Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the old woman had tuberculosis, which was contagious in those days, but fortunately she had a way to treat it.
Li Xiaoxiao quickly carried the old man back to her basement.
A dozen or so officials soon arrived and surrounded Li Xiaoxiao's house. "The homeowner must come out; routine inspection." Li Xiaoxiao then emerged from the house, looking displeased at the group of people. "Sirs, what has happened?"
Seeing Li Xiaoxiao's exhausted expression, the leading soldier shouted, "Are you the owner of this place? Did you see an old woman pass by here?" Li Xiaoxiao shook her head, thinking carefully, "Sir, I didn't see anything. The woman was just awakened."
"Oh? Really? Search for me."
The leader clearly wouldn't listen to Li Xiaoxiao's side of the story. With a wave of his hand, all the patrolmen who followed him split into two groups and began searching the vicinity. Li Xiaoxiao stood calmly, waiting for the search to begin. After a while, Qi Yu came out of the house wearing an outer robe and with his hair down. "Wife, what happened?"
“Husband, the officials are on patrol.” Li Xiaoxiao approached the man, and the two of them stood together, looking every bit like a married couple.
The soldiers searched for a long time, turning the place upside down, but still couldn't find any trace of the old woman. The soldiers then intensified their search and went into the mountains. After they left, Li Xiaoxiao yawned and returned to her room.
In the middle of the night, she got up from her room, took the book from the study, turned the button on the little lion sculpture inside, and the basement door opened. Inside, there was a quilt and an old woman, who was sleeping comfortably.
Qi Yu also entered the basement. He looked at the old woman thoughtfully and said, "This old woman looks familiar. Xiao Xiao, why did you save her?"
"Hush, husband, you see she's not simple. If she dies on my doorstep, think about the consequences."
Qi Yu frowned, realizing what was going on. "Xiao Xiao, this is incurable tuberculosis, yet you still brought her back."
"It's alright, my husband." Li Xiaoxiao was not afraid. She had been nourished by the spiritual spring in the space for a full month, and her body had already developed a strong resistance. Qi Yu was the same.
Seeing that she was sleeping peacefully, the two turned the mechanism back into the room. Li Xiaoxiao boiled a bowl of mugwort soup with boiling water. The two washed their hands and then poured the soup behind the house, burying it in the snow.
......
The next day, Qi Yu's preliminary examination was about to begin. On this day, Li Xiaoxiao unusually offered to escort him to the examination venue, and the man's expression was somewhat strange.
"Xiaoxiao, there's no need to send me off today. Your husband has his own plans." Qi Yu's expression was rather unpleasant, and he looked very uncomfortable.
Li Xiaoxiao sensed something was wrong. "Husband, are you hiding something from me?"
Uncle Luo, who was driving the oxcart, shouted, "Hurry up and get on, we're leaving." Qi Yu's face turned ugly, and even fierce. "Wife, are you not listening to your husband? If you insist on making a scene like this, then you can take care of your dirty clothes for the next seven days yourself."
The surrounding world was cold, and Li Xiaoxiao stood in the cold wind, suddenly wanting to laugh. Was this Qi Yu's harsh words?
She wasn't allowed to go there, so she went secretly, not necessarily with her husband.
After seeing the oxcart leave in the distance, Li Xiaoxiao secretly followed it down by running.
Finally seeing Qi Yu enter the examination room without any problems, Li Xiaoxiao wondered why this man was avoiding her.
Could it be that he's seeing someone else? Otherwise, why would a man be so nervous? And what's it like when a man is having an affair?
If she catches him in the act, she'll definitely stand on the moral high ground and point fingers at him, then write him a divorce letter—how cool would that be?
While spying on the man's movements, Li Xiaoxiao hid on the wall with a triumphant smile on her face.
After the exam, Qi Yu came out of the examination room with a fellow disciple who was about seven feet tall and looked very fair-skinned.
Although the disguise was well done, a flaw was unintentionally revealed: the man's features were feminine, and he had no Adam's apple. This seemingly male person was actually a woman! Qi Yu had been targeted!
Is this a moral decline or a distortion of human nature?
Li Xiaoxiao was furious; she was determined to teach that despicable couple a lesson.
She mustered her courage and charged forward to argue, but halfway there a middle-aged woman jumped out and rushed in front of the man, starting to hurl insults at him.
“You unfilial son, you live a comfortable life in other people’s homes, but why do you ignore the mother who raised you? You are such an unfilial son. What kind of academic achievements can you have? You can’t even fulfill your filial duties, yet you dare to dream of becoming a high-ranking official. Why don’t you give your mother two taels of silver to show your respect?”
"What a wicked beast! Your mother almost starved to death at home. If I hadn't known you were building and repairing the house, I wouldn't have known you were living a good life. You didn't even tell your family about this. You're heartless..." The thin old woman sat on the ground, wiping away tears and tugging at Qi Yu's robe, looking utterly pitiful.
A crowd immediately gathered around, whispering amongst themselves, "Is this the son-in-law of the Li family? I heard he's been living a good life lately. It's said that the Li family had some divine guidance and found a way to get rich. Now he's even bought a whole mountain behind the village, and the house he built is probably the best in the entire Xinghua Village."
"I'm so jealous. I heard that the woman in the Li family is dishonest, but she's only recently become more well-behaved."
"But we're living such good lives, and even if my mother from two villages came to visit, I wouldn't be so indifferent."
The woman was crying her heart out, tears streaming down her face. In this village where the harvest was poor and everyone was impoverished, her grief was particularly infectious. The people around her had red eyes and began to talk about it.
Mrs. Song held her child in her arms, tears streaming down her face. "What a pitiful mother I am. What can I do if my son is unfilial?"
The son beside her grabbed the hem of Song's skirt and whispered, "Mother, I am not such an ungrateful person."
Several starving and homeless women wept continuously, and Qi Yu's face grew darker and darker, but he stubbornly held back his words.
Yi Shu, a fellow student standing nearby, also looked at him with a strange gaze, "Qi Yu, is this really your mother?"
Qi Yu's face turned cold as he glared at the woman lying on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. "Yes, ma'am, she is not my birth mother."
Yi Shu stepped back a little and said awkwardly, "Qi Yu, if your aunt came and asked for two taels of silver, she would beg like this. Just give it to her. If you don't have any on you, I can give it to you too."
Qi Yu's face grew even colder as he stared at her with a chilling gaze before finally replying, "No need, you can go back on your own."
Everyone condemned Qi Yu as an ingrate and an unfilial son, so Li Xiaoxiao had no choice but to step out from the shadows and walk towards the crowd.
"Anyone who speaks ill of my husband, step forward and speak loudly in front of me!" Li Xiaoxiao raised her voice as much as possible, and sure enough, the crowd's attention immediately focused on her, and they dared not continue their discussion.
Everyone knows that this woman from the Li family is a ruthless character who can carry an axe and a wild boar down the mountain.
"Madam Li is here, make way." The crowd automatically parted to make way, and Li Xiaoxiao walked in calmly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
