Chapter 91 No Regrets

Huixian Town doesn't look much different.

It's almost exactly the same as before.

There were many trees, so much greenery, that even the sunlight filtering down seemed to turn green. Everywhere were old houses, dark and gloomy, their wood soaked through by the rain, so thoroughly soaked that the damage was irreversible. No matter how much sun shone, they remained black, somber and somber…

But how could there be no change?

After all, six years have passed.

It's August now, six years, and a little more to come.

The children, a group here, a bunch there, running, playing, laughing...

Shanlai got off the carriage and saw her at a glance. They saw her too and stopped to stare at her with curiosity.

A stranger, someone I don't know.

Shanlai didn't recognize them either.

You look at me, I look at you.

The timid ones glanced at it and then turned and ran home, while the bolder ones held their heads high and asked Shan Lai with righteous indignation, "Who are you? Are you here to find someone?"

In a flash, Shanlai thought of many people.

Children back then looked just like children today. Boys and girls alike wore grimy, patched clothes, and their faces were never clean. Some even had snot hanging from their noses.

Shanlai had never played with the children in Huixian Town, they just didn't get along. But since they lived in the same place, they saw each other all the time. After meeting once or twice, they knew who was who, who was from this family and who was from that family...

Children in the mountains and fields, raised by the wind and following their nature, are often wild and vulgar. They run around wildly all day, shouting and yelling. Even at a young age, they can utter insulting and vulgar words without batting an eye, just like their parents. Boys might even unbuckle their belts to urinate anytime, anywhere...

Shanlai looked down on this kind of behavior back then, and naturally disdained to associate with them.

But she still recognized them.

Sometimes she genuinely envied them.

These people only think about where to play and what to play every day, while she has to work... Their laughter is very noisy, and every time she passes by them carrying grass or firewood, she can't help but look at them.

When I experienced these things in the past, I always felt they were unpleasant, but now, looking back, I feel that everything can be forgiven.

"Whose family are you from? What's your father's name?"

He pursed his lips and didn't answer.

The child next to him laughed and answered for him: "His dad's name is Gou Dan!"

They laughed with obvious schadenfreude.

Dog Egg, that's hardly a grand name.

The child probably felt the same way; his face flushed red, and he raised his fist to chase after the companion who had run away and embarrassed him.

It seems like something similar happened many years ago...

Shanlai couldn't help but fall into a daze.

Who was chasing and beating whom back then?

I tried so hard to think, but I just couldn't figure it out, no matter what I did...

"What are you doing! Where are you taking me?! I haven't finished my work yet!"

An impatient woman's voice came from nearby, and it was getting closer and closer.

Startled by the sound, Shan Lai abruptly raised his head.

A woman in her thirties, with broad shoulders and a thick waist.

The woman also saw Shanlai and was startled.

"Hey! Who's this? What brings you here!"

The woman looked familiar, so Shanlai tentatively asked, "Are you Aunt Chen?"

The woman was taken aback. "You know me?"

“I am Shanlai from the Yao family, do you remember me, Auntie? My father is, Shitou… I am Shitou’s daughter.”

"I remember! I remember it!" Aunt Chen stamped her foot and slapped her thigh. "Goodness! Stone's daughter! Oh my! Everyone said back then that you would definitely grow up to be a beauty, and now you really are! Like a fairy! If you hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have recognized you. But didn't you go to the capital? How come you're back? Is this Young Master Liu? He's so handsome!"

It's not Young Master Liu, it's Young Master He.

He Jing paused, about to speak, but Shan Lai spoke first.

"No...it wasn't him..."

"No?" Aunt Chen was a little confused. Wasn't everyone saying that Shi Tou's daughter had gone to the Liu family to be a concubine for Young Master Liu? "Then who is she?"

"Just a friend."

As the two were talking, a man who appeared out of nowhere suddenly rushed over, grabbed Aunt Chen's clothes, and cursed, "So this is where you've come from! You don't do any work, you run off to avoid being idle, trying to work me to death? You're asking for a beating! How did I end up marrying a wife like you!"

Shanlai knew this person; he was Aunt Chen's husband.

Despite being scolded, Aunt Chen still smiled and said to her husband, "This is Shanlai, do you remember her? Shitou's daughter."

How could I not know? It's a phoenix.

"Welcome! Good heavens! I really didn't recognize you. Didn't you go to the capital?"

"I've come back to see my father and uncle. It's been so many years. How are you both?"

"Everything's fine! Stop talking here, come inside and have some water."

Shan Lai laughed and said, "I have to go home first."

"If you have a family, of course you should go home first! I was just confused from being so happy!"

I wonder what Shanlai's home is like now.

A house deteriorates quickly once it loses its human presence.

Perhaps it has already become a nest for birds and beasts.

That's what Shanlai thought, but that's not the case.

Her home was safe and sound, neither collapsed nor damaged, not even a single weed was visible, and it was even cleaner and tidier than when the father and daughter lived there.

That shouldn't be the case.

Shanlai couldn't understand what was going on.

Aunt Chen, standing nearby, explained, "You know Zhou Zheng and his wife, right? Your father helped them back then... They've been managing your house all these years, they've really put in the effort, not only keeping it clean but also guarding it for you. Not long after you left, you remember Widow Huang, the one who raised the mentally challenged son? She even tried to take you to her house! Hearing you went to Xingdu, Widow Huang had some wicked thoughts, wanting to take your house. So she called her brother, that local thug, and they tore down your door and moved in. Your father was such a good person, of course we couldn't just stand by and watch others bully you, so a group of people..." So they teamed up, saying they'd drive that scoundrel away. And he really was a scoundrel! "Get a knife!" Zhou Zheng's arm was almost chopped off, but luckily there were more of us, so we subdued him and threw him out of your house. We were originally planning to tear down Widow Huang's door too, to get revenge on you, but you know how shrewish she is. She'll sit on the ground and spout all sorts of nonsense; we couldn't afford to mess with her, so we had to let her go. Zhou Zheng repaired your door and changed the locks. He and his wife come to your house every day, patching the roof in the rain and drying things in the sunshine… These two are grateful and good people!"

