"ah……"
Zhou Shuyao let out a shrill scream, feeling his ribs, which had just recovered halfway, break again.
Zhao Jingxiang originally wanted to help Zhou Shuyao, but when he saw a disheveled woman running towards him, he was so frightened that he turned around and ran away without looking back, climbing onto the boat in a few quick movements.
Song Yaoyao missed her target and stepped on Zhou Shuyao instead. She fell forward face-first into the mud, her chest getting soaked. The pain brought tears to her eyes...
*
The escort boat returned to Stone Village.
The police officers planned to escort Qin Jinshen's men back to the detention center first.
As they approached the shore, several guards assisted the police officers in going to the cabin to drag the people they had just arrested onto the deck and string them together to disembark.
To their surprise, as soon as they opened the cabin door, they saw Qin Jinshen's guards, all handcuffed, leaning against the cabin wall, vomiting uncontrollably. Upon seeing them, they cried out as if they'd been saviors, "Please take us back to the detention center! We don't want to stay here a second longer, this is so damn nauseating..."
"Yes, even if we die, we'll still be heroes eighteen years from now, but our ears can't suffer like this!"
The guards were pale and looked like they were about to die, and they protested vehemently.
The soldiers and police officers were completely baffled. "Are these people crazy? This is the first time I've ever seen anyone so eager to go to jail."
It wasn't until they were standing in the cabin and heard the indescribable conversation between the man and woman outside that they snapped out of their daze, shuddered, and patted their chests, almost vomiting.
The stern of the ship, near the cabin.
Zhou Jiuzhen pinned Ling Huanwu against the outer wall of the cabin, his voice aggrieved and broken, "Comrade Ling, why won't you let me go to the city with you? I can protect you!"
Ling Huanwu turned her head away, placing one hand on his hard chest to prevent him from getting closer, and said with a serious expression, "I'm not anyone to Commander Zhou, nor do I have any real relationship with him. How can I be worthy of Commander Zhou's protection?"
"Didn't you say back then that you were forced into marriage by your parents, that you didn't like me, a capitalist's daughter, and that we should go our separate ways? Now you want to come with me on this journey, what do you mean by that?"
Zhou Jiuzhen was almost in tears, shaking his head repeatedly with a look of regret, "It wasn't that I didn't know you were her back then, no, I should say I didn't know she was you!"
"I am who I am. Who else do you think I am?"
Ling Huanwu pretended not to understand and looked him up and down with disdain. "Everyone in the family compound knows about our relationship. How can you still like someone else? Isn't that just cheating on me?"
Even though he abandoned her, he still loved her.
Even if she loses her memory, she must not take his actions lightly.
"No, no..."
Zhou Jiuzhen shook his head vigorously, looking as if the sky was about to fall. "Back then, I listened to that brat Shuyao and thought you had someone you liked, so I decided to let you and your sweetheart be together!"
"Oh, so why aren't you granting me and my sweetheart our wish now?"
Ling Huanwu raised her eyebrows and looked at him with her slender swan neck, suppressing a laugh and deliberately teasing him, punishing him for making her sad for a while, and also making him sad for a while.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Zhou Jiuzhen swayed unsteadily, his face turned pale, and he gripped Ling Huanwu's clothes tightly with one hand, as if he were undergoing some intense inner struggle.
"Can I refuse your request? I've already filed for marriage."
"How about... you introduce your sweetheart to me, and I'll talk to him about it. I'd be happy if he could be my chaperone, and I'd definitely turn a blind eye!"
"You...you don't get angry. Well...how about we bring him to live with us in the family compound in the future? I'll arrange a small room for him next to our house?"
"Alright then..."
Zhou Jiuzhen bit his lip and closed his eyes as if making a final compromise, "If you really can't let go of the person you love, I can let you go and keep him company tonight."
"However, I can be the older one and he can be the younger one. From now on, you'll have to spend 25 days a month with me and only 5 days with him!"
Ling Huanwu listened to his words with her mouth agape the entire time.
I still can't believe that Zhou Jiuzhen, who is always so sharp-tongued and arrogant in my mother-in-law's eyes, would say something so shocking.
The Qin family servants, who had just endured ear abuse in the cabin, could no longer bear the level of nausea and vomited violently, leaning against the wall, almost bringing up bile.
"We want to get off the ship, we'll confess everything. I was the one who dragged that Song Yaoyao into the basement!"
"I even touched that woman..."
"Yes, I also followed Guard Ma and secretly went to the mudflats to steal a basket of clams!"
"Please don't torture us like this! Our ears are ears too!"
The Qin family guards spilled their confessions like beans from a bamboo tube, and they shoved and jostled each other to put their handcuffs on the ropes and eagerly pushed their way out of the cabin.
Back on deck, the group looked at the azure sea and sky, breathing in the fresh air, as if they had regained their freedom.
It wasn't until then that Zhou Jiuzhen, who had just been trying to persuade the crew to reduce the number of days to 20 days a month, noticed a group of people filing out of the cabin.
Among that group were soldiers whom Zhou Jiuzhen usually respected, as well as police officers who usually dealt with him.
At this moment, they all stared at him with expressions that were hard to describe, as if they were heartbroken and angry at his lack of ambition.
Zhou Jiuzhen glanced at the enclosed cabin, then met their sharp, piercing gazes, and suddenly realized that everyone had heard what he had just said.
All he wants to do now is carve a hole in the boat and crawl inside; he's too ashamed to face anyone.
Seeing that the escort boat was only a few steps away from the dock, Zhou Jiuzhen straightened up and casually tugged at his military uniform. "We're about to disembark. Xiao Wang, hurry up and find a fishing boat. I need to escort Comrade Ling to find a customer who buys clams. After all, this is a big deal for the village!"
"Forget it, I'll go find it myself. Otherwise, it'll be bad if another boatman gets bribed..."
With an attitude that "I'm not embarrassed, it's others who are embarrassed," Zhou Jiuzhen calmly walked past the crowd and jumped off the boat before it even reached the shore.
As they carried Zhou Shuyao back onto the new fishing boat, Zhou Jiuzhen's earth-shattering words from the escort boat spread like the sea breeze throughout the entire island.
The fishing boat started up and drifted on the sea.
Zhou Jiuzhen sat down next to Ling Huanwu, carrying a small bundle, looking hesitant and timid. "Comrade Ling, my reputation is ruined now. You have to take responsibility for me."
Ling Huanwu had taken two boat trips in one day, and her head was already spinning from severe seasickness.
Before he could even hear what Zhou Jiuzhen was saying, he couldn't help but vomit with a "whoosh".
Zhou Jiuzhen froze, the mournful expression on his face vanishing instantly, replaced by overwhelming joy, "Comrade Ling... you... you're pregnant...?"
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