Resplendent – Chapter 425

Chapter 425 — Leaving the Village

Widow Li was widely recognized in the village as timid, but for her daughter, she was willing to risk her own life. This is the greatness of a mother’s love.

Tears streamed down Li Xiuniang’s face. She crawled to Widow Li’s side and clung to her, crying uncontrollably. She regretted it deeply. Why had she been so fixated on competing with Gu Ye, even coveting Young Master Ling for herself?

After being sent back to the mountain village, all she had were the basic skills in cleaning and preparing herbs that she had learned from the Gu family; she had nothing else to show for herself. Even her younger brother was better at identifying and cultivating herbs than she was. 

Gu Ye, on the other hand, mastered all sorts of herbal preparations, knew how to make medicine, and had a formidable teacher. Now that Gu Ye had been recognized by her family and became a young lady of the Duke’s Manor, what right did Li Xiuniang have to compete with her?

For months, she had been trapped in deep self-reproach and regret. After only a few days of good fortune, she had been blinded, not realizing how vast the sky was or how deep the earth ran. How could she ever hope to reach such a level as someone like Young Master Ling?

Gu Ye, on the other hand, knew medicine and had saved Young Master Ling’s life. What could she possibly compete with? 

At that time, she had truly been clouded in her mind. At the root of it all was her jealousy of Gu Ye. It was this terrible jealousy that drove her to make the wrong move and personally ruin her own future.

If she had been able to recognize her own limits back then, she would still be, like Gu Lier and Li Xiu’er, working as a manager at the pharmacy—wandering the streets with her sisters in her free time, buying snacks, clothes, and little trinkets, saving dozens of taels of silver every year… instead of now, with her family drowning in debt because of her, and her reputation in the village ruined so she could hardly hold her head high!

Now she regretted it, but it was far too late!

“No! It’s all my fault! It has nothing to do with my family. My Lord, my sins are unforgivable. I do not even dare to hope for your or Miss Ye’s forgiveness. Please show mercy and spare my mother and my younger brother. They know nothing of this!” Li Xiuniang prostrated herself repeatedly, her tears of remorse streaming endlessly.

Chu Muhua frowned, thought for a moment, and said, “Since my sister didn’t report you to the authorities back then, it must have been because she remembered past ties. I am not a man who seeks total extermination either… Here’s what will happen: you leave Qingshan Village and never return. You are also forbidden from appearing in Yan City. I do not want my sister’s painstakingly built fields and pharmacy to be destroyed by your hands again!”

“Thank you, Young Lord! Thank you, Young Lord!” As long as her daughter was not turned over to the authorities, Widow Li was willing to accept any condition. 

In her view, stepping into a government prison meant certain peeling of the skin—especially if one had offended the high and mighty; no one would survive such a fate. 

The Young Lord showed mercy and only drove them out of Qingshan Village. As long as their lives were spared, there was no hurdle they couldn’t overcome. At worst, they would live as before, a family enduring the hardships of poverty together.

The old village chief let out a slow breath and praised, “My Lord is truly compassionate. He spared your life. Shouldn’t you be kowtowing to thank him for not killing you?”

After all, Li Xiuniang still had a familial connection to his household. He couldn’t bear to see his grandniece suffer in prison. Fortunately, the Young Lord did not pursue the matter seriously. The Young Lord and Ye’er were truly siblings—both kind-hearted.

Li Xiuniang earnestly kowtowed several times to Chu Muhua, then, at his wave, rose and retreated.

After leaving Qingshan Village, where could a young girl like her go? 

Li Xiuniang felt completely lost. Suddenly, she saw her mother and younger brother packing up the family’s valuables, their clothes, and she widened her eyes in shock, shouting, “Mother, Xiaohai, what are you doing? The Young Lord didn’t say you had to leave the village…”

Widow Li looked at the courtyard they had just finished building, and with reluctance wiped away her tears. Hearing her words, she turned to her daughter with a loving gaze: “Foolish child, we are a family! You’re flesh from my own body. How could I bear to let you leave alone?”

“Siser! Mother is right. No matter where we go, a family must stick together!” Li Xiaohai shoved the packed clothes into his herb basket. They also had to take some tools for gathering herbs. Nothing could be left behind. From now on, he would rely on these to support his mother and sister.

“Mother! Xiaohai! You don’t need to do this… Life at home is just starting to get a little better, and the two acres of medicinal fields are about to be harvested. Our house is brand new. You don’t need to give up these good days for my sake. I made a mistake—I can’t drag you both into suffering and punishment because of it!”

Li Xiuniang’s eyes were swollen from crying. No amount of tears could make up for the mistakes she had made, nor could they bring her back to the way things were…

“Foolish girl! I know your heart isn’t bad. It was just one moment of poor judgment that caused all this. Don’t worry. As for our house and the medicinal fields, I’ll go ask your uncle if anyone in the village is willing to take over. We’ll just sell them for a few silver coins. No matter where we settle, we need to have some money in hand!” Without hesitation, Widow Li set down the household valuables and hurried to the old village chief’s house.

Meanwhile, the Young Lord of the Duke’s Manor and his entourage had already settled into the Gu family’s house halfway up the mountain. He had also been taken by the field manager to inspect the mountain’s medicinal fields, as if helping his sister oversee her property. Except for a small portion of the fields that villagers had bought, most still belonged to the Gu family and had been leased to villagers for cultivation.

Seeing the thriving herbs and hearing the overseer’s high praise of his sister, Chu Muhua felt genuine admiration for his clever, capable sister who had grown up in the mountains. 

The Gu family’s pharmaceutical enterprise, built single-handedly by his sister, was not only famous in the Northland but also well-known in the capital. And she was only thirteen years old—remarkable! 

There was no doubt the blood of the Chu family ran in her veins!

Widow Li found the village chief and explained her intentions. 

The medicinal fields were like golden-egg-laying hens—so valuable that even if someone wanted to buy them, they couldn’t. Selling at the original price would have been enough, and even ten times that amount, someone would still be willing to take them over.

The village chief paid out of his own pocket and bought the fields, along with the crops about to be harvested, giving Widow Li a total of one hundred taels of silver.

As for the newly built house, Patriarch Gu had many children and grandchildren, and their home was already crowded. They had long wanted to spend money on a new courtyard. The village chief asked the patriarch, who immediately agreed and bought it for twenty taels.

With the silver in hand, Widow Li quietly left Qingshan Village with her two children at the break of dawn the next day.

Later, people spotted them at Widow Li’s natal home, the Huang family’s village, dozens of miles from Qingshan Village. With the help of her brothers, Widow Li settled in Huangjia Village with her children. She cleared a few acres of wasteland in the mountains, planting enough grain to barely fill their stomachs. Li Xiaohai often went up the mountain to gather herbs, while Li Xiuniang prepared the few kinds she knew how to process, so they could sell a little more silver.