Chapter 41: Good heavens! I'm an honest woman!

That graceful figure had already left.

Separated by a window, the lingering light pierced the broken shutter, swirling up dust throughout the room.

After a long while, after a long while, that elderly strategist whose brows and eyes resembled the ancient moon finally reached out, intending to touch the oil-paper bundle on the windowsill.

However, in the next instant, another slender hand intercepted his fingertip's path, first picking up that bundle, undoing the grass rope, and relying on the 'operating procedure' written inside the oil paper to begin assembling the bowstring.

Chen Weifang's fingertip paused slightly, he turned away, and sighed:

"Saner, you've really done me in this time."

The direction he was looking at, the person he called 'Saner', turned out to be none other than...... Chinu, who shouldn't have been here at all!

Chinu has arrived.

Chinu really has come.

But he didn't come together with that rather dignified young lady.

So, it gave him a mistaken judgment...

Mistake.

Realizing the term in his heart, Chen Weifang's tongue paused, and he ended up saying nothing at all.

Chinu's hands never stopped; he kept studying that crossbow of wood and iron fused as one, and upon hearing the words, he didn't even turn his head:

"I already said before, don't call me that."

"Although I rank third among the Five Ministers..."

Chinu finally followed the steps drawn on the oil-paper bundle, assembling the bow arm, arrow groove, and trigger mechanism—

Immediately, he triggered the suspended blade!

The tip's cold iron gleam shot out, instantly embedding itself seven inches into the wooden house's wall pillar!

Feeling the recoil transmitted to his arm, Chinu sneered:

"But I am the foremost of the present age!"

This temperament is exactly the same as the arrogant Chinu of the era when the emperor held court.

In the past, Chen Weifang would surely have sighed.

But today, he did not.

Because he saw the arrowhead firmly 'chiselled' into the wooden pillar!

Its power was enough to leave one stunned for a long time!

Chinu narrowed his eyes slightly, as if praising the power, but only for a moment before he resumed his arrogant demeanor and said:

"Since you don't wish to put it on the table and wager, then let me keep this...... I'll have a marvelous use for it later."

If he had possessed this Primordial War Crossbow earlier, why would he need to storm the county office alone?

From a hundred paces away, he could take an enemy's head!

How could he let such a thing slip by!

Fortunately, he had seen Du Shanü hurriedly forging a new crossbow that used a lot of iron a few days prior, and had thought it was being prepared for him.

He waited and waited, only to find that the other party had eagerly sent it over to Afang!

But Afang didn't come up with any good ideas either!

He was originally going to fly into a rage, but...

Humph.

Recalling the scene of Du Shanü outside the window, pausing word by word to defend him, the gaunt youth ended up swallowing his anger back into his heart.

He disassembled the cumbersome Primordial War Crossbow in his hands, recombining it into numerous wooden and iron strips about the size of an arm, then bundled them in the oil paper, preparing to climb over the wall from the rear courtyard.

Chen Weifang and Chinu had been friends for many years, so he naturally understood his temperament a bit; seeing that he couldn't be stopped, he only spoke softly:

"Saner, tell me the truth......"

"Have you truly decided to assist that young lady today?"

"Is your final choice a female lead?"

Du Shanü actually, when she left the Chen family, that little bit of unhappiness had already disappeared long ago.

She is not the type to dwell on past events.

Actually, today's matter is simply——

Chen Weifang didn't choose her, and she didn't choose Chen Weifang; that's all there is to it.

But following the principle of "a thief doesn't return empty-handed"...

Ah, wrong.

What "a thief doesn't return empty-handed" is the honest woman's nature telling her she cannot come home empty-handed to face her hungry offspring!

Therefore, Du Shanü still purchased a good amount of things to bring home.

Besides the daily necessities of salt, sugar cubes, cloth headscarves, socks, bowls, chopsticks, pottery, farming tools like rakes and hoes—ironware is also indispensable.

She bought a bunch of odds and ends, and only when the sun slanted westward did she find a donkey cart heading to the neighboring village, haggling the price down to thirty wen so the cart would take her home along the way.

The donkey cart trudged slowly along the official road, its wheels pressing over the loess, leaving two shallow ruts.

The setting sun slanted hung on the western hilltop, and the sky's rosy light splashed across the fields beside the road.

When the wind passed, the already yellowed grain stalks rubbed against each other, producing a rustling sound, dry yet full.

