Psychological discomfort

“Okay, okay.”

Seeing that Mrs. Yang was really anxious, Xiaoguo quickened her pace.

Ever since Li Zhaodi scolded Xiaoguo, Mrs. Yang had been at odds with her. Whenever Li Zhaodi ran into anything bad or made a fool of herself, Mrs. Yang would rejoice over it.

That’s right, she was gloating over her misfortune. Although it was bad to do so, it was satisfying to use it on Li Zhaodi.

Xiaoguo didn’t feel as happy as Mrs. Yang. But she didn’t feel sorry for Li Zhaodi either. She just didn’t feel anything. It didn’t matter to her whether Li Zhaodi was doing well or not.

When the two of them came out, they bumped into many people who were walking in the same direction.

Xiaoguo couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. This was too scary. The entire village was out to watch the show.

But that made sense. In ancient times, there weren’t many avenues for entertainment. The only entertainment people had was to gossip about others.

“Hurry up.”

Xiaoguo almost sprained her ankle from Mrs. Yang’s pulling. She didn’t dare to let her mind wander anymore and hurried after Mrs. Yang.

Li Zhaodi’s house was surrounded by people. Xiaoguo and Mrs. Yang squeezed their way through the crowd with difficulty. Mrs. Yang pulled Xiaoguo along with her and there was a lot of cursing and swearing as they weaved through the crowd.

“Why are you squeezing? How annoying. Oh my feet!”

Xiaoguo carefully avoided bumping into the crowd and tried her best to not listen to the people around her. She followed Mrs. Yang closely. It was no joke. She had to try hard to keep up, otherwise she would get lost in the crowd.

Just when she felt like she was going to suffocate, Mrs. Yang gave her a pull and she appeared at the front row of the crowd.

Xiaoguo let out a long sigh of relief. It was really not easy. She was amazed by the sheer number of enthusiastic villagers in Peach Blossom Village. On most days, she hardly bumped into anyone on the streets, but whenever something happened, the crowd would instantly appear. At this moment, Xiaoguo finally realized that there were actually many villagers residing in Peach Blossom Village.

In the courtyard, Li Zhaodi ignored the pointing fingers of the crowd and continued playing with the feces. She grabbed a handful of it and smeared it all over herself until she was almost unrecognizable.

On top of that, she appeared to be muttering something under her breath. She would curse and sing at times. But it was mostly done in an inaudible tone.

“Tsk, tsk. Look at this. Although Li Zhaodi isn’t a good person, it’s really quite pitiful that she has come to this state.”

“What’s there to pity? She usually has a foul mouth. In my opinion, this is retribution.”

A woman interrupted the old lady and spat on Li Zhaodi. Her eyes were filled with anger. It was obvious that she had a grudge against Li Zhaodi.

“Yes, even so, she’s really in a sorry state now…”

The old woman who had spoken earlier reiterated her words again. As a woman, she could not bear to see another woman like this.

“That’s enough. Since you pity her so much, bring her home. Anyway, your son’s legs are crippled now and he can’t get out of bed. Although Li Zhaodi is like this, she’s still a woman. If you bring her home, she might be able to give your family a descendant.”

The woman rolled her eyes. She obviously thought that the old woman was being a hypocrite.

As soon as she said that, the old lady got angry.

The surrounding people immediately burst into laughter. Some of them even started cheering. “Auntie, just bring her back. It’s not a bad idea for her to become Brother Dachun’s wife. Hahaha.”

The old lady was so angry that her face turned green. She did not dare to vent her anger on the woman beside her, so she took it out on the few people who started the commotion. She turned her head and shouted angrily, “Bullsh*t! Why don’t you bring her back instead!”

After shouting, she glanced sideways at the few people who had been making a fuss. Then she turned to glare at Li Zhaodi and spat. “How can such a thing be worthy of my son? It’s better to raise a donkey than her. Pfft!”

The old woman spat a few times and left, cursing under her breath. The other woman who spoke earlier rolled her eyes at the old woman. Hypocrisy is revolting.

