Chapter 204 As Before
They arrived at the second house.
The dilapidated mud house is the home of Wang Fuping, a bachelor in his thirties.
Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating his face, which appeared particularly gloomy due to his involuntary singleness.
The noises coming from the neighboring yard every night kept him tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
At this moment in the illusion, a heavy iron chain was tightly fastened around Wang Fuping's neck, where veins were bulging.
He was horrified to discover that he had become the one who was tied up.
The room was filled with the smell of mildew and sweat.
He knelt on the kang (a heated brick bed), the rough hemp rope digging deeply into his dark flesh.
His mouth was stuffed with a rag, so he could only make muffled "ooh" sounds.
A long queue formed outside, with the village bachelors rubbing their hands together and occasionally peeking into the windows.
Wang Degui leaned against the doorframe, counting crumpled banknotes as he shouted into the house, "Hurry up! There are still people waiting in line!"
Wang Fuping's cloudy eyes were bloodshot.
He recalled that seven years ago, he had squatted in front of Wang Degui's house in the same way, listening to the cries coming from inside.
He swallowed hard and said to Wang Degui, "Brother, when you're done playing around, let your brother have a taste?"
Now, those words have come true for him like a curse.
Outside the window, Gu Yuzhen and Lu Yao stood quietly.
Wang Fuping threw his head back and let out a painful howl. His gaze met Gu Yuzhen outside the window, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
"How long will it last?" Gu Yuzhen asked softly.
Lu Yao smiled slightly: "Until he has tasted the bitter fruit of his own actions."
She turned to look at Gu Yuzhen, "How long do you hope it will last?"
The screams inside the room suddenly rose another octave.
Wang Fuping convulsed violently, his sweat and blood soaking through the straw mat beneath him.
As Gu Yuzhen watched this scene, she recalled the night when her feet were chained together.
At that moment, Wang Fuping was squatting outside the fence, watching her with shining eyes, muttering, "Wait until Old Wang has had his fun..."
"Let him enjoy it." Gu Yuzhen turned and walked towards the next house.
They slowly looked at the situation of the thirty-six households.
Moonlight spilled onto the village road, and Lu Yao's sleeves fluttered gently in the night breeze.
She said calmly, "Only when you let go will all this end. Otherwise, they will be trapped in this illusion forever."
Gu Yuzhen gazed at the village still screaming in the distance, a cold smile appearing on her lips.
"What if I never let go? I feel like I'll never forgive them."
A glint of malice flashed in Lu Yao's eyes: "Then let them stay here forever."
Gu Yuzhen suddenly stopped and carefully examined Lu Yao's cold face: "Aren't you going to persuade me to forgive her?"
Lu Yao chuckled lightly, a chill running through her voice: "The fact that you're still suffering means they haven't finished atoning for their sins. How could I possibly advise you to forgive them?"
Don't you think I'm being too cruel?
Lu Yao suddenly laughed, "I just feel that you are still the same as before."
“Before…” Gu Yuzhen was stunned, a familiar feeling surging up like a tide, “We knew each other before, didn’t we?”
Lu Yao gently stroked Gu Yuzhen's cheek with her fingertips. "Yes, Poria cocos."
Her voice was so soft it almost disappeared in the wind, yet it sent a shiver down Gu Yuzhen's spine.
...
That year, during the Lantern Festival, Qiao Fuling, the young lady from the Imperial Censor's Mansion, finally got her father's permission to go out and enjoy the lanterns.
She was dressed in the simplest of clothes, yet she still stood out in the crowd.
"Miss! Miss!" The maid's calls gradually faded into the distance.
As soon as Qiao Fuling turned around, a handkerchief soaked in a sleeping potion was covered by her mouth and nose.
When I woke up, the musty smell from the cabin hit my nostrils.
She overheard a crude conversation among several men outside: "This kind of goods could fetch a high price if sold to Yangzhou as a 'slim horse' (a euphemism for a prostitute)."
"Before we sell it, let's have a taste first..."
