Chapter 678 His Heart Is Despicable!

As dusk fell, long tables were set up in the courtyard.

There were sunflower seeds on the table, and all sorts of refreshing and delicious snacks were served from the kitchen.

Sweet fermented rice soup with glutinous rice balls, ice jelly, pea flour cake, donkey roll, chilled watermelon from the ice cellar, and all sorts of cold dishes were laid out.

Xie Lingyun greeted the elderly people who had watched her grow up in the Xie family mansion.

“Aunt Liu, Aunt Xu, don’t bother with your work, please sit down. It’s rare for us to get together and talk like this. There are no outsiders in the house, so let’s not worry about the distinction between master and servant, and just speak freely.”

"Let's not just talk. Let's find some dice, and teach us any other fun tricks we can play while we eat. Let's celebrate my divorce from Chang Yunxuan."

Xie Lingyun, who had been feeling sad, turned to Xie Zheng and asked loudly, "Father, you won't be angry with me for making these arrangements, will you?"

Xie Zheng sat directly on the stone steps in front of the door, holding a handful of melon seeds in his hand, peeling the shells for his two grandsons.

He smiled. "In your eyes, is your father really that unreasonable?"

Xie Lingyun smiled.

"Why are you angry? Do whatever you want. From now on, you'll be in charge. As long as it's not too outrageous, you can do whatever you want. Dad won't have any objections."

He suddenly realized how old-fashioned and boring he had been all these years, and how he had never properly relaxed at home.

While others were enjoying themselves, living a fulfilling and enjoyable life, the Xie family lived a life of monotonous routine and rigid discipline, just like everyone else.

He had long forbade the people in his household from gossiping, and he never allowed Yun'er to speak ill of others behind their backs.

As it turns out, what he disdained to know was the true face of many hypocrites.

Yun'er kept his teachings in mind while she was with her maternal grandparents. Growing up apart from her parents, she was very sensible.

Later, Yun'er's maternal grandparents passed away, and Yun'er lost her support, having to rely on herself for everything.

Since her divorce from Chang Yunxuan, Yun'er has been smiling more and her whole being has become more vibrant.

Xie Zheng was deeply moved and turned to look at Song Chunxue, who was crushing sunflower seeds with a spoon for the child.

"It turns out that life is indeed difficult without a woman in the family who can make decisions. I never thought that the Xie family could live such a peaceful, easy, and carefree life."

Xie Zheng took a deep breath to suppress his overwhelming excitement.

"If I had known, I would have tricked you into coming to the capital two years earlier."

Song Chunxue gave a disgusted look, "Don't give me that, it's not like I did it all by myself."

"If only I had known, if only I had known, it means the timing wasn't right before. Now it's all about perfect timing, location, and people." She pushed the peeled melon seeds back. "The child is still young. Eating too much will cause indigestion. If she keeps complaining about not being able to sleep, I'll have to massage her tendons."

Xie Zheng raised an eyebrow, "Pinch the dragon tendons?"

"Touching the dragon tendon, pinching and pulling the skin upwards from the child's tailbone, has many benefits. Since children are young, medicine is three parts poison, so massage is the best treatment."

Song Chunxue looked at Xie Lingyun, who was full of curiosity, and said, "This is what I learned at the clinic. If you ever encounter someone teaching children massage, don't think it's too much trouble. If your child is not feeling well, try to give them as little medicine as possible."

Xie Lingyun nodded hesitantly, "Auntie knows so much."

"The longer you live, the more you naturally know. Besides, I raised five children. The folk healers knew we couldn't afford medicine for our children, so they told us what to dig up ourselves and taught us a few tricks to cure diseases without spending money. They were very effective."

"You're amazing." Hearing Song Chunxue say that, Xie Lingyun exclaimed sincerely, "After becoming a mother, I realized how difficult it is. Auntie is really great. No wonder you can do anything well and are willing to learn anything."

Song Chunxue was embarrassed by the praise, "I can only endure hardship, I don't have any other skills."

Liu Chunshu, wearing an apron, steadily carried a wooden tray out of the kitchen.

"Sir, Taoist priest, young lady, I've made buckwheat jelly. Would you like a bowl?"

Buckwheat jelly. Song Chunxue subconsciously swallowed, stood up and looked at the jelly in the porcelain bowl, staring at him in disbelief.

"Where did you get this gruel?"

"I tried making it in the kitchen. It's been hot these past few days, so I used some pickled cabbage and noodle soup, and it turned sour quickly." Liu Chunshu handed over the chopsticks. "There's still some in the kitchen. Others probably won't like pickled cabbage soup, but I made a sauce that's also quite good. Miss and the children can try it too."

Song Chunxue swallowed several times quietly, and only started eating after everyone had picked up their bowls.

"You're amazing, you made the fermented vegetable broth so quickly. I've been craving it for days."

Song Chunxue kept praising it. She especially missed the food from her hometown on this hot day. She ate three bowls of it intermittently throughout the night, and even finished the fermented rice broth.

Before falling asleep, she let out a satisfied burp.

After everyone left, she digested her food in the courtyard before heading back inside to rest.

Suddenly, an arrow flew from outside the courtyard wall and hit the door frame. A small red bag was tied to the arrow.

It was a very small red cloth bag for holding talismans, and Song Chunxue immediately felt something was wrong.

This is deliberately meant to disgust people.

Hearing the commotion, Xie Zheng rushed out of the room. "Are you alright?"

“It’s nothing,” Song Chunxue said, taking the cloth bag off her head. “It’s probably just something to disgust people; it’s not a good thing.”

Xie Zheng took it. "Let me see."

"Let's not look at it anymore." Song Chunxue grabbed it and tossed it to Liu Chunshu, who looked on with curiosity. "Take it outside and burn it."

"Yes." Liu Chunshu took out an old handkerchief and handed it over. "I don't know who's so wicked. I thought only the unruly people in our poor, remote areas would do such a thing. It's really degrading."

Xie Zheng pointed at Liu Chunshu's retreating figure, "Who's that brat cursing now?" "He's not cursing you. He's been getting insults from locals these past few days, being called poor outsiders. He's upset, but we won't stoop to his level," Song Chunxue explained with a smile. "It's not worth it."

"Whoosh whoosh!"

Suddenly, three arrows flew towards them, several feet above their heads, and struck the door frame.

The guards on duty rushed out again, but to no avail.

This time, it was several servants who used a ladder to take it down.

Upon seeing the note on the arrow, the servant's expression changed drastically.

“Sir, this…” the servant frowned and managed to say, “His intentions are despicable.”

Xie Zheng stepped forward and took it. The white slip of paper was covered with curses. Two of them were elegiac couplets mourning Xie Zheng and Xie Lingyun, while the other was a malicious curse calling Song Chunxue a prostitute.

These words, like an invisible blade, have left wounds in people's hearts, utterly disgusting.

"Heh!" Xie Zheng laughed angrily. "I've really learned something new. Now you don't care about our lives anymore, are you trying to anger me to death, or curse me to death?"

Song Chunxue took all three slips of paper, as well as the talisman in Liu Chunshu's hand, who had run back after hearing the commotion.

"They're trying to find the root of our problem. They know what we care about most. Curses can hurt people invisibly. Even if they're not that effective, the people who know about this tonight will definitely not sleep well and will be furious for days."

She looked at Xie Zheng and said, "Leave it to me. If I don't find this person tonight, I, Song Chunxue, will write my name backwards!"