Smack!
“Fuck! Which bastard is looking to die?! How dare someone strike this revered one!”
Yu Lezhi had been jolted awake by a loud slap across the face.
Her cheek burned with pain, and her ears were ringing.
She had lived for more than 2,800 years. Aside from enduring some hardships during the first decade or so of her life, things had changed dramatically after she accidentally embarked on the path of demonic cultivation.
She had become a terrifying existence whom everyone across the entire cultivation continent avoided like the plague. No one with a death wish would dare lay a finger on her.
Yet today, someone had actually come knocking, practically begging to die.
Yu Lezhi abruptly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the vicious, spiteful face of a middle-aged woman.
“Stop pretending to be dead! I’m telling you, you’re handing over that money today, whether you like it or not! Playing dead won’t save you!”
The woman’s spittle sprayed all over her face as she shouted.
Yu Lezhi immediately raised her hand and grabbed the woman’s throat. She was just about to circulate the true qi inside her body when she realized that her dantian was completely empty.
Yu Lezhi was stunned.
Where had all her true qi gone?!
She quickly shook her head and began recalling what had happened before.
At the time, she had been undergoing her tribulation. She was on the verge of successfully breaking through to the next cultivation realm when several sects that proudly proclaimed themselves righteous had joined forces to ambush and surround her.
And then… she seemed to have died…
Before Yu Lezhi could even process the fact that she was supposed to be dead, an enormous flood of unfamiliar memories suddenly poured into her mind.
Xia Country. The 1970s. A mentally disabled girl. Child bride. Eighteen years old. Wei Ming. Fallen martyr. Death compensation. Pregnant…
“Hiss!”
Yu Lezhi sucked in a sharp breath, nearly fainting from the overwhelming memories flooding this body’s mind.
She!
The infamous demonic female cultivator who had struck terror into the hearts of everyone in the cultivation world!
A woman who had remained single for 2,800 years!
And now, after transmigrating, she had somehow become a mentally disabled child bride?!
And to make matters worse, she was now a widow?!
Even more ridiculous, she was carrying two babies in her belly!
What kind of ridiculous situation was this?!
Taking advantage of Yu Lezhi’s distraction as she struggled to process the sudden influx of unfamiliar memories, the woman hurriedly pried Yu Lezhi’s hand away from her throat and scrambled behind her husband.
For one brief moment, the woman had genuinely felt the terror of approaching death.
It had seemed as though Yu Lezhi might actually kill her.
“You little brat! How dare you lay hands on your younger aunt?!”
Old Madam Wei was furious. She raised her hand, intending to slap Yu Lezhi as well.
Yu Lezhi instinctively lifted her hand to block it.
Crack!
A crisp sound of breaking bones rang through the room.
“AAAAH! My hand!”
Old Madam Wei let out a scream like a slaughtered pig, clutching her wrist as she staggered backward.
Everyone was stunned.
In their eyes, Yu Lezhi was nothing more than a mentally disabled child bride whom Wei Ming’s mother had taken in out of a moment of kindness.
She usually kept to herself, timid and withdrawn. Anyone could bully her.
Who would have thought that this supposedly foolish girl would actually fight back today?
“This is outrageous!”
Old Man Wei slammed his hand against the table.
“Wei Guoqiang! Just look at what you’ve done! I told you from the beginning not to raise this money-losing burden! And now look! You’ve raised an ungrateful wretch who actually dares to lay hands on her elders!”
Wei Guoqiang, Yu Lezhi’s father-in-law, struggled to his feet with the support of his crutch. His face was livid.
“Father, Mother was the one who struck first! Lezhi is still carrying Wei Ming’s children. You can’t treat her like this!”
“What children? Who knows whether they’re even members of the Wei family!”
Old Madam Wei shrieked.
“Wei Ming left the day after their wedding, and now she’s pregnant? Who does she think she’s fooling?!”
“Who knows whether this idiot was seduced by some wild man outside and got herself pregnant, only to pin the blame on our Wei family? I think—”
Seeing that Old Madam Wei was getting carried away and saying too much, Old Man Wei quickly kicked her leg.
He was reminding her not to forget why they had come here in the first place.
Old Madam Wei understood immediately and changed her tone.
“Well, anyway, considering that you did marry into our Wei family, we aren’t completely heartless. Naturally, we won’t abandon you and the babies in your belly.”
“How about this? From now on, you’ll move into your younger uncle’s household and marry Yaozu. You’ll take good care of your younger uncle’s family and give Yaozu several more sons. We won’t even bother questioning whose children you’re carrying now.”
“……”
In fact, Wei Guoqiang and his wife knew perfectly well why the family had come to cause trouble today.
Their real target was Wei Ming’s military death compensation.
Wei Ming had been a soldier who had sacrificed his life for his country. The authorities knew the circumstances of the family and were also aware that Yu Lezhi was carrying his posthumous children.
Therefore, in addition to the lump-sum compensation they had already received, the family would continue receiving a regular monthly allowance.
And that was exactly what these greedy relatives had their eyes on.
However, they weren’t satisfied with simply taking the death compensation. They also wanted to seize all the monthly payments that would be distributed in the years to come.
Their proposal to have Yu Lezhi remarry Wei Yaozu was nothing more than a scheme to gain control over her.
After all, she was Wei Ming’s widow. As long as they could get their hands on her, the future payments would naturally end up in their pockets.
Wei Ming’s mother had been lying in bed, her face deathly pale from a serious illness. But upon hearing Old Madam Wei’s outrageous demands, her face flushed red with fury.
“In your dreams… Cough, cough, cough…”
“Are you… Are you trying to drive us all to our deaths?!”
Wei Guoqiang gripped his crutch so tightly that his hand trembled. His voice was choked with emotion.
“Wei Ming has only just passed away, and you’ve already come here doing this…”
He had always known that because he had grown up under his grandparents’ care, his parents favored his younger brother, Wei Guo’an, more than him.
Over the years, he had never fought with his younger brother over anything. He had always thought that, as the elder brother, it was only natural to make allowances for his younger brother’s family.
But he had never imagined that immediately after losing his own son, his parents would waste no time bringing his younger brother’s entire family to his doorstep.
Old Madam Wei glared at him with her narrow, triangular eyes.
“We’re doing this for your own good! She’s an idiot carrying two little burdens. How is she supposed to survive in the future?”
“Do you honestly expect the two of you to support her for the rest of your lives? Marrying our Yaozu is a blessing for her!”
More importantly, aside from the death compensation, Old Madam Wei had another reason for wanting Yu Lezhi to marry her precious grandson.
Although Yu Lezhi was a little slow-witted, she was certainly fertile.
She had become pregnant with twins after sharing a bed with Wei Ming just once.
In the future, she would surely give her precious grandson a whole bunch of sons.
Only then would the Wei family truly flourish with descendants!
Wang Cuihua, who had been hiding behind Wei Guo’an, also poked her head out.
“Exactly! If it weren’t for the fact that she’s so fertile, our Yaozu wouldn’t even want her!”
Wei Ming’s mother struggled to sit up in bed. Her frail body swayed unsteadily.
“Lezhi… Lezhi isn’t stupid… She’s just… just a little slower to react…”
Yu Lezhi watched everything coldly as the original owner’s memories gradually became clearer.
The original owner did indeed have some intellectual difficulties, but