thefictionvixens Chapter 42 Besides you, who else can tame this stubborn donkey?
Chapter 42 Besides you, who else can tame this stubborn donkey?
"Bullshit!"
Qin Rushan cursed, his voice muffled in his throat, but it sounded like thunder exploding from his chest.
That large, calloused, and bloodstained hand, without any restraint, scraped hard on the tip of her pert nose, making the skin sting with pain.
"What does it mean to be tough? In all these surrounding villages, besides you, Li Xianglian, who else can tame this stubborn mule like me? If we're talking about toughness, then my life is the toughest. Even the little devils under the King of Hell find my bones too heavy to take!"
He didn't say anything sweet anymore. He cupped her face in his hands, rubbing her still swollen cheek back and forth with his thumbs. The force was so strong it felt like he was going to rub off a layer of skin, yet it also revealed a clumsy caution.
In the darkness, those eyes shone eerily, like two inextinguishable will-o'-the-wisps.
"Xianglian, you better not worry. Good things come to those who wait. The harder something is to get, the more valuable it is. Heaven is setting a trap for us, and it's also accumulating retribution for those blind fools. Once it's accumulated enough, it'll strike them dead with lightning."
He grinned, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth. His smile, mixed with the blood and grime on his face, was as ferocious as a demon in a temple, yet it made Li Xianglian's heart, which had been hanging in mid-air, suddenly fall to the ground.
"Remember this, no matter what happens—murder, arson, or even if the sky falls or the earth collapses—you will always be my wife, Qin Rushan's wife. Even if the King of Heaven himself comes, he won't take you away from me! You deserve the best. As long as I have a breath left, I'll make sure you live a prosperous and happy life, and that will make those scoundrels furious!"
These words didn't sound like sweet nothings; they sounded more like a fierce vow, scalding hot as they were poured over Li Xianglian's heart, making her tremble all over.
She buried her face in his dirty palm, greedily absorbing the rough warmth, and nodded heavily, wiping her tears onto the calluses on his hand.
"Alright, get some rest and recharge your energy."
Qin Rushan didn't linger any longer, kissed her forehead hard again, and turned to leave.
As he turned around, Li Xianglian clearly saw him sway slightly, but he quickly braced himself against the wall so she wouldn't notice.
He gritted his teeth and nimbly squeezed through the narrow window.
The wind blew in through the hole in the window, drying the tears on Li Xianglian's face and dispelling the ambiguous atmosphere in the room.
The woodshed fell silent again.
Li Xianglian touched her burning lips and curled back into the pile of moldy straw.
Afraid?
I was initially afraid.
But now, clutching that piece of oiled paper still warm from Qin Rushan's body, that fear vanished like smoke blown away by the wind.
As long as he doesn't die, the sky won't fall down.
……
As dawn broke, the east was tinged with a deathly white, like the belly of a dead fish.
That damned rooster in the Li family's yard started crowing loudly and incoherently.
When the first rays of sunlight shone through the dusty window paper, Li Xianglian had already opened her eyes.
She didn't cry or make a fuss; she even smoothed her messy hair with her fingers and brushed the grass clippings off her body.
The chains outside the door rattled loudly.
"Clang!"
The two heavy wooden doors were kicked open.
The morning light, carrying dust, rushed in, making one's throat itch.
Niu Guihua stood in the doorway, holding a chipped, broken bowl against the light, her long face stretched longer than a donkey's. The bowl contained half a bowl of cold water and a hard, black cornbread that could kill a dog.
"Get up! Do you still think you're the young mistress of the Zhao family? Hurry up and eat, so you can get going!" Niu Guihua slammed the bowl on the ground, splashing water everywhere.
Li Xianglian didn't touch the cornbread.
She slowly rose from the haystack, even straightening the hem of her clothes, her voice eerily calm: "Mother, are you really going to sell me to Butcher Zhang?"
"Nonsense! We've already collected half the deposit, how could it be fake?"
Niu Guihua, hands on her hips, spitting as she spoke, "What? Don't want to go? That's not up to you! That's three hundred yuan! I'd rather chop you up and sell you by weight than not get paid that much!"
Li Dabao, clutching his swollen, bleeding nose, followed behind like a hyena drawn by the smell of blood, still carrying the same carrying pole from yesterday.
"Mother, why waste words with this wretched girl? Just tie her up and throw her on the cart! Butcher Zhang's family is waiting for their wedding night! This cartload will bring in three hundred silver dollars! With money, I can marry a virgin!" Li Dabao cursed in a gruff voice, his eyes filled with malice.
"Da Bao, what's the rush?"
Li Xianglian looked at that greedy face and suddenly laughed.
"I'm doing this for the good of the Li family. If you really send me there like this, I'm afraid before I even get to enjoy these three hundred yuan, my whole family will be in jail."
"Bullshit! Stop trying to scare people!"
Li Dabao yelled and tried to rush forward to grab the person, "I'm selling my own sister, it's none of Heaven's business!"
"That was the old society."
Instead of retreating, Li Xianglian pressed forward, leaning against the cold earthen wall. "Dabao, Mom, are you really stupid or just pretending? Zhao Gang and I are a legally married couple, we're married with a marriage certificate! Zhao Gang isn't dead, and we're not divorced. You're forcibly selling me to Butcher Zhang, what do you call that? That's bigamy! That's trafficking in women!"
She took a step forward, her eyes fixed on Niu Guihua's somewhat flustered face.
"Don't you know what the situation is like outside? The commune loudspeaker is shouting 'crackdown' every day. Hooliganism is punishable by death! That scoundrel from the next village was paraded through the commune last month and sentenced to ten years just for touching a young woman's butt!"
This isn't just bigamy, it's forced human trafficking! If this happens during this crackdown, it's considered going against the grain, and you'll be treated as a gang leader, getting a peanut smashed on the head—no one can escape!"
The word "execution" seems to have a magical power.
Niu Guihua's heart skipped a beat, and her previous arrogance vanished instantly, causing the fat on her face to twitch.
She was illiterate and illiterate, but she had personally witnessed the ruthless arrests carried out by the commune in recent years. Those people who were bound hand and foot and paraded through the streets with large placards hanging around their necks—weren't they all eventually shot?
"Who...who are you trying to scare?"
Niu Guihua forced a loud voice, but her triangular eyes started darting around nervously, clearly showing her weakness. "As long as you don't say anything, and Zhang the butcher doesn't say anything, who will know? Once we send you over there and it's a fait accompli, what can Zhao Gang do? We can just get a divorce certificate later, and that'll be the end of it."
"It's alright?"
Li Xianglian sneered, "Mother, you're thinking too simply. Do you think the Zhao family is pushovers? Zhao Cuifen was frightened by you yesterday, but don't you know what kind of person she is? She's a mad dog! Her daughter is gone, and her daughter-in-law has been snatched away by you. She's lost both her money and her family. Do you think she can swallow this?"