Chapter 120 The Second Ending Reunion
The cold and damp autumn rain seeped into his clothes, leaving a layer of mist on his skin. His old injuries on his arms and collarbone flared up, causing waves of pain, as if he were being pricked by fine needles.
It’s really cold…
Standing under the eaves, he spat out the rainwater in his mouth. The silver nails on the tip of his tongue scraped across his teeth, and pain ran through his whole body.
His hands were heavy and painful, and he couldn't lift them up, so he could only knock on the door with his toes.
"Sir, you are soaked to the skin."
A boy of about thirteen or fourteen opened the door for him.
He pressed a piece of silver into his hand:
"Find me a room."
Hu Zi originally wanted to decline, but when he saw the shiny, heavy silver ingot, he changed his mind instantly:
"Okay, there's a place on the second floor. Go and rest first."
Gu Shi raised his head and looked around.
It looked like it had just been renovated, but it was very shabby and nothing special.
He tried hard to search his memory, but could not find any trace of her.
Maybe she had played and laughed here in the past.
Forget it, death is imminent, so let it be.
Hu Zi opened the door, and inside was a bare bed board, an old wardrobe, and a wobbly broken bench.
"I'm sorry, there's nothing here right now. Please sit down first. I'll ask my sister-in-law to bring you a blanket later."
Gu Shi nodded slightly.
Seeing Hu Zi leave, Gu Shi hung the shawl on the beam. He didn't want anyone to see his bulging eyes and sticking out tongue, so he took off his coat and covered his face with it.
The bench was kicked and he was hung on the beam.
There's no fun living like this anyway, so let's just live like this for the rest of our lives.
His wife died young, and so did he.
I won’t come back in the next life.
Downstairs, Hu Zi stuffed the silver ingot into Tao Jinrong's hand like he was presenting a treasure.
"Sister-in-law...a guest has come and is staying on the second floor."
"I'll get the quilt for the guest, you go mop the floor."
"Okay, sister-in-law."
Tao Jinrong walked up to the second floor holding a quilt, only to see a wet corpse hanging in the air.
Her blood froze instantly, and the quilt in her arms fell to the ground. Her body acted before her brain, and she kicked the man off the knot with a straight kick.
"Fuck you, where did this water ghost come from?"
Tao Jinrong cursed a few ugly words to give himself courage, and tremblingly went to pull the clothes covering the man's head.
The man seemed to be still alive. He moved twice and started coughing violently. She hardened her heart and tore off the clothes on his head.
After seeing the man's face clearly, Tao Jinrong cursed several times and stepped back repeatedly, but was grabbed and held in his arms.
"Lingchuan...I'm already dead, right?"
Tao Jinrong closed her eyes in despair. She wished it were so.
He pressed her under him and kissed her with his purple lips. He had a big frame and no strength at all. Tao Jinrong could not move and could not even call for help. She could only make a tiny whimpering sound in her throat.
The tiny silver nails scratched her mouth and tongue, causing her pain and itchiness, which brought out a hint of annoyance. She struggled hard twice, but to no avail.
Hu Zi came in with a broom, and was frightened. He gathered up his courage, picked up the broom and hit him, crying and shouting:
"You rascal! What are you going to do to my sister-in-law!"
Gu Shi raised his uninjured arm to block twice before he regained consciousness. He stood up with the help of the wall, his face blue and purple.
He looked at the angry face of the thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy, leaning against the wall, smiling bitterly and thinking that he was not dead after all, but still alive.
I was probably distracted for a moment and recognized the wrong person.
"Huzi, stop it! You can't afford to offend him."
It was a voice he was very, very familiar with.
Gu Shi turned his head in surprise, and the lines of Lingchuan's profile immediately invaded his eyes: the slightly raised brow, the straight and sharp nose bridge, the petal-like lips, the slightly downward corners of the mouth, and the look of boredom.
She looked more haggard than before, he thought.
Why is this happening?
Didn’t Qin Sizhao take good care of her?
"Lingchuan?"
He called out the nickname he had given her with trembling lips.
