Chapter 23: Reluctant
Su Yaoguang shook her head: “No.”
“Su Yaoguang, if you keep delaying, what if something happens to Mutou?” Grandma Su threatened viciously.
“You pay one hundred copper coins first. After you fill up the manure pit at my house, I’ll return the money to you.” Su Yaoguang calmly stated her terms without changing expression.
“Dad, Mom, save Mutou and me.” Su Guilan cried, “I really can’t take it anymore. Get us out quickly!”
“We don’t have money either. This money is your second brother’s. Remember to pay it back to your second brother.” Grandma Su instructed uneasily, reluctantly taking out the money.
Grandma Su took out one hundred copper coins and gave them to Su Yaoguang. When paying, her eyes were fierce as if she wanted to eat someone. Then she paid another one hundred copper coins. Only then did that auntie lead the villagers to fish them out.
“Urp…” Su Yaoguang covered her mouth and nose, retreating a few steps.
Zhou Wangshu said: “You go out first. I’ll watch them here.”
“Okay, this is yours now. After they leave here, I’ll come back to clean up.”
Su Yaoguang still had no strength. The reason she seemed fine was entirely because she had pricked needles into all ten of her fingers, forcing herself to hold on until now. In fact, if she stayed longer, her real situation would be exposed.
After Su Yaoguang returned to her room, she fell into a hazy sleep. She didn’t know how much time passed when she sensed someone touching her forehead. She vigilantly opened her eyes.
Upon seeing the person in front of her, she completely relaxed and said tiredly: “It’s Wangshu!”
“What exactly happened just now? You don’t look right. Are you sick?” Zhou Wangshu asked.
“I was drugged and now have no strength.” Su Yaoguang said, “Just now I…”
She gave a general account of how she became powerless after drinking the water, and when she went back to her room to rest, Mutou broke in, took off his clothes, and pounced on her.
“Since you had no strength, how did you throw Mutou into the manure pit?” Zhou Wangshu asked after hearing the process, his gaze toward Su Yaoguang becoming even more complex.
The usually shrewish young lady was so calm when schemed against by her own blood relatives, as if she had seen through everything long ago. She didn’t cry or make a fuss, but thought about how to turn crisis into opportunity, not only escaping danger but also ruthlessly extorting a sum from the villains.
“Mutou weighs two hundred pounds but has no brain. I just needed to coax him a few words, say I’d give him something good to eat, lure him near the manure pit, and kick him in, just like you kicked Su Guilan into the manure pit earlier.”
“This time it was a close call without real danger, but what about next time?” Zhou Wangshu said, “Don’t take risks in the future. If you encounter this situation again, while you still have strength, get out immediately and go to a place with lots of people. Could that mother and son really dare to drag you back?”
“Wangshu, thank you for caring about me.” Su Yaoguang looked at Zhou Wangshu with eyes full of warmth.
Just now, Zhou Wangshu had helped her. Otherwise, given her situation at the time, she wouldn’t have had the strength to kick Su Guilan away.
That Zhou Wangshu was willing to help her meant a lot to her. In her previous life, when she confronted Grandpa and Grandma Su, Second Uncle Su and Second Aunt Su, Third Uncle and his wife, and Su Guilan’s family, Xiao Yanci only said she handled things crudely, like a shrew, not presentable. Xiao Yanci had never protected her, but Zhou Wangshu had just arrived and already done so.
Zhou Wangshu felt uneasy under her gaze.
He hadn’t appeared when she was in the most danger, so what was she moved about?
This village girl seemed quite shrewd, so why was she so foolish? If someone treated her a little better, would she open her heart to them?
With her like this, no wonder her blood relatives schemed against her. After all, she seemed so foolish and easy to bully.
“I’ll go find Doctor Lin and have him come see you.”
“No need. This drug just makes one powerless. After some time, the effect will wear off.” Su Yaoguang said, “I’ll be fine after sleeping a bit.”
Zhou Wangshu knew she was right. He’d seen this kind of thing many times. Especially during the time he was being sold, he was drugged countless times. At first, the drug’s effect lasted days, but later, after taking it more times, it wore off in half a shichen. However, he would pretend not to have woken up, trying to find an opportunity to escape.
After Su Yaoguang escaped danger, she slept deeply. During her sleep, Zhou Wangshu cleaned up around the manure pit, lit mugwort grass, and let its smell spread to dispel the strong manure water odor. When Su Yaoguang woke up, the simple house was even cleaner and tidier than before, and Zhou Wangshu had taken care of the manure pit.
On the other side, Su Guilan and Mutou stank terribly. Second Uncle Su and Second Aunt Su wouldn’t let the mother and son step through their home door.
Su Guilan stank so much that no one dared approach her.
After Mutou was lifted out, someone pinched his philtrum to wake him. At this moment, he was sitting on the ground throwing a tantrum, saying he wanted to eat.
“Dad, Mom, how are Mutou and I supposed to go home like this? If others ask, where do we put our faces?” Su Guilan said discontentedly.
“I don’t care where you put your faces?” Second Aunt Su said discontentedly, “If you have the ability, go settle accounts with the one who made you like this. Why trouble us? Weren’t you full of confidence before, saying you could definitely handle that girl? Now forget handling that girl—pay back the two hundred copper coins you owe us first.”
“I will definitely pay it back. Let me wash off the filth first, so Mutou and I don’t stink so much, then we can discuss the next plan.”
“Go, go, we don’t want to hear your plans today.” Second Aunt Su covered her mouth and nose. “Not to mention we definitely won’t let you come to our house to bathe. Even if we did and you washed dozens of times until your skin peeled off, we’d still feel disgusted. Your bellies are full of that disgusting stuff now. Urp… Get going, bring the two hundred copper coins over another day.”
Grandma Su and Grandpa Su didn’t speak, but the two stayed farther away than Second Aunt Su, expressing their attitude with actions.
Su Guilan was really angry but had no other choice. She couldn’t go back to her maternal family, and she’d lost so much face. For this period, she didn’t want to come to Anning Village.
However, the more Su Yaoguang offended her, the more she wanted to marry her back as a daughter-in-law for her son. Once she fell into Mutou’s hands, she would make sure she knew the taste of living worse than death.
Su Guilan stormed off in anger.
Before leaving, she said to Mutou: “If you don’t go, no food for three days.”
Upon hearing this, Mutou quickly got up and said with his filthy fat face: “Mom, I want to eat meat.”
Su Guilan had never disliked this idiot son as much as she did now.
If he weren’t an idiot, would she need to go to such lengths? She had endured all this humiliation for him, but his brain only thought about eating, nothing else.
Why was her life so bitter?
