Chapter 583: Chapter 583: The Old Lady’s Version Chapter 583: Chapter 583: The Old Lady’s Version Aunt Zhang was stunned, sizing up the elderly woman and the young girl in front of her.
Indeed, Righteous Dao Village had its tenants, and exiled prisoners with deeply attached family members who had rented houses nearby to look after the prisoners.
But such people were rare; after all, most were unwilling to leave their hometown and come to such a remote and destitute place.
Those who had money typically belonged to large and prosperous families, with many members to care for—why would they come here to suffer?
As for the poor, it went without saying. A whole family coming here without land, without a foundation, would only live a harder life. Not to mention looking after a prisoner, taking care of themselves was challenging enough.
So among the many prisoners in Righteous Dao Village, there were only two whose families couldn’t bear to be apart from them and had come here to rent houses to live in hardship.
Is there now another one?
If it was someone younger, it might be understandable, but an old person with a child—wasn’t that just inviting suffering?
The old lady saw that Aunt Zhang wasn’t speaking and hurriedly pushed the basket forward, “This is some homemade food from our own kitchen. We’ve just arrived and might need a lot of help from our neighbors.”
Aunt Zhang abruptly came back to her senses; her instinct was to decline.
However, the cloth covering the basket was already lifted, and a faint scent of deliciousness rushed into her nostrils. She could even see dried meat inside.
The words that had reached Aunt Zhang’s mouth were immediately swallowed back down. Although her family’s life in Righteous Dao Village was slightly better, they were still very poor, and they didn’t necessarily get to eat meat even once a month.
Thinking of her children at home, Aunt Zhang didn’t decline after all.
Since they were neighbors, she’d just have to help them out a bit more after accepting their gift.
Aunt Zhang immediately smiled, stepped aside to let the old lady and Sanya in, “Auntie, you’re too kind. Come in, don’t stand at the door. Let’s talk inside. Did you come to borrow a bucket? I apologize, my eldest son just went to fetch water. You might have to wait a bit; please come in and take a seat first.”
The old lady didn’t hesitate and led Sanya into the courtyard.
It was just Aunt Zhang and her younger son at home. The child seemed to have just been born not long ago, not even able to walk yet, toddling unsteadily.
Aunt Zhang led the two into the house, poured them two cups of hot water, and while helping her younger son, inquired, “Auntie, you mentioned that you just moved to Righteous Dao Village today?”
“Yes, we only just paid the rent this morning.”
“How come you decided to rent a house in this village? No offense, but as you have seen, life here in Righteous Dao Village is hard, and buying anything is inconvenient. Could it be that you have relatives here?”
The old lady sighed deeply, “It’s a long story. I won’t hide it from you; our family was originally from Dongan Province. If we hadn’t been forced, we wouldn’t have moved to such a distant place.”
Dongan Province?
Aunt Zhang found it somewhat familiar and after a brief moment of recollection, it suddenly dawned on her.
Didn’t Miss Shu Yu and the Shu family, who had arrived a few days ago, come from Dongan Province?
Could it be that this old lady before her had a connection to the Shu family? Was she one of the Shu family members? But Aunt Zhang had specifically inquired—every member of the Shu family had been exiled.
However, she had heard that their family used to serve the government, so perhaps some devoted servants couldn’t bear to leave their masters and had followed them. It was possible.
While she pondered this, Aunt Zhang still asked, “What do you mean by that? Has something happened?”