The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

"This stuff is really no good. You should take it back with you. Our inn really won't accept it."

The woman smiled obsequiously, "Brother Er, please take them. Our village is far away, and it wasn't easy for us to come all this way. We set out before dawn and just arrived. We were thinking of selling these things to get some things to take back with us."

“Sister-in-law, you can’t just take these things away like that. Look at your vegetables, they’re all wilted. And those eggs, I don’t even know when they were made. You can hear the water when you shake them. They’re obviously very old. We don’t accept such stale stuff.”

The waiter kept pushing the woman away, but she kept trying to persuade him to accept the money. Finally, the waiter got annoyed and said, "Try going to another shop. We really don't want it here. If you keep bothering me, I'll call for help."

The woman probably knew she was in the wrong, and when she heard the waiter's words, she immediately turned hostile. "Don't you have any compassion? We are a widow and her child, and it's not easy for us to bring a few things to town. If you don't like it, just give us a little money and accept it. Why do you have to leave us no way to make a living like this?"

“Sister-in-law, if I leave you a way out, I won’t. If the shopkeeper finds out I’m buying vegetables like this, he’ll probably fire me right now, and I’ll be starving when I get home.”

"It's not up to you to decide. We've sold things to your store before, it's not like we haven't sold to you before, you're really stingy."

The waiter waved his hand dismissively, and the woman muttered that the waiter was no good, before pulling her son away.

Du Mingxian treated it as just watching a commotion early in the morning, and went back to wash up afterward.

After eating, the group continued their journey, and just as they left the town, they encountered the woman that Du Mingxian had met that morning.

"Brother, could you give my mother and me a ride?"

The woman was bold; she reached out and stopped the carriage. If the driver hadn't been so skilled, the horse would have trampled over it.

"Why are you blocking my way like that? It's dangerous, you know? If I hadn't stopped you, you would all be injured."

The woman pursed her lips, thinking to herself, "So what if I'm injured? You'll have to pay for it. Anyway, this carriage looks quite wealthy."

A hint of bitterness crossed his face. "People from the countryside don't understand these things. The children couldn't walk anymore, so we thought we'd try our luck and flag down a car to see if they could give us a ride."

The coachman didn't speak. Du Mingxian and Ling Silang had already heard the commotion outside. Du Mingxian lifted the curtain to look at the woman's face and was very surprised. This was the second time they had met today. Was this fate?

"We're going to Daliu Village, is your house on the way?"

"Sure, sure, you're really going to a lot of trouble. The child really can't walk anymore." After saying that, the woman picked up the child and tried to stuff him into the carriage. It was unclear whether she was genuinely going the same way or just pretending.

Du Mingxian was speechless when she saw the woman's behavior. Fortunately, she was observing the lives of ordinary people, and it was fate that she met her.

The driver quickly stopped them, saying, "If you want to take a ride, you and the child can sit outside. It's inconvenient for my husband and wife to sit inside."

The woman pouted, somewhat dissatisfied, but considering it was a free ride, she still smiled slightly, "Alright, alright, we'll listen to you. You're all so kind, actually giving us a ride."

The woman and child sat in front; the child didn't say a word the whole way, it was the woman who did all the talking.

As they walked, they came to a fork in the road. Turning left would lead to Da Liu Village, where Du Mingxian and her family were going that day. However, the woman insisted that the driver turn right. "You must turn right. Our family has to turn right. You go right first, take me home, and then you can continue."

That was rather impolite, even commanding.

The driver's face immediately darkened. He had never seen anyone so shameless. Not only did the driver hitch a ride with someone else, but he was also so self-righteous and even wanted to decide the direction the other driver was going.

Du Mingxian and Ling Silang hadn't spoken since the carriage had taken in other strangers. Now, hearing that they had reached a fork in the road, the woman, dissatisfied, lifted the curtain again.

Is your village far away?

The woman waved her hand, "It's not far, it's very close. Just walk a little further and we'll be there. But my child really can't walk anymore, so please take us with you, madam."

Du Mingxian turned around and exchanged a glance with Ling Silang inside the carriage. Ling Silang nodded slightly, and Du Mingxian agreed.

Anyway, they can go wherever they want. This woman looks like a difficult person to deal with. She is, after all, a citizen of Ping County. Since she has met Ling Silang, the local official, it's no big deal to send her off.

"Let's go, I'll see him off," she said to the driver.

The driver immediately hurried in the direction the woman pointed.

The woman's face crinkled with laughter, and she even reached out to rub the little boy sitting next to her. "Dog Egg, we've met a benefactor today! Your foot won't suffer anymore; it'll feel much better when we get home."

Dog Egg didn't say a word, but he silently reached out and tightened his grip on the woman's hand.

After Du Mingxian finished speaking, she didn't lower the curtain she had lifted. Having walked along the road, she noticed something was wrong and simply asked, "Sister, why isn't your child saying anything?"

“He can’t speak, he’s mute, but he can hear,” the woman said frankly.

Perhaps because Du Mingxian agreed to give her a ride, she talked a bit more. “This child has a hard life. His father died when he was young, and his mother abandoned him and ran away. If it weren’t for me, his mother, his grave would probably be overgrown with weeds by now.”

Du Mingxian was shocked, "You...you're Grandma?"

"Yes, you can't tell, can you?" The woman turned back and smiled at Du Mingxian. When she smiled, her eyes curved and she looked quite pretty.

Du Mingxian also noticed that the woman at this moment seemed to be a completely different person from the woman in the morning. Her voice had become gentle, and she was completely different from the image she had seen in the store.

“I got married early, and I had Gou Dan’s father when I was fourteen. After that, I only had daughters. Now that the children have grown up, gotten married, and started their own families, they haven’t even gotten along well yet. But then, my luck ran out, and they never came back. Gou Dan’s mother also ran away. Now it’s just the two of us, my grandson and me, who depend on each other for survival.”

Du Mingxian still couldn't believe it, and even felt that what the woman said was somewhat unreliable.

"Won't your village lend you a hand?"

“What help? Our village is a mixed village with different surnames. Everyone is doing well enough to take care of themselves. Who would care about us? Besides, they are not doing well themselves. How can they have the ability to take care of others?”

The woman sighed, "It's all thanks to my youth and ability to work. Life isn't particularly comfortable, but we can manage. It's much better than other families in our village."

"Well, you're quite capable," Du Mingxian replied casually.

The woman smiled and replied, "Of course, I'm known as the shrew of our village."