Chapter 190: Biting The Hand That Feeds
The others quietly watched, while Shi Tou and Xiao Huan silently sped up eating the mung bean paste, hurriedly picking up a child each and swiftly leaving this place of trouble before the fire reached them.
Yuan Yuan and Chu Xu, who were scooped up: ??
They hadn’t finished listening yet!
A gentle breeze swept through the treetops, carrying wisps of hot air into the main hall.
Lu Chengjing put down the spoon, his dark eyes fixed on the person beside him, and calmly said, “Niangzi, I’ve checked, and there are two washboards at home.”
Shang Wan smiled without saying anything.
Lu Chengjing pondered for a moment, “I’ll go to the Li Family soon to order a wolf tooth club.”
Shang Wan: “Pretty aware, huh.”
Lu Chengjing: “…”
A wolf tooth club isn’t enough?
The youth’s eyelashes drooped, seriously thinking about how to become a divine doctor through self-study.
“Open your mouth.”
Hearing this, Lu Chengjing instinctively opened his mouth, and a spoonful of sweet and glutinous mung bean paste was fed in, his dark eyes widening slightly.
“Silly fox.” Shang Wan fed him the last spoonful of mung bean paste from the bowl, wiped the soup juice from the corner of his lips, packed up the bowls and chopsticks, and left.
Lu Chengjing, with mung bean paste in his mouth: “…”
·
The talk of becoming a divine doctor was of course Shang Wan teasing him; every trade has its master. If Lu Chengjing could really become a doctor, with his personality, he would have long been charging toward becoming a divine doctor, so why would he need her to suggest it?
Controlling people with poison was convenient, but the hardware wasn’t sufficient, so it was temporarily shelved.
Shang Wan decided to use her own method.
After putting the bowls and chopsticks in the kitchen, Shang Wan came out, dragged one black-clothed man each by the hand into the woodshed, untied the hemp rope on both, and gave each of the two, who were wilted from the sun, half a bowl of water.
The two gulped it down, water flowing down their chins and wetting their collars.
Half a bowl of water barely quenched their thirst, both panting heavily as they collapsed back to the ground; let alone running away, they didn’t even have the strength to stand.
Shang Wan hugged her arms, considerately giving the two time to recover.
After half a quarter-hour, Black-clothed Man Number Two propped himself up from the ground, looked up at Shang Wan, “We don’t want to die; what will it take for you to let us go?”
They were just handling affairs for money, and in the end, they had no grudge against the woman in front of them or anyone in this family.
Since they hadn’t hurt anyone, and the woman in front didn’t seem prepared to kill them, there was still room for negotiation.
Shang Wan liked people who know when to yield; it saved her some breath.
She poured another bowl of water and handed it over, smiling as she asked, “What should I call you?”
Black-clothed Man Number Two couldn’t figure out what she wanted, took the bowl and drank two mouthfuls before passing it to Black-clothed Man Number One beside him.
He said, “Just call me Yu Da.”
He pointed at Black-clothed Man Number One, “He’s my younger brother; you can call him Yu Er.”
Shang Wan nodded, her gaze sweeping over the porcelain bowl in Yu Er’s hand, casually picked up a bowl by the water pot, poured another bowl of water, and handed it to Yu Da.
Yu Da took it and drank more than half in one go; the burning in his throat finally eased quite a bit.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked up at Shang Wan, and quietly waited for what came next.
Shang Wan asked, “You brothers have a good relationship?”
Yu Da didn’t hide it, “Our parents died early; we’ve depended on each other since we were young.”
Shang Wan: “Given your ages, you should already be married, right?”
Yu Da shook his head, “Living with our heads tied to our belt waists, how could we start a family?”
Shang Wan: “Never thought of changing trades?”
Yu Da sighed, “Too many enemies; changing trades means hiding our names and living in hiding. We don’t want that wretched life. Besides, apart from knowing some martial arts, we brothers have no other skills to make a living, so might as well live like this.”
While the two were talking, Yu Er also recovered.
The wound on his leg was inflamed, and he was running a low fever all over; plus being under the blazing sun for so long, not passing out was only because of his sturdy body.
“Yu Er, is everything your brother said true?”
Yu Er’s vision was blurry, but he nodded at the words, “Our lives are in your hands; how dare we lie?”
Shang Wan’s lips curved, and she suddenly kicked Yu Er in the chest, sending him flipping to the ground.
The sudden kick caught both off guard.
“Little brother!” Yu Da cried out in alarm and pounced over to check on Yu Er.
Yu Er’s face was ashen as gold paper, breathing out more than in, blood staining the corners of his mouth; he looked like he was done for.
Clearly, Shang Wan’s kick just now had held nothing back.
Yu Da’s eyes nearly split with rage; he turned and glared at Shang Wan, “We answered whatever you asked; why did you still strike and hurt people?”
He knew he couldn’t clash head-on with Shang Wan and forcibly suppressed his surging fury to reason with her.
“I like hearing the truth.” Shang Wan crossed her arms, her gaze falling on Yu Da, cold intent chilling the air.
In the past, Shang Wan wouldn’t have been so angry and could have gone lighter, but who let these two unlucky brothers run into the muzzle?
Her own fox was one thing, but these two still wanted to fool her? Heh!
Icy killing intent wrapped around like a venomous snake; Yu Da’s pupils shrank, his breathing even becoming difficult.
Where did this fiend come from?
“We were wrong.” He didn’t quibble; the fluke and disdain from Shang Wan’s young age vanished from his heart.
He held Yu Er tightly, speaking rapidly, “I’ve married and have a four-year-old daughter. Yu Er isn’t married but has two favorites at the brothel. This time it’s all true; no deceiving you.”
Shang Wan pursed her lips, “If you’d said it earlier, you wouldn’t have suffered.”
Yu Da seethed with impotent anger; who knew this woman would strike to kill right away?
He let go of Yu Er, knelt, and kowtowed to Shang Wan, “Please show mercy and save my brother’s life.”
Yu Er’s breathing was faint, as if hanging by a single breath.
Shang Wan watched Yu Da leisurely, “You’re killers hired by Zhong Chenghong; keeping you is keeping two hidden dangers. Why should I save him?”
Yu Da wasn’t stupid; he had overheard Shang Wan talking to Shi Tou earlier without them avoiding it, so he knew what Shang Wan wanted.
He glanced at Yu Er, gritted his teeth, suppressed his unwillingness and resentment, and said gravely, “We’re both good hands at work.”
Shang Wan raised an eyebrow, “You want to stay and work as long-term laborers in my home?”
Yu Da nearly bit through his teeth to swallow the curses, nodded hatefully, and squeezed a word through his teeth, “Yes.”
“But I’m very poor and have no spare money to hire long-term laborers.” Shang Wan shrugged, looking troubled.
Yu Da: “…”
Aaaah! He wanted to kill this smug bitch who got the bargain and still played innocent!
Swallowing shattered teeth and blood, the man with rage-reddened eyes nearly spat word by word, “No! Need! Money!”
Shang Wan hesitated, “This… not paying isn’t good; you’re not slaves I bought, so how can you work for me for free?”
Yu Da, catching the implication: !!!
This woman actually wanted him to sign a deed of sale?!
Kill her! Kill her! He must kill her!!!!
Kill this woman!!!!
Rage surged in the man’s heart like a tsunami, his body tense, muscles bulging, cheeks flushed red as if dripping blood, on the verge of losing control.
