Chapter 13

Transient Sorrows

    In Ping Yan village, there was only one market.

    Shan Shan walked leisurely through, greeting neighbors with a warm smile, blending in perfectly as Qing Lin. Because of this, the aunties and uncles gladly offer her gifts along the way. It was clear that Qing Lin was either cherished or pitied by the village folks.

    Of course, Shan Shan didn’t need to refuse; she happily accepted all gifts without asking or spending a penny.

    Originally, her thoughts revolved solely around practicing her martial techniques as in her past lives. However, she patiently waited for Ye Niu’s body to become stronger first, meanwhile gradually training her own muscles by engaging in various physical tasks. In a few years, after gaining more strength, it wouldn't be too late to practice advanced martial arts.

    No need for scriptures, no need to spread any manuals, as all the techniques were memorized in her mind. Just by diligently practicing a bit more, where in this world could she not go?

    After obtaining the fabric she wanted, Shan Shan strolled through the market a bit longer, looking for some jewelry, all while thinking about her husband.

    Lately, she wondered if she’d imagining things or if Ye Niu really was acting strange, seemingly troubled for sure.

    Given Shan Shan’s nature not to fuss over small matters, and not wanting to annoy him with prying questions, she decided to let it be, thinking he would tell her himself eventually when he was ready.

    If he was not in a hurry, why should she press the matter?

    Yet, upon further reflection, seeing that he seemed to desire a new outfit, it might be possible that he wanted to be more accepted. His unattractive face could be becoming an inadvertent obstacle.

    A man profoundly in love with his wife would hardly bear to see her getting scorned.

    Ah...it must be so.

    While shopping, Shan Shan frowned, deep in thought. She eventually decided to climb the mountain to seek a specific type of poisonous grass called Red Moonlight, which wasn’t hard to find as long as you knew what it looked like and where it thrived. This poison grass retracted its branches and leaves, appearing dormant during the day, but spread out splendidly at night. Its slender stems nestled against large trees, and they appeared faint red under the moonlight, easily missed if not carefully observed.

    Its poison could be used for breaking down tissues on human skin.

    Shan Shan planned to use this grass to dissolve the scar tissue on her husband's face, before applying another type of poison, Blood Healing Herb, to regenerate the skin – effectively using poison to counteract poison.

    As she was thinking, suddenly, she heard a shouting voice:

    "Fire! Fire!"

    The voices belong to four or five children, about eight or nine years old, running and shouting in a panic. These kids often played by the stream at the back of the village.

    They continued to scream across the market nonstop,

    "There’s a fire! Fire! Help put it out!"

    The villagers who heard them immediately asked, "Where? Where is the fire?"

    The kids clamored to answer, "At the bamboo house at the end of the village!"

    Hearing this, Shan Shan’s eyebrows furrowed, then she saw the children insistently confirmed,

    "The house of Gong Niu is on fire!"

    At this, her eyes widened, clothes and jewelry dropped from her hands to the ground.

    "Let’s go, everyone! Let’s help put out the fire!" People panicked and rushed home to grab wooden buckets and hurried towards the back of the village.

    The villagers of Ping Yan, though far from the advances of civilization, were known for their kindness and unity in times of need.

    No matter which household felt aggrieved or suffered injustice, they were always ready to stand up and restore fairness without hesitation.

    An example was when the event of Qing Lin and Gong Niu by the stream was secretly publicized by Qing Li they spent the night together, but Gong Niu wouldn’t take responsibility, causing Qing Lin to dare not leave her house.

    Many villagers even helped the Han family to pressure Gong Niu until the two got married.

    After people shouted the news in succession, they formed a procession and rushed to help put out the fire en masse.

    Shan Shan was running behind, with the aunties running beside her. They comforted and asked worriedly along the way,

    "A’Lin, is your husband in the house? What will happen?"

    "Stay strong, A’Lin."

    "It's going to be okay, it has to be."

    However, Shan Shan paid them no heed; she sprinted far ahead, letting the aunties struggle to keep up behind her.

    At the bamboo house at the end of the village.

    Amidst the bright sunlight, smoke billowed, and flames fiercely engulfed the area...instantly turning the bright day ominously dark. Shan Shan arrived just in time to see the villagers frantically helping each other to extinguish the fire.

    Each person grabbed a wooden bucket, rushed to the stream, scooped up water, and ran up front to hurl it forcefully onto the fiery blaze.

    From the narrow pathway to the front yard of the bamboo house, fire raged; people shouted to hurry and extinguish the large fire.

    After what felt like an eternity but was only an hour, the area at the back of the village that once had a bamboo house by the stream was now just ruins, surrounded by black ash. Trees, flowers, and vegetables lay flattened and destroyed.

    Among the group of villagers who had been busily putting out the fire, they now stood still, staring in shock at the body of someone with a stunned expression.

    In that instant, it felt as if lightning had struck Shan Shan directly in the forehead.

    She pushed through the crowd with trepidation.

    In front of her, on the black ash-covered ground, lay a big, tall man with a scarred face, his body stretched out lifelessly, burned to death by the fire.

    The body under the ruins of the bamboo house couldn’t be anyone else.

    “Gong Niu.”