Chapter 74 [VIP]
Yi Shui, dressed in tattered clothes, lay half-reclined in the corner. When she saw the person who came, she simply pursed her lips and turned her head to one side.
"You dare give me that attitude?!" Cuilian bent down and grabbed Yishui's long hair, forcing her to raise her head. "Even if I beat you to death, no one will come to save you. You'd better behave!"
Yi Shui's already swollen and red eyes glistened with tears again, and she whispered weakly, "Let me...go back..."
"Go back where?" Cuilian's tone was fierce. "You've spent so much of my money, and you still want to go back?!"
She shoved the rice bowl towards Yishui's mouth, saying, "Eat! You've been enjoying yourself here for days, finish eating and get back to work!"
Yi Shui's intermittent sobs filled the woodshed, irritating Cui Lian. She let out a heavy sigh, slammed the girl against the pile of firewood behind her, and then unceremoniously poured the food into the girl's mouth.
"Eat! Give me some!"
"Ugh! Ugh... Waaah... Waaah..."
Jiang Zhuochen's face darkened, and his fingers twitched uncontrollably. Just as the pale blue spiritual energy was about to rise from his fingertips, an even more sinister and terrifying sense of being watched suddenly descended upon his back, as if waiting for Jiang Zhuochen to make a move so that it could tear him to pieces.
...
Jiang Zhuochen abandoned the idea of violently stopping it. His gaze swept over the furnishings outside the house, finally landing on the pile of unsplit wood.
He strode over, then pretended to accidentally step on a piece of wood, collapsing onto the pile of firewood with a loud, earth-shattering cry of pain.
"ah!!"
The person shouted so loudly and emotionally that Xu Xing's heart skipped a beat. He immediately ran over and helped the person up. Only after noticing the look the other person gave him did he feel relieved.
Li Zhuangguo and Wang Laowu arrived a step behind, and even Cuilian from the woodshed came out to see what was going on.
"what happens?"
Jiang Zhuochen frowned and said slowly, "I accidentally stepped on a piece of wood and fell down. It hurts."
Li Zhuangguo clicked his tongue in disdain, "Always making a fuss, all he did was fall down."
Wang Laowu laughed, "Fugui is still young, why scold him?"
Cuilian stepped forward, picked up the person, and spun them around. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"You fell!" Jiang Zhuochen exclaimed hastily, patting his back with both hands. "Ouch, Aunt Cuilian, do you have any medicinal wine?"
"Yes, I'll get it for you." After saying that, Cuilian turned around and went back into the house.
Jiang Zhuochen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After Cuilian brought him the medicinal wine, he stood at the courtyard gate and chatted. It seemed that he wouldn't cause trouble for the girl for the time being.
He made an excuse to ask someone to help him apply medicine, and pulled Xu Xing away from them to exchange information.
Xu Xing didn't say anything after hearing this, but instead shifted his gaze to Jiang Zhuochen's back. "Are you alright?"
"No." Jiang Zhuochen winked at him, grinning. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
Taking advantage of the fact that no one could see, Xu Xing pinched his cheek. "What kind of sense do you have? You know you can't act rashly, yet you still dare to use your spiritual power."
As they were talking, Li Zhuangguo, who was in the distance, finished his conversation and waved to them, preparing to go back.
As the two passed by the woodshed, they glanced inside and saw the girl tightly hugging herself, ignoring the spilled juice that flowed to her feet, her head buried and motionless.
The next day, Jiang Zhuochen noticed that Yishui was no longer in the woodshed. She was sweeping the fallen leaves in the yard, carrying a broom and a dustpan. Her eyes were dim, and she had become silent and numb.
Cuilian came out of the house, baring her teeth, and pinched Yishui's ear, scolding, "What are you dawdling for? Baozhu is still inside waiting for you to serve him!"
Yi Shui resisted, backing away and shaking her head violently from side to side. "I don't... I don't want to..."
"You don't want it?!" Cuilian suddenly raised her voice, "You bought it to be his wife, what's wrong with her serving your man?!"
“No, he’s not…” Yi Shui choked up, “I will work hard, please don’t let me in.”
"You brat, you won't listen to me when I speak nicely to you?" Cuilian slapped her on the back of the head, grabbed her by the back of the neck, and dragged her inside.
Jiang Zhuochen climbed over the wall and entered the house, hiding behind a pillar to observe the situation.
Cuilian tossed the washbasin and towel to Yishui, pointed at the lecherous, sickly man on the bed, and said in an unquestionable tone, "Clean him up, or you'll regret it!"
After saying that, Cuilian turned around, locked the door, and strode away.
Jiang Zhuochen held his breath, listening to the low sobbing sounds inside, the man's increasingly violent roars, and for some reason, Yi Shui's sudden scream.
He quietly walked forward, took out a wire, inserted it into the keyhole to unlock the door, and then hid around the corner the moment the door opened.
The next moment, Yi Shui ran out without a care. Inside, Bao Zhu was so angry that his eyes went black, and he lay on the bed barely breathing.
Jiang Zhuochen threw the towel at Baozhu's face, blocking his view. After realizing that he couldn't help the man wash his body no matter what, he frowned and tentatively moved his fingers.
This time, there was no discomfort of being spied on. The light blue spiritual energy had already wrapped around his fingertips, and Jiang Zhuochen was completely unharmed until he finished washing himself with a cleansing incantation.
So, as long as Yi Shui herself doesn't notice anything unusual, it's fine?
