Chapter 24: Close Contact (Part 2)
Feng Yuzhen had always been well-behaved, never crossing the line, as if she were content to remain chaste for her late husband for the rest of her life.
In her past life, she had been drowned by the main residence for being “promiscuous.” But in this life, it was as if fate had made it so. She was repeatedly pressed by her brother-in-law’s shocking words. Feng Yuzhen was, after all, a young woman. How could she not be flustered when she was alone?
If she deliberately didn’t think about it, didn’t face it, and just acted like an ostrich for the rest of her life, that would be fine. But when she was in danger, at the end of her rope, willing to die rather than be dishonored, he had suddenly rushed to her side, steadfastly.
And so, the grievances and fears that had been numbly accumulating in her heart found an outlet. She could no longer be dull and ignorant.
Cui Jingkong also hadn’t closed his eyes all night. He had rushed all night, but he was not tired—on the contrary, he was extremely excited.
Whenever he stopped, the thought that his widowed sister-in-law had been abducted almost right under his nose would rekindle the bloodthirsty killing intent in his body. The amber prayer beads had been burning hot all night.
It had only been a day, but his widowed sister-in-law had changed. She was lightly powdered, her lips were a vivid red, and her wedding dress was like fire. She was also fair-skinned. The contrast of red and white revealed a hint of a woman’s charm.
Cui Jingkong’s eyes roamed over her, confirming that her clothes were neat and her posture was natural, and that nothing had been done to her yet. Then, unexpectedly, Feng Yuzhen’s slender arms wrapped around him, her body as soft as a boneless snake—
For a moment, he stood there in a daze, convinced that he had been bewitched by his widowed sister-in-law in some unspeakable way.
The woman in his arms was still sobbing slightly, choking out, “I was so scared, sob… I was so close…”
Cui Jingkong said nothing, just raised his hand and gently patted her back. Feng Yuzhen also understood that this was not the time for self-pity. She forced herself to suppress her emotions, but her brother-in-law was holding her too tightly. She struggled a little before he slowly let go.
Feng Yuzhen wiped her tears and looked up. “Kong’ge’er, how did you know I was here?”
“I went to ask First Aunt,” Cui Jingkong lowered his eyes. Her red eyes, her smudged makeup—he even found these wretched details a little pitiful and lovely.
Except for this unsightly wedding dress—it was a set with the one the man he had just thrown headfirst into the latrine was wearing. It was too eye-catching on the street, attracting attention. It had to be changed.
He casually took out a blue cloth jacket belonging to Zhang Zhu from the wardrobe on the side and draped it over Feng Yuzhen’s shoulders, covering her red dress.
“This is not a place to stay for long.” Cui Jingkong naturally took her hand and led her out. Feng Yuzhen was worried that they would be stopped if they walked out so openly and quickly reminded him, “Zhang Zhu will see us.”
Before she could finish, she noticed something unusual. It turned out that at some point, everyone had gone to the front yard, and it was a chaotic mess.
Many people were shouting and looking for someone. Feng Yuzhen pricked up her ears and listened. It seemed that Zhang Zhu was missing. It was a godsend. No one was paying attention to them.
So the two of them quickened their pace and slipped out through a side path. The young man’s slightly thin but tall back led the way. Her right hand was held tightly in his large palm. Feng Yuzhen’s heart was pounding, she didn’t know if it was from fear of being seen or for some other reason.
The black horse was tied not far away. The two of them mounted it together with practiced ease, and with a crack of the whip, they galloped all the way back to the west of the village.
She hadn’t realized it before, but when Feng Yuzhen returned to the brick house, a sense of peace washed over her, and she was grateful to have survived the ordeal.
She hadn’t eaten much since last night, and Cui Jingkong was no better. His lips were dry and pale. The two of them sat down and had a sip of water, then ate two steamed buns with pickled vegetables to roughly fill their stomachs.
Feng Yuzhen’s face was tense, covered in tears and powder. She scooped some water to wash her face, and her fair face was revealed.
Previously, she had been in an anxious state and had ignored the pain in her body. Now that she had escaped death and gradually calmed down, the wounds began to ache, and she could no longer ignore them.
The porcelain shard was sharp. She had squeezed it too tightly at the time, and it had pierced her flesh, pricking her palm. There were three or four circles of bruises around both her wrists, and the places where the friction had been severe had even broken the skin. These were the marks left by the ropes.
Cui Jingkong saw the beads of blood seeping from her palm. His gaze lingered on it for a moment before turning away. He told her to just sit down.
He took the bottle of ointment from the side room. The two of them sat facing each other. Cui Jingkong took his widowed sister-in-law’s left wrist and slowly applied the medicine along the rope marks with his fingertips.
