Chapter 6: Shang Xinglan, the eldest son of the merchant family who opened the shop. ...
(six)
Gu Ye's methods were extremely cruel; any normal person would be unable to sleep for three days and three nights after seeing them. The sound of blood and flesh flying made Chu Li even more uneasy.
She was worried that the cub would hear the noise.
The scariest thing her daughter had ever experienced was being chased by the village's stray dogs.
He's so young, so innocent and naive; he wouldn't be able to bear seeing this.
"No need to worry, Gu Ye knows a little magic and has set up an array to block out sound."
An unnamed voice rang out beside him at just the right moment. Chu Li breathed a slight sigh of relief, but then belatedly felt a chill run down his spine.
How does he know what she's thinking?
Turning her head, she saw Wuming casually take out a dagger, pry open the walnut, and hand the kernel to her.
The action, coupled with the sound of Gu Ye splitting open a head with a long knife, looked particularly horrifying.
Chu Li took the walnuts, and the more she looked at them, the more they resembled brains; she could no longer eat them.
Suddenly, a head lifted up from beside her feet, startling Chu Li.
The second son of the Zhao family had already suffered several knife wounds and was clearly not long to live, but his eyes were fixed on Chu Li, and he said hatefully, "You actually colluded with this group of demons, Chu Li, were you the one who killed your husband, you slut..."
As soon as she finished speaking, Chu Li's face turned pale.
The other person was still shouting angrily: "Don't think I don't know! I heard everything you and your husband had that big fight that day, and he died that very day. What a coincidence!"
He was strolling on the street that day when he overheard Chu Li arguing with her husband. Not long after they returned home, her husband mysteriously fell off a cliff. It must be that this wicked woman colluded with the devil to kill her husband!
Before Zhao Lao Er could speak, Chu Li suddenly picked up the dagger from the table and plunged it into his chest without hesitation.
In an instant, the entire hall fell silent.
The second son of the Zhao family stared at her in disbelief and astonishment, blood gushing from his chest. He fell backward and soon fell silent.
The nameless man froze in mid-air, still clutching a half-broken walnut in his palm. He stared blankly at the person in front of him for a moment, then asked in a daze, "You killed him?"
This scene seems somewhat familiar, and even the words he just said seem familiar.
Anger and hatred surged in Chu Li's eyes. After a long while, she threw away the dagger in her hand.
Even with a knife, she could only kill someone like the second son of the Zhao family; there was no way she could kill three demons.
“My husband and I had a very good relationship. He has been harassing me ever since he died. Now he’s slandering me for killing him. He deserved to kill me.” Chu Li didn’t think she had done anything wrong. She walked to the basin and washed the blood off her hands.
Killing was easy for her.
When she was begging on the streets, she was targeted by countless scoundrels, whom she killed one by one and stole their money.
So what if you're not strong? You can't defend against a sneak attack, can you?
Stabbed to death, strangled with rope, poisoned to death... the bodies were thrown into the moat and no one could find them. After that, no one dared to provoke her again.
Even after getting married, Chu Li did this kind of thing quite often, secretly killing all the servants who bullied her. However, if her husband found out, the servants would punish her severely.
Sometimes they would lock her up and force her to copy those extremely boring scriptures about natural law, ethics, and morality.
Sometimes he would get so angry that he would tie her up, sit in front of her and chant sutras, saying things like "living beings have lives and cannot be treated lightly," as if she were some kind of demon or monster that needed to be converted.
None of the above bothered Chu Li; what was most terrifying was being ignored and treated like air for several days in a row.
She couldn't stand his coldness and aloofness, not even the slightest bit. It was a contempt for her personality, as if she wasn't even a person in his eyes!
Punishment is fine in any way, but ignoring her is the only thing I can't do.
However, since her husband's death, Chu Li has never killed anyone again.
She made a vow at his small grave to set a good example for the child and raise Yinyin to be like him—well-read, polite, gentle, kind, and respectable.
But there were always people forcing her to take action.
