blenderwars Chapter 77 I Won't Stop Even If You Beg for Mercy
Chapter 77 I Won't Stop Even If You Beg for Mercy
Upon entering the main room, the light dimmed slightly.
The room was simply furnished with an eight-immortal table, two long benches, and a cabinet with peeling paint against the wall, but it was spotless, without a trace of the slovenliness of a bachelor.
Qin Rushan pressed her down to sit on the large wooden bed, then turned and walked to the cabinet. After fiddling with it for a while, he took out a red cloth bundle.
"Open it and take a look."
He shoved the bundle into Li Xianglian's arms, pulled up a bench, and sat down opposite her with an air of authority. His eyes, which were usually fierce and menacing, were now frighteningly bright.
Li Xianglian's heart skipped a beat, and her fingers trembled slightly as she unbuttoned the cloth.
As the red cloth was peeled away layer by layer, a dazzling red came into view.
It was a brand new red satin jacket with a front opening. Although it wasn't embroidered with any large dragon and phoenix patterns, the fabric felt smooth to the touch, and the collar and cuffs were trimmed with gold. It looked festive and luxurious.
There was also a pair of trousers of the same color underneath, and even a pair of red cloth shoes embroidered with mandarin ducks.
Li Xianglian was dumbfounded. In this day and age, which family could afford to provide such an outfit for their daughter-in-law?
Most of the time, it's just a matter of buying a few feet of floral fabric to make a new outfit.
This red satin fabric can probably only be bought in department stores in big cities.
"This...this is for me?"
Li Xianglian touched the smooth fabric, looked up in disbelief, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.
"Nonsense, is there another woman in this house besides you?" Qin Rushan looked at her cautious appearance, feeling both soft-hearted and pained.
Qin Rushan took out a cigarette from his pocket, hesitated before lighting it, and twirled it between his fingers. "When I, Qin Rushan, get married, it's a proper wedding, not something done secretly. Although we're in a rush and don't have time for a big celebration, this outfit is essential. Put it on and let me see."
Li Xianglian bit her lip, tears streaming down her face.
She lived in the Zhao family for three years. When she first entered the family, she didn't even have a red veil, let alone a red jacket. The old woman in the Zhao family was stingy and made her come with just a bundle on her own.
Unexpectedly, it was with this man, who was known in the village as a living devil, that she truly experienced what it meant to be cherished and treated like a treasure.
"Why are you crying? Why are you crying again?"
Qin Rushan couldn't stand seeing her cry.
His rough fingertips roughly rubbed her eye, the force too strong, causing a sharp pain, yet his tone was clumsy and gentle.
"Today is a joyous day, we should be smiling. I told Er Gou to go and call Da Gang, Tie Zhu, and the others. They're all brothers who've been through thick and thin with me. We'll have a feast at our house tonight so you can get to know them and let those gossipy guys in the village know that you, Li Xianglian, are a member of the Qin family. From now on, anyone who dares to bully you will have to ask if my fists will allow it first."
Li Xianglian sniffed, buried her face in the red coat, and said in a muffled voice, "I'm happy... no one has ever been so kind to me before."
Looking at her submissive demeanor, Qin Rushan's Adam's apple bobbed, and the anger in his heart began to rise again.
He suddenly moved closer, and his strong masculine aura instantly enveloped Li Xianglian.
He lowered his voice, a mischievous chuckle in it, his breath hot against her ear: "You're already moved? What will you be like tonight? You'll be crying your eyes out!"
Li Xianglian was startled and suddenly looked up, meeting the man's dark, shining eyes, which burned with two flames, a fierce look that seemed to want to devour her whole.
"What...what did you say?!" She blushed deeply and pinched his arm. "You're so unserious!"
"Why should you be so proper with your own daughter-in-law?"
Qin Rushan took the opportunity to grab her hand, rubbing his thumb on the back of her hand, and grinned with a roguish smile. "Save your energy, you'll be crying in the bridal chamber tonight. Don't beg for mercy then, I won't stop even if you do."
