Old Lady Xie would stay there occasionally, but she had been staying at the so-called old house lately.
"Father, why did you become a bandit back then?" Xie Qiao asked curiously.
She knew very little. She only knew that life was hard back then.
Xie Niushan's expression turned stiff.
Xie Pinggang, on the other hand, became excited. "There was a drought where the old house was back then. They didn't have anything to eat, and barbarians were coming to the village. The villagers hid in the mountain as they obtained the letter earlier. Father wasn't home back then, and the old biddy didn't get anyone to look for him. She got everything valuable at home and moved them to the mountain.. Father was fetching water from somewhere further, and he found out that there was nobody in the village when he returned."
Xie Pinghuai and Xie Xi lifted their heads to listen.
"Father was still young back then and had no idea what happened. He thought there were thieves. Just when he was complaining, the barbarians came. About 60 barbarians invaded the village. Father had nowhere to hide, and the barbarians captured him. They only wanted money, and they were happy that they found someone to act as the pathfinder. They got him to show them around, looting the houses one after another."
The villagers may have left in a hurry, but they had brought along the valuables with them. However, there were things at home that they could not bring. They thought they would try their luck, hoping the barbarians would not find them.
Still, how would the barbarians give up if they did not find sufficient things after invading the village?
Killing aside, they had to burn the village down.
Therefore, Xie Niushan had brought them to search each house obediently.
The barbarians did not do anything to him as they thought he had done a great job.
When the villagers returned, they naturally vented their rage on Xie Niushan. The local official could not take care of that. The villagers had to solve it themselves.
The Xie family had shown their stance by chasing Xie Niushan out of the house.
After that, he ran away, and his in-laws got him to become a bandit.
"Father dragged the Xie family down. In order to protect the family, there was no harm in chasing him out of the house. However, if someone from the family was willing to send Father a letter, he would not have been captured by the barbarians. Not only that, Father was unlikable at home as well. There was some water in the water tank. Eldest Aunt wanted to take a bath, and Eldest Uncle was unwilling to go, so the old biddy got Father to fetch water."
One could not find out who was wrong and who was right for something that had happened so long ago.
His father was willing to take up the chore, bringing trouble upon himself.
Xie Pinggang hated the old biddy, mainly because the family still wanted to seek justice when they did something wrong.
Life was alright after his father became a bandit. He would secretly provide many benefits to the Xie family, giving them a good life.
When his father became an official, the family became arrogant.
However, whenever he mentioned his dead wife, the old biddy and the rest would be disdainful.
If they thought she was filthy, they should not have taken the benefits that his mother offered, right?
Those bastards.
Xie Pinggang was not pissed. He recalled those things very "calmly" and recounted everything to Xie Qiao clearly.
She nodded.
They had a bad relationship, and the old lady was rude to her mother. A deep connection was unnecessary, and there was no need to prepare gifts.
Xie Qiao remembered all that.
"Wear the new clothes when you go to the old house, Eldest Daughter." Ms. Lu seized the opportunity to say that all of a sudden.
Xie Qiao was stunned.
Ms. Lu chuckled in a pretentious manner. "The old lady likes girls who wear nice clothes."
She was the stepmother. If Xie Qiao visited the old lady wearing something nice, it would prove to her that Ms. Lu was good to the children at home. Since she was treating Xie Qiao, whom she was not close with like that, she would definitely treat Xie Pinghuai even better as she had been raising him for a few years.