Feng Yuzhen was still very uncomfortable and tried to pull her hand back. Cui Jingkong lifted his eyelids and gave her a faint glance, holding on with a hint of force, and asked, “Does Sister-in-law want to tell me about what happened today?”
In the past half a year, most of her embarrassments had been witnessed by her brother-in-law. Feng Yuzhen saw no need to be shy, but her throat couldn’t help but feel bitter. “My younger brother, Feng Zhao, is getting married soon, and he’s short on money. My parents wanted to sell me to an old widower.”
Cui Jingkong listened quietly. After a long time, he asked, “Do you hate them?”
Feng Yuzhen did not speak.
It would be a lie to say she didn’t hate them. How could she not? She had even knelt on the ground and begged so humbly, begging her mother to spare her life. Such cannibalistic parents, for the sake of their son, seemed determined to suck her dry of her last drop of blood.
Her thoughts drifted for a moment, then were pulled back by a warm, moist touch. Feng Yuzhen came back to her senses and saw Cui Jingkong with his head bowed, the tip of his high nose brushing against her hand. His thin lips lightly touched the wound in her palm, making a very faint sound. The seeping blood beads stained his lips a vivid red, like rouge.
Feng Yuzhen’s head throbbed. She was held by his iron-like grip and couldn’t break free. She only felt a numbing sensation shoot up her spine from that small patch of skin.
She suddenly felt very hot. From her jade-like earlobes to her neck, she flushed a lovely red.
The hand that was being kissed couldn’t help but curl up, her fingertips unintentionally brushing against his neck—
Cui Jingkong’s body froze, and his Adam’s apple bobbed twice. He looked up, and his usually cold, jade-like face was burning with an imperceptible obsession. His voice was slightly hoarse. “Sister-in-law, as long as you ask, I am willing to do anything for you.”
It was as if they had secretly shared some forbidden secret. Her heart was as hot as a stone baked in the summer sun. Her arm trembled, but she did not pull it back. She just turned her face to the side and let him lower his head again, this time pressing his lips to the bruised and broken rope marks on her wrist, leaving a moist trail.
Feng Yuzhen heard herself say to him, “After all, they are the parents who gave birth to me and raised me… Don’t endanger their lives.”
Cui Jingkong applied the medicine to her palm and wrist, and even intended to do her ankle—of course, Feng Yuzhen refused.
She realized something was wrong. Perhaps it was because the weather was too hot and her mind was not clear. Both her arms were as stiff as if they were not her own.
Before Cui Jingkong left, he told her to lock the doors and windows and wait for him to come back. Feng Yuzhen’s heart was in a mess. She didn’t dare to look at him and only reminded him, “Feng Zhao has a very fierce big black dog. It only listens to him and bites everyone it sees. You be careful.”
Cui Jingkong looked at her unintentionally fearful expression. The blood on his lips had already been licked clean, and now his face had returned to its usual cold indifference. “Has it bitten you?”
Feng Yuzhen’s face was pale as she nodded. Not only had it bitten her, but it had almost bitten off a piece of flesh from the inside of her thigh.
“I know,” he replied.
***
Speaking of which, Zhang Zhu was quite unlucky. He had been in a hurry to go to the latrine. He had come out feeling refreshed, but had been grabbed from behind by someone he didn’t know. An arm like an iron bar had been wrapped around his neck. In less than a moment, his head had lolled to the side, and he had lost consciousness.
If that had been all, it would have been fine. But the person had been extremely vicious and had stuffed him headfirst into the cesspit. Fortunately, he had been found in time, otherwise he would have almost drowned in feces and urine.
When he woke up again, everything was in chaos.
The villagers who had come for the wedding feast looked at him with disgust, wanting to stay five zhang away from him, and watched the farce with some schadenfreude: the groom was covered in feces and urine for some reason, and stank to high heaven; the bride, who should have been obediently staying in her room, had also disappeared.
After waking up, Zhang Zhu had almost washed off three layers of his skin, but his hair still stank. He wanted to cut it all off.
He was so angry his nose was crooked. He gave the four sedan bearers more money and went to the Feng family to settle the score, his hair still wet.
When Mr. Feng saw Zhang Zhu suddenly coming with his men, he didn’t know what was going on. But the two liang of silver he had just received was still warm in his pocket, so he eagerly went to greet him:
“Good son-in-law, why have you come to my place on this happy day?—Where is that smell coming from? Why does it stink so much?”
Zhang Zhu’s face was twisted. He pushed Mr. Feng down and spat in his face. “Who the hell is your son-in-law? You two, beat him for me! The rest of you, go and smash all the tables, chairs, pots, and pans in his house!”
