Xu Mingli trembled all over, yet a trace of ferocity still burned in his eyes. His cracked lips parted, and his hoarse voice was full of resentment, "Xu Xinghe...you poisonous woman! You will die a horrible death! I will haunt you even as a ghost!"
He knew that cursing would only bring more torment, but he still insisted on having a good tongue.
This was his only remaining way to fight against Xu Xinghe.
Upon hearing this, Xu Xinghe remained expressionless. She simply stood up slowly, gestured with her chin toward the underling at the door, and said, "Go and fetch the basket of freshly picked wild mulberries from the backyard, and find a piece of black cloth."
Although the younger brother did not understand what he meant, he quickly did as he was told and soon returned carrying a basket of dark purple wild mulberries and a piece of coarse linen.
Xu Xinghe took the black cloth, squatted down, and suddenly covered Xu Mingli's eyes, tying it tightly. "Since you like glaring at people so much, why don't you try what it's like to be blind first?"
She grabbed another handful of wild mulberries, not feeding them to Xu Mingli, but squeezing the mulberry juice little by little onto his neck and wrists.
The woodshed in the height of summer was already teeming with mosquitoes, and the sweet mulberry juice instantly became the perfect bait. Before long, Xu Mingli felt countless mosquitoes crawling up his collar and into his clothes, biting him frantically on his exposed skin.
"Ah—! It itches! Get away from me!"
Xu Mingli twisted his body violently, his bound limbs leaving red marks on the ground, but the mosquitoes, like sharks attracted by the smell of blood, swarmed more and more.
He couldn't see any trace of the mosquitoes, so he could only let them ravage his body. The fine bites spread from his neck to his ankles, and the itching was excruciating, but he couldn't even raise his hand to scratch them. He could only struggle in vain, letting out painful groans from his throat.
What was even more tormenting was that Xu Xinghe had a mirror brought in and placed at an angle in the only window of the woodshed. The morning sunlight reflected through the bronze mirror and focused precisely on the black cloth covering Xu Mingli's eyes. The intense light pierced through the cloth, creating a blinding bright area in his eyes.
Even though I couldn't see anything, I could clearly feel the burning heat on my eyelids, as if they were on fire, and my temples were throbbing with pain.
"How does it feel to be unable to see, itchy and painful?" Xu Xinghe sat on a chair to the side, her voice light and airy. "As long as you say the word, I'll free you immediately. If you're still stubborn, these mosquitoes will keep you company until dark, and the sun will make your eyelids blister."
Xu Mingli's body had long been weakened by the torment. The mosquito bites and the burning of the bright light brought him to the brink of collapse, but his remaining willpower was like a taut string, holding him up and preventing him from giving up.
He knew that if he confessed, he would face an even more terrible end than he was now.
He will die!
He gritted his teeth, buried his face in the cold ground, and let the pain consume him, refusing to utter a single plea for mercy.
Xu Xinghe looked at his forced composure and a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes.
She hadn't expected that Xu Mingli, who was usually cunning and treacherous, would have such unwavering perseverance at this moment.
But her surprise was quickly replaced by coldness. She curled her lips into a smile. It didn't matter. Let's see who can outlast the other. Anyway, she wouldn't be the one suffering.
As noon approached, Xu Xinghe did not go to the state-run restaurant as he had yesterday, but instead asked his younger brother to pack some food from the restaurant.
Two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and a pot of chilled mung bean soup were placed steaming on the stone table in the backyard.
She deliberately had her younger brother open the door to the woodshed so that Xu Mingli, who had removed the strips of cloth from his clothes, could clearly see the food on the stone table.
Zhang Cishu sat on the stone bench, watching Xu Xinghe pour mung bean soup into a bowl; the clear broth was cool to the touch.
He looked up at the door of the woodshed and could see Xu Mingli huddled up.
He didn't find Xu Xinghe's methods cruel at all; it was just a little physical torture.
It's fair to say that none of these are as serious as being stabbed.
Two days have passed, and apart from not being able to drink water, Xu Mingli doesn't actually have many injuries.