"Stop calling me that, okay?"
She rolled her eyes at him.
A tear fell from his eyes:
"Why did you lie to me?"
"Huh? What did I lie to you about?"
"I thought you were dead."
"That has nothing to do with me. I explained everything to you when I left. There must have been a misunderstanding."
She said impatiently:
"Go back as far as you can."
He lowered his head, wiped his tears, and said aggrievedly:
"It's raining so hard outside, are you going to chase me away?"
Hu Zi was holding the broom in a daze.
What is going on?
Doesn’t Tao Jinrong have a very close relationship with Qin Sizhao?
Why did you end up with another man?
He felt inexplicably unhappy.
"Sister-in-law, who is he?"
"Don't worry about it. You can't afford to offend him anyway. He's a half-crippled man used to being waited on. He can't take care of himself. Go make his bed and get him a bath."
Hu Zi suddenly became annoyed:
"I won't go. I won't serve him. My cousin is so good to you. How could you lie to him like this?"
Tao Jinrong was afraid that Hu Zi would accidentally reveal that Qin Sizhao was dead, so he quickly chased him away:
"Don't meddle in adult matters, you little bastard. Go wherever you want, if you want to do it or not."
"Humph! I won't care about you anymore!"
Hu Zi threw down the broom and left in a huff.
The atmosphere between Tao Jinrong and Gu Shi suddenly became very awkward.
"Lingchuan, where is Qin Sizhao? Why isn't he here?"
"He was transferred for something."
"How could he be so cruel as to leave you alone?"
She ignored him, picked up the quilt and mattress from the floor and spread them out for him, saying:
"Just make do with it for one night. Can you light a fire? If you can, boil some water for your bath. If not, just stay wet."
“…”
Gu Shi looked at her with tearful eyes and compromised.
His right arm was injured and he couldn't lift it, let alone carry heavy objects. He went to the kitchen very reluctantly. Tao Jinrong kindly gave him a fire starter, and watched him carry water in an awkward posture with a sarcastic smile on his face.
He was wet and in such a mess, like a dog.
If only she could have a cup of hot tea at this moment, so that she could sit down and slowly appreciate his ugly appearance.
With a sneer, Tao Jinrong turned around and went to find Hu Zi. She had to make some things clear to him. She didn't want the innocent child to be implicated.
"Huzi, Huzi."
She knocked on the door of his room.
"Don't come in! I don't want to see you!"
Hu Zi is still sulking.
Tao Jinrong sighed and said outside the door:
"Let me be clear with you first. I didn't lie to your cousin. He knows everything. That man is a high-ranking official in the capital. Even if he kills both of us, it won't matter. I've already offended him, so I don't care. But you're still young and have a long way to go. Don't provoke him."
"Also... don't tell him about your cousin... just say he was transferred for something."
"He's your old lover?"
"Well... sort of..."
"You already have an old lover, why are you still messing with my cousin?"
“…”
Tao Jinrong was silent for a while, then said:
"It's my fault. I shouldn't have been so greedy and provoked him."
The next day, Gu Shi had no clothes to wear and had to lie naked in the quilt.
Yesterday he got caught in the rain and almost hanged himself. After being rescued by Tao Jinrong, he boiled and fetched water himself and washed clothes with his back bare for half a day.
It is understandable that I got sick today.
Tao Jinrong did not bring him any food, but just left him in the house to fend for himself.
At night, she mercifully brought him some porridge. When she entered his room, she saw that his cheeks were red with fever and his eyes were closed in pain.
"Drink it."
She put the porridge on his bedside table, with no intention of taking care of him.
A day later, seeing that he was about to collapse from the fever, Tao Jinrong reluctantly made him a bowl of medicine, in which he deliberately added some coptis chinensis.
"Gu Shi, I don't understand pharmacology, so I just made a bowl according to the recipe my husband left me. You can drink it. But don't die here."
She held the back of his head with one hand and used the other to force him to drink medicine. A bowl of spicy and bitter medicine was poured into his throat. Gu Shi could not utter a word and could only cough in despair.
