Chapter 24

Zhuang Zhuang nodded seriously this time. “Mother, I understand now.”

The heavy rain lasted for three days. Fortunately, Xiaoguo had cut quite a lot of grass the last time. Otherwise, the little cows would not have finished all the grass by now.

The morning came. After three days of heavy rain, the crisp air now smelled of wet earth. Breathing now felt like a spa session. The cool, clean air was refreshing for one’s state of mind. The sky was indeed clear after the storm.

The villagers, who had been kept indoors by the weather, gathered at the entrance of the village to chat. The children could now come out and run about. After Xiaoguo and Zhuang Zhuang finished their breakfast, they left the house. Each of them had a small cow in their hands. Zhuang Zhuang, who was idling the whole day before, even thought of names for the cows. The male cow being led by Zhuang Zhuang was called Big Black, and the female cow with Xiaoguo was called Little White. In fact, Zhuang Zhuang had initially named them as Xiaohu and Xiaohua. But it wouldn’t be nice if Mrs. Yang were to hear of this. Therefore Zhuang Zhuang had the names changed to Big Black and Little White. It couldn’t be more apt as Big Black had more black spots on its body while Little White had more white spots.

The two of them did not walk up the mountains. Instead, they went to the river on the other side. When they passed the village entrance, someone in the village saw Xiaoguo and called out to her, “Mrs. Jiang! Mrs Jiang!”

Xiaoguo heard someone calling out to her. She stopped to see where the voice was coming from. It was a woman with flushed cheeks, dressed in a patched tunic. She had a thin face with a jutting mouth. Even though her face looked rather gaunt, her physique was rotund.

Xiaoguo recalled her name. She was Li Zhaodi. She had married into Peach Blossom Village in the same year as Xiaoguo. When the women at the village entrance heard Li Zhaodi’s shout, they looked up towards the direction of Xiaoguo and started gesticulating and whispering among themselves.

Xiaoguo didn’t walk in that direction. She stopped at where she was and said hello before walking on. She wasn’t going over there. If she went over towards that group of women, she didn’t know what they would say to her. Moreover, Li Zhaodi was the arch enemy of the previous host of this body. Li Zhaodi had wanted to marry Jiang Danhe back then, but he had taken a fancy to Qin Xiaoguo. So Li Zhaodi had no choice but to accept another family’s marriage proposal. As they were both married in Peach Blossom Village, Li Zhaodi knew that Jiang Danhe had died in battle. Ever since, she never missed any opportunity she had to taunt Xiaoguo.

As Li Zhaodi watched Xiaoguo turn to leave, her expression changed and she spat. “How shameless! Your man is not around anymore, and you still have the face to wear such fancy clothes.”

Li Zhaodi looked at the slim waist in the distance. They had both given birth before, but Qin Xiaoguo was becoming more and more beautiful. Her face was still fair and tender. Even though her long black hair was worn in a random bun, she still looked really good. Whereas for her own hair, all the strands were sticky and had stuck together like a patch of dried grass. Both of them were dressed in patched garments, but somehow Xiaoguo looked like those people in town while she herself looked like she came out from a soil pit.

The woman beside Li Zhaodi quickly tried to fawn on her. “Don’t pay attention to her. What’s the use of being fancy? Her husband is dead—she’s an orphan and a widow. I heard that she relies on picking tree bark for food. She’s not as blessed as you. Your man has made a name for himself and has been promoted. You get to receive five taels of silver every month. When the war is over and your man returns, you’ll be the wife of an official. Why are you wasting your time on a widow like her?”

Li Zhaodi was feeling indignant at first, but then she thought of her husband, and that brought her an immense sense of pride. That’s right, why was she obsessing about her? Qin Xiaoguo was a widow, and her own husband had already been promoted. In the future, he would bring her to live in the county. So what if Qin Xiaoguo was good-looking? Even the good-looking man that Xiaoguo was married to had died young. She had become a widow at such a young age. Fortunately, she had not married Jiang Danhe. Li Zhaodi comforted herself. Otherwise, she would have become a widow.

As the thoughts ran through her mind, Li Zhaodi let out a smug smile on her face. While she listened to the flattery of the woman beside her, Li Zhaodi joined in and gossiped about Qin Xiaoguo with the others. One moment, she referred to Xiaoguo as a widow, and the next, she called her flirtatious. Some men from a family standing nearby were so angry with what they had overheard. How they wished they could slap her. The few women beside Li Zhaodi stopped her from going on, and advised, “After all, her man had made a contribution and saved the general’s life. He took the bullet for the general. Even when seeds were distributed in the village, her family got twice as much. You should bear with it.”

Li Zhaodi snorted and got up to leave. Many people left right after, leaving only the group of people who were fawning over Li Zhaodi. They stayed around the same spot, continuing with their bootlicking.

When they arrived at the river, Xiaoguo loosened the rope around the cows’ necks so that Zhuang Zhuang could watch the calves graze on the grass. Meanwhile, Xiaoguo sat on a rock by the river to rest—she laughed at the sight of Zhuang Zhuang teasing the cows and playing with them. Zhuang Zhuang made flower wreaths for the cow and himself, and then came to Xiaoguo with one in his hand. He put it on Xiaoguo’s head. “Mother, you look beautiful.”