Chapter 57: The Other Side of the Pretense
Shen Zhiyi ate dinner at home early. It was actually harder to cook for one person, so she made do with flatbread and pickled chili paste.
Before leaving the house, she deliberately placed a woven straw mat under the threshold, hoping to leave muddy shoe prints. This was the only way she could think of to leave evidence, albeit with many limitations.
Hopefully, this will be of some use.
After doing all this, Shen Zhiyi packed up the valuable clothes, namely Lu Jingbai's outer robe and cloak, and took them away. The fabric looked very expensive, and she definitely couldn't afford to buy them at this stage.
As for whether there were other reasons, she couldn't be bothered to investigate further.
With her bag slung over her shoulder, Shen Zhiyi left with a relaxed expression; she had never cared about these material possessions.
Ge Niu's house was right next to the village chief's house. The gates of the two houses were half open, and Shen Zhiyi would see her whenever she passed by. Just as she walked past the gate, the village chief's voice came from there: "Girl, you need to think carefully about what I said."
"I know," Shen Zhiyi replied, hurrying towards Ge Niu's house.
Compared to the talkative village chief, Shen Zhiyi now prefers to be with people who talk less, such as Uncle Sanquan and Aunt Chen in front of her. After chatting for a few minutes, she was told to go and play with Ge Niu.
Ge Niu's room was very tidy. When she saw Shen Zhiyi come in, she greeted her with a slight smile, and then sat alone on the edge of the kang bed, staring blankly at the dark wall.
"Where should I put my bag?" Shen Zhiyi asked.
Ge Niu pointed to the low table over there.
"Should I sleep on the inside or outside of the kang bed? I might be a restless sleeper."
Where is the water tank?
"Where is the firewood for boiling water?"
Which towel should I use?
In short, Shen Zhiyi had a lot of trivial questions. At first, Ge Niu remained quiet and pointed things out to her, but then she couldn't help but say, "Why do you have so many questions? If you have any questions, go ask my dad or my mom."
This is Ge Niu's true nature. She's not that patient, nor is she the quiet type. But after coming back, she started behaving in the opposite way, which makes everyone wonder if she's gone mad.
It's finally starting to look a bit normal now.
"You're clearly not that kind of person, so why did you try to become like that?" Shen Zhiyi asked, puzzled.
Ge Niu glanced at Shen Zhiyi, silently walked to the door, carefully closed the door, and then said, "I don't want to get married."
"Huh?" Shen Zhiyi was surprised. After thinking about Ge Niu's "pretended" state, she realized that no one had ever arranged a marriage for her. Uncle Sanquan and Aunt Chen were just thinking about when Ge Niu would recover.
"Why don't you just talk things out with your aunt and uncle? Isn't it tiring to keep up this act?" Shen Zhiyi asked.
"If it makes sense, why would I pretend?" Ge Niu rolled her eyes, looked at Shen Zhiyi, and asked softly, "I heard from my mother that Grandma Qin wants to introduce you to a handsome scholar?"
“This…” Shen Zhiyi didn’t expect the news to spread so quickly. She was drawn into the “girlish thoughts” unique to this age by Ge Niu’s words. “It’s not something that’s been discussed for a long time, so let’s not talk about it.”
“But you can stop this one, and you can stop the next one, and the one after that…” Ge Niu’s calm voice carried a heavy sense of dejection. “In the Lin family, the master, the young master, and even the stewards were carried into the house one after another. I thought…”
Upon hearing this, Shen Zhiyi sensed something was wrong and asked, "What did I think it was?"
At this point, Ge Niu realized she had let something slip and a hint of annoyance flashed across her face. But she didn't consider herself a coy person, and if she didn't say it now, she was afraid she would burst.
"I've always known you're tight-lipped, so you definitely won't tell anyone about our conversation, right?" Ge Niu asked tentatively.
"Of course," Shen Zhiyi said seriously. How could she possibly tell anyone about such a rare conversation between her best friends?
Ge Niu cautiously pressed her ear against the door to listen to the sounds outside. She didn't know what she heard, but she pulled Shen Zhiyi to the innermost part of the room and sat down facing the door. Her voice became low and deep: "I originally wanted to keep this to myself and take it to my grave, but then I thought, why should I suffer like this! Since I can't take revenge on the other party, I might as well say it out loud and let off some steam."
Shen Zhiyi frowned slightly upon hearing this; it seemed the matter was bigger than she had imagined.
“I originally hit it off with a minor steward who was in charge of the horse stables.” Ge Niu paused, noticing Shen Zhiyi’s thoughtful expression, “It was that one. Later, to curry favor with the purchasing steward, he wanted to send me to warm his bed. I refused, and when he wasn’t looking, I knocked him unconscious. In the end, he got angry and locked me up, torturing me with those needles…”
Although Ge Niu's voice grew softer and softer, and she silently shed tears in the darkness, her tone carried a fierce edge: "Never easily believe what they say; most of them are bad people."
"So, are you planning to keep pretending like this?" Shen Zhiyi asked gently.
"No matter what I say now, my parents won't take it seriously. Instead, they'll advise me to get married soon, but I don't want to," Ge Niu said helplessly.
Shen Zhiyi understood that this was a sign of losing the ability to love, and she could only wait for the woman to figure it out herself.
Of course, it would be unrealistic to talk about psychology or valuing the inner world here, so she said, "People always have to look forward when they live. They can't stay stuck in one place. Taking care of the people around them is the most important thing."
