Concubine?
She's a top student from a prestigious university, an independent woman of the new era, and an outstanding employee of a Fortune 500 company. Doesn't she deserve to be a wife?
That's incredibly disrespectful!
Zhou Chenyu turned her head and smiled ingratiatingly, "Big brother, you are a rich man who wears gold and silver, while I am just a poor countryman. How could I be worthy of you?"
Qian Rushan gently lifted Zhou Chenyu's hand and rubbed it lightly twice. "I, Qian Rushan, have never cared about family background. As long as I meet a woman I love and want to spend my life with, what's wrong with marrying her?"
Zhou Chenyu's smile froze on his face, but in his mind he was cursing Zhou Chenyu's whole family.
A man who doesn't respect himself is like a rotten cabbage.
Why pretend to be a deeply affectionate persona?
If he dares to take any further advantage of her, she'll risk her life.
Anyway, she's just a time traveler; at worst, she'll die from injuries, but she'll still have company on her journey.
Zhou Chenyu secretly gathered her strength, but unexpectedly, Li Xiuju suddenly stood up and stood in front of her, protecting her like a mother hen protecting her chicks.
Looking at Li Xiuju's thin frame, Zhou Chenyu silently withdrew his hand.
Li Xiuju looked at Qian Rushan with teary eyes, "Master Qian, she fell ill after her father passed away and has been acting crazy ever since. You already have so many young and beautiful wives in your family, I beg you, please let us go."
Qian Rushan withdrew his hand from the air, smelled the lingering fragrance, and said, "I didn't do anything to mess with you, so why are you saying I let you off the hook?"
Li Xiuju's hair was disheveled, her face pale and streaked with tears, but her eyes were bloodshot and red, making her look like a female ghost. "You took away our family's last piece of land. Now we have nothing left. Are you trying to wipe us out completely?"
Qian Rushan arrogantly raised his chin, raised an eyebrow and chuckled: "Aunt Li, it's only right to pay back debts. Since you can't come up with the money to pay off the remaining debt, then use your daughter to settle it. One debt at a time, that's fair."
What?
Use her to pay off the debt?
Zhou Chenyu's eyes widened. No wonder Zhou Baoyu had stopped her from going out earlier.
When Zhou Baoyu saw his mother's tearful face, he felt ashamed of his own incompetence and immediately rushed to confront Qian Rushan.
Even though you're at a significant disadvantage in terms of money, you should still argue your case based on reason.
"Qian Rushan, you...you're talking nonsense! Our family only borrowed twenty taels of silver from you, and we've already paid it back."
"Twenty taels?" Qian Rushan pulled out an IOU from his chest and deliberately waved it in front of Zhou Baoyu. "Your mother and uncle were both present when the IOU was written. It clearly stated two hundred taels in black and white, so how come it's only twenty taels in your mouth? Do you think your father couldn't be saved and that this money wasn't worth it, so you're trying to renege on the debt?"
After listening for a long time, Zhou Chenyu sighed helplessly. It seemed that he had not only suffered from his lack of education, but had also been tricked by his relatives and this man surnamed Qian.
A fireproof and burglarproof house for relatives.
Zhou Baoyu looked at the large characters "two hundred taels" written on the note, knowing full well that it was a trap, but he was powerless to do anything about it.
In a fit of anger, he declared, "I'm going to take you to the authorities and sue you!"
As soon as he said it, Qian Rushan immediately responded without any fear, "Fine! I want to see whether the upright official will believe your one-sided story or this written evidence."
"Fine, I'll go! What are you afraid of?" Zhou Baoyu said, striding confidently toward the government office.
As he was leaving, Qian Rushan gave him a vicious look, and two thugs immediately grabbed him and punched him hard in the stomach.
With old wounds compounded by new ones, Zhou Baoyu coughed up a mouthful of blood on the spot.
Blood splattered at Zhou Chenyu's feet, and she was so frightened that she froze.
Li Xiuju went berserk for a moment, kneeling down in front of Qian Rushan and kowtowing several times, her voice hoarse from crying: "Master Qian, I beg you, please let us go."
Qian Rushan kicked Li Xiuju away, wiped the grime from his hands, and said lazily, "Li Xiuju, if you insist on this, don't risk your son's life. I'll say it again: either pay back the money, or sell your daughter!"
Li Xiuju, humbled to the point of despair, made a last-ditch effort: "But we really have no money left. Can you give us a few months so I can think of something else?"
Qian Rushan had no patience to listen to the rest and gave the order, "Beat them to death!"
"No, no!" Li Xiuju looked at her two children who had suffered so much, her heart breaking. She couldn't care less about being considerate anymore. Her lips trembled as she cried out, "I'll borrow it, I'll go borrow it right away."
Li Xiuju scrambled out of the courtyard, and the courtyard returned to peace. A servant brought out a stool, and Qian Rushan sat down contentedly.
Zhou Chenyu looked at Zhou Baoyu, whose cheeks, mouth, and clothes were covered in blood. The big boy who had been lively and energetic just moments before was now lying motionless on the ground.
This is a human life, yet they treat human life like dirt.
Is there no justice left?!
Zhou Chenyu, with a strength she didn't know she had, pried the thug's hands off, staggered to Zhou Baoyu's side, and patted his face, "Zhou Baoyu, wake up."
The people on the ground were as still as chickens, showing no reaction whatsoever.
"You're not really dead, are you?" Zhou Chenyu panicked and checked his breathing. "You're not dead yet."
Hearing the voice, Zhou Baoyu opened her eyes and saw the person in front of her. She burst into tears, "Sister, where am I?"
Hearing his strong, sobbing voice, Zhou Chenyu breathed a sigh of relief and said with disdain, "The underworld."
"What? I'm dead?" Zhou Baoyu stretched out his legs and jumped up. When he saw Qian Rushan, he was like a man possessed, wanting to rush over and die with him.
This family's naiveté is truly inherited.
Zhou Chenyu quickly grabbed him and angrily scolded, "Zhou Baoyu, do you have any sense of your own strength? Do you still want to go and throw your life away?"
"Sister, I can't just stand by and watch Qian Rushan bully us!" Zhou Baoyu clutched her stomach, sweating profusely with anxiety.
Zhou Chenyu grabbed his arm and warned sternly, "Qian Rushan's men are all fat and strong like bears. We, a group of old, weak, and disabled people, definitely can't just rob them by force. We have to outsmart them!"
Zhou Baoyu felt a sharp poke on the head and started to feel uncomfortable again. "Sister, it hurts, it hurts."
Qian Rushan looked at the whispering siblings and, as if teasing a puppy, leaned down to look at them and smiled, "Miss Chenyu, what do you think of my suggestion? Being my concubine is better than staying in this wretched place, isn't it? As long as you say yes, I can guarantee you a life of comfort and security for the rest of your days."
You?
Do you even deserve it?
Zhou Chenyu rolled her eyes behind his back, a plan flashing through her mind. She looked at Zhou Baoyu and touched the blood off his body. "By the way, what's our father's name again?"
"Zhou Wenbin." Zhou Baoyu's eyes followed Zhou Chenyu's movements, half believing and half doubting. "Sister, why are you asking this?"
Looking at her blood-stained hands, Zhou Chenyu raised the corners of her mouth slightly and said smugly, "Of course, we'll make Qian Rushan give up his debts on his own."
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