Li Zhaodi, who was squatting on the ground, had also heard their conversation. No one could tell from the surface, but her nails had dug deep into her flesh. With the feces covering her body, the blood oozing from beneath her fingers was hidden from sight.

“Li Zhaodi, bear with it. Everything will be fine after a while.”

Listening to the mocking and humiliating words around her, Xiaoguo felt a little uncomfortable.

She tugged at Mrs. Yang. “Let’s go.”

Mrs. Yang was also feeling unwell. She nodded and left with Xiaoguo.

On the way back, their minds were still filled with the voices from the crowd.

“Xiaoguo…”

“Sister-in-law…”

They spoke at the same time and fell silent together.

Mrs. Yang, who had rushed over in high spirits to watch the show, was now as listless as a frosted eggplant. Li Zhaodi was hateful, but it was really quite sad to see her in this state.

Xiaoguo retracted her gaze and continued walking home. The scene just now had seriously made her feel uncomfortable. There were a lot of people in the crowd who used to hang out with Li Zhaodi before, but now, they were all adding insult to injury. How terrible these people are!

How could any human speak so harshly to a woman who had not committed any heinous crime?

Xiaoguo parted ways with Mrs. Yang. When she reached the door, she shook her head. Forget it. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. It was fine as long as Li Zhaodi stopped pestering Qin Anming.

WIth that, Xiaoguo stopped thinking about her. After all, they don’t usually interact much with each other.

–

Three days later.

“Sister Xiaoguo, I have found out what you asked me to find out.”

Ruyi said as soon as she entered.

“Really? That was quick.”

Xiaoguo pulled her to a seat and offered her water.

“There you go. Drink it while it’s hot.”

The weather had turned cold recently. Xiaoguo gave Ruyi a cup of hot water to warm up her body and drive away the chill.

Ruyi took it and blew on the steam before drinking it. As the cup of hot water entered her stomach, she couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

When she was done, she stole a glance at Xiaoguo, feeling a little embarrassed. Xiaoguo found her action rather cute, so she smiled back at her.

“By the way, that shop wishes to order from us?”

Xiaoguo couldn’t wait to get down to business.

“Hehe, Sister Xiaoguo, how are you going to thank me? I had to make many trips to touch base with them.”

Seeing that Xiaoguo was anxious, Ruyi refused to say anything.

“Hey!”

Xiaoguo could tell that Ruyi was deliberately keeping her in suspense, but she was not in a hurry. She said deliberately to Ruyi, “My brother is taking so long to come back.”

“Where did Brother Anming go?”

Sure enough, when Ruyi heard those words, she immediately asked Xiaoguo. She had been here for a long time, but she had not seen Brother Anming.

“Hmph.” Xiaoguo mimicked her, taking her time to drink, and keeping silent.

“Just tell me, good sister.”

Ruyi grabbed Xiaoguo’s arm and shook her. She had not seen Brother Anming for a month. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she had been looking out for him, but he didn’t seem to be around.

“You tell me first.”

Xiaoguo didn’t buy it. Zhuang Zhuang always liked to wheedle too… she was already immune to it.

“Alright.” Ruyi let go of Xiaoguo and placed her hands on her cheeks. She said proudly, “It’s the Su Family’s Goods Store, Su Changsheng, Manager Su.”

As soon as Ruyi said that, Xiaoguo almost shouted out loud. It was indeed this shop that she had been eyeing.

The popcorn kernels at home were almost completely dried. Xiaoguo had been thinking of finding a buyer to buy them, but before she could work on this matter, she had to go to the capital. Now that she was back, she could arrange to sell all the corn.

The day before yesterday, when she went to get medicine for Qin Anming, she took the opportunity to look out for shops in the county that sold roasted snacks. After making several comparisons, she shortlisted three shops. Unfortunately, the shopkeepers of the three shops were not around. Xiaoguo had no choice but to ask Ruyi for help.

Xiaoguo had planned to make a few more trips herself, but because of Li Zhaodi’s matter over the past two days, she didn’t dare to leave Qin Anming’s side. Today, her brother had gone out with Zhuang Zhuang and Yang Jia because he couldn’t stand being at home anymore. And Xiaoguo had instructed them not to go far.