Old Madam Chen, upon hearing this, sat quietly on the small stool by the wall and didn’t say another word.
“Go take a bath quickly; I’ll wait for you,” Shen Shujiao said to Qin Qingtang.
Qin Qingtang gave Shen Shujiao a grateful look and walked over to the water well.
It was already June, and the weather was quite hot. In rural areas, to save firewood, people washed their hair with cold water.
Shen Shujiao helped pump the water, and soon Qin Qingtang washed her hair clean with soap, splashed several buckets of water over herself, and then, wearing wet clothes, went back into the house.
While Qin Qingtang went to change, Shen Shujiao looked around the small courtyard in front of her.
The courtyard was planted with seasonal vegetables: cucumbers, loofah, string beans, winter melon, scallions, eggplants, and tomatoes—all neatly arranged, each growing beautifully.
The tomatoes, in particular, were red with hints of yellow, making Shen Shujiao’s mouth water. She couldn’t resist reaching out to pick one.
As Shen Shujiao bent down to pick a tomato, a plan formed in her mind.
The old lady’s strikes were so precise that Shen Shujiao suspected she was faking blindness.
Yet Qin Qingtang obviously treated her grandmother as blind—she waited for her to return from selling goods on the black market to cook for her, even though she was only in her early fifties.
Shen Shujiao decided to test whether the old lady was really blind. She shook her sack, glanced around, then quickly stuffed tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants from the courtyard into it, and ran out of the yard.
“You little thief! Stealing from my garden—let me teach you a lesson!”
Old Madam Chen raised her cane and, with lightning speed, chased after Shen Shujiao.
Just as she was about to catch up, Shen Shujiao spun around and intercepted the cane with her hands.
“You old hag! Weren’t you blind? How could you see me stealing your vegetables? And run so fast to catch me?”
Hearing her grandmother’s voice, Qin Qingtang hurried out and saw her grandmother moving like the wind, aiming blows at Shen Shujiao.
Only then did Old Madam Chen realize that in her momentary rush, she hadn’t been faking blindness. She quickly explained, without blushing or catching her breath:
“This is my home. Even before I became completely blind, I knew it inside out. Though my eyes are gone, I can hear clearly when you pick cucumbers, eggplants, and tomatoes. And when I heard your footsteps moving so fast, I immediately knew you were a vegetable thief.”
“Auntie, though my grandmother hasn’t been able to see for years, it hasn’t affected her daily life much,” Qin Qingtang said, glancing at Shen Shujiao’s somewhat bulging sack. “Actually, if you wanted vegetables, you could have just asked me. No need to secretly pick them.”
Seeing Qin Qingtang defend her grandmother, Shen Shujiao realized that Qin Qingtang was a woman who strictly adhered to traditional customs.
She believed that since her husband was “dead,” she had to stay in her in-laws’ house for life—even if it meant being tormented to death—she wouldn’t leave.
Shen Shujiao felt she had done everything she could. If Qin Qingtang insisted on pretending her grandmother was blind and enduring torment, there was nothing she could do.
Shen Shujiao emptied the vegetables from the sack onto the ground and said calmly, “I didn’t mean to steal your vegetables. I just saw her hitting you so deftly and wanted to test if your grandmother was really blind. She has a clear mind. You’re smart too, you should understand—it was none of my business. Now, take me to catch the chicks!”
Qin Qingtang’s gaze faltered slightly, unwilling to meet Shen Shujiao’s piercing eyes.
“Auntie, follow me to the backyard.”
They walked one after the other to the backyard. Qin Nian saw dozens of yellow, fluffy chicks in a small wooden coop.
“How many are there in total?”
“Forty-eight!”
“Hmm, I’ll take them all.”
Shen Shujiao took a basket from the sack and handed it to Qin Qingtang.
Qin Qingtang carefully put all the chicks into the basket and then placed the basket in Shen Shujiao’s sack.
