Warm medicine emits fragrance

The woman shook her head. "That was true for the first two years, but who would have thought my belly would be so uncooperative. I haven't been able to give birth to a son or daughter in the five years since I got married."

"Now, even my family can't support me anymore."

"Later, my husband had an affair with another woman, and she got pregnant. He immediately divorced me."

Siqing and Fan Liuer were indignant when they heard this, but that's how the world is. If a woman can't have children, it's as if she's committed a terrible crime and is not tolerated by the world.

Suppressing their anger, the two continued listening.

"After being divorced, I went back to my parents' home. Fortunately, my family had some wealth and no brothers, so my parents didn't plan to find me another husband and let me stay at home to take care of them in their old age."

"At that time, I also gave up the idea of ​​getting married. I thought that if I could run the family business well and take good care of my parents, I could live a comfortable life without having to depend on other people."

Fan Liuer immediately nodded, "Exactly!"

The woman said, "Unexpectedly, the son of that wealthy merchant came looking for me again. He has never been married, and he has been waiting for me until now."

He said he didn't mind that I couldn't have children; he could adopt or have one given to me.

Siqing covered her mouth, surprised, and said, "I didn't expect him to be so devoted."

The woman looked regretful. "Yes, he was indeed a devoted man. I had just been divorced and no longer trusted the marital relationship, so I still rejected him."

"He approached me several times, but I didn't agree. Later, he became disheartened and married someone else."

Siqing sighed, "Fate is cruel."

The woman sighed, "Yes, fate is cruel. Back then, I didn't trust anyone except myself. But I later discovered that I was actually the most unreliable person."

"Why would you say that?" Fan Liuer asked, puzzled.

The woman looked at her; her face, weathered by time, no longer had the luster of her youth, only a dull, gray trace of life's hardships.

She said, "Life is very long. You can't see the end of life at a glance, and it's not something you can just add fuel to make a fire burn brightly. There will always be many unexpected things that happen."

"When I was in my thirties, my parents passed away one after the other, leaving me all alone at home."

"In the first few years, my two older sisters would occasionally come to visit me. Later, my eldest sister also passed away due to illness. My second sister's children were growing up, and she had to worry about their marriages and also guard against her illegitimate son taking away her family property. She was too busy to take care of me at all."

"At this point, seeing that I was all alone and had no one to rely on, those people started to target me. At first, people would often knock on my door in the middle of the night, but later they became so bold that they climbed over the wall in the middle of the night."

"Rumors started spreading about me, saying that after my parents passed away, I couldn't stand being alone and started hooking up with men, with different men staying overnight every night."

"As these rumors spread, those with ill intentions became bolder and bolder."

"Later, I got really scared, so I hired two people to watch the house."

"But outsiders can't be trusted as much as family. Those two coveted my property and actually colluded with thieves. They broke into my storeroom in the middle of the night and stole all the stock and all my savings."

"Those goods were all for which I had already paid a deposit for. If I couldn't deliver them, I would have to lose money, so I had to sell my house to pay off the debt."

In the end, I couldn't save anything.

"The place I'm living in now is still the property of my eldest sister's daughter's husband's family. They're just lending it to me temporarily. Whenever they take it back, I'll be homeless again."

At this point, tears started streaming down her face again. "Do you know who I met when I left home?"

"That rich young master?" Fan Liuer guessed.

The woman nodded, covering her face with her hands, regret overflowing from her fingertips. "He accompanied his wife to the cosmetics shop to choose rouge."

"I watched from the side for a long time."

His wife is a year older than me, but she looks ten years younger.

"And his wife had no children, and the two of them had not adopted or had children. He did not treat her poorly because of this, and treated her well for decades."

"I've never regretted anything in my life, but at that moment, I was filled with regret."

"Only then did I realize that other people's suffering is theirs. If I sever my own destiny because of other people's suffering, then what awaits me is a path of regret."

Fan Liuer had mixed feelings after hearing the woman's story.

Siqing glanced at her, then looked at the woman and comforted her, "There's still a long way to go, maybe something good will happen in a while."

The woman wiped away her tears, her face showing embarrassment. "I'm sorry you two young girls had to see this. I just couldn't help myself when I saw how young you were, it reminded me of the past."

She stood up. "It's getting late, I have to go back. How much is this hoe blade?"

After seeing the woman off, Siqing noticed that Fan Liuer was sitting on a stool, lost in thought, so she didn't disturb her.

She knew that the woman's words must have had some impact on Fan Liuer.

Previously, Siqing firmly supported Fan Liuer leaving Li Chenbi, feeling that Li Chenbi was violent and unsuitable as a husband.

Furthermore, given the unstable political situation at the time, Li Chenbi might not have been able to protect Fan Liuer during the chaos.

But now she has changed her mind a bit.

That woman was right about something.

Sometimes, even you can't always rely on yourself.

In any case, if it weren't for Feng Ji and his uncle's family being here, she would never have dared to settle down here with Fan Liuer.

Fan Liuer stayed until dark before returning home that day.

Pushing open the courtyard gate, one can immediately see Li Chenbi reclining on a chair in the courtyard.

He was rocking back and forth in the recliner, with two servants fanning him from behind, and he was pretending to be asleep with his eyes closed.

He opened his eyes when he heard the door open and met Fan Liuer's gaze.

If it were a few days ago, Fan Liuer would have rolled her eyes at him if she had seen his arrogant demeanor.

She's the head of the family, yet she has to hide away every day; it's simply outrageous.

But today, the moment she saw Li Chenbi, the woman's words came to mind.

Don't sever your own connections because of other people's suffering.

Will Li Chenbi be her destiny?

Is her current decision truly the right one?

My resolute heart wavered slightly.

"You're back?" Li Chenbi sat up and greeted her.

Fan Liuer nodded, absentmindedly replying, "Mm."

She paused for a moment, then said, "I'm going inside." After saying that, she hurriedly walked into the house.

Li Chenbi turned his head back and looked at Fan Liuer's back, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Just then, Li Qiuping came out of the outhouse and saw this scene. He excitedly ran to Li Chenbi's side and whispered.

"Sir, your method worked!"