Village Belle is Trying to Cause Trouble Again Chapter 60
Translated by Digitalian (ko-fi)
Chapter 60: How Would She Be Able To Die?
Perhaps because someone was there, Xie Yuntang felt relieved and closed his eyes. "Sister Taozi, I'm going to sleep. You should sleep too."
"Yeah."
Su Tao didn't sleep. She waited for a while before calling him a few times. When he didn't respond, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
……
In the early morning, fog surrounded the yard and it felt a bit chilly.
In the room.
On the large bed, Su Tao's leg was resting on the quilt covering Xie Yuntang. Xie Yuntang seemed to be alarmed and opened his eyes.
What caught his eye was the girl's curled eyelashes and slightly flushed cheeks.
Sister Taozi.
Xie Yuntang was stunned for a moment, then his face blushed, but he didn't move.
If he moved, Sister Taozi would wake up.
At this moment, Mrs. Xie-Qin's voice came from outside the room. "Yuntang, Taozi, get up for breakfast."
When the girl heard that it was time for breakfast, she opened her eyes suddenly and sat up. "Auntie Xie, we’ve woken up."
She turned her head and saw Milksop. She was stunned for a moment, then she reacted and got up quickly. "Hurry up, it's time for breakfast."
Xie Yuntang had the habit of changing clothes in the morning. He felt a little embarrassed and said, "Sister Taozi, you go first. I'll change my clothes."
Hearing this, Su Tao didn't say anything. She put on her outerwear and went out. She headed to the kitchen to boil some water to wash her face.
Mrs. Xie-Qin didn't see Xie Yuntang, so she smiled and asked, "Yuntang hasn't gotten up yet?"
"He’s up and changing his clothes."
Su Tao wiped her face with a handkerchief and glanced into the pot. There were dumplings.
Piping hot dumplings.
"Did Yuntang have another nightmare last night?" Mrs. Xie-Qin asked with concern.
Su Tao shook her head, "No, he fell asleep."
Milksop was really fortunate. His family was worried when he had a nightmare. If she had a nightmare, she would be thankful enough if Lin Sanzhu didn't scold her.
Mrs. Xie-Qin heaved a sigh of relief when she heard that, feeling somewhat grateful. She looked at Su Tao with a more sincere look. "Taozi, Yuntang tends to have nightmares at night. Pay more attention to him."
"Your Uncle Xie and I would like to move your bed into Yuntang's room and put a screen between the beds."
It wasn’t quite right for them to do this because Taozi was a girl after all, but Yuntang only felt at ease with Taozi.
Otherwise, they would have hired a male helper long ago.
Su Tao felt that moving her bed was completely unnecessary. Milksop’s bed could accommodate two or three children easily. However, she still nodded obediently.
Perhaps Mrs. Xie-Qin felt that Su Tao had worked hard taking care of Xie Yuntang at night, so she scooped a full bowl of dumplings for her.
Su Tao was so happy that her eyes were crinkled up all the time. In the end, she ate too much.
During the dictation in school that day, Su Tao got all the answers right, and the teacher praised her.
Before school ended, the village was already noisy with sounds of crying and cursing.
The teacher couldn't continue teaching. He put down the book and walked out. It was a long time before he came back. He sighed and said, "I'll end the class early today. There won't be classes for the next few days."
Suddenly the children cheered, and Zhou Sheng whispered excitedly, "Someone died in the village."
When someone died, the school would be closed for a few days.
Su Tao thought something had happened, but she didn't expect it to be because someone was dead. "..."
She turned her head to look at the happy Zhou Sheng and Zheng Duoyin, and raised her hand to hit them. "You two are really inconsiderate."
"If you laugh again, I'll sew your mouths shut."
When the teacher left, she patted Milksop’s shoulder and said, "Milksop, let’s go. Ignore them. Don’t be led astray by them."
Zhou Sheng and Zheng Duoyin hurriedly followed, and Zheng Duoyin protested, "Big Sister, we won’t lead him astray. Wait for us."
"Go away, go play somewhere else. We need to go home for lunch." Su Tao glared at him unhappily.
It was only after she left the school that she heard people say that the Yu family's daughter-in-law had died.
Su Tao was shocked. That woman actually died.
Su Tao’s first reaction was that the woman died so easily, whereas she still hadn't died yet.
She hurried to the door of the Yu family's house to see what was going on, and before she could squeeze in, she heard the commotion.
"Yu Feng! You beat my daughter to death. If you don't give me an explanation today, I'll sit outside your house every day."
"She deserved it for going out to seduce men every day!"
"You're talking nonsense! My daughter didn't do that. You bastard, give my daughter back to me!"
"Take her away then! You think I care to have her body?"
Su Tao and Xie Yuntang squeezed in, and the first thing they saw was the woman in the yard lying on the ground silently. There wasn’t a single spot on her face that wasn’t bruised.
Su Tao had never seen a dead person before, and felt a little nauseous for a moment. She retched once or twice, then pulled Xie Yuntang out of the crowd. "Ugh~"
Her heart sank a little. The woman was fine yesterday, but she was beaten to death today.
After all, this wasn’t a society governed by law, and women had a lowly status.
No, it was probably more accurate to say that women from poor families had a lowly status.
Just like her.
At the thought of that, the idea of going home began to emerge again. While she was still young and could not get married, she must find a way to go home.
She turned her head and glanced at the person next to her. Xie Yuntang had a fair and tender face, clear eyes, rosy lips, and white teeth, and looked harmless.
How maddening...
How would she be able to die?
Xie Yuntang met her gaze, patted her back worriedly, and said softly, "Sister Taozi, are you okay?"
"Aren't you afraid?" Su Tao patted her chest and walked towards the Xie family's house after feeling better.
Xie Yuntang followed behind her, taking a step every time she took a step, like a real little follower.
"I saw it before. I saw my uncle beat a maid to death."
After Xie Yuntang shook his head, he bit his lower lip and said guiltily, "The maid just bumped into me accidentally. She said she didn't mean it. I pleaded with my uncle, but he didn't listen to me."
Xie Yuntang’s uncle said that he wanted to make an example of the maid, otherwise the other maids would not take Xie Yuntang seriously.
That was why Xie Yuntang didn't like to go to his grandmother's house.
A maid was beaten to death just because she bumped into Xie Yuntang. Su Tao got goosebumps all over her body. She rubbed her arms and said, "Your uncle is a pervert. You should stay away from him."
This kind of person who beat someone to death in front of a child was not trying to intimidate the servants, but to scare the child.
Milksop was scared to tears even when she pinched him, let alone when he watched a servant being beaten to death.
No wonder he couldn’t sleep at night. If it were her, she wouldn’t be able to sleep either.
Xie Yuntang nodded seriously. "I don't like my uncle either."
Soon, he added, "Don't be afraid, Sister Taozi. I won't let my uncle beat you."
"I mean it."
When he said that, Su Tao felt a little weak. But then she thought, she wasn’t a servant.
She was relieved once again.
……
The commotion from the Yu family continued until the evening, but priests started performing rituals again at night. The Yu family was probably afraid that the dead woman’s ghost would come to their house.
Su Tao couldn't sleep because of the noise, so she simply lit a lantern and made clothes, while Xie Yuntang read a book next to her.
Xie Qing was afraid that the two would be cold, so he lit a stove for them.
It was almost midnight and the noise from the Yu family had not yet died down. Su Tao yawned several times in succession. Milksop was no longer reading but writing.
Su Tao's hands were tired and she didn't want to embroider anymore, so she tried to talk to him, continuing the topic from last time, "Milksop, you haven't finished listening to what I told you last time..."