“Ah! Son-in-law, you… ouch! Stop hitting, stop hitting!” He was quickly knocked to the ground, and two fists landed on his forehead, breaking the skin and causing his nose to bleed profusely.
Feng Zhao, who was in the house, heard the commotion. He saw two fierce-looking men coming and quickly kicked the big black dog lying next to him. The man and the dog then ran out of the house.
There was a series of loud crashes outside, mixed with the increasingly close sounds of begging and beating. Mother Feng, who was washing clothes, wiped her wet hands on her clothes and went out to see what was happening. Two strong men were dragging the bruised and swollen Mr. Feng by the legs like a dead dog and shoved him into the yard.
He was still unconsciously muttering, “It’s all that damn girl’s fault. She’s the one who should die. Don’t hit me…”
Seeing this, Mother Feng sat on the ground and wailed, as if she wanted to call the whole village over. This trick didn’t work on the hired thugs. They weren’t afraid of this and went in to smash the tables and chairs anyway.
Zhang Zhu stood in the yard with his hands on his hips and said in a strange tone, “Your good daughter ran off with a wild man, and you want me to go find her? How did you trick me into thinking she was obedient and would let me discipline her? I didn’t even get a taste of her. Whoever wants your daughter can have her. Give me back the betrothal gift!”
When Mother Feng heard that Zhang Zhu wanted the betrothal gift back, her heart skipped a beat. They had spent most of it on building a new house for their son. Feng Zhao was a spendthrift and especially loved to go to restaurants in town. There was probably less than half a liang left.
The house was already a mess. If they continued to smash it, not only would their son not be able to get married, but they wouldn’t even be able to live.
Mother Feng had no choice but to compromise. She went into the house to get the remaining money and give it to him. But unexpectedly, when she opened the drawer, it was empty. It turned out that before Feng Zhao had left, he had taken all the money and had gone to hide in the mountains!
Suddenly, the world spun. Mother Feng felt weak all over. She clutched her chest and collapsed to the ground, watching helplessly as Zhang Zhu led his men to completely destroy her home.
***
Feng Zhao ran up the mountain, the big black dog panting behind him. It was seven or eight years old this year. Perhaps it was lacking in energy, but when Feng Zhao turned his head, he couldn’t find it.
He didn’t think much of it. The old dog knew the way. It would run home on its own when it got hungry at night.
He lay on a tree branch, counting the copper coins in his pocket. He waited for the sun to set and the sky to slowly darken before slowly walking down the mountain.
Suddenly, something rolled under his feet. He was caught off guard and tripped, stumbling to the ground. Feng Zhao touched the thing that had tripped him. It was furry on all sides, and even warm and wet.
He was a little curious. He took out a flint and struck it. Only then did he see clearly that what he was holding in his hand was a dog’s head, its tongue hanging out, covered in blood, and it looked like it had just been cut off at the neck!
The big black dog’s wide-open eyes stared at him. Feng Zhao’s hand was covered in blood. He immediately let out a loud scream and subconsciously threw it aside.
His hair stood on end, and he ran down the mountain desperately, but was kicked hard by a leg that stretched out from the side, and he rolled forward.
He rolled for nearly half a li before stopping. Feng Zhao’s head was bleeding, and his whole body was in excruciating pain. He couldn’t lift his arms or legs, and his mind was a mess.
A long, thin black shadow walked up to him and slowly took out a dagger from his robes. The blade reflected a cold light under the moonlight, and half of Feng Zhao’s soul was scared away.
“Spare my life, hero, spare my life! I… I’ll give you all the money I have. Don’t kill me, don’t kill me!”
Feng Zhao was so scared he wet his trousers. He couldn’t move at all, and snot and tears streamed down the face that had been so arrogant just last night.
The black shadow was unmoved. He skillfully twirled the dagger in his hand, then raised his arm and stabbed it fiercely into his left calf, piercing through the flesh and blood, creating a hole through and through in an instant.
“Ah—!”
Feng Zhao’s scream echoed through the mountain forest, startling a large flock of birds. He was covered in sweat, and his eyes rolled back. He fainted in the intense pain, and blood flowed from his left calf.
The smell of blood was carried in all directions by the wind. Even if it didn’t attract wild wolves, he would probably bleed to death here. But so what?
Cui Jingkong looked at the ever-growing pool of blood indifferently. A few pairs of green, glowing eyes were already staring at this place in the darkness. He turned and left.
Back then, Feng Zhao had pushed his weak third sister off the cliff. He probably never knew that ten years later, a fierce god would feel regret for that lame leg and make him pay with his life.