Chapter 45: Villagers Gossip About the Wu Family’s Split

Ever since He Chengze listened to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, he had taken a keen interest in picnics.

From time to time, he would say, “Can we go on a picnic? Can we go? Wouldn’t it be fun?”

From these repeated questions, it was clear that He Chengze was becoming increasingly comfortable expressing himself around them.

The two brothers not only gained some weight but also became much livelier. It wasn’t just due to their improved home conditions; He Yanxin, who played with them every day, also deserved a lot of credit.

So this time, Song Yeqing brought along some small cakes, snacks, fruits, and a piece of gray cloth, all packed in a basket.

They laid it out by the small river. Though the scenery wasn’t particularly stunning, it still made for a refreshing outing.

Regardless of what the adults felt, the two kids were clearly delighted.

In the end, He Yanxin carried the water; the older child followed behind playing with a stick; and the younger one would walk a bit, then pout and ask Song Yeqing to carry him for a while.

The four of them leisurely walked through the fields, passing by the village.

At that hour, quite a few people were out and about.

“Yanxin, out fetching water?”

“Your wife’s feeling better now?”

“Oh, what well-behaved kids! Come here, let Uncle hold you.”

…

No matter who greeted them, He Yanxin responded with a smile. Song Yeqing, meanwhile, held the child quietly, head lowered, pretending to be a shy wife walking outside with her husband.

After several days of interaction and coordination, the two of them had come to understand each other much better and were now quite good at handling encounters with outsiders.

In fact, during the early days, they had deliberately acted out quarrels in front of others to keep up appearances—one of which supposedly even made her ill.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the whole village was now full of gossip about the He couple.

And sure enough, as they walked away, the chatter started.

“Looks like they made up.”

“No more fighting? Tsk, I thought the He boy would divorce her.”

“Didn’t they say she was so sick she couldn’t even get out of bed? Her complexion really looked awful.”

“Didn’t you see how busy he’s been these days? Running to town for medicine and supplies. Divorce? He couldn’t bear to.”

“I think their whole family has that sickly look. Could it be contagious?”

One woman’s expression changed drastically. She immediately lost interest in gossip and turned to leave.

The others exchanged glances, muttering things like “It couldn’t be, right?” and “No way,” but still dispersed quickly.

…

Back at home, Song Yeqing opened the door, and the group went inside.

But before they could even sit down to catch their breath, they heard loud banging and shouting from the neighboring Wu family. No one knew what was going on.

“What’s happening now?” Song Yeqing and He Yanxin exchanged looks.

“Should we go check it out?” Song Yeqing asked hesitantly.

“Let’s listen first.” If it was something they weren’t supposed to hear about, it wouldn’t be good to show up uninvited—it’d just be awkward.

He Yanxin took the children to the room to play with their newly bought toys, then came out to listen carefully with Song Yeqing.

It wasn’t that they were gossiping—they just needed to understand what was happening to decide if they should step in and help.

“Split… right away…” It seemed to be Old Wu speaking, but it was hard to catch the full conversation.

“Eight mu and six fen… half… money…”

At first, the conversation came through as fragmented and confusing.

“Fine, we can split the household, but we don’t want the house. What about the grain? What about the money?” This sharp voice belonged to Madam Li.

Finally, with her raised voice, the situation became clear to them.

“So the Wu family is dividing up their property?” Song Yeqing asked.

“Did this happen in our past life?” she added.

He Yanxin looked equally puzzled and shook his head.

But now that they understood the situation, they could rest easy—no need to intervene.

They were just dividing the household, which had nothing to do with them. It would be best not to meddle.

If they went over, things would only get messier.

Not to mention, Wu Erlang and his wife would definitely explode—those two had such unpredictable minds, they might even think the He couple came to claim a share.

Even though the arguing next door didn’t stop, they had to pretend not to hear it and go about their business.

It was mid-afternoon and not much was going on. By now, it was nearly November, and the weather had become increasingly cold and dry.

He Yanxin said it would snow late this year—sometime in December.

Song Yeqing wore thermal underwear beneath her clothes, and He Yanxin and the two children were also bundled up warmly.

She had torn apart a cotton quilt from her storage space and, together with He Yanxin, made four simple padded jackets. It had taken a lot of time and effort.

The original owner of her body had matured early and knew basic sewing. When He Yanxin saw how much trouble Song Yeqing was having, he picked up a needle himself and stitched based on his memories.

He had even bought the fabric during his last trip to the county town.

He had considered smearing soot on his face to disguise himself, saying his complexion had gotten too fair and he didn’t want the county magistrate’s people to recognize him.

But it was easy to make skin lighter—harder to make it convincingly dark. The soot made him look weird, too black and dirty, and it was inconvenient for doing errands.

In the end, Song Yeqing came up with a solution. She selected ingredients from her storage and made a facial cream.

She ground gardenia and rehmannia root, boiled and filtered them into a paste.

Once applied to the face, it couldn’t be washed off easily with water. One application lasted several days. But gloves had to be worn during application, or hands would be stained yellow.

Thankfully, it worked well. To avoid looking too different from the rest of the villagers, Song Yeqing and the two kids also applied it to their faces.

After all, in these hard times, everyone was tightening their belts. If your whole family looked rosy and radiant, it would raise suspicion.

The kids didn’t apply as much as she did, so now she genuinely looked pale and a bit sickly.

Next door, the arguing continued—it didn’t seem like it would stop anytime soon.

The two children had already fallen asleep playing with their toys in the west wing.

By the way, the older child had recently been sleeping in the west wing with He Yanxin.

At first, he just wanted to hear stories before bed and would go over for a bit. But eventually, he just started sleeping there.

The younger one was still small and very dependent on his mother, so he continued sleeping with Song Yeqing.

Since that worked, they each took care of one child.

These days, they weren’t just idling at home, eating and drinking away the time.

There were only about three months left before Qizhou would be completely locked down. The urgency was real. But could they just pack their bags and leave? Not that simple.

They still didn’t know if anyone else would be traveling with them, but just bringing two children along would already be a challenge.

Clothing, food, shelter, and transportation—all were essential.

Clothing and food weren’t a problem thanks to Song Yeqing’s storage space. As for shelter—this was a matter of survival, not a vacation—so they’d have to rough it on the road.

But transportation? They couldn’t walk the entire way. Adults might manage, but the kids couldn’t.

They’d at least need a vehicle. It would also help conceal their supplies and save energy during the journey.

They’d calculated the route: from Anshan Village heading south out of Qizhou would take at least a month and a half. Heading north would take only ten days.

(End of Chapter)