Chapter 976: Chapter 976: How Can He Not Hate!_1 Chapter 976: Chapter 976: How Can He Not Hate!_1 The snow had melted, and it was the idle time for farming; the village was quiet, and as the Village Chief, so was he.

Once aboard the carriage and out of the village, with no one in sight, Qiao Xiaomai finally took out the will Liuli left behind and showed it to Tong Tiehu, “I had thought to wait until Sanlang was better before giving it to you, but now there’s other stuff, so I brought it out.”

“The truth… is a bit cruel.”

Tong Tiehu took the few sheets of rice paper with a puzzled look, his eyes falling on simplified characters, he frowned subconsciously.

Qiao Xiaomai had been watching him, and seeing this, she offered, “Grandpa, want me to read it to you?”

“No need, I can look myself,” Tong Tiehu waved his hand, “These characters, I can understand by guessing and inferring.”

Qiao Xiaomai pursed her lips, “Then you read, I’ll have the horse go slower.”

Tong Tiehu hummed and lowered his head to study the contents of the rice paper.

Qiao Xiaomai intentionally slowed down, the carriage trudging along the somewhat muddy road where the snow had melted, all around was very quiet.

A moment later, there was a sudden creaking noise from behind, Qiao Xiaomai started, quickly turning her head to look back.

Tong Tiehu’s eyes filled with tears, his arms trembling, but his teeth were creaking audibly, his whole being enveloped by an overwhelming sadness.

Seeing this, Qiao Xiaomai’s eyes reddened too.

If you asked who had suffered the most, it would undoubtedly be Tong Tiehu.

In his life, he had been terribly harmed by Liuli and Gu Yu; his grief and rage at this moment, grief and rage with nowhere to vent, she understood, she understood it all.

“Grandpa, the past is gone, what matters is the present,” she whispered to comfort him.

Tong Tiehu clutched the letter in his hand, tears uncontrollably falling, the scalding droplets slid down his aged face, dropping onto the rice paper, leaving watermarks and blurring the ink.

“I think of your great-grandmother, it wasn’t worth it for her,” Tong Tiehu said through clenched teeth.

Qiao Xiaomai understood that the great-grandmother he spoke of was the Tong Family matron.

A traditional wife, who took her husband as her all, to be suddenly abandoned and sent to a strange town, eventually leaving behind two children in her desolation.

Innocent, pitiable.

“It’s all fate,” was all Qiao Xiaomai could say, that’s all there was to it.

If she met a scumbag, she would definitely tear him apart with her hands and then live a happy new life.

When Liuli met a scumbag, she started taking revenge on society, fixated on power.

The Tong Family matron met a scumbag, and only wept in sorrow, never fighting or scrambling for anything.

Different personalities lead to different fates.

This is fate.

No one else can change it.

Hearing these four words from Qiao Xiaomai, Tong Tiehu trembled even more fiercely, nearly unable to hold onto the rice paper.

He once hated Liuli, but as time passed, his hatred diminished; now, reading this will, if Liuli were truly to stand before him, he would surely rush up and hit her.

The suffering his mother endured, he would demand it back with interest!

“Sanlang said, having a father who’s not very responsible is also a helpless matter; after all, no one can decide their own birth. Grandpa, since these people have long passed away, it’s not worth getting angry over them anymore.”

Tong Tiehu had Gu Yu, a father who loved romances above all else.

Tong Sanlang had Tong Xingda, a father who, when provoked, wouldn’t care about anything.

What one’s biological father is like, truly isn’t something one can decide.

“But she was my own mother, how can I not hate…,” Tong Tiehu gritted his teeth.

“But the hatred at this time, aside from harming the body and the heart, brings no benefit whatsoever,” Qiao Xiaomai advised.