible.
But she continued, “Mei Mei got married, so I’m here to see her.”
“Why are you only here now? She’s already pregnant. What kind of mother are you…” Wang Qin continued to speak with her mouth covered.
“I… I just found out,” Li Gui said honestly.
Wang Qin looked at her worn-out clothes and patched up shoes and asked, “How is it? Life in the city is good, right? Are you doing well?”
She asked about Li Gui.
Old Madam Li had never told anyone that her daughter was not doing well. Li Gui herself had also never returned to the village, so the villagers naturally did not know anything about her.
“When we first got married, we were in the city. These past few years, we’ve moved to the town and we’ve been working in the town’s factory.” Li Gui said truthfully.