Wuming's gaze darkened, and for some reason, a sense of unease welled up in his heart. He couldn't quite describe the feeling; he just felt that Chu Li shouldn't have acted this way, even though his actions were far more cruel than Chu Li's... But why couldn't he bear to watch her kill?
She was fine the way she was before, well-behaved, and timid. She was adorable when she cried while holding the baby.
Gu Ye stepped forward, glanced at Zhao Lao Er's wound, sheathed his blood-stained longsword, and smiled in surprise, "Not bad, that was a clean cut, not like the first time. Little lady, you'll be with us from now on."
Hearing this, Wuming frowned even more deeply, his tone heavy, "Gu Ye, go and clean it up."
Gu Ye noticed his dissatisfaction and gave him a strange look.
What's so angry about a young widow killing someone? They're not righteous cultivators. Is Master getting too caught up in the drama?
After Gu Ye dragged the corpse away, Wuming stared intently at Chu Li and suddenly said, "From now on, you don't need to do these things yourself. Just tell me."
Chu Li froze, turned around to look at him in shock, and even doubted her own ears.
Exactly the same thing; her husband said the same thing to her!
At that time, she was still living in her husband's house when she overheard the servants talking about it.
"Did you all see the young mistress talking back to the old lady today? In front of so many distinguished guests, she really made the young master lose face!"
"A beggar has risen to a high position and become a phoenix, forgetting even her own name. She's only doing this because she's kind-hearted. Any other man would have beaten her up and kicked her out of the mansion long ago."
"That's right. If it weren't for her ill-fated destiny, how could the merchants have let a beggar in? Now the whole Northern Territory is laughing at the young master. It's all her fault."
Even though she knew they were telling the truth, Chu Li was still trembling with anger. Unable to hold back any longer, she grabbed a stick and rushed over to fight them, but before she could vent her anger, she was pulled away.
The other person frowned and pulled her in front of him. His phoenix eyes were naturally upturned at the corners. When he smiled, they were alluring and captivating. When he wasn't smiling, his eyes swept over her with a cold and aloof expression, just like now.
The only person who could hold Chu Li back was her husband, Shang Xinglan, the eldest son of the Shang family, a cultivation family that produces a true immortal who ascends to the heavens every three hundred years and has hundreds of branches.
That was the first time Shang Xinglan had seen her hit someone. Before that, Chu Li had always acted weak and pitiful in front of him, making her background sound as tragic as possible.
Shang Xinglan is a well-known kind-hearted person in the Northern Territory. Although he comes from a noble family, he has no spoiled habits. It is said that he has been charitable and helpful since childhood. Chu Li thinks that she may have eaten the porridge he gave her.
He was kind and compassionate to everyone, and very easy to fool. He believed Chu Li's lies without a second thought, and even shed tears of sympathy for her background, saying that he would never let her suffer again.
That's why Chu Li didn't dare let him know her true nature.
"Achu, what happened?"
His voice was slightly deep, tinged with confusion.
Chu Li's heart skipped a beat, and she hid the stick behind her back.
Upon seeing him, the servants knelt down, crying and begging Shang Xinglan to intervene.
"We were just chatting for a few minutes when the young mistress suddenly rushed up and started tearing at us and beating us. If the young master hadn't been here, she probably would have killed us today!"
They tore open their clothes, revealing the marks of sticks on their arms and legs.
Chu Li also rolled up her sleeves, intending to feign pitifulness, but found that she was thick-skinned and not injured at all.
She gritted her teeth and could only say, "Husband, they laugh at me, saying I went from beggar to riches, and they even said that I..."
Shang Xinglan lowered his eyes and looked at her. After a while, he took the stick from her palm and threw it far away.
“Achu, don’t do that,” he whispered. “You don’t need to do these things yourself in the future. Just tell me.”
Tell him?
What's the point of telling him? He's so soft-hearted and easily fooled. He can be easily coaxed by a few servants shedding a few tears!
Chu Li glared at him for a long time, feeling frustrated, then turned and stormed off.
From that moment on, she never pretended to be pitiful and docile in front of Shang Xinglan again.
Anyway, he saw everything.