Shen Shujiao handed Qin Qingtang the money at a price of one yuan per chick, insisting firmly.
Qin Qingtang tried to refuse, but Shen Shujiao’s determination left no room for protest.
“Auntie, thank you for your kindness. I’ve always known she’s just ill in her eyes, not completely blind.”
Seeing Qin Qingtang speak like this, Shen Shujiao sighed and, unable to resist, offered her some advice:
“Now is a new society. We don’t cling to the old-fashioned virtue of chastity anymore. Since your husband is gone and you have such a cruel mother-in-law, you should remarry while you’re still young.”
Qin Qingtang’s nose twitched at Shen Shujiao’s caring gaze. Since her parents and family passed away, she hadn’t felt cared for in over a decade.
“My husband isn’t dead. He just forgot the way home,” Qin Qingtang said firmly.
Hearing this, Shen Shujiao’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“What do you mean by your husband ‘forgot the way home’?”
“My husband is Chen Zhihong. He joined the army. Three years ago, he still wrote me letters regularly, then he stopped. He’s very capable. He promised he would achieve merits and come back to take me with him to the army. I believe he will come for me.”
“Chen Zhihong?”
Shen Shujiao felt the name was familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before.
Just as she tried to recall her memories of Chen Zhihong, a clear memory suddenly flooded her mind.
She remembered that in her previous life, a year after her soul followed Huo Zhoubai to the island military camp, a skinny, emaciated woman came looking for her husband, Chen Zhihong. That woman was Qin Qingtang.
At that time, Chen Zhihong had become a regiment commander, married the division commander’s daughter, and had a cute son.
When confronted by Qin Qingtang, Chen Zhihong said his parents had died, he had never married, and that his only wife was the one he currently had.
Chen Zhihong and Huo Zhoubai competed for the brigade commander post. Knowing the plot well, Shen Xueman supported Qin Qingtang and helped her appeal to the superior.
The superior’s team searched Chen Zhihong’s house and found letters exchanged between him and his mother.
In the letters, Chen Zhihong admitted he liked a division commander’s daughter who could help him advance, but he didn’t know how to deal with Qin Qingtang.
Old Madam Chen advised him to write to Qin Qingtang under the pretense of a comrade, telling her he had died in battle.
Chen Zhihong sent the letters as his mother instructed. His mother replied, assuring him Qin Qingtang would take care of herself, so he could focus on his career.
Qin Qingtang, a daughter of a landlord family, lost her parents to public struggle and execution at age ten.
At the time, Old Madam Chen’s family was too poor, but seeing Qin Qingtang’s beauty, she took the orphan in, hoping Qin Qingtang would one day marry her son, Chen Zhihong.
Chen Zhihong liked Qin Qingtang, and after marriage, they lived happily for a time.
Due to poverty, Chen Zhihong joined the army to provide her with a better life, sending allowances and letters professing his love for the first two years.
Later, after meeting the division commander’s daughter, he stopped writing.
When the Cultural Revolution began, Chen Zhihong worried Qin Qingtang would become an obstacle in his career and told Old Madam Chen his concerns.
Old Madam Chen reassured him that Qin Qingtang would die without realizing it.
Perhaps Qin Qingtang was destined to be a supporting character, highlighting the transmigrated female protagonist, serving the plot.
She wasn’t killed by Old Madam Chen but became emaciated and frail, collapsing even in the wind.
Because Shen Xueman helped expose Chen Zhijun’s wickedness, Chen Zhihong was eventually expelled from the army for bigamy and sentenced to five years in prison.
Heartbroken and deceived by the man she loved, Qin Qingtang jumped into the sea, ending her young life at just twenty-eight.
By the time she was found by the training soldiers at sea, her body was bloated and unrecognizable, identifiable only by her clothing as the woman betrayed by Chen Zhihong.
“Auntie, do you recognize this name?” Qin Qingtang asked excitedly when she saw Shen Shujiao lost in thought.
The chapter ends here.