"Don't you think what I'm saying is absurd? How can a woman be so determined not to get married..." Ge Niu said slowly, even the last syllable of her words was cut off, as if even saying it was a sin.
"What does it matter?" Shen Zhiyi retorted, her tone completely matter-of-fact. "How you want to live is your own decision, and you have to bear the consequences, good or bad. If you want to take a less traveled path, you need to have a strong heart."
“But even if we can’t hold on, it’s okay. We can just go with the flow,” Shen Zhiyi said with a smile.
“No one has ever said anything like that to me before,” Ge Niu said in a muffled voice, sniffling and silently wiping away her tears. She wasn’t actually crying; she just had sand in her eyes. “I used to think your illness was incurable, and I was thinking about all sorts of bad things…”
"But you still brought me three boiled wild eggs to eat," Shen Zhiyi interrupted. If we judge by intentions rather than actions, then there wouldn't be a single good person in the world.
"Zhiyi, you're such a kind person," Ge Niu exclaimed.
“Of course I’m good, but isn’t Uncle Sanquan good? Isn’t Aunt Chen good? Grandpa Village Chief…” Shen Zhiyi rattled off several names, thoroughly quelling Ge Niu’s melancholy.
"Alright, alright, everyone's fine! Everyone's fine!" Ge Niu hurriedly said, feeling that if she let it go any further, she would hear the names of everyone in the village.
Perhaps because of this heart-to-heart talk, Ge Niu became more talkative, only quieting down slightly when the door was pushed open from the outside. It seems that the backlash from her recent attempts to act quiet has finally materialized.
Unconsciously, listening to Ge Niu's voice, Shen Zhiyi drifted into a dream.
"Zhiyi, are you asleep?" Ge Niu asked softly.
This time, Shen Zhiyi has learned her lesson and will not agree again.
The next day at dawn, there was a rustling sound outside the door. When Shen Zhiyi woke up, she saw that Ge Niu was still asleep. Thinking of how talkative Ge Niu had been the night before, she got up even more quietly, afraid of waking her up.
Shen Zhiyi walked into the yard and saw Aunt Chen scooping water. She smiled and said, "Good morning, Auntie! I'm afraid I'll have to stay at your house for a while, so I'll have to pay for my meals so I can stay here with peace of mind."
As they spoke, Shen Zhiyi took out the two hundred coins she had prepared and placed them in Aunt Chen's hand before she could refuse, saying, "I have something to do today. I'm going to Shunshui Village with Daya at 9 am, and I probably won't be back until 5 pm at the latest. If it's late, remember to save some dinner for me, Auntie."
Originally, Shen Zhiyi had a rather independent personality. After being warned by the village chief, she would explain her arrangements to those around her to avoid making them worry.
“I know, but this money…” Aunt Chen said earnestly, “You’ve helped our family so much, how can I accept your money?”
"How much did you pay for the chili peppers?" Shen Zhiyi asked in return.
Aunt Chen was taken aback by the question.
“That’s money you deserve, so you should accept it. This is also money you should pay and money you should receive, so why can’t you accept it?” Shen Zhiyi asked logically.
After hearing these explanations, Aunt Chen was a little confused, but she didn't mention "not taking the money."
Shen Zhiyi didn't expect that as she was about to leave, Aunt Chen handed her the prepared dry food and bamboo tube, saying in a low voice, "Eat this on the road, don't go hungry."
Feeling the warmth of the lotus leaf bag in her palm, while she was busy checking the number of seedlings and moving them, Aunt Chen silently supported her from behind, carefully and gently giving her strength.
"Thank you, Auntie. We'll be going now," Shen Zhiyi replied.
The wheels rolled forward, carrying them away from Xiaba Village. Just outside the village, Zhao Daya opened the first lotus leaf package in her hand and saw three neatly stacked sauerkraut pancakes. Shen Zhiyi felt her teeth ache terribly and silently looked away.
However, he still couldn't avoid Zhao Daya's question: "Would you like a pickled cabbage pancake?"
"No need, I'm not hungry right now," Shen Zhiyi said calmly.
"Uncle, would you like to try some? My dad's pickled cabbage pancakes are the best!" Zhao Daya said enthusiastically.
Shen Zhiyi's heart was pounding when she heard this. Just as she was about to say that she was hungry, the old man driving the cart said, "You eat by yourself, I'm not hungry."
Zhao Daya looked regretful as she ate the sauerkraut pancake with relish.
The scenery along the way was relatively familiar, and sitting in the oxcart, Shen Zhiyi could clearly feel the temperature changes along the way.
The closer she got to Shunshui Village, the higher the temperature became, meaning that the nighttime temperature would either be extremely low or relatively high. Having spent a night in Shunshui Village, she had obviously deduced that it was the latter. Since the soil, water, and temperature were all suitable, even if it was only five-tenths of an acre, it would be a good start.
They arrived at Shunshui Village without incident and were lucky enough to run into Village Chief Chen. Shen Zhiyi, who was on the oxcart, immediately shouted happily, "Village Chief Chen, I've come to deliver seedlings to you!"
"Who's calling me?" Village Chief Chen, who had been facing away from the oxcart, turned around when he heard a voice. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the pair of eyes. "Miss, your seedlings can be planted so quickly?"
Hearing this, Shen Zhiyi laughed and said, "Almost a month has passed, and if the seedlings aren't transplanted soon, they won't grow big! This is a matter of utmost importance!"
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