Lu Yanzhao quickly understood what it meant and subconsciously squeezed his legs together.
"Your sexual happiness for the rest of your life depends entirely on this. Can you bring yourself to do it?"
Hearing Lu Yanzhao's words, Gu Nanjiao bit his chin in a fit of anger: "This is a warning, or I'll really make sure you lose your manhood."
Lu Yanzhao froze, his limbs rooted to the spot, afraid to move. He chuckled softly. He felt that if he kept holding back for any longer, he might as well renounce the world and become a monk. No normal man could muster such endurance. He felt himself becoming increasingly abnormal; would he suffer from this pent-up frustration?
The next morning, they heard a commotion outside the door, mixed with Yingniang's crying.
Gu Nanjiao nudged Lu Yanzhao, who was fast asleep, and said while getting dressed, "Get up quickly, listen to what's happening outside."
Lu Yanzhao rubbed his sleepy eyes and said nonchalantly, "What could possibly happen in broad daylight?" Then he closed his eyes and continued to sleep.
Gu Nanjiao listened carefully and indeed heard shouting and crying.
She glanced helplessly at Lu Yanzhao: "Get up quickly, Lin Ji is going to take Yingniang back today. Let's go see what's going on outside?" After saying that, she pulled back Lu Yanzhao's quilt. Her eyes swept over his erect penis, and Gu Nanjiao's face turned red: "I'll go out first, you get up quickly!"
Pushing open the door, she saw a flirtatious woman standing with her hands on her hips, yelling at Yingniang: "You little slut, you dared to marry without even telling me! Now your dead son's mother-in-law is blocking my door demanding money. This is outrageous! A woman can't marry twice! Even if I sell you and you live as a widow, that's your fate. I still have your indenture. Now come with me!"
The woman who came was Cui, Yingniang's stepmother. After the family fell on hard times, Yingniang's father couldn't bear the blow and left home. Her stepmother sold Yingniang to a terminally ill man in a marriage to bring him good luck. On the wedding day, before the ceremony was even held, the man died. Her previous husband's family thought Yingniang was a jinx and brought bad luck to her husband, so they threw her out.
Now, her former in-laws have somehow heard the news of Yingniang's marriage and feel they have lost out, so they went to Cui to ask for the money they spent on buying Yingniang back.
Mother Lu's fingers trembled with rage; she had never seen such a shameless person. They came to her door early in the morning to hurl insults, accusing her of kidnapping her daughter and demanding to see the authorities.
Yingniang cried and retorted, "That family kicked me out. I didn't even have a wedding ceremony, so how can it be considered a second marriage? You took their money, so why didn't you send your own daughter over?"
"Besides, the day you sold me to someone else, we already wrote a letter severing our ties. Now we have no connection whatsoever. You have no right to sell me again, and I have no need to go with you."
Gu Nanjiao stepped forward and supported Lu's mother, who was breathing unsteadily. Her cold eyes swept over the flirtatious woman: "How dare you cause trouble at my doorstep and make my mother so angry. You're not allowed to leave today without paying three or five taels of silver."
Cui felt uneasy under Gu Nanjiao's gaze, but quickly regained her composure: "You kidnapped my daughter and secretly married her off, and I haven't even confronted you yet."
Yingniang quickly stepped forward and grabbed Gu Nanjiao's arm: "Shopkeeper, I really have severed ties with her." Suddenly remembering something, Yingniang jumped up and ran into the inner room: "Yes, the letter of severance, I have the letter of severance, I have nothing to do with them anymore."
Upon hearing the words "severance letter," Cui's face paled: "So what if there's a severance letter? Your indenture is in my hands."
With trembling hands, Lu's mother cursed, "You heartless bastard, selling your own children!"
Cui was extremely smug, waving the indenture in her hand: "I can sell it if I want, what's it to you? I haven't even accused you of kidnapping my daughter yet, and you're already pointing your finger at me and cursing me."
Lu's mother was furious: "That's my goddaughter, what do you mean by kidnapping? Don't spew nonsense."
Cui stepped forward, directly confronting Lu's mother: "I'm talking about you."
