Re-embroidering life

Chapter 146 Bad News

This is a sad story.

Mr. Hai once had a wife. They were childhood sweethearts and grew up together. Their families were old friends, so it was natural for them to be engaged. He looked forward to marrying her, and when he grew up, he finally got his wish. That was the happiest moment of his life.

He never expected that after marriage, his wife would be very cold to him, as if they were strangers, and they were completely different from the close and lively woman they were when they were children. He didn't know what he had done wrong, so he could only try his best to please his wife, asking her about her well-being and showing her care. But the more he did this, the more she resisted, and she became more distant from him than before. In this way, the two of them treated each other with "ice" for more than ten years.

One day, his wife went out and heard something. When she came back, she was in a state of despair and wanted to divorce him like crazy. He cried bitterly and begged her, even at the cost of all his dignity. She also cried, saying that she was sorry for him and could not delay him any longer, and asked him to forget her and marry another beautiful woman. Then she left resolutely and never came back.

He didn't know where she had gone, so he hurried to her parents' home to ask, but no one was willing to tell him. Only a brother-in-law secretly told him that he heard his wife and the driver say they were going to Jiangxia. He didn't understand why his wife, who had never been out of Jiangnan, would think of going to Jiangxia.

He was full of doubts and couldn't figure it out. But he understood one thing, he was abandoned. The person he loved since childhood may have never loved him. Since then, he has no wife and no children, and is alone. Maybe he was disappointed with life, so he simply left home and lived in seclusion in the mountains. Later, Mr. Baishan came, and they became good friends and lived next to each other. Finally, their days were not so lonely.

Mr. Baishan sighed, "He must have heard that you were from Jiangxia, which reminded him of his sad memories. He also drank a lot, so he went crazy. Alas, he was born in a noble family and had a bright future, but in the end, everything was shattered. He is also a pitiful man."

Ji Zimo was completely sober. His face was pale, and his heart was surging with emotions.

This story was too familiar to him. A girl from the south of the Yangtze River divorced her husband's family, broke up with her natal family, and left Jiangxia alone. How many girls like this could there be in the world? And he just happened to know one.

"Mr. Baishan, do you know what the woman's surname is?" Ji Zimo asked anxiously.

Mr. Baishan shook his head: "He never said that. But he said that his wife was beautiful and smart, and was well-known in Jiangnan. She was an embroidery genius."

Ji Zimo suddenly understood what was going on, and there was no doubt about it. Mr. Hai's wife was Shen Xiu Niang, Shen Xue!

When he thought of this name, he felt a sharp pain in his heart and felt extremely uncomfortable.

Shen Xue was a woman with a miserable life. He had handled Shen Xue's affairs after her death and knew that she lived in poverty and illness at the end of her life. She could have lived a peaceful life as a lady or a lady of a noble family in Jiangnan. Why did she choose such a path? He could only blame it on the fact that she did it for her elder brother.

He was now facing Shen Xue's husband, another poor man who had lost his life. When he thought that this man's tragedy might have been indirectly caused by his elder brother, he felt indescribably sorry and even ashamed.

He originally planned to spend the night in the mountain retreat and have a candlelight chat with Mr. Baishan. He also wanted to explain the new paint to Mr. Bai, but now he was too ashamed to face Mr. Hai, so he offered to leave.

Mr. Baishan was shocked: "It's so late now, and it's so dark outside. If you go down the mountain alone, what will you do if you encounter wild animals? You'd better wait until daybreak."

The little boy also joined in, and Ji Zimo hesitated, but finally stayed reluctantly.

Lying in Mr. Baishan’s room, I heard Mr. Hai next door talking nonsense all night. He would shout “Axue, are you okay?” one moment and “Why don’t you write to me?” the next.

Ji Zimo thought, if he knew that the girl he loved so much, Axue, had passed away ten years ago and turned into a pile of earth, would he be a hundred times more painful than he is now?

Thinking of this, his heart felt like it was being fried in oil. He tossed and turned until dawn, and he could no longer bear it, so he got up from the bed, and without even saying goodbye to Mr. Baishan, he quietly opened the courtyard gate and went down the mountain.

When she returned home, Shui Qinghua saw that her husband looked absent-minded and asked him what had happened.

Ji Zimo hesitated and told the story selectively, only skipping the part about the relationship between his elder brother and Shen Xiu Niang. He didn't want his elder brother's reputation to be tarnished, even from his wife, he subconsciously chose to conceal it.

Shui Qinghua felt distressed after hearing what he said, and couldn't help shedding tears. She didn't know why Shen Xiu Niang went to Jiangxia, but she knew that her ex-husband was now alone and helpless, still immersed in the pain of losing Shen Xiu Niang.

"What do you think? Should we give him a false hope or tell him the truth? I think we should tell him the whereabouts of Shen Xiu Niang. Endless waiting is a cruel thing. If Shen Xiu Niang is still alive, she probably wouldn't want him to live in waiting forever." Shui Qinghua murmured, feeling conflicted.

Ji Zimo did not respond, as he felt he was not qualified to express his opinion. His wife was Shen Xiu Niang's de facto apprentice, so she should make the decision.

After a few days, Shui Qinghua took the small gourd with her, and the two discussed the techniques of double-sided three-different embroidery all the way. They were unaware of the passage of time, and soon arrived at Mr. Hai's secluded place.

After climbing the long ridge, Shui Qinghua saw a few scattered stone houses in the distance and knew that was the destination. Just as he was trying his best to climb up, a slender and thin elder came slowly down the mountain carrying a wine gourd.

Seeing Shui Qinghua and the other man, he raised his eyebrows in surprise: "What's going on recently? Why are there so many beautiful young people coming to the mountains and fields?"

"But is Mr. Hai here in person?" Shui Qinghua bowed slightly.

Mr. Hai was even more surprised: "Do you recognize me?"

"Yes, my husband's surname is Ji, and he came to visit Mr. Baishan a few days ago."

Mr. Hai opened his mouth into a circle and said, "Oh!" "So it was the kid who sneaked away in the middle of the night! Did I scare him away? I am so rude!"

Mr. Hai laughed and invited Master Shui Qinghua and his disciple to visit his home for a while.

As they walked on the mountain path together, Mr. Hai asked again, "Since that boy ran away, why did you come here today?"

Shui Qinghua was silent for a long while, until Mr. Hai looked at her in surprise, she stopped and said with courage: "Actually, I am half-disciple of Shen Xue, and I have been with her in Jiangxia for seven years."

Mr. Hai also froze. His eyes widened instantly, emitting a terrifying light. He took a step forward and grabbed Shui Qinghua's shoulders: "Is she okay now?"

His grip was so strong that it hurt Shui Qinghua. She tried not to scream.

"I came here to tell you that she has passed away. You should stop waiting for her." Shui Qinghua spoke word by word.