By the moonlight, Lin Xihe looked closely and saw that it was a young man.
But in an instant, images of TV dramas featuring women picking up men on the street only to end up in tragic situations flashed through her mind, and she couldn't help but have second thoughts.
"It's not very convenient to save her," Lin Xihe said through gritted teeth.
Now that it was confirmed to be a living person, not a terrifying corpse or an ethereal ghost, Lin Xihe's fear lessened somewhat.
She immediately bent down and tried to pry open the man's hands that were holding her ankles.
She tried so hard that her fingers ached from digging, but the hand wouldn't budge.
"Let me go! Saving a man on the street can get you into big trouble. There are too many examples of this. I really don't dare." Lin Xihe was sweating profusely as she spoke, bending over and biting the man's hand hard.
The man winced in pain and instinctively released his grip.
Lin Xihe was finally free. She quickly got up, using both her hands and feet, and the pain in her knees that she had previously ignored suddenly came back to haunt her.
"hiss."
"ha."
"Fuck you." She couldn't help but mutter another curse under her breath.
Just as she was about to limp away, Lin Xihe heard the man on the ground weakly say, "I'll give you money."
Her steps faltered for a moment, a hint of hesitation rising in her heart.
The man's eyes were cold, his thin lips were slightly parted, and his voice was somewhat icy. Despite his disheveled appearance and weak breath, he still maintained his aloof demeanor and uttered cold words again: "I... will give you silver."
"No, no matter how valuable silver is, it's not as precious as life. You wait here; someone else might pass by later. It's autumn now, so I doubt you'll freeze to death. I don't want to get involved in this kind of trouble for no reason." With that, he made a move to leave, but his steps were inexplicably more hesitant than before.
"One thousand taels..." The man seemed to see through her greed and slowly uttered these three words. Although his tone was weak and feeble due to blood loss, it was as abrupt as a thunderclap in the quiet night of the mountain forest, with each word carrying temptation.
"What?" Lin Xihe froze, feeling as if those three words possessed a strange magic that instantly pinned her to the spot, rendering her unable to move.
"How much do you want to give?"
The man closed his eyes slightly, steadied himself, and waited until his breathing was even before repeating, still in that cold tone, but with an even lower voice: "One thousand taels."
These three words struck Lin Xihe's heart like a hammer blow.
Lin Xihe didn't really have a clear concept of money, but after working herself to the bone picking a basket of wild fruit on the mountain these past few days, she only earned three coins.
For her, that thousand taels was equivalent to a huge sum of money, worth tens of millions.
Lin Xihe thought to herself: I'm sorry, but the lessons from TV dramas have been too many, and I really can't resist them.
I don't have a whole family, I'm not afraid.
But wait, I need to get paid first. What if he's trying to scam me?
"Do you really have money? Where is it?" Lin Xihe stared intently at the man. The eagerness she had shown earlier because of the money had now turned into suspicion and wariness.
The man seemed to have exhausted his last bit of strength. He glanced at her, weakly raised his hand, pointed to his clothes, and whispered, "In...in my clothes..."
Seeing this, Lin Xihe hesitated for a moment, but finally could not resist the temptation of the huge reward. She took a few steps forward and squatted down in front of the man. However, she deliberately kept a distance from him to show that she was "serious".
As she reached out her hands, she muttered, "I'm not trying to take advantage of you; I've always been upright and honest."
The moment her fingertips touched the man's clothes, she felt a sticky, damp sensation. Her heart clenched, and she exclaimed in surprise, "You've lost so much blood! No wonder you're so weak."
Although there was a hint of timidity in his voice, the thought of the thousand taels of silver being so close at hand kept him moving. He searched his waist and found only two jade pendants, but no money. He became anxious and raised his voice to ask, "Where's the money?"
The man raised his eyes with difficulty, his gaze unfocused, and pointed vaguely to his chest, his voice barely audible: "The clothes on my chest."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xihe hurriedly replied, "Then I'll take it myself. Once I have the money, I'll save you." With that, she reached straight for the man's chest with both hands. At this moment, the thousand taels of silver reward had completely occupied her mind. All other things, such as the separation of men and women and the terrible injuries of the man in front of her, were thrown to the back of her mind.
As she spoke, Lin Xihe shifted her body and squatted down in front of the man's chest. Just as she reached out her hand, the man, who had been half-dead on the ground, suddenly found the strength to reach out and press her head down. Then, Lin Xihe felt her lips being pressed tightly against his lips.
Before she could even react, the man's tongue forcefully probed between her lips and teeth, entwining with hers wantonly.
This is outrageous!
Lin Xihe was both shocked and furious. She immediately struggled desperately, using her hands and feet to punch and kick, but the man seemed determined and held her tightly.
In this chaotic situation, Lin Xihe suddenly felt a pill being fed into her mouth by the man, after which the man released her.
The man seemed to have exhausted all his strength; his arm slumped down again, and he collapsed to the ground once more, his breathing growing weaker and weaker. His other arm was injured and unable to exert any force, otherwise he wouldn't have wanted to administer the medicine this way.
"Pooh!"
"Ptooey! Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"
Lin Xihe vomited several times, her face full of anger and disgust.
"Damn it, what did you feed me?" She was both angry and regretful, secretly blaming herself for being greedy for the money. Sure enough, there wasn't a single good person lying on the roadside; they were all up to dirty tricks.
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