Seeing this, Gu Nanjiao kicked Cui Shi to the ground: "You've got some nerve, talking nonsense in front of my house."
Cui clutched her stomach and screamed, "They're hitting people! The human traffickers are hitting people!"
Cui's loud voice gave Gu Nanjiao a headache, and a few neighbors poked their heads out to join in the commotion.
Seeing this, Gu Nanjiao had no choice but to slap Cui Shi across the face twice: "You said I hit you, so I can't let you say it for nothing. I have to make this accusation real."
At this moment, Lin Ji came to take Yingniang back to the Lin family.
Upon seeing the scene before him, he asked in confusion, "What happened? What's going on?"
Cui covered her face and got up from the ground, sneering, "You must be Yingniang's second husband, right? Let me tell you..." Cui rattled off a story, embellishing it as she went, making Lin Ji frown.
At this moment, Yingniang came out with the letter severing ties with her husband.
Lin Ji gave Yingniang a complicated look, and Yingniang's heart skipped a beat, tears streaming down her face.
"Husband, I..." Yingniang hesitated, wondering what kind of look Lin Ji was giving her. Did he look down on her?
Before the marriage, she had told him everything. Lin Ji had clearly said: If you don't dislike me, I will not abandon you.
Gu Nanjiao comforted Yingniang by pulling her into her arms, saying, "Don't cry, everything can be solved. We have people to rely on, what are we afraid of?"
Lu Yanzhao became the top scholar in the provincial examination, and many high-ranking officials and nobles from the prefectural and state cities invited him to their services. Now he was a familiar face to them all, so he was not afraid of trouble from the Cui family.
However, Lin Ji's attitude is particularly important. There are many hurdles to overcome in life, but the hurdle of love is the hardest to overcome.
Lin Ji stepped forward, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself, while Yingniang's heart was pounding in her throat.
Is Lin Ji going to divorce her?
Was she abandoned again?
Lin Ji said, "My wife, why have you never told me that you have such a vicious and venomous stepmother? How dare such a person come to you? We have a letter of severance. My wife, please report this to the authorities and sue this wicked woman."
He paused and then said, "I am not talented. Although I failed the exam, I still have the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations). Not everyone dares to sell the wife of a Xiucai."
Gaa!
Yingniang and Gu Nanjiao were both stunned, unable to understand why Lin Ji would say such a thing.
Yingniang burst into laughter through her tears, deeply moved. For the first time, she boldly threw herself into Lin Ji's arms and hugged his waist, saying, "I thought... you disliked me and didn't want me anymore?"
"Fool, how could I not want you? I just think you're too kind, and it's unbelievable that you're being bullied by such a wicked woman."
Lin Ji patted Yingniang on the back to comfort her, then turned to look at Cui Shi and scoffed, "I heard you rose from concubine to your position?"
A hint of unease flashed across Cui's face: "What's it to you? You want to sue me? Not so easy. I'm an elder, buying and selling children is perfectly normal."
“According to the laws of the Great Chu, concubines are not allowed to beat or insult the principal wife and her daughters, let alone sell them. Although you have risen to a higher position, you still treat the former wife with the etiquette due to a concubine. Yingniang is the principal wife's daughter, and you have sold her to a dying man to bring him good luck. This has violated the laws of the Great Chu and you should be sentenced to be torn apart by chariots.”
Lin Ji spoke in a gentle tone, but his words carried an undeniable air of authority.
These words made Cui's face turn pale and then red, and her voice weakened: "I...I had no choice. My family has fallen on hard times, and we don't even have enough money for her father's coffin. I just married her off...yes, married her off. I didn't sell her."
Lin Ji chuckled softly and pulled Yingniang into his arms. Yingniang instinctively rested her head on Lin Ji's chest, feeling inexplicably safe.
At this moment, Lu Yanzhao came out dressed neatly and said calmly, "I know some officials in the prefectural city. Do you want me to help send this wicked woman who sold her legitimate wife and daughter to prison?"
Lin Ji nodded to Lu Yanzhao in greeting: "Brother-in-law, you are now the top scholar in the imperial examination, how could I dare to trouble you? I can handle it myself."
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