Make fried rice with your eggs; make ham rice with your ham.
"What are you doing? Don't you dare take off my clothes! Get away from me! Get away from me!"
Ye Qingzhou used all her strength, shouting and yelling, until she was forced into a corner of the bed. Unable to push the old woman away, she stomped and kicked her with all her might.
Annoyed by being kicked, the matchmaker threw down her pink wedding dress, knelt on the bed, and grabbed Ye Qingzhou by the neck with both hands.
Ye Qingzhou stared at her, her hands trembling with effort as she forcefully pried open a small gap. Without hesitation, she opened her mouth and bit the matchmaker's hand.
"Ah! Let go! Are you a dog?" The old woman was bitten on a bit of flesh, and she jumped up in pain.
Ye Qingzhou, of course, wouldn't budge. She even bit harder, thinking, "You bastard, you dare bully me!"
The matchmaker jumped and pushed, finally managing to free one hand, only to have Ye Qingzhou bite her other. Seeing the neat red teeth marks on her arm, the matchmaker cried out in even greater pain, "Help! Someone help me!"
With a "bang!", the simple wooden door was opened.
The man strode in aggressively and slapped Ye Qingzhou across the face.
But Ye Qingzhou still wouldn't budge. His bright black eyes remained fixed on Yu Xi.
"You bitch! I don't believe you're not afraid of anything!" Yu Xi turned around the room, but there was no water vat to scare her. Yu Xi then turned back, a sinister smile on her face: "Aren't you the one who loves the children the most?"
After saying that, he got into bed and pounced on Ye Qingzhou.
The fragrance emanating from Ye Qingzhou wafted into Yu Xi's nose.
He was smelly and heavy. He was almost pressing on her stomach. Ye Qingzhou promptly let go and kept backing away.
But behind her was a wall.
The old woman, wincing in pain, ignored the strange couple and went to examine her injury under the oil lamp. "So deep? I need to apply medicine!" she thought. Holding her arm, she went out the door.
Yu Xi didn't leave. He even pressed down on Ye Qingzhou's stomach with a roguish air.
"Get out! Get out! You filthy scoundrel!" Ye Qingzhou was squeezed into a small corner, making it difficult for him to even breathe.
She thinks he smells bad? Yu Xi raised her sleeve, sniffed, and admitted that he did smell a bit.
In that split second, Ye Qingzhou seized the opportunity to crawl off the bed.
You smell good, I smell bad. Then I'll make you smell bad too. Yu Xi turned around and grabbed Ye Qingzhou's foot.
Ye Qingzhou's heart trembled, afraid that he would press down on her again, and the baby in her womb would not be able to bear it and would kick and thrash with all its might.
"Ah!" Yu Xi covered her face.
Ye Qingzhou immediately got out of bed, grabbed a stool, and started hitting Yu Xi on the back, slapping him repeatedly: "You sold me for money? I'm the mother of your child. You're not a man!"
Yu Xi felt the pain and wanted to fight back.
Ye Qingzhou slammed a stool into his hand: "Get out! Get out! You bastard! When you married me, you only gave me ten taels of silver as a bride price. Over the past ten years, you've emptied my million-dollar dowry. Now, you've sold me off for another fifty taels of silver. You heartless bastard."
Ye Qingzhou grew angrier with each curse, ignoring her tightening stomach and discomfort. Yu Xi was chased and beaten by her, eventually being forced to leave the house.
He threw down the stool, closed the door, and locked it.
After finishing all this, Ye Qingzhou leaned against the wall, panting heavily. Her still trembling hands gently stroked her stomach.
Outside the door.
Yu Xi touched the scratched area on her face, feeling a sharp pain and noticing a little blood.
Strangely enough, Ye Qingzhou used to be very obedient to him, and he always tried to control her. But today, after being beaten up by Ye Qingzhou, Yu Xi suddenly felt the urge to be managed.
He even thought that if his mother scolded him again in the future, he would tell Ye Qingzhou to let his daughter-in-law go and meet his mother.
"Brother, did your wife hit you?" Yu Yue had been listening outside for a long time before finally coming over. She was also afraid that Ye Qingzhou would hit her.
"What kind of sister-in-law is she?" Yu's mother looked at her son with heartache. Yu Xi's face and arms were covered with long, bloody scratch marks.
"Oh dear! Oh dear! Why didn't you say so earlier? This woman has such a fiery temper!" The matchmaker stuffed several wedding clothes into Yu's mother's hands: "You guys figure something out. I'm not going to bother with this. This little bit of money isn't even enough to cover the medicine costs."
After saying that, she went into the yard.
With a glance from her mother, Yu Yue reached out and knocked on the door: "Sister-in-law, open the door."
"Redraw it? Send her over here. She has the best hair." Ye Qingzhou replied from inside.
"Why do you have so many problems?" Yu's mother said impatiently.
"If she doesn't come, I won't go," Ye Qingzhou answered decisively.
Yu Yue had no choice but to go outside and bring back Chonghua, who was tied up.
Ye Qingzhou opened the door a crack, and as soon as he stepped inside, the door was about to close again.
Yu's mother reached out to stop her, but her hand was caught in the trap.
Inside the room, there was a murmur of conversation. After a while, Ye Qingzhou spoke up, "Yu Yue, bring the clothes over."
Yu Yue was about to go inside with a few pieces of clothing in her hands.
Mother Yu stopped her, only giving her one set: "The rest can still be sold."
Just like before, the door opened a crack and then closed again.
After a moment, Ye Qingzhou spoke again, her voice gentle and melodious, extremely docile: "This set of clothes is torn, Mother, please give me another set."
That soft, gentle voice, like a feather from a fledgling bird, lightly brushed against one's heart, making one's heart itch. Yu Xi immediately took a step forward and rushed ahead.
