Chapter 14 Xie Hong's uncle saw him leave early again...
Xie Hong's uncle got a headache when he saw him bringing up his mother, who had passed away at a young age, again.
Once or twice wouldn't be a big deal, but ever since Xie Hong's mother died, Xie Hong has used that as an excuse to borrow money and food from him countless times, causing his family to feel like they're facing a formidable enemy just by seeing him from afar.
Xie Hong had even used his trump card, but found that his uncle wasn't buying it this time. The thought of his beautiful wife waiting for him to collect food from Big Yellow Teeth made him so anxious that his vision blurred and he swayed, almost fainting.
His second uncle was frightened and quickly stepped forward to help him up. "Why are you in such a hurry? If you have no food left at home, I will share some with you. Even if we are starving, we can't just watch you starve to death."
Upon hearing this, Xie Hong said urgently, "Uncle, please lend me a shi of grain! Just one shi, and I will never come looking for you again."
"One bushel?" His second uncle looked troubled; his family didn't have much food left...
"good!"
At this moment, the second aunt, who had been watching from the sidelines, suddenly spoke up: "We'll lend it to you, even if we starve to death. But let's make it clear beforehand that once you take the food, you have to keep your word and you're not allowed to come here again."
"Shut up! When we men are talking, what right do women have to interrupt!"
Xie Hong's second uncle was puzzled! His wife was usually docile, so why was she acting so tough today?
Little did he know that his wife was heartbroken by the man, and her eyes were filled with despair.
Since she married into this family, she has given birth to five children in eight years. The youngest is still an infant, while the oldest can only help with light chores around the house.
In this family, there are only two real laborers: her and her husband, who only knows how to bully others at home. It is already difficult enough for two adults to support seven mouths.
That wasn't enough; her husband's family also had a vampire nephew who would come over every few days to steal food from the house. Every time she saw Xie Hong walking out the door happily with a cloth bag in his hand, her heart bled; that food should have been for her children.
She had tried to persuade her husband to consider their children more, but he ignored her advice and always scolded her for being petty.
Now look what's happened! The bloodsucking worms he personally fed are now demanding exorbitant amounts of grain, completely disregarding the lives of his entire family!
She would rather starve to death than break off this marriage.
Xie Hong didn't care what he thought. If it was over, it was over. He would have a wife soon, so why did he need a relative?
“Okay, I promise I won’t bother you again. But I don’t know…” Xie Hong glanced at his uncle, seemingly asking his wife if she could make the decision.
Xie Hong's uncle was already in a dilemma, but after a moment's hesitation, he nodded.
"I'll go get you some grain."
"Uncle, just take me to my house! I still have to go to the next place!"
"What? One bushel of grain isn't enough for you?"
Xie Hong replied with a smug grin: "Grain isn't for eating, it's for exchanging for wives."
"Getting married?" His uncle only had one sister, who passed away early. Although this only son was a carefree and unruly man, when it came to marriage, he couldn't help but ask a few questions. "Which village is she from, and how old is she?"
"No, it's not a girl, Uncle, don't ask yet. I'll invite you to the wedding banquet later."
"If it's not a girl, then what is it?" Xie Hong's second uncle was completely baffled. He wanted to ask more, but when he looked up, Xie Hong was already half a mile away.
Xie Hong visited several households in one afternoon, and through sheer persistence, he managed to collect more than two shi of grain. He was still short by nearly one shi, so Xie Hong had to convert it into silver and give it to Da Huangya.
As Xie Hong took the silver, he felt a chill run down his spine. Looking back, he saw Xie Pei had returned sometime earlier and was standing outside the half-open door, staring at him with a gloomy look in his eyes.
Xie Hong felt inexplicably guilty, but then he thought, what did he have to be guilty about? This house was his, everything in it was his, and he had no right to act according to this bastard's wishes.
"What are you looking at? This is my money, I can spend it however I want."
Xie Pei glanced at him. The money was from selling the land, and he owned half of it.
When Xie Pei was young, he wondered why Xie Hong insisted that he was a bastard when even his father had never questioned that he wasn't his biological son.
Later, as he grew older and became more sensible, he realized that Xie Hong probably never truly believed he was a bastard. The reason he spread such rumors was simply to find a plausible excuse to seize the family fortune for himself.
Xie Pei curled his lips into a mocking smile, then turned and left.
“Good, you can take him back now,” Big Yellow Teeth nodded with satisfaction, weighing the purse in his hand. “I put a strong dose of the drug on him; he probably won’t wake up until tonight.”
While giving perfunctory replies, Xie Hong hoisted Zhu Mingyue onto his shoulder and strode home with great enthusiasm.
Looking at the stunning beauty on the bed, he was in an extremely good mood. He almost bumped into Xie Pei on his way out, but he didn't show it.
Xie Pei stood there, his gaze fixed on the master bedroom, lost in thought.
There was someone hiding in Xie Hong's house.
The fact that the other party repeatedly entered and exited the room within a few hours directly confirmed Xie Pei's guess.
As for whether this person was stolen, robbed, or bought, Xie Pei had no idea.
Judging from the fact that all the girls in the surrounding villages frowned and looked disgusted when they saw Xie Hong, it was clear that the person in the house had not been brought back through legitimate means.
Xie Pei wasn't interested in the people in the room, and unsurprisingly, given Xie Hong's nature, he wouldn't give this person a chance to meet him.
But soon, an unexpected event occurred—
Xie Pei never expected that Xie Hong, known for his stinginess, would actually set out to prepare a banquet for this woman who had only been in the house for a day and had not yet appeared in public.
Xie Hong gathered his cronies and first showed off his wealth. Then he took out a piece of silver he had hidden away and sent someone to town to buy some fish and meat.
He himself was also busy, going door to door to inform people to come to his home for a banquet the next day.
Xie Hongping wasn't very popular in the village, so everyone was surprised to hear that he could get married. They were even willing to pay a few eggs to attend the banquet to see what was going on.
Xie Hong ran through the entire village, and everyone except the family he had just argued with kept their doors closed and refused to see him.
After Xie Hong finished doing all that, he thought about spending a few dozen coins to hire two village women to cook for him, but in the end he couldn't bring himself to spend that money.
His two aunts are both very capable housekeepers; they could easily help him prepare several meals. Free labor is no excuse not to use it.
What? Severing ties? That's a matter for the future. Even if we're going to sever ties, we'll have to wait until after we've finished the banquet.
Zhu Mingyue finally woke up in the early hours of the next day after the effects of the drug wore off. When she opened her eyes, she found the room pitch black, so dark that she couldn't see her hand in front of her face.
No, strictly speaking, it wasn't pitch black, because Zhu Mingyue couldn't even stretch out her hands; both her hands and feet were still bound.
He twisted his body, trying his best to perceive everything he could touch around him.
The blanket covering her wasn't very thick, and it felt a little damp, probably because it hadn't been aired out in a while.
There was a mattress underneath me, but I could faintly hear a rustling sound whenever I moved.
Zhu Mingyue had lain on straw before, and could tell from the sound that there was a layer of straw under the mattress.
Such conditions wouldn't occur at Nanfeng Inn, inn, or even a dilapidated temple in the wilderness; they could only happen in an ordinary farmer's home.
He only thought about it briefly, but he was already certain that during the time he was unconscious, Big Yellow Teeth had sold him out again.
Perhaps because she had prepared in advance, Zhu Mingyue was completely calm at this moment.
Just as Xu Linguang told him, if he didn't want to do that kind of thing, being sold to an ordinary family was his best way out so far.
He had thought it through clearly: the Nanfeng Pavilion was guarded day and night, and he had almost no chance of escaping.
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