Tao Jinrong couldn't help laughing when he saw his painful expression.
He has collected several rounds of taxes this year just to hold this crappy talent show.
The rebellion of soldiers and bandits resulted in the death of Hu Zi's mother.
The epidemic spread and public security was out of control. He also contributed to Qin Sizhao's death.
What a loser! She was lucky enough not to poison Gu Shi to death, yet he still expected her to serve him? Serves her right!
"Lingchuan...don't go..."
He used his last bit of strength to raise his stinging and twitching hand and tried to grab the corner of her clothes, but she walked away without looking back.
To be honest, if Gu Shi really died here with her, it would be a very troublesome matter. The elders and fellow villagers might be implicated. His illness was getting more and more serious. Seeing how painful he looked, she was really afraid that he would not survive the night.
Forget it, let's ask his subordinates to come over.
"Huzi, go to County Magistrate Li and find a maid named Jinzhan. Tell her that her master is seriously ill and ask her to find a few more people to serve him. If you can't find any, just ask any guard or something."
Hu Zi is still throwing a tantrum:
"I'm not going, you go by yourself."
Tao Jinrong sighed:
"It's the middle of the night. I'm afraid he'll die here. Then the whole county will be in trouble."
"He's already such a high-ranking official, and you're still trying to recruit my cousin..."
"Huzi, be obedient. Please stop being so angry."
"You are not a faithful wife."
Such words were of no use to Tao Jinrong, and she had long since turned a deaf ear to them.
"I really don't obey. Be obedient and go call someone."
"I'm not going."
Tao Jinrong finally couldn't stand it anymore and said:
"He is the emperor."
"What!"
Hu Zi was so frightened that his calves were shaking like sieves.
"Just keep your mouth shut and don't tell anyone about you hitting him. What he did wasn't very honorable anyway. Go get someone quickly, and this matter should be over. He definitely doesn't have time to bother with you right now."
He no longer had that angry look on his face. He climbed down from the kang swiftly and rode away on his horse.
Tao Jinrong threw a wet, cool towel to Gu Shi and put it on his forehead.
"Gu Shi, if you want to die, don't die here with me. It will cause me trouble."
She hit him lightly on the face.
“It hurts so much…”
He lay in bed, barely breathing, feeling excruciating pain in his joints. His right arm, already injured, twitched occasionally. His hair was a mess and plastered to his face. Gu Shi felt that he looked utterly unattractive.
"I...I never thought I would see you again in this life..."
"Tao Jinrong...you...please kill me...I don't want to live anymore...It's so painful, please kill me quickly..."
"No, stay alive."
Tao Jinrong pinched his face, but the pain in his joints was so severe that he could not feel the pain of her pinching his face.
She was afraid that he would die in the middle of the night after being burned like this, so she simply slept next to him.
Even though she had deliberately not given him any food and had abused him for two days with malice in her heart, he still hugged her ingratiatingly and kissed her neck, even though his brows were furrowed due to his illness.
To be honest, his body was a bit heavy, which made her gasp for breath, but she still fell asleep in a daze.
In the middle of the night, a group of people rushed in with lights on and grabbed her directly on the bed.
When they looked at Jinzhan, they both felt embarrassed.
Jinzhan turned her face away and scratched the ground with her toes frantically.
Shouldn't she have brought anyone in?
Tao Jinrong wanted to get up from the bed, but Gu Shi turned over and pressed her down. He rested his head on her chest, making it difficult for her to breathe.
The corners of Jinzhan's mouth twitched. She forced herself to control her expression, pretended to be surprised, knelt down suddenly and began to cry fake tears.
"Girl...it's great that you're still alive..."
You already knew I was still alive, why are you pretending?
Tao Jinrong's scalp was numb from Jinzhan's poor acting, and she quickly pushed Gu Shi:
"Gu Shi, Gu Shi, get up, your subordinates are here to serve you."
"Lingchuan, don't go..."
He held her tighter.
Seeing this scene, several male guards turned their heads away and slipped out in embarrassment.
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