“Even if Zhao Min had the opportunity to make a move, she might not have succeeded.” Hua Cai rubbed her throbbing temples. “There’s still Fan Yao inside. He was slacking off when dealing with the Ming Cult, but when it came to attacking the Xuanming Elders, he was always the first to charge in. Even with Zhao Min’s hints, such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was worth the risk for him to slip up.”
The plot has already fallen apart, and all Hua Cai can do is tell herself to be more careful next time.
The female lead is having a run of bad luck right now. If she loses her temper and power, how will she compete with the other three beautiful women for the male lead?
What if something goes wrong even slightly, and the male protagonist suddenly changes his target?
"Alas!" Hua Cai quickly shook her head.
The mission failing is a bit scary.
Hua Cai composed herself, preparing to try and get some more information from Xin Ran, to find out how the male lead's career was progressing and whether it had gone awry. But when she turned around, she saw that only Zhao Qiang remained behind her, still motionless, while the other two had vanished.
"Tsk tsk, your cooking skills are even more ruthless than mine." Xin Ran's extremely melancholy voice came from the corner of the courtyard: "Hey, little maid, your food is a bit hard to eat, but it suits my taste. You have food and lodging here, how about I stay here for a while?"
A murderous glint flashed in Zhao Qiang's eyes as he stood there, stunned.
Hua Cai was already used to Xin Ran's completely different personality from that of the manor owner, and she could even ignore his occasional teasing remarks without batting an eye.
However, when did those two go there? There was no sound at all.
Hua Cai looked over in annoyance and saw Xin Ran and the other person sitting on either side of the table, grimacing. On the table were the same dark-tasting snacks that had caused Zhao Qiang both pain and pleasure when they knocked on the door.
Xinran was alright, looking miserable, but she was still holding a pastry in her hand and putting it into her mouth. Fadeng, on the other hand, was in a terrible state. His face, covered with a thick beard, was twisted into a mess, looking both funny and terrifying.
"You still eat it even though it tastes bad." Hua Cai rolled her eyes at him and tried to snatch the cage away. But as she took a step, she realized that she had forgotten about the background character.
"Brother?" Hua Cai waved her hand in front of Zhao Qiang's eyes. "What are you thinking about?"
Snap—
A burning pain shot through Hua Cai's wrist. Before she could react, her wrist was suddenly grabbed. Zhao Qiang glared at her with bloodshot eyes, his grip on her wrist tightening.
"Ouch, that hurts." Hua Cai's nose stung with tears. Even when He Biweng slapped her off the cliff, she had never felt such pain. Tears welled up in her eyes instantly.
Her entire right hand instantly lost sensation. Hua Cai gasped for breath and tried to pull her hand away, but the pain only intensified with each movement.
"Zhao Qiang, what are you doing? Let go!" With a sharp shout, Xin Ran noticed that something was wrong. She kicked aside the stool and rushed over. She immediately saw that the spot on Hua Cai's fair wrist that Zhao Qiang was holding was turning blackish-purple and swelling up at a visible speed.
Xin Ran panicked and reached out to grab Zhao Qiang's wrist.
As soon as he raised his hand, Zhao Qiang seemed to be startled, and without loosening his grip, he pulled Hua Cai backward.
"Snap—"
At this moment, her wrist could no longer withstand such a pull. The sound of her wrist breaking was clearly audible. Hua Cai felt dizzy and collapsed limply to the ground.
Zhao Qiang held Hua Cai's wrist tightly, showing no intention of letting go. When Hua Cai fell, Zhao Qiang also fell down with her.
When Xinran saw Hua Cai fall, he reached out to help her up, but unexpectedly Zhao Qiang was there too. He immediately lost his grip and watched helplessly as the two of them crashed to the ground.
The wrist of the flower on the ground was twisted into a strange arc, looking particularly terrifying.
Xin Ran gritted her teeth, ignoring the attitudes of the two men, squatted down and delivered a vicious chop to the back of Zhao Qiang's head.
Zhao Qiang, who had been expressionless the whole time, finally closed his eyes slowly, loosened his grip, and Hua Cai's wrist fell down.
Xin Ran bent down and picked up Hua Cai, glared at Zhao Qiang, called out to Fa Deng, turned around and kicked open the courtyard gate, and actually turned to the gate of the neighboring courtyard on the other side of the courtyard.
Fadeng, who was following behind, quickly took out the key, opened the door, and let Xinran in.
The courtyards in the village are all laid out similarly, but perhaps because it lacks a horse kennel, this courtyard is even more spacious than Hua Cai's.
The door was wide open, and Xinran entered the room, turned right as if she knew the way well, and placed the person in her arms on the bed.
Hua Cai lay quietly, her brows still furrowed and the pain on her face still present, even in her unconscious state.
"I really don't know what's so good about that person. All he did was bring you into the manor and give you a job back then." Xin Ran stared blankly at the woman's pale face, gently touching her furrowed brows with her finger and smoothing them away.
This woman always seems so energetic; it's rare to see her so quiet.
I'm really not used to it; it's good to be a bit noisy.
As dusk fell, Zhao Qiang remained motionless on the ground in Huacai's courtyard.
Pillow lazily crawled out of its nest, sniffed the water basin with its head, looked at the empty basin with dissatisfaction, kicked off the reins with one hoof, ran to Zhao Qiang's side, and nudged the unconscious man.
"Minmin!" Zhao Qiang exclaimed, sitting up abruptly and panting heavily.
Before he could even react, the pillow had already slicked Zhao Qiang's face clean with its saliva.
Zhao Qiang was a little confused by the sudden face washing and reflexively tried to slap it away, but his pillow, which had been outwitting Zhao Qiang for more than a month, reacted quickly and jumped to the side.
This gave Zhao Qiang time. Looking at Pillow, who was eager to rush forward again after dodging, Zhao Qiang called out Pillow's name as if in a dream.
There was no reaction from nature.
Pillow glanced at Zhao Qiang with a haughty air, then turned its head arrogantly, turned its rear end towards him, raised one front hoof, and pointed in the direction of the fodder.
"Pillow, Pillow," Zhao Qiang murmured the name, looking at the spirited horse in front of him, as if something was gradually awakening in his mind.
Slowly standing up, Zhao Qiang looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar courtyard before him, his gaze falling on the exquisite little cage on the table, and suddenly froze.
The appearance of the cage seemed to confirm some of his suspicions, and he couldn't help but move closer step by step.
"This is your lunch today. You have to eat it all."
There seemed to be a woman there, resting her chin on her hand and looking at him, her smile so sweet it brought tears to his eyes.
Zhao Qiang's hand trembled as it landed on the delicate pastries in the cage. After hesitating for a long time, he took a deep breath and finally picked up a piece and put it in his mouth.
The familiar, tingling bitterness reached Zhao Qiang's ears, and he felt a lump in his throat, almost bursting into tears.
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