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The old lady had indeed arrived ten days ago, but for the first few days her mind was unclear, and she didn’t even remember her own arrival, so Gu Jiao and Xiao Liulang had pushed back the date of her arrival by a few days.

This was different from the day the old lady went missing in Qingquan Town.

However, what neither Gu Jiao nor Xiao Liulang knew was that when the old lady had collapsed at Gu Jiao’s door, Xue Ningxiang had heard the commotion.

She felt that something was wrong with the old woman…

“Ah Xiang.” The voice of the mother-in-law came from the neighboring room.

Xue Ningxiang steadied her mind and walked towards her mother-in-law’s room: “Mother, are you awake?”

“I thought I heard someone in the room just now. Did something happen to my younger son?” The old woman was now most worried about the younger son who had gone to be a soldier, after having already lost one of her sons.

Xue Ningxiang spoke softly: “My brother is fine, but a sick person from Mafeng Mountain has escaped and the officers came to search our place. They have already left.”

“Man or woman? How old?”

“They didn’t say.” said Xue Ningxiang.

“How could a leper from Mafeng Mountain run to our place…cough cough…” Xue Ningxiang’s mother-in-law coughed violently twice, muttered a few words, and then fell fast asleep in a daze.

Xue Ningxiang closed her eyes.

Although she was not a good person, Gu Jiao had saved her life.

The search for the leper by the authorities did not cause much disturbance in Qingquan village and life went on as normal.

Gu Jiao occasionally thought that the old lady had a mysterious background because her presence had caused many officers to search, yet did not reveal or provide any information about herself.

But upon seeing the old lady, who was holding a jar of sunflower seeds and cracking them like a squirrel, Gu Jiao instantly thought that she was overthinking.

With nothing to do, Gu Jiao mended all the clothes of Xiao Liulang at home.

She guessed correctly. To mend fabric is as repairing human skin. It was easy!

When Xiao Liulang returned home, he found that his tattered clothes had been mended. Without guessing, he knew that it was Gu Jiao who had mended them.

Gu Jiao had never mended clothes before, or at least he hadn’t seen it since he moved in. Unexpectedly, she mended them well, with fine and neat stitches. The only thing that confused him was why, unlike other people whose stitches are on the inside, she left the thread ends on the outside when mending clothes.

The old lady’s recovery was much better than Xiao Liulang’s elder brother. Xiao Liulang had once asked the doctor how long it would take for his elder brother to no longer be contagious. The doctor said a month. Although the old lady had not taken the medicine for a month, her condition was much better than a month’s worth of treatment. She was now able to eat at the same table.

What Xiao Liulang didn’t expect was that at the first meal they shared, the old lady almost caused him to choke.

“I was wondering,” the old lady drank a sip of corn and pork bone soup indifferently, “what’s going on between you two? I’ve been here for so long now, but I haven’t seen you two share a room.”

Xiao Liulang and Gu Jiao choked at the same time.

“My husband is still young.” Gu Jiao said calmly.

The old lady looked Xiao Liulang up and down, nodding, “That’s right, he’s too young. We wouldn’t want to drain his energy.”

Xiao Liulang: “…”

—

The villagers began to speculate whether the women of the Wu family would seek an opportunity to regain their lost face after their defeat with the old lady. Surprisingly though, they haven’t seen them for several days.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to go out, but that Master Gu wouldn’t let them.

The previous incident had made a big noise and subsequently reached the ears of Master Gu.

Before his third son’s death, Master Gu had promised to take good care of Gu Jiao. Though he did not say it outright, he intended to keep Gu Jiao at his side all her life, and eventually arrange for an incoming son-in-law.

The reason why he violated his original promise was mainly that he believed Gu Jiao was a curse. Having already taken the lives of his third son and daughter-in-law, he could not let her curse fall on Dashun.

However, Master Gu had never allowed the Wu family to demand household expenses from Gu Jiao. The Wu Family told Master Gu that it was Xiao Liulang who wanted to show filial respect to Master Gu and also to support Dashun’s studies.

Master Gu believed them.

Now that he knew the truth, Master Gu felt utterly embarrassed: “From now on, Liulang will also study and should not ask him for any more money!”

The Wu family was furious.

Wu’s wife said, “What can a cripple do with studying? He’s just wasting money. I heard he failed his examinations again this time! It would be better to give the money to Dashun. When Dashun becomes successful in the future, he will definitely return the favor!”

Her Dashun was going to be a scholar in the future. A mere grain of rice bestowed by a scholar would be enough for that crippled little family to live on.

Master Gu still cared about face. His neighbors had constantly stabbed him in the back, and he did not have the nerve to ask his son-in-law for money again.

Master Gu warned Wu not to cause trouble by bringing his daughter-in-law to the Gu Family again.

Those who had a rough couple of days were not only Wu and her daughter-in-law. Dashun also experienced the first setback in his life.

He finally found out who the head of the academy had favored, and it turned out to be Xiao Liulang, someone he would not have suspected in a million years.

Xiao Liulang was not only disabled, but his knowledge was also shallow. There was almost nothing good about him other than his face.

He didn’t understand, how could the academy head have taken a liking to such a bottom-ranker?

Dashun began to recall the changes in the academy head’s attitude towards him. The head used to praise him more than once and even met him alone. But ever since Xiao Liulang had gone to meet the head, he was completely ignored.

He was sure there was nothing about his scholarship that dissatisfied the academy head.

Did Xiao Liulang fabricate something in front of the head, making the head think he lacked virtue and felt repulsed by him?

It must be so!

Otherwise, why would the academy head choose Xiao Liulang, who ranks last every time, over him?

Xiao Liulang looked like an honest person, but he was actually very mean behind his back!

Thinking about how Xiao Liulang had stolen something that originally belonged to him, Dashun felt Xiao Liulang was absolutely despicable.

“Xiao Liulang, you just wait!”

—

That night, Gu Jiao had another dream.

Unsurprisingly, she dreamed about Xiao Liulang again.

Xiao Liulang finished copying the text book and took it to the bookstore at noon. Unexpectedly, a theft case occurred at the bookstore and suspicion fell on Xiao Liulang.

There was actually a witness at the time, Dashun. Dashun saw with his own eyes that Xiao Liulang had left before the owner had entered the bookstore, and knew that Xiao Liulang had never entered the owner’s room.

However, Dashun refused to disclose the truth, insisting that only Xiao Liulang had gone to the second floor. This didn’t directly accuse Xiao Liulang of being a thief, but it did eliminate any suspicions from others.

However, Xiao Liulang wasn’t easy to fool, he immediately cracked the case based on several footprints in the backyard.

At this point, the incident should have ended. Unfortunately, an investigation delayed his return to the village which resulted in him getting caught in a heavy snowstorm.

Halfway, the donkey cart skidded into a ditch and disfigured Xiao Liulang’s face in a crash.

The gruesome scar stayed with Xiao Liulang for the rest of his life, leaving him with an indelible shadow.