Having been reborn, she already possessed a wealth of information about the future, and with this advantage, she had already made the Li family rich. The Li family clearly wouldn't force her to marry into the Liu family as they had in her previous life; she needed to find a scapegoat to fill her void.
Ling Nian's spirit lingered after her death, and she saw Li Fangqi living a very good life. With a maturity far beyond her years, Li Fangqi not only managed to keep her family in check but also married a promising naval officer, who took her to a coastal city to develop her career. The whole family followed her to the big city.
Knowing that Li Fangqi had planned it all along, Chu Nian naturally couldn't let her have her way, so she deliberately stayed on the kang (heated brick bed) without making a sound.
Li Fangqi knocked and called from outside for a while, but there was no response from inside. So she tiptoed into the house. Because Chu Nian had her eyes closed and seemed to be asleep, Li Fangqi stared at her for a while, then left without saying a word.
In this world, spiritual power is forbidden. Fortunately, Chu Nian can still use it in her current body, but she can't release it outside her body, so she can't use her spiritual power to track Li Fangqi and find out what she's doing.
However, Chu Nian had already guessed a bit of what was going on. She kept her eyes closed and remained motionless, but secretly used her spiritual power to nourish the original owner's physical body.
Although spiritual energy cannot be projected outwards, its nourishing effect on the physical body of ordinary people is very strong. She clearly felt her body becoming lighter and healthier, her breathing becoming much smoother than before, and she was also rapidly becoming stronger and more powerful.
About fifteen minutes later, Chu Nian heard a strange rustling sound coming from the courtyard wall.
Chu Nian deduced that someone was climbing over the wall. Based on the sounds the other person made, and combined with the original owner's memories, Chu Nian could roughly guess the other person's height, weight, and the amount of strength they could muster.
She assessed the strength she could muster, then got up from the kang (a heated brick bed), put on the original owner's shoes that were placed beside the kang, and then lay down again, pretending that the original owner hadn't taken off her shoes before lying down to rest.
A moment later, the door to the outer room creaked open, and soft footsteps came in, growing closer and closer, tiptoeing. Then the door creaked open again, and the newcomer entered the room in the west wing where Chu Nian was lying with practiced ease.
As the other person moved closer to the head of the kang (a heated brick bed), Chu Nian could feel their breathing getting closer and closer, and their panting becoming noticeably heavier.
Chu Nian heard the sound of a belt; it must have been the slight clanging sound of the belt buckle snapping as the other person pulled it out.
She suddenly stood up and kicked the man who was unbuttoning his clothes.
"ah……"
The man who entered the room was short and ugly, Liu Quan, Liu Huai's father from the original owner's memories. Caught off guard by Chu Nian's sudden kick, he cried out in pain and fell backward.
Chu Nian pretended not to recognize him and shouted in a panic, "Oh my god, there's a thief! A thief has broken into our house! Help!"
As she yelled, she jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed) and unfortunately stepped on Liu Quan. Liu Quan screamed in pain again, his eyes rolled back, and he almost fainted from the pain.
Chu Nian rushed out of the house, picked up an unused shovel, turned around and came back inside, and smacked Liu Quan, who had just gotten up and was facing away from the door, on the back of the head.
Liu Quan's eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious.
Chu Nian, carrying a shovel, turned around and "escaped" again. She soon arrived at the field and saw the Ling family members who were busy working there. She called them home and said that a thief had broken into her house and she had knocked him unconscious.
Upon hearing this, everyone was alarmed. They were already poor enough; wouldn't they be even poorer after being robbed? Ling's father told Ling's mother to stay and continue working in the fields, while he took the Ling brothers and all the male members of the Ling family and quickly followed Chu Nian back to the Ling family courtyard.
When everyone saw that it was Liu Quan lying on the ground, they gasped in shock and quickly tied him up.
Everyone in the Ling family knows what kind of person Liu Quan is. The fact that he sneaked into the Ling family home at this time, especially since only Ling Nian was home, makes it clear what he's up to.
Brother Ling splashed water on Liu Quan to wake him up.
Liu Quan was not afraid when he saw that he had been tied up by the Ling family; no one in the village dared to mess with him, as everyone knew that his uncle was the town mayor.
He roared in a muffled voice, "You dare to kidnap me? You've really got some nerve! Believe me or not, I'll get my uncle here and make sure your Ling family can't stay in the village anymore!"
Upon hearing this, the Ling family members immediately cowered. They had only dared to tie up Liu Quan out of sheer rage, but now that they were calmer, fear quickly took over.
Chu Nian discussed with the Ling family: "Dad, eldest brother, second brother, Liu Quan is right. If we let him go, he will go and cause trouble for his uncle. We might not be able to stay in the village anymore."
Ling's father roared angrily, "Why didn't you say that sooner? We've already tied him up..."
"Tsk!" Chu Nian clicked her tongue and interrupted him, "Dad, I thought the person who broke into our house was a thief, so I knocked him out with a shovel. Even if we didn't tie him up, he would still come after our Ling family for knocking him out."
"This..." Ling's father was in a dilemma, "Why didn't you aim carefully before you smashed it?"
Chu Nian said helplessly, "He was facing away from me when I came in with the shovel, how was I supposed to spot him?" Then, gritting her teeth, she said, "In my opinion, we might as well go all the way. Since we can't get out of here safely anyway, why don't we just kill this guy, dismember him, skin him, and steam his flesh to eat? At least we'll have a decent meal and some meat! I wonder if this old thing is too old and ugly, will the meat be too tough to eat?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Quan's face turned pale with fright, and he instantly broke out in a cold sweat. He stammered, "Wait...wait a minute, I...I misspoke. We...we're all from the same village, how could I have asked my uncle to cause trouble for you? I just wanted to scare you a little so you'd let me go. This matter today..."
The Ling family members were fools; they actually believed what he said.
Ling's father sighed, "Oh, Liu Quan, you should have said this sooner! It scared us all half to death."
Liu Quan: ...Damn it, I broke out in a cold sweat too!
At Ling's father's prompting, Brother Ling untied the ropes binding Liu's body.
Chu Nian added, "Dad, in my opinion, that old rascal Liu Quan is anything but honest. What if he really brings his uncle to cause trouble? Wouldn't we be finished?"
The three men of the Ling family stared at Chu Nian with pale faces and cold sweat streaming down their faces, as if they had seen a ghost: they had never done cannibalism, and although they were poor now, they would not dare to do such a thing.
Liu Quan had already been untied, and fearing that the Ling family would change their minds, he tried to escape.
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