Chapter 12: Discovery

Hearing her daughter, Qin Xueqiong started digging too. The two children imitated them, but Little Yan was too young and couldn’t dig properly. 

She soon ran off to play.

Tang Xiaorou couldn’t help but laugh. “Little Liang, don’t dig anymore. Watch your sister.”

“Okay.”

Little Liang wasn’t comfortable leaving his sister, so he went to watch over her.

After Tang Xiaorou and Qin Xueqiong finished digging, they carried the two children and continued up the mountain.

“I… I can walk by myself.”

Hearing Little Liang, Tang Xiaorou smiled. “I know, but we have a long way to go today. You’ll get tired if you walk too much, so I’ll carry you for a while, then you can walk yourselves.”

Soon, Tang Xiaorou found several more herbs, including Radix Notoginseng and Ligusticum chuanxiong. After digging them up, she prepared to go back. “Mom, there are no more herbs nearby. Let’s go back.”

Qin Xueqiong looked at their location. “I remember there are some wild grape vines nearby. Should we go take a look?”

“Okay.”

It was rare to eat fruit these days. If they could pick some wild grapes, that would be good.

“Come on, it’s just ahead.”

After walking for a while, they saw the wild grape vines. A few small bunches of dark purple grapes hung sparsely on them. “We’re lucky; there are still a few bunches left.” Qin Xueqiong picked the grapes and put them in the basket. “Xiaorou, let’s go back.”

“Okay.”

But as they turned around, Tang Xiaorou saw a familiar herb. “Mom, wait.”

Seeing her daughter dig up another herb, Qin Xueqiong curiously asked, “What is this?”

“This is Aconitum. If the dosage is controlled, it has many uses.”

Tang Xiaorou didn’t expect to find Aconitum here. After checking again and finding nothing else, she went down the mountain with her mother and the children.

“Mom, is that Old Man Tang?”

Qin Xueqiong looked over and nodded. “Yes, it’s him.”

Seeing Old Man Tang’s sneaky appearance, Tang Xiaorou said to Qin Xueqiong, “Mom, you take the children back. I’ll go see what he’s doing.”

“Okay.”

Tang Xiaorou secretly followed Old Man Tang. He looked around, making sure no one was around, then walked towards the end of the village.

Seeing Old Man Tang like this, Tang Xiaorou was curious and continued to follow. As far as she knew, there was nothing at the end of the village, just a few scattered houses. She wondered what Old Man Tang was doing.

They walked one after the other, quickly reaching the end of the village. Old Man Tang quickly slipped into one of the houses.

“Strange, isn’t that Widow Xia’s house?”

Widow Xia was widowed young and never remarried. She worked and lived alone, gradually aging to her current age.

Thinking of this, Tang Xiaorou quietly approached, hiding in the shadows, observing Old Man Tang’s every move.

After entering Widow Xia’s house, Old Man Tang went straight inside and closed the door.

“Heh… in broad daylight, I wonder what he’s doing behind closed doors.”

Seeing no one was paying attention, Tang Xiaorou crouched down by the window, listening to the sounds inside.

“You old geezer, why did you come so late today?”

Widow Xia looked at Old Man Tang with displeasure.

Old Man Tang, unusually gentle, said, “Things have been chaotic at home these past few days, so I haven’t had a chance to come.  As soon as I found a chance, I came right over. Did you miss me?”

“Hmph, who would miss an old geezer like you?” Widow Xia rolled her eyes, but still went up, put her arms around Old Man Tang’s neck, and pressed herself against him.

Hearing this, Tang Xiaorou was dumbfounded. She never expected the usually stern Old Man Tang to be having an affair with Widow Xia in the village.

This… when did these two get together?

Soon, embarrassing sounds came from inside the room. Tang Xiaorou felt she couldn’t bear to watch or listen. She didn’t expect Old Man Tang and Widow Xia, at their age, to still be doing this.  She quickly lost interest and was about to leave when Widow Xia suddenly said something that stopped her in her tracks.

“Old Tang, I heard that your granddaughter got her marriage certificate with a strange man.  She definitely can’t marry Yang Erzhu for the betrothal gift. What about Xiangdong’s marriage?”

“Don’t worry, there will always be a way.” Old Man Tang said, his hands starting to get restless.

“You always say that!”

Widow Xia chided him. “Then hurry up and find a way! I don’t want Xiangdong to remain a bachelor.”

Hearing this, Tang Xiaorou frowned. What did Widow Xia care about Tang Xiangdong being a bachelor? Why was she so concerned? She sensed something fishy and continued to squat by the window, trying to eavesdrop.

“Don’t worry, Xiangdong won’t be a bachelor. Even without Tang Erya’s betrothal gift, I’ll find a way to get Xiangdong a wife.”

Hearing this, Widow Xia finally felt relieved. Then she coldly snorted, “It’s all your old woman’s fault for being incompetent.  She said Tang Erya would marry Yang Erzhu, but even a sure thing fell through. It’s infuriating!”

“You can’t blame the old woman entirely. Even I didn’t expect Qin Xueqiong to be so bold as to steal the household registration book.”

Widow Xia snorted coldly. “I don’t care! The most important thing now is to get Xiangdong a wife. I’ve already found someone. I’ll have the matchmaker go to the girl’s family to propose marriage.”  Then she continued to complain, “I wasn’t satisfied with Jianhua’s marriage. This time, I must have a say in Xiangdong’s marriage, or I won’t agree.”

“Okay, okay, you’ll have a say.”

Widow Xia glared at Old Man Tang. “You say it nicely. Jianhua is my own son, but I had no say in his marriage. I liked Hongmei from the next village, but Jianhua ended up marrying Li Cuilan.”  She was still angry about it.

Old Man Tang sighed. “Alright, that was years ago. Anyway, you’ll have a say in Xiangdong’s marriage.”

The two inside continued their conversation, but Tang Xiaorou outside felt a bolt of lightning. Tang Jianhua, the eldest son, wasn’t Grandma Tang’s son but Widow Xia’s! What was going on? Had Grandma Tang’s child been switched with Widow Xia’s by Old Man Tang?

Thinking of this, Tang Xiaorou clenched her fists and quietly left.