He left Wang Laowu's house, originally intending only to alleviate the other party's hatred. Unexpectedly, not long after, Cuilian directly forced him into Baozhu's room, cursing as she watched him clean Baozhu's body bit by bit.
Amidst the desperate sobs, something else mingled, sending a chill down Jiang Zhuochen's spine. Why? Didn't things change in the woodshed last time? Why is it continuing this time?
He had a vague feeling that this was something Yishui had to go through, and therefore it was unchangeable.
Being sold here and subjected to abuse is the first step in generating resentment, and then enduring inhuman torture with a half-dead man will gradually increase that resentment.
He shared this idea with Xu Xing, and then they discussed their next steps.
Li Zhuangguo walked in at that moment, his face beaming with joy. He glanced at the two of them and said cheerfully, "Fugui, you're about to have a wife."
"...?" Jiang Zhuochen opened his eyes wide in confusion.
"What does this mean?" Xu Xing's face darkened.
"What do you mean?" Li Zhuangguo thought that Xu Xing, as the eldest brother, was unhappy that he had found a wife for the younger brother first, so he patiently explained, "Today I was working in the fields when Old Zhao's wife suddenly told me that her daughter is about to get married. She talked to someone yesterday and said that she prefers our Fugui."
At this point, Li Zhuangguo couldn't hide his pride, as if he felt that he had taught his son well, which was why his son was able to win the favor of girls.
“Zhaocai, although I also want to find you a wife first, you know there are only a few girls in the village. What if the girl doesn’t like you and doesn’t want to marry you? I’m not as rich as Wang Laowu, who can buy one for each of you. I’ll have to make do with you for now. I promise you, I will find you one as soon as possible.”
Jiang Zhuochen touched his nose, not daring to look at Xu Xing's expression. He refused, saying, "No way. There's no such thing as the eldest brother being single while the second brother gets married first. People would laugh at my brother if they found out."
Li Zhuangguo's face immediately darkened, and he started cursing, "You've gone too far! If it weren't for me, would you two have been able to find wives? You dare not want them? You have no choice but to accept them!"
Xu Xing stared directly at Li Zhuangguo, his expression indifferent. The aura of a superior that he had deliberately concealed suddenly spread out, mixed with wisps of externalized, invisible pressure.
"He's still young, there's no need for him to think about these things."
Li Zhuangguo was startled, inexplicably feeling that his eldest son had changed. He froze for a moment, then raised his voice in an attempt to drown out the panic in his heart.
"Little brat! You were born when your mother was his age! Still don't want a wife? Are you waiting for my Li family line to die out?!"
Xu Xing glanced at him, gave a faint chuckle, and pulled Jiang Zhuochen outside. "I'm hungry, let's go eat first."
As Jiang Zhuochen walked, he turned to the side and waved to Li Zhuangguo, smiling innocently: "We'll talk about it later, no rush."
Feeling his wrist being gripped even tighter, Jiang Zhuochen quickly shut up and left without looking back.
Back in the room, Xu Xing clicked his tongue in annoyance. Jiang Zhuochen circled around him, completely unperturbed, and said in a drawn-out tone, "Are you angry? You're angry about this? They're arranging a marriage for his son, not for me, so why are you angry?"
"Aren't you his son now?" Xu Xing said indifferently. What kind of twisted logic is this?
"A teacher for a day is a father for life." Jiang Zhuochen said solemnly, but a hint of cunning flashed in the corner of his eye. "I am your son now."
Xu Xing was amused by his words, and the pent-up frustration dissipated with a sigh. He tapped his forehead helplessly and said, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Not angry anymore?" Jiang Zhuochen covered his head and leaned closer. "If you're still unhappy, we'll sneak over and beat him up tonight."
Looking down at the face so close to him, Xu Xing lowered his head slightly, bit Jiang Zhuochen, and then pulled him into his arms.
Jiang Zhuochen obediently hugged the person, secretly raising the corners of his mouth in his arms.
Ever since he learned that this person was his master, he felt a sense of novelty no matter how they got along.
Having known his master for so many years, he had never seen the other party experience any significant emotional fluctuations. There was a certain disconnect, yet it also made him eager to try, after all, Xu Xing, who could express his emotions so openly, was a rare find, and he wanted to cherish him.
Originally, Li Zhuang thought that after Xu Xing's ruthless rejection, he would quiet down for a while. However, after thinking it over, he became bolder again and went around telling people that his two sons were good-for-nothings. He spoke with great emotion, spittle flying everywhere.
The two men, used to this, let it go in one ear and out the other, pretending to follow behind Li Zhuangguo to do the work.
The temperature in the fields was too high at noon, so the group went around to the other side of the hill to rest, and that's when they happened to run into Wang Laowu's family.
Cuilian wiped her face with the towel draped around her neck, while Wang Laowu drank water in large gulps, leaving only Yishui, whose face was sunburned red, standing awkwardly to the side.
The neighbors, who had known each other for years, would naturally start chatting whenever they met. Jiang Zhuochen had no interest in listening to their pointless conversations, but he couldn't stand their loud voices.
As they chatted, the conversation somehow drifted back to Jiang Zhuochen's marriage, and the three of them began a new round of criticism.
Jiang Zhuochen silently pulled up the weeds on the ground. What's the point of repeating the same thing over and over again? It's better to do more work than to be so idle.
He turned his face toward Xu Xing, then suddenly his expression hardened, his gaze meeting Xu Xing's, and he saw the same wariness in the other's eyes.
That oppressive feeling of being watched returned.
He looked up and, sure enough, Yi Shui was looking in their direction.
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