Qiao Fuling closed her eyes and felt a rough hand touch her waist.
She suddenly raised her leg and kicked the man in the groin with all her might.
"You bitch!" Enraged, fists and feet rained down.
Just as they were tearing at her clothes, shouts from soldiers suddenly came from the dock.
By this time, it was too late for the villains to escape. They ran right into the soldiers and had no choice but to fight them.
In the chaos, Qiao Fuling found a fallen dagger.
When the thug was fighting with the soldiers with his back to her, she did not hesitate to plunge the dagger into his back.
Blood splattered on the faces of the officers and soldiers.
She looked up and saw her father standing in the doorway, his eyes filled with shock and disgust as if he were looking at a monster.
When she got home, her father looked at her as if she were something dirty.
On the third day, the herbal soup that my mother brought had an unusually bitter taste.
"What is this?" Qiao Fuling asked coldly.
The mother's tears dripped into the medicine bowl: "Fuling, be good..."
Imperial Censor Qiao strode in, his voice as cold as ice: "The Qiao family has a clean reputation for generations, and it cannot be ruined in your hands. Drink this bowl of medicine and go to the nunnery to end your remaining days."
Qiao Fuling stared intently at her father.
"You're afraid of me."
"Yes!" Imperial Censor Qiao slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly. "My Qiao family has been a family of scholars and officials for generations. How could we have raised such a rebellious daughter as you!"
His trembling fingers almost poked Qiao Fuling's face. "Since childhood, I've taught you 'Admonitions for Women' and 'Inner Teachings,' to be gentle, obedient, polite, and chaste. Where did you learn it all? Holding a knife to kill someone... Where is even a trace of a proper lady?"
“He insulted me first.” Qiao Fuling straightened her back, her eyes flashing with a cold light. “I was just protecting myself.”
"Absurd!" Imperial Censor Qiao's face turned ashen. "Your father and his troops arrived just in time. You only need to wait for rescue..."
"Wait?" Qiao Fuling chuckled softly. "Like this, waiting for my father to pronounce my fate?"
The brownish medicinal soup reflected her mocking eyes.
Several burly women pounced on her, pinning her limbs down like iron clamps.
Qiao Fuling struggled fiercely, her hair disheveled, and her hairpins and ornaments fell to the ground.
Imperial Censor Qiao's hands were as cold as iron. He gripped her chin and forced the bowl of bitter medicine down her throat.
"Cough cough...you guys..."
The medicine spilled from the corner of her mouth, and her vision gradually blurred. The last thing she saw was the corner of Imperial Censor Qiao's robe as he hurriedly retreated.
When I opened my eyes again, all I saw was darkness.
An endless expanse of darkness.
Qiao Fuling struggled violently, only to find herself above a dark and oppressive coffin ceiling.
In the cramped space, she could even hear her own rapid heartbeat.
"I'm alive?"
She struggled frantically, and with a strength she didn't know she possessed, she managed to pry open the coffin lid, which wasn't yet nailed shut, with her shoulder.
"boom--"
The loud crash of the coffin lid falling off echoed in the empty Buddhist hall.
Qiao Fuling gasped for breath, her trembling fingers gripping the edge of the coffin as she struggled to climb out.
A biting cold wind swept in, and Qiao Fuling realized that she was only wearing a thin plain dress.
She hugged her arms tightly, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.
Her long, disheveled hair fell over her shoulders, the ends still covered with wood shavings from the coffin.
"woke up?"
A clear, melodious voice came from above.
A young girl dressed in a Taoist robe leaped gracefully down from the crossbeam, the copper bells at her waist jingling.
Qiao Fuling then realized that the soldiers were able to arrive at the dock in time because the Taoist priest in front of her had cast a divination.
Lu Yao took off her Taoist robe and gently wrapped it around her thin shoulders; the fabric still carried the scent of pine from the mountains.
"Come with me." Lu Yao reached out and brushed the wood chips from her hair, her eyes reflecting the first light of dawn. "This world is so vast, why confine yourself to this tiny place?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