"You're calling me. Look at you, you've lost your mind. You're so spineless." Hearing Ye Qingzhou's respectful tone, Yu's mother felt relieved and straightened her back. Yu's mother gave Yu Xi a push, grabbed the remaining clothes, knocked on the door, and went inside.
Why is it so dark in this room?
How did Ye Qingzhou manage to dress and groom herself, given how dark her skin was?
Yu's mother reached out her hand, waiting for someone to help her up. Suddenly, a wad of cloth was stuffed into Yu's mother's mouth. She couldn't scream and tried to struggle, but a rope was already looped around her body.
The rope tightened and wrapped around itself.
Ye Qingzhou and Chonghua exchanged a glance. In the darkness, their eyes shone brightly.
"Hurry up! Don't miss the appointed time!" the matchmaker urged from the courtyard.
Only when the matchmaker urged her again did Yu Xi outside the door respond in a deep voice.
Ye Qingzhou and Chonghua were in the room, using powder compacts to apply makeup to the two people sitting on the bed.
Finally, the two brides had their veils put on.
The door opened, and the matchmaker crept in in the dark. She was well-prepared, taking out a tinderbox and blowing on it: "So, you've dressed up the dowry maids too? Good. Hurry up and go. It wouldn't be good if we missed the appointed time."
People outside came in one after another to help the bride into the bridal sedan chair.
The jumbled footsteps disappeared. Then another pair of footsteps entered. Yu Xi said, "Huh? Where did everyone go? Did they go to sell clothes? Why did they run so fast?"
Yu Xi's feet circled the room for a moment, then stopped. A silence fell over the room, followed by his sigh: "Ye, Qing, Zhou."
Ye Qingzhou, who was hiding under the bed a few steps away, suddenly opened his eyes wide.
Chonghua, who was lying under the bed with her, also nervously looked ahead.
Had she been discovered? Ye Qingzhou's heart pounded fiercely in her chest. She still dared not breathe loudly in the darkness, waiting quietly, her hand tightly gripping a pair of scissors.
"Qingzhou..." he murmured, then chuckled self-deprecatingly, shaking the small bag in his hand, muttering to himself, "Ten taels of silver for the bride price. Why do you keep bringing it up? I hate you. I'm a man, I have my pride. Why aren't you like Yan'er, going along with me?"
After Yu Xi finished speaking, she slowly walked to the door.
There is no moon tonight.
After a while, Ye Qingzhou heard no sound, so she pulled Chonghua along and slowly walked outside.
As soon as I stepped out of the door, I heard some noise outside the courtyard.
Chonghua pulled her back, trying to hide under the bed in the room.
Ye Qingzhou thought for a moment, then pulled her aside to a more chaotic room nearby. The room seemed uninhabited for a long time. The wardrobe door was broken. There wasn't even a blanket on the bed.
Just as the two had taken cover, they heard Yu Xi's hurried footsteps enter the house. He immediately rushed into the room they had just been in and began rummaging through things. The sounds of things being toppled and thrown around echoed continuously.
In the dilapidated house next door, under the dark bed, Ye Qingzhou and Chonghua lay on the floor, holding each other's hands tightly.
Yu Xi came like a gust of wind and left like a gust of wind.
This time, after a brief silence, Ye Qingzhou and Chonghua both remained still.
Sure enough, not long after, the gate to the courtyard was broken open again.
This time, a lot of people came.
Chaotic, hurried footsteps, like water spilling across the ground, instantly filled the entire courtyard and then invaded the house.
Someone entered each room. A pair of pure leather boots, with cleats on the soles, strode confidently into the dilapidated house. He opened a broken cabinet, lifted the dirty straw mat on the tattered bed, and searched carefully.
The straw mat was lifted.
Below, there was a thick layer of straw.
The man barely stopped and went straight to remove the straw.
Under the bed, Ye Qingzhou and Chonghua's hands were clasped together, covered in sweat. Their hands were trembling uncontrollably.
"Is there?" Outside, a person spoke, their voice hoarse and low, as if a handful of rough sand had been sprinkled into their throat.
"Jinghong?" A woman's voice came from under the bed.
"It's her! She's here!" With a joyful cry, Jiang Jinghong rushed into the house and, together with the constable Li, lifted the tattered bed. Underneath the bed, two figures were embracing tightly.
"Puff!" Li, the yamen runner, blew on the tinderbox to light it.
Light returned to her eyes, and Ye Qingzhou closed them, then slowly opened them again. Remembering how it all started—her haste in admitting her mistake with the letter—Ye Qingzhou lowered her eyes. She had been so foolish, and gotten herself all dirty; it was truly awful.
Jiang Jinghong squatted down, like a thirsty person seeing a clear spring, and looked intently at Ye Qingzhou: how lovable she was, like a clever little kitten that had been chased by bad guys and finally escaped home.
Chonghua looked at Lü Xiaocao, Nangua, Li Qi, Jiang Yuan and others, then immediately ran out to talk to them.
Someone brought over an oil lamp, and then Li, the yamen runner, went out.
Jiang Jinghong, holding an oil lamp, gently wiped the dust from Ye Qingzhou's face. Looking at the woman before him, about to become his wife, his heart, which had been lost and then regained, ached terribly: "Are you hungry? Thirsty? Does anything hurt?"
Ye Qingzhou smiled and shook her head. However, her stomach started rumbling.
"Come on, I'll make you some fried rice with eggs when we get back." Jiang Jinghong put his arm around his wife, and as the oil lamp flickered, he saw an unnatural redness on Ye Qingzhou's face, as if she had been beaten.
Jiang Jinghong's smile vanished instantly: Damn Yu Xi, I'll use your eggs to make fried rice! And when I make ham rice, I'll use your legs!
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