Chapter 22: Poor Old Wife VS Scholarly Husband (5)

Chen Yushi and his followers rode back to the government office. On the way, they really experienced the feeling of "the horse gallops in the spring breeze".

"Sir, the government office is just inside the city." The follower reined in his horse and looked at him.

"No hurry, no hurry..." Chen Yushi gently stroked his beard, with an ambiguous smile on his face, "Let's go change clothes first."

"Sir, why do we need to change into coarse linen clothes?" The followers who came out of the clothing store were very puzzled.

"You wait for me outside the city. I will go back to the village first." Chen Yushi touched the silver hairpin in his sleeve and did not explain to them.

He had been away for many years. His old wife at home had become unknown. Was she still waiting for him? Or had she married someone else long ago?

He could not be blamed for thinking so. It was because he had seen through the coldness of human nature in recent years.

He walked from the government office path to the village. Just as he was about to ask about his old wife's situation in recent years, he was recognized by the woodcutters who passed by while cutting wood.

The people in the countryside naturally didn't know who he had met in Chang'an or what he had experienced. Seeing that he was still wearing ragged, coarse linen clothes after returning from a foreign land, they still looked down on him. A group of people started to make fun of him.

"Ah, isn't this Chen Yushi who went to Chang'an to be an official!" The woodcutter in a coarse linen coat deliberately exclaimed in an amazed tone.

"Chen Yushi, I thought you would definitely return home in glory after going out to venture, but you look like this..." The barefoot woodcutter

deliberately left the words unfinished, but his face was full of mockery.

"Yes, your old wife has suffered. She has been living a sinful life these years." One of the people in the group actually meant what he said.

Chen Yushi was worried and curious, "What happened to my wife?"

"Your wife has a hard life. There has been no man to help her in the past few years. She has to do everything by herself." The oldest woodcutter drooped his eyebrows, "You have no news of coming back since you went to Chang'an. You don't know that those hooligans from the next village come to harass your old wife from time to time."

"Hooties?" Chen Yushi raised his voice a few degrees.

"Yes." Although the other woodcutters looked down on Chen Yushi, they really admired his wife. Or it was because of their admiration for his old wife that they looked down on Chen Yushi.

"Hu San, a hooligan from the next village, heard that you went to Chang'an and didn't know when you would come back. He went to your house in the dark that day and wanted to molest your sister-in-law. Unexpectedly, he was chopped out by your sister-in-law with a knife." The woodcutter who spoke first thought of the scene he saw that day, and he admired a woman for having such courage.

"Hu San suffered a loss at the hands of his sister-in-law, so how could he let her go easily? So he got entangled with his group of hooligans and came to trouble his sister-in-law from time to time. But his sister-in-law beat them back fiercely."

"Over time, the reputation of his sister-in-law as a fierce woman spread."

As soon as the topic related to Shi Yi was opened, these woodcutters immediately became active, talking about Shi Yi's past few years.

"You don't know, you haven't come back in the past few years, and people in our village think you may have died outside. Many matchmakers have started to matchmake for your sister-in-law."

"But it's strange, your sister-in-law just thinks you're not dead."

"Sister-in-law said that as long as you don't come back and you don't separate, she will keep this family. Later, she directly beat those matchmakers out with a broom."

Why do these woodcutters admire Shi Yi?

First, because in this era, it is normal for single women to rely on men to survive. But Shi Yi did not choose this, and still insisted on waiting for her husband.

Secondly, Shi Yi was considerate of the kindness of his fellow villagers. When they passed by his house, he would boil water and make tea with Mrs. Huang next door, which was very heartwarming.

Chen Yushi had some doubts about his old wife, but now, he was just moved.

He no longer cared to slap the faces of these ignorant villagers, and almost trotted back home.

Shi Yi didn't know that he would be back today, and he continued to do what he usually did.

Outside the fenced courtyard wall, Chen Yushi saw his old wife who was drying radishes.

His feet suddenly felt like they were filled with lead, and he couldn't move a step.

He just stared at his wife with his eyes wide open without blinking.

After not seeing her for a few years, his wife looked a little strange. They were obviously about the same age, but his wife seemed to be a little younger. Shi Yi

picked up the dried radishes with chopsticks and dried them on the ground one by one, while calculating when to take them to the government office to sell for money to buy rice.

After drying a whole basket of radishes, she straightened up and prepared to take a rest. At a glance, she saw her husband standing outside the courtyard wall.

She did not move, but kept looking at the wanderer who returned in coarse linen clothes, until the tears in her eyes fell down her cheeks without restraint.

"My wife!" Chen Yushi almost rushed to her side and hugged her.

"You are finally back." Shi Yi hit his shoulder in grievance, "You have not had a good life outside these years, why didn't you come back earlier, making me worry about you in vain."

"I have achieved nothing outside these years, you really don't blame me?" Chen Yushi realized that her tears were shed for him, but he still couldn't help but continue to test.

"The day you left, I told you that you don't have to worry about home." Shi Yi wiped his tears with his sleeves and continued, "We have both been poor for most of our lives. Whether we are poor or rich in the future, as long as we are together, it is the best."

Chen Yushi was deeply moved and ashamed.

He is really going backwards as he grows older. He even wants to test his wife.

"Come in and have a rest. I'll cook for you." Shi Yi pulled his sleeve, "You must be hungry after a long journey."

When she saw Chen Yushi, she did not mention a word about the grievances she had suffered over the years.

A wise woman will only let a man discover everything she has done for him, instead of talking about her own efforts from a high position through her own mouth. The former will make a man more moved and distressed. The latter may cause unnecessary disgust.

Chen Yushi followed his old wife into the house and found that the house had changed a lot.

Compared to before, it is now much cleaner and brighter. In an unknown corner, a large bunch of wild flowers were placed in a broken porcelain vase, emitting a pleasant fragrance.

"Sit down and drink some water first, the food will be ready soon." Shi put a porcelain bowl filled with water in front of him, immediately rolled up his sleeves, and hurried into the kitchen.

Chen Yushi looked at her back as she disappeared at the door, picked up the porcelain bowl and drank it in one gulp.

After not seeing him for many years, his wife has not changed, it seems that he has changed after becoming an official.

(End of this chapter)