Moreover, there is no need to be merciful to evil people.
Xu Xinghe scooped up a spoonful of mung bean soup and sipped it slowly. "Don't you think I went too far?"
"No, he killed two people and even tried to harm military officers. Logically, if the evidence is conclusive, he would be executed. What you've done to him now is nothing to me."
Xu Mingli, inside the woodshed, stared intently at the bowl of mung bean soup through the door.
The clear soup gradually blurred in his eyes, his chapped lips unconsciously pursed, and the burning sensation in his throat surged again.
He looked at the bowl of water and began to hallucinate.
It felt as if a light rain was falling from the sky, the icy raindrops landing on his face and lips. He suddenly opened his mouth, futilely reaching towards the air to catch the water, muttering, "Water...give me water!"
But the next second, the illusion dissipated, and the scene in front of him was still the dimly lit woodshed.
His body was still holding on, but his mental defenses were quietly cracking under the temptation of the bowl of water.
The sun is setting.
Smoke gradually rose from the chimneys of Hongqi Village.
Feng Qiushi sat in front of the stove, holding a spatula in his hand, but his eyes were somewhat unfocused.
Today was the day she and Xu Mingli had agreed to deliver the food. She had to secretly deliver the food to the abandoned grain station in town, otherwise no one knew what that madman might do.
When Zhang Qiang returned from outside, he saw that she looked distracted and asked with concern, "Qiushi, what's wrong? You don't look well. Are you tired?"
Feng Qiushi's heart tightened, but he quickly tried to remain calm, shaking his head with a smile, "It's nothing, I probably got too hot cooking today. I'll just go out for some fresh air. Let's eat first, I still have to deliver some things after dark."
Zhang Qiang immediately guessed why she was in a bad mood, and sighed, "Qiu Shi, I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do to help..."
“It’s alright, it’s good that you care about me. If it weren’t for you…” Feng Qiushi’s eyes welled up with tears as he said this, “I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to hold on much longer. Let’s eat.”
The two finished their meal in silence.
As soon as it got dark, Feng Qiushi picked up the cloth bag he had prepared beforehand, which contained two steamed buns, two flatbreads, a small jar of pickled vegetables, some tomatoes and cucumbers, and hurriedly left home.
These two things are the least likely to spoil in this hot weather.
Instead of taking the main road in the village, she took a detour to a side road behind the village, a road that was remote and rarely used.
Her heart pounded the whole way, she gripped the cloth bag tightly in her hand, and her palms were sweaty.
She recalled the days she spent with Zhang Qiang. Although life was ordinary, it was peaceful and reassuring. She had long since fallen in love with this honest and upright man and wanted to live an ordinary life with him. She no longer wanted to be controlled by Xu Mingli and live that kind of life in fear.
After walking for nearly an hour, we finally arrived near the abandoned grain depot in town.
Feng Qiushi looked around warily, and only after confirming that no one was around did he walk around to the low wall on the side of the grain station.
There was a dog hole there, which Xu Mingli had asked her to use to deliver things.
She crouched down and laboriously crawled through the dog hole.
"Xu Mingli?" she called in a low voice, but the courtyard was quiet and there was no response.
Her heart skipped a beat. She quickly walked to the door of the main house, pushed it open, and found the house empty except for a few straws scattered on the ground. There was no sign of Xu Mingli.
Feng Qiushi panicked instantly, his first thought being that Xu Mingli had run away again.
He used to do this all the time, disappearing without a trace.
But after the initial panic subsided, she felt a strange sense of relief, even a secret sense of joy. It was good that Xu Mingli had run away; it was best if he never came back and no one ever found him. It didn't matter if he died out there.
In this way, she could completely break free from his control and live a peaceful life with Zhang Qiang.
She dared not linger. She put the steamed buns and pickled vegetables from her cloth bag on the ground, turned around and ran toward the dog hole, her movements several times faster than when she came, as if something was chasing her from behind.
After crawling out of the dog hole, she ran away without even looking back.
Not long after Feng Qiushi left, a man in a short jacket came out of the dilapidated house opposite the grain station.
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