Li Xianglian felt a sudden "boom" in her mind, her face burning hot enough to fry an egg. She quickly pulled her hand back, grabbed her clothes, and ran into the inner room, saying, "I...I'm going to change my clothes!"
Watching her flustered figure disappear into the distance, Qin Rushan burst into hearty laughter.
……
The Zhao family lives just a wall away.
But the scene here was quite different: cold pots and stoves, a desolate and miserable sight.
Aunt Zhao lay on the cold kang in the west room, covered with the stiff old cotton quilt, with a wet towel on her forehead.
The room was filled with a strong smell of Chinese medicine and the musty smell that was unique to the old man.
She collapsed yesterday after returning from the county town.
That was a real illness, but also a mental one.
Every time I close my eyes, I hear Zhao Xiaoyun crying and calling for her mother in the deep mountains and forests, followed by Zhao Gang's cold and resolute face, pointing his finger at her and cursing her as a "burden."
Five hundred yuan is gone.
My own daughter was sold.
Her proud son had lost his affections for her, and to protect his future, he didn't even care about the life or death of his own sister.
Each and every one of these incidents was like a dull knife, cutting back and forth in Aunt Zhao's heart.
"Cough cough cough..." Aunt Zhao coughed violently, which made her chest ache.
She hates it!
She hated the human trafficker who abducted her daughter, and she hated her ruthless son, but the person she hated most was Li Xianglian.
If it weren't for that jinx insisting on a divorce, if she hadn't obediently crawled into that sack, how could Xiaoyun have gotten into trouble? How could she have lost the money?
"Knock knock knock!"
Suddenly, there was a loud knocking on the courtyard gate, accompanied by a shrill, booming voice: "Aunt Zhao! Are you home? It's Big Mouth!"
Aunt Zhao frowned, feeling a surge of annoyance.
Li Dazui is known as the village's loudmouth; if he comes to our door at this time, it's definitely not for anything good.
But she was seething with anger and was worried that there was no one to confide in.
Besides, she also had to maintain the Zhao family's reputation and prevent others from discovering the family's scandals.
Aunt Zhao forced herself to cough twice, "Cough cough... The door isn't locked, come... come in."
With a creak, the courtyard gate was pushed open.
Li Dazui's fat body squeezed in, holding a handful of sunflower seeds in his hand. He cracked them open as he crawled into the house, spitting out the shells all the way.
"Oh dear, Auntie, why are you lying down? It's broad daylight." As soon as Li Dazui entered the room, he wrinkled his nose at the strong smell of medicine. He didn't act like an outsider and plopped down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).
"Hey, don't even mention it."
Aunt Zhao struggled to sit up, leaning against the wall, looking weak. "I went to the county town to see Gangzi yesterday. The whole trip back and forth has worn me out. I've caught a cold."
She never mentioned what she was going to the county town for, only saying that she was going to see her son.
Li Dazui's eyes darted around, and he spat the sunflower seed shells on the ground. He then leaned mysteriously over to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed): "Auntie, I heard... Gangzi and that Li Xianglian, are they really divorced?"
Qin Rushan had already shown his credentials at the village entrance, and the whole village knows about it now.
But Li Dazui just wanted to see Zhao Da Niang's reaction and, incidentally, indulge in his verbal sparring.
Mentioning this, Aunt Zhao's face instantly darkened, and the resentment in her eyes was impossible to hide.
"We're divorced! We should have divorced a long time ago!"
Aunt Zhao slammed her hand on the kang mat, as if slapping Li Xianglian's face. "That barren hen, hogging the toilet without doing anything! Who is my Gangzi? He's a government cadre! He'll marry the daughter of a high-ranking official in the city sooner or later! Keeping her at home is just a disgrace to Gangzi!"
She became increasingly agitated as she spoke, as if this could cover up the fact that Li Xianglian had extorted five hundred yuan from her. "This time, our family doesn't want her anymore! It's just that Li Xianglian is shameless and insists on some compensation. Humph, our Gangzi is kind-hearted, so we'll just treat it like sending a beggar away and tell her to get lost!"
