Chapter 109: Got Both
Shi Tou asked: “Sis, should we bring him over?”
“Not for now, let him stay with his relatives a bit longer.” Shang Wan said to him, “Go sharpen the kitchen knife.”
“Got it!” Shi Tou didn’t hesitate at all and went to sharpen the knife.
He was determined to sharpen the kitchen knife to cut hair with a slight blow, so that Xiao Huan could use it comfortably later.
He SIZhi saw that something was off and tentatively asked Lu Chengjing: “Xiucai Scholar, are you really going to do it?”
“We are all good citizens, of course we won’t lay a hand on him.” Lu Chengjing smiled, “Gao Qi failed to force a good girl into marriage, and in his anger wanted to hold a knife to injure someone, but his hand slipped and he failed to grab the knife, accidentally castrating himself. Any problem with that?”
He SIZhi: “…”
Telling lies with eyes wide open—you’ve mastered it.
He realized his understanding of the host family was off by more than just a little.
“N-No problem.” He said dryly, then turned to call his two apprentices, “You’ve rested enough, get back to work.”
Ma Jieyong wanted to watch the excitement, “Master, this guy still…”
“Get to work!” He SIZhi glared at him fiercely, and Ma Jieyong immediately shut up, obediently getting up to work.
Gao Yan glanced at Xiao Huan a few more times, then picked up the tools and followed.
While Shi Tou was sharpening the knife, Shang Wan unloaded the red bricks from the ox cart, and Xiao Huan went over to help.
Shang Wan asked casually: “Are you afraid?”
“Not afraid.” Xiao Huan furrowed her brows tightly, “Just feels disgusting!”
Shang Wan handed her a brick and asked: “Tell me in detail, how did he find you?”
“I was squatting by the riverside washing clothes, and he suddenly ran out from behind a tree and pounced to hug me.”
Xiao Huan felt it was bad luck and spat on the ground twice.
“I wasn’t prepared and almost got dragged into the river by him. I yelled for him to let go, but not only did he not let go, he even tried to kiss me, so I grabbed the laundry bat and hit him on the head. He let go in pain, and I took the chance to get away from him.”
Shang Wan narrowed her eyes slightly, “And then?”
“Then he started yelling loudly that I seduced him, that we’d already slept together, and that I was pregnant with his child.”
Xiao Huan summarized it in a few words, but actually what Gao Qi yelled at the time was much uglier than what she said. She felt that saying it out loud would not only dirty her own mouth but also Shang Wan’s ears.
“Crack—”
The red brick in Shang Wan’s hand broke into three pieces.
Xiao Huan’s eyelids twitched, “…Sis, that cost money.”
Shang Wan tossed the brick aside and continued asking: “Were there many people by the riverside at the time?”
“Quite a few.” Xiao Huan nodded, “Lin Dajia doesn’t know what got into her, washing pig innards by the riverside, making that area stink of blood and attracting a bunch of fish. No one could wash clothes there.”
“Everyone dispersed and went upstream to wash clothes. Since there were too many people and not enough space, I deliberately went a bit farther to find an empty spot. Rong Niangzi was originally going with me, but she was dragged away by that Gui Shi.”
“I didn’t expect Gao Qi to hide behind the tree for a sneak attack on me.” She said hatefully, “I should have smashed his head open with one bat!”
If she had the strength from yesterday when chopping thick bones, she would have cracked Gao Qi’s skull open long ago.
Shang Wan asked puzzledly: “Do people often go to the riverside to wash those bloody smelly things?”
“No, everyone usually gathers there to wash clothes. For those dirty stinky things, they go even further downstream.” Xiao Huan pursed her lips, “Sis, you didn’t see it—Lin Dajia got scolded until her face turned black.”
Shang Wan sneered, “How convenient—washing pig innards, changing spots, dragging Rong Niangzi away to leave you alone, and Gao Qi just happening to hide nearby.”
If it wasn’t a deliberate setup, Gao Qi could eat ten pounds of cow dung.
However, Shang Wan still had one point of doubt.
Xiao Huan had pretty good relations with the aunts and young wives in the village—how did the Gao Family ensure that Xiao Huan would be alone?
“Perhaps the Gao Family wasn’t targeting Xiao Huan.” Lu Chengjing poured Shang Wan a bowl of medicinal tea, letting her calm down first.
Shang Wan held it without drinking, “Explain clearly.”
Lu Chengjing said: “The Gao Family is simple—just Gao Laotai, Gui Shi, and Gao Qi as their sole heir. Gao Qi is twenty-five by virtual age, and in the village, men his age should normally be married by now, yet he’s still a single bachelor.”
In these times, village men not married were for two reasons: either the family had no money to get him a wife, or the man was no good in every way and the young ladies wouldn’t have him.
Unfortunately, Gao Qi had both.
The Gao Family men all died early, and the home was supported by two women. Besides farming, there were no other ways to make money. It was good enough to keep the family from starving—where would the money come from to get Gao Qi a wife?
Logically, in such a family, Gao Qi should strive to make something of himself, but he was a guy who only wanted to mooch off his family, lazy all day, the village’s famous idler.
Who would be willing to marry their young lady to such a person?
Shang Wan said: “You mean, no matter who ended up alone today, Gao Qi would do the same thing, ruin the girl’s reputation, and force the family to marry her to him?”
Lu Chengjing nodded, “The Gao Family probably wanted to use this method to get Gao Qi a wife and continue the family line.”
There were quite a few marriageable young ladies in the village, and chores like washing clothes were mostly done by them, and the riverside was a frequent spot.
The Gao Family was probably planning to catch whichever one they could, and Xiao Huan just happened to run into it.
Xiao Huan thought herself unlucky, but then realized that if it had been another village girl, the Gao Family’s scheme might really have succeeded.
Unlike the village girls, she could fight back, and her family stood by her side. They wouldn’t, because of Gao Qi’s slander, for the sake of face or other things, marry her off to Gao Qi under the pretext of it being for her own good, fulfilling the Gao Family’s wishes.
Thinking of this, Xiao Huan’s mood inevitably grew a bit heavy.
“The knife is sharpened!”
The snow-bright kitchen knife broke the heaviness.
Shi Tou plucked a hair and placed it on the blade, blew hard, and the hair was cut in two by the blade.
True cut hair with a slight blow.
Xiao Huan took the kitchen knife, and Shi Tou proactively went behind the bushes to drag over Gao Qi whose mouth was blocked, tying his limbs with hemp rope to prevent struggling and make it convenient for Xiao Huan.
Gao Qi still had a short arrow stuck in one leg. Shang Wan glanced at the position and asked Lu Chengjing: “Shot pretty accurately—when did you practice?”
Lu Chengjing smiled helplessly, “Just luck.”
At the time, Xiao Hui bit Gao Qi’s leg, and Gao Qi pulled out a bamboo spike to stab Xiao Hui. He didn’t have time to think much and roughly aimed in Gao Qi’s direction to trigger the mechanism.
Hitting the target was really all luck.
Shang Wan felt that the skill of launching hidden weapons could be developed further and thought before saying: “Tomorrow I’ll make you a straw target—practice when you have time.”
Lu Chengjing agreed, “Good.”
While the two talked, Xiao Huan and Shi Tou squatted together, gesturing angles with the kitchen knife, seriously studying how to perform the castration on Gao Qi.
Don’t accidentally chop the person to death by mistake—going to prison for someone like that wouldn’t be worth it.