That's just the kind of person she is, a vermin that crawled out of the gutter. If she doesn't want to be trampled on or looked down upon, this is the only way she can do it.
No one taught her how to deal with the problems in her life other than fighting back.
As for what happened after that, Chu Li never saw those servants again. They must have been arranged by Shang Xinglan to go to another courtyard, because he couldn't bear to punish them.
Unexpectedly, after many years, I heard those words again from a demon.
Chu Li felt a strange urge to laugh.
Why should I tell you that you helped me kill someone?
Wuming frowned again and said in a low voice, "Hmm."
She scoffed inwardly, not taking his words seriously at all. This devil was currently very obedient to her, but who knew when he might get tired of her face and kill her with a single blow.
Even though Chu Li herself could kill, she considered herself different from a demon like Wuming. She wouldn't act without reason if no one bullied her, unlike them who would break into the home of an orphan and widow with knives and try to take over her house.
Thinking of this, Chu Li felt even more wronged. If she knew some magic, she would never put up with such treatment.
"Is there anything else?" She pursed her lips, turned around and was about to go inside. "I'm going back."
Suddenly, her wrist was grabbed and pulled back, and Chu Li was caught off guard and fell into the other person's arms.
Wuming stared intently at her, a hint of unreadable anger in his eyes, and said, slowly and deliberately, "I told you, I will help you."
He didn't know why he said that, but a voice in his heart told him that he wanted Chu Li's approval and wanted her to learn to rely on him.
"I understand." Chu Li was startled by his cold tone and tried to pull her hand away fearfully, but couldn't. She whispered, "You're hurting me. I need to go inside and keep Yin Yin company."
Upon hearing this, Wuming paused slightly and released her hand.
Chu Li ran into the house without hesitation. Watching her back, Wuming's demonic energy intensified.
For some reason, whenever I see her wary and resistant expression, I feel restless and irritable. It's as if a raging fire is burning in my chest, turning my reason to ashes.
That was a reaction stemming from the body's instincts, beyond his control.
I always felt that things shouldn't be this way; everything shouldn't have been this way in the first place.
His head was throbbing with pain. He clenched his fists, his breathing trembled, and a voice, sometimes near, sometimes far, floated into his mind.
"Are you ignoring me?"
The girl's face was blurry, but you could sense that her eyes were red and she was staring at him with hatred.
Her clothes were soaked by the rain; she seemed to have lost her shoes, standing barefoot before him, her feet covered in mud and blood, taking half a step closer.
"Just because I poisoned someone, you're really ignoring me now?"
"That person bullied me first, so why can't I fight back?"
Actually, you find fault with everything I do, right? Everyone says you've hated me for a long time.
You knew I was a beggar when you married me. I've begged for food and stolen money. I'm ignorant of manners and shame. It's not like you just found out today!
"I want you to kiss me, right now."
"I knew you wouldn't want to. You hate me, so why did you marry me in the first place?"
A sudden, dull pain shot through his chest. Wuming clutched his clothes, but could not resist the overwhelming agony.
He struggled to breathe, nearly suffocating, and vomited blood while holding onto the small table.
Wuming stared blankly at the sticky bloodstains on his palm. After a long while, he gradually calmed his trembling breathing, took out a handkerchief, and wiped it clean little by little.
That was... his memory?
This was the first time he had remembered his past since he lost his memory in an accident five years ago when he fell into demonic possession. He couldn't recall the faces or names of the people in his memories.
But I felt a tearing pain in my chest and vomited blood.
I feel so bad, I want to cry.
Wuming looked up into the inner room, and was about to push the door open when he found it locked again.
Why on earth would she put a lock on the house? Who was she trying to keep out? Didn't she even trust her husband?
A knock came at the door.
Chu Li's cautious voice came from inside, "Is there anything else?"
Wuming swallowed the metallic taste in his throat and said softly, "Open the door."
"Yinyin and I are practicing calligraphy..."
“Achu.”
He took a deep breath and repeated it.
"Open the door."
It's unbelievable; he felt like he'd said the phrase "open the door" to someone a hundred times.
A note from the author:
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