Some farmers were still bent over the field ridges, swinging sickles, cutting down bundles of crops.

He straightened up, hand on his forehead gazing at the road for a moment, then bent down again; behind him, the fallen grain lay spread out neatly across the ground.

The donkey let out a loud snort, its steps still unhurried.

Du Shanü leaned against the things she had bought, swaying gently with the cart, her eyebrows and eyes curved.

She could see the outlines of the distant village gradually becoming clear, with cooking smoke rising from the rooftops of several households.

She could smell that the smoke carried the scent of firewood, and faintly also the aroma of food, drifting on the wind.

She could hear that occasionally a few women passing by the roadside were chatting, saying they had gone to Zhangpu Village today to purchase supplies, and had also bought several sacks of ingredients for making hot and sour noodles, hoping the weather would be colder tomorrow......

The women certainly weren't fond of the cold.

But if it were cold, more people would buy the noodles, and they could earn a few extra coins.

The donkey cart turned a bend on the official road and drew near the riverbank.

On the opposite riverbank, at some point a new mill had appeared; beside the water side of the mill stood a strange large wheel submerged in the water, its paddles turned slowly by the current, producing a creaking sound that could be heard across the river.

From time to time someone would carry a cloth sack and wooden bucket into the mill, then come out smiling, returning with a full load.

As the sun set westward, it dyed the straw thatched on the mill's roof a warm yellow, and also tinged those smiles with warmth.

Du Shanü tilted her ear to listen carefully to the tireless turning of the wooden wheel and the sound of water, and inexplicably felt a bit more relaxed.

Life, you know......

That's how it ought to be.

Her reason for today choosing to simply give up on Chen Weifang was also because, although she wasn't as honest as she claimed, deep down she always wanted to walk the righteous path.

This is the nature in her blood.

She liked to lay her cards on the table—what you see is what you get; if she wins, she wins, and if she loses, it's only because she lacks ability.

Scheming and strife might bring short-term gain, but they cannot bring lasting victory.

Just as, after rice has ripened thousands of times, to reap a bounty one must sow in spring to harvest in autumn—there are no shortcuts.

The donkey cart swayed over the stone bridge and entered the village.

Along the village lane, some people sat on the doorstep holding bowls and eating rice, while children chased after a dog, startling chickens that flapped their wings and jumped onto the wall.

Du Shanü didn't look at any of it, merely gazing straight ahead.

In the distance ahead on the village lane, she could faintly see her family's earthen wall, already quite imposing.

Indeed, an earthen wall.

Not that old, blackened earthen wall, but one made by placing mud bricks one by one into wooden molds, tamping and drying them, then stacking them into a sturdy earthen wall.

In just a few days, the two thatched huts of Du Shanü's home that leaked when it rained and blew through when it was windy had disappeared.

In their place stood a new home still being perfected......

Or rather, a fortress.

The donkey cart stopped before the earthen wall at the end of the country road; the driver, an old man, reined in the reins and looked left and right curiously——

The wall built of earth clumps was very neat; piles of newly made mud bricks were stacked at the corners, beside which a pit had been dug for mixing mud, the earth at the pit's edge still damp.

Looking further inside, where the main hall once stood, a frame had been erected, with thick beams laid across it, exuding the scent of wood.

This, this is meant to be a house?

But why is this house so strange?

When in the south would they build a house out of earth? Aren't they supposed to use thatch and wood?

Du Shanü certainly noticed the driver's gaze, but she didn't bother to explain further, nimbly jumping down from the cart and beginning to move things.

The stubborn donkey in front of the cart was startled by her movement, shook its head, and the bell on its neck rang twice.

By the wall, someone heard the commotion, turned around, and squinted to look.

"Welcome back?"

Du Shanü didn't even turn her head:

"That's right!"

"Good Chinu, guess what I brought you? I had custom-made new underpants for you—ouch! (? ｀? Д? ′)!! Why are you throwing little stones at me again?!"

This life is simply unbearable!

And yet she had just been defending Chinu in front of outsiders!

She has laboured tirelessly for this family, yet coming home she still gets beaten!!!!

?? Shasha: underpants underpants underpants (demonic whisper)

? Chinu:...... (couldn't hold back any longer—threw stones!)

? (Dear readers, let me add a word...... the figures aren't good, after all I still couldn't keep the title I liked...... I beg you dear ones to keep following and vote, please QAQ if it still doesn't work, the author will have to run away.....)