Chapter 005: The Boy Carrying a Bow and Arrow

"Well," Tang Shiyue said, "I just remembered. He probably thought I was dead... When I woke up, he thought I was a ghost, and he was really scared."

Tang Shirong said quietly, "I'm sorry, I had no idea."

"It's okay, I'm fine now," Tang Shiyue said. Then she remembered to ask him, "By the way, brother, why was I sold back then?"

Tang Shirong said, "Actually, I'm not really sure about that."

It was said that there was a woman named Tang Shuizhi in the village who was a concubine for a wealthy family in the town. She wanted to buy a maid from the village, so her grandmother sold her for three hundred coins. The next day, she was beaten half to death for "offending the main family" and was sent back, without even seeing a doctor, and died in this state.

But why would that family want to buy a fool as a maid? Even if it was to fill the household, a fool wouldn't be able to do that, right?

There must be something wrong with this. Unfortunately, I don't know what the problem is.

After thinking for a while, Tang Shiyue changed the subject with a smile, "Brother, don't you need to go to school? I remember you only have a rest day every ten days, right?"

"Yes," Tang Shirong said, "I rested the day before yesterday, and just happened to come back to check on you when I heard you were injured. I didn't expect to..." He paused. "I asked my classmate to help me take a day off again last night."

"You don't need to take a day off," Tang Shiyue said. "Now that I'm here, you can go to school later."

Tang Shirong hesitated for a moment, gently touched her head, and said, "Yueyue, you're doing so well now! Really well! Mother is soft-hearted and often makes mistakes. With you at home, I can feel more at ease."

"Yes," Tang Shiyue said. "You don't need to worry about the family anymore! Just take care of yourself."

Tang Shirong smiled, then carefully told her where to find wild vegetables and mountain fruits. Tang Shiyue nodded repeatedly, and then asked about the treatment at the school. She found out that the food expenses were paid in advance, so at least for the remaining half of the month, he wouldn't go hungry, and she felt relieved.

After being urged by her several times, Tang Shirong quickly finished his meal and left. Tang Shiyue saw him off to his room. Xiao Yao was eating while Wang Shi was staring at the food, looking resentful, but didn't touch her chopsticks.

Tang Shiyue didn't pay attention to her and sat down to eat.

The dish was called "broom vegetable," which was common in the mountains. When it grew old, it could be flattened and used as a large broom. When it was tender, it could be cooked directly like this. For Tang Shiyue, who used to eat boiled vegetables to maintain her figure in her previous life, it wasn't considered bad.

During the meal, four or five groups of people came, and the news spread quickly.

Tang Shiyue remained calm.

After all, in this day and age, the only entertainment in the countryside was to gather a crowd to watch even when a child was being born, let alone the news of someone no longer being a fool. It was probably the top news of the year, and everyone wanted to see something unusual.

After the fifth group left, Tang Shiyue finished the wild vegetables. Just as she was about to clear the bowls, someone rushed in and stared at her. Tang Shiyue smiled and said, "Madam Zhao."

In this place, people of different surnames and clans didn't call each other uncle or aunt. They addressed each other respectfully as madam or lady. She didn't know if it was a custom or a limitation of the dynasty, as she still didn't know which dynasty she was in.

Madam Zhao also had a foolish daughter, but the original owner of that body was a quiet and dull fool. Her daughter, however, had the intelligence of a four or five-year-old child, could call her parents, and express thirst and hunger. So, Madam Zhao always felt that her daughter was much nobler than Tang Shiyue.

Sure enough, as soon as she spoke, the corner of her daughter's mouth twitched, and her eyes were filled with envy. "You're not a fool anymore! What miracle medicine did you take? Can you tell us about it?"

Tang Shiyue smiled calmly and cleared the bowls.