Li Dazui was secretly amused. This old hag was still so stubborn even on her deathbed.
"That's right, that's right, Gangzi is a very promising person." Li Dazui said a few perfunctory words, then deliberately steered the conversation in that direction, "But Auntie, what will happen to Li Xianglian after she leaves the Zhao family? Her stepmother is going to sell her to Zhang the butcher in the neighboring village, right? That butcher Zhang once beat his wife to death when he was drunk."
Aunt Zhao sneered, a hint of vengeful pleasure on her face, as if she could already see Li Xianglian being beaten to a pulp.
"That's her fate! I heard that butcher gave her three hundred yuan as a bride price! With Li Xianglian's small frame, if she fell into his hands, hmph, she'd be dead! Serves her right!"
At this point, Aunt Zhao finally felt a little better.
Although Xiaoyun was lost and the money was gone, just thinking about how Li Xianglian would have to suffer under Zhang the butcher, who was covered in pig manure and always ready to throw punches, made her feel like she had gotten half of her revenge.
"That bitch, she'll get what's coming to her! This is retribution! Without the Zhao family, she's not even worth a dog!" Aunt Zhao cursed through gritted teeth.
Looking at Aunt Zhao's vicious face, Li Dazui couldn't suppress his gossipy fire any longer.
She stuffed the sunflower seeds in her hand into her pocket, slapped her thighs, and made an extremely exaggerated expression of surprise: "Oh my goodness, Auntie! How can you be so out of touch? Who told you she went to live with Butcher Zhang?"
Aunt Zhao was stunned for a moment, her heart skipped a beat: "No...it's not Butcher Zhang? Who else could it be? Who would want a divorced man?"
Li Dazui's smile deepened, a kind of excitement that comes from watching a grand performance without fear of the height of the stage.
She leaned closer to Aunt Zhao's wrinkled face, lowered her voice, but spoke clearly, word by word:
"Auntie, you don't know yet, do you? Just now, on the main road at the village entrance, Qin Rushan was riding a big bicycle with a big red flower tied to the handlebars, and Li Xianglian was on the back. He was making a big show of it all the way through the village!"
"Qin Rushan showed his marriage certificate in front of the Party Secretary and Director Wang! It was a bright red certificate with an official seal! He said that Li Xianglian was his lawfully wedded wife, protected by law!"
"What?!"
Aunt Zhao felt a "boom" in her head, as if she had been hit on the head with a stick.
Her eyes were practically popping out of their sockets as she stared intently at Li Dazui.
"Qin... Qin Rushan? That jinx?"
"you do not say!"
Before Li Dazui could finish speaking, he pointed next door, "Listen to that noise! Isn't that Qin Rushan's house? It sounds like they're having a feast! Er Gou was just outside shouting that there's a big celebration tonight, and he's invited his sworn brothers to drink and eat meat! I can smell the aroma of the meat even from here!"
Aunt Zhao froze, and listened intently.
really.
Through that not-so-thick earthen wall, one could faintly hear the clinking of glasses, loud laughter, and the kind of lively commotion that only comes with happy occasions.
A gust of wind carried the rich aroma of stewed meat, mixed with the scent of Erguotou liquor, forcefully into the room filled with the smells of medicine and mildew.
That was Qin Rushan.
It was Qin Rushan, whom no one in the entire village dared to provoke.
That little slut Li Xianglian not only wasn't sold to Butcher Zhang to suffer, but instead turned around and married Qin Rushan?
And it's right next door to her house! Right under her nose!
This means that Li Xianglian will be in front of her every day from now on, wearing new clothes, eating meat, and living a good life, while she can only stay in this dilapidated house, thinking about that ignorant daughter and that ungrateful son...
"puff--"
A fishy, sweet taste suddenly surged into my throat.
Aunt Zhao couldn't catch her breath, her eyes rolled back, and she fell straight backward. Although she didn't spit out any blood, she was so angry that she fainted.
"Oh dear! Auntie! What's wrong? Someone come quick! Old Zhao's wife has passed out!"