Shanlai nodded and said, "My father didn't die in vain."

Speaking of Yao Yong, Aunt Chen remembered him.

"And your father's grave, they also go to pay their respects during festivals, and the grave is kept clean."

A drop of water in need is repaid with a spring of water.

That's all there is to it.

Shanlai, on the other hand, hasn't burned a single piece of paper money for his father in the past six years.

That's so unfilial.

"I want to go and visit my father's grave..."

"Did you buy incense and candles after you went inside?"

"I bought it..."

Incense, candles, paper money, and offerings.

Yao Yong's grave is indeed well taken care of, which is a testament to his many years of good deeds during his lifetime.

It was worth it.

After removing the newly grown grass from the grave mound, they wiped the relatively undusted stone tablet, and then proceeded with the offering of sacrifices, burning of paper money, and kowtowing.

When you knock your head down, you touch the cold stone slab, not your soft, warm body.

Yao Yong has been dead for six years. It's been a really long time, long enough for Shan Lai to grow into an adult and develop a ruthless heart...

She thought she wouldn't cry.

However, she lay on the ground, unable to get up.

She suffered a lot.

So many people feared her, harmed her, and wanted her dead. She fell in love with someone, but couldn't be with him...

Besides her father, she didn't know who else to talk to about these grievances.

But I don't have a father anymore, he's been gone for a long time...

Logically, as a daughter, she should have cried at her father's grave as a sign of filial piety. The people who accompanied her intended to fulfill this wish, but her crying was so intense that it was unbearable to watch.

"Good child, get up quickly, let's go back. Don't cry, or your father will be heartbroken."

Aunt Chen couldn't lift her up by herself, so she had to ask two other people for help.

"You two should try to persuade them too!"

Because men and women are strictly separated, Aunt Chen only said to ask them to come and persuade them.

Just as Minghai was about to step forward to persuade him, Young Master He suddenly darted forward and blocked his way.

Without saying a word, He Jing reached out and dragged Shan Lai backward, refusing to let go no matter how Shan Lai struggled.

Seeing this scene, Aunt Chen couldn't help but recall some things from back then.

When Yao was buried, Shanlai was also dragged away in the same way.

Oh! The child is so pitiful!

When she got home, there was a crowd gathered in front of the door. They had all come to see her after hearing that Shanlai was back. Many of them had been kind to Shanlai, and she should have treated them well. However, she was crying so hard that she couldn't stop crying or crying.

Her crying was genuine; it was heartbreaking to hear and brought tears to the eyes of all who saw it. People who were crying couldn't bear to disturb her, and since they all had things to do at home, they gradually dispersed. Only Aunt Chen and Zhou Zheng's family remained.

Shanlai cried until he fainted. When he woke up, it was already dark. His eyes were so swollen that he couldn't open them, and his throat was dry and sore.

Aunt Chen had already gone home, but Zhou Zheng's family still hadn't left. Zhou Zheng's wife helped Shan Lai wash his face and then brought him warm water and hot rice cakes.

"Girl, have some, I know you're suffering... We're so sorry! If..."

She meant to comfort people, but unexpectedly, she herself started to cry when she got emotional.

"If it weren't for helping our family, you and Uncle Yao wouldn't be in this situation today... You killed Uncle Yao, and you've ruined your life too..."

He Jing kept asking people about Shan Lai. He asked others to ask, and others asked him. So everyone in Huixian Town knew that Shan Lai had left the Liu family and had not become a phoenix.

If Shanlai had truly become a concubine in a wealthy family, Zhou Zheng's family wouldn't have felt so guilty. Little did they know that their efforts would have been in vain; they had harmed both their father and daughter...

Shanlai was very grateful for the kindness of Zhou Zheng's family. Seeing Zhou Zheng's wife crying her eyes out, he couldn't help but try to comfort her.

“Your family didn’t harm me, so don’t cry. Even though my father is gone, you’ve done so much for him, so you’ve done right by him.”

This is the truth. Shanlai never blamed Zhou Zheng's family. Their misfortune was not their fault. Yao Yong's death was actually his own fault. If only he hadn't gone to help... It really can't be blamed on others. As for Shanlai, selling herself into servitude was indeed a humiliation for her, but without being a servant, she wouldn't have been able to meet Liu Min.

Despite the hardships she endured and the fact that she couldn't be with Liu Min, she didn't regret meeting him. She always loved him, even more than herself. She left him for his sake; otherwise, she would have clung to him like a vine, disregarding his future and only caring about her own happiness.

Although she said that, Zhou Zheng's wife still couldn't let it go.

Shanlai was still a beauty, which Zhou Zheng's wife couldn't understand.

"Why did you come back? Wasn't Young Master Liu very good to you...? During the years he came back to observe mourning, he would go to Uncle Yao's grave to burn paper money on Uncle Yao's death anniversary, Qingming Festival, Ghost Festival, and the winter solstice. We even talked a few times. He's a very kind person. I asked him why you didn't come back, and he said you were sick and needed to rest, so you couldn't travel. Later, he told me that you were doing well in the capital and had important things to do, so you didn't come back for the time being... What happened between you two? Why...? Oh! Sister, why are you crying again? Did I say something wrong?"

"No." Shanlai shook his head, lowered his head, and choked up, "It's just that this cake is too dense and it poked my tooth... It hurts a little..."