Madam Zhao had obviously heard all the rumors and didn't ask further. She snorted and looked around, "Oh my, look at all of you, how did you end up like this? Look at this house, the roof must leak, right? Tsk tsk... What is this food, Madam Wang? Tell me, when Tang San was here, have you ever eaten this! This kind of vegetable is used to feed pigs, feed pigs! How can a delicate person like you eat this, oh my, if I had known that you, Yue, were fine, you wouldn't have been driven out of the house, and wouldn't have suffered like this..."

She couldn't stop talking.

Wang Shi suddenly covered her mouth and let out a mournful wail, then twisted her body and rushed out.

Madam Zhao stood by the door, almost being bumped into, and then asked, "Where is your mother rushing to?"

Tang Shiyue looked at her with a smile that wasn't a smile, "Don't you know what she's going to do? Did you say so much for nothing?"

Madam Zhao was stunned for a moment, then turned and left with a sneer.

Xiao Yao sat at the table, with only her big eyes looking at her and then at Tang Shiyue, showing some panic but not crying or making a sound. Tang Shiyue felt sorry for the child and moved Wang Shi's bowl over to her. "If you're not full, eat some more. Don't worry about anything else, I'm here!"

Xiao Yao nodded obediently and said softly, "Sister."

"Okay." Tang Shiyue patted her head and then went outside. She stood in the yard and could clearly hear Wang Shi's mournful cries. She kept saying, "Mother! Mother! Yue is not a fool anymore. Let us go back! Mother! It's all my fault, let us go back. However you want to punish me, let us go back!"

She cried non-stop for a long time. Then, the voice of Granny Sun, mixed with a sense of satisfaction and fierceness, sounded coldly, "I knew you would come back a long time ago! You shameless and spineless woman, how could you bear to let go of the ready-made meal of our Tang family!"

Wang Shi continued to cry incessantly.

Granny Sun said, "I saw through you a long time ago. You are just a shameless and shameless fox! You can't live without a man! It's only the foolish Third Brother who is blinded by you, unable to see through your tricks, and indulges you in everything, even I, as a mother, have to step aside! As a result, he has spoiled such a worthless thing like you! Even stray dogs on the roadside know how to protect their pups, but you are not even as good as a dog!"

Tang Shiyue sneered.

She had made herself clear just now, yet she still had to go looking for trouble. What kind of lunacy was this!

Suddenly, she noticed something and raised her head, only to see a young man standing quietly outside the door, carrying a bow and arrow.

The young man appeared to be sixteen or seventeen years old, tall and slender, with a pair of sharp and beautiful phoenix eyes, long black eyebrows, and well-defined features. Despite his young age, his features were masculine, yet he still looked exceptionally youthful and handsome.

He stood there, about a dozen steps away, behind the half-closed wooden door, calmly looking at her.

Strangely, he seemed not to mind being seen by her, but his gaze was calm and composed, even carrying a hint of scrutiny.

After a moment of eye contact, he took a step forward and said to her, "Are you not foolish anymore?"

Huh? It seemed like this person was also quite nosy. Tang Shiyue subconsciously responded with an "uh," and he asked, "How did you get better?"

Tang Shiyue replied, "I didn't get better, I just got better on my own."

He stared at her for a while, as if confirming that she was not lying, then said, "Sorry for the disturbance," and turned to leave.

Tang Shiyue was unusually puzzled.

Why was this person so strange? Judging by his demeanor, he didn't seem like a villager.

But after thinking carefully for a while, she couldn't find any information about this person from the original owner's memories. However, the original owner was a fool, and she didn't remember much, so she didn't bother to think about it.

After this meal, she didn't know where the next one would come from. Nothing was more important than filling her stomach!

As Tang Shiyue thought, she walked around the yard and noticed a pile of rice straw in the corner where it used to be stacked. She suddenly saw something and became excited. She found a tree branch nearby and carefully scratched the ground a few times, confirming that it was a rat hole.

Tang Shiyue half-knelt down, not caring about getting dirty, and slowly dug into the ground. After digging less than a foot deep, she uncovered a broken water jar that had been buried underground for who knows how long, used as a den by the rats. After removing the straw covering the jar, Tang Shiyue was overjoyed.