Chapter 45: Shitou, Old Wang, On the Road

The cart's wheels crunched over the pebbles of the official road. Lin Yan sat at the front, casually scanning the surroundings. Occasionally, he tugged the reins to pull back the ox's head when it tried to wander off to graze.

Behind him, Shen Qingci wore a simple, unadorned dress, her face completely free of makeup. Yet, this plain attire only made her striking beauty even more prominent.

She had lost her husband, her father, and her mother.

Any one of these tragedies would be enough to break a person. But she hadn't broken. Instead, she had become even more resilient. Women were inherently gentle, but motherhood made them strong.

A heavy silence lingered over the ox cart.

Shen Qingci used to be relatively talkative, but ever since the incident with her family, her words had become scarce. She sat there, occasionally looking down to amuse the baby in her arms, then raising her head to stare ahead—whether she was looking at the scenery or the man driving the cart, no one knew.