The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

Chapter 782: 782 Third Brother’s Pain

Ever since he found out that his wife had chosen Fourth Brother, each day passed like a year for him. Even though the Xiao family had bought so many fields and built a new house, he was still unable to feel truly happy or joyful.

Sometimes, when he looked at the new house at home, he even wished that the house would never be finished.

Because he knew…

Once the new house was built and the fields were bought, his wife would openly give him and Second Brother permission to remarry.

His gaze fell on Su Qingyue, who was about ten steps away. Perhaps, at first, he was only attracted to her bright eyes and her calm demeanor. However, over the past few months, the more time he spent with her, the more his heart became attached to her.

He even had a feeling that his entire heart had fallen for her, and he couldn’t pull it back out. He could only let time pass and fall deeper and deeper…

In the past, when the Xiao family was the poorest, they didn’t even have a wife. If a woman insisted on marrying him, he would have accepted, but that was because he hadn’t met her yet.

After meeting her, his mentality gradually changed. His eyes only had room for her.

Fourth Brother had lost the use of his legs because of him. He owed Fourth Brother too much.

He swallowed his sorrow. However, he acted as if he knew nothing during these past few months. He clung to his wife all the time, his heart constantly on edge for fear of losing her. Yet he pretended not care in front of Qingyue and his family, laughing and appearing cheerful every day. Nobody knew that he often had sleepless nights that lasted until dawn.

Xiao Qinghe saw the concerned look in Third Brother’s eyes and nodded strenuously, “Third Brother, don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Second Brother and Third Brother had been so worried about him over the past few years that he couldn’t trouble them anymore.

With a backward glance, Qinghe looked at Su Qingyue, his eyes filled with pain.

Su Qingyue also looked back at him and saw a hint of apology in Xiao Qinghe’s tormented eyes.

Her heart sank.

She guessed that Fourth Brother had made some kind of decision, but she did not want it to be as she had speculated.

Xiao Yishan was in the yard, using the moonlight to hone the arrowheads he used for hunting. Even though he had promised his wife not to hunt anymore, he still liked to polish his hunting tools in his spare time, dusting them off and sharpening the metal arrowheads to prevent rust.

A while later, everyone went back to their rooms to sleep.

The night was destined to be sleepless.

Almost all four of them kept their eyes open until dawn.

The days of the Xiao family over the next half month were rather peaceful. Xiao Yishan and Xiao Yuchuan went to dig the ground to plant vegetables during the daytime. Su Qingyue went up the mountain to collect herbal medicine when the weather was not too sunny, and Big Mixed Fur went hunting for food in the woods by itself. When she returned home after picking herbs, she taught Fourth Brother how to identify herbs and how to process and dry the herbs.

Since there weren’t that many varieties of herbs picked from the mountains, she found time to go to the town’s pharmacy to buy many kinds of uncommon, fresh herbs, a little of each, to give to Xiao Qinghe to identify and learn how to prescribe and make medicine.

Second Brother wasn’t interested in medicine, so he didn’t learn.

On the other hand, whenever she was teaching Qinghe, as long as Third Brother was there, he would watch attentively without asking her anything.

Fourth Brother didn’t just study hard, but he also wrote down the important things he couldn’t remember in a notebook he made out of rice paper.

That evening, Su Qingyue came down the mountain with a back basket full of herbs.

Big Mixed Fur obediently followed her.

When she reached the foot of the hill, Li Wang’s wife saw her basket full of herbs. She didn’t recognize what they were. “Oh, Su Qingyue, you’re still working up the mountain? What are all these weeds in your basket?” @@novelbin@@

“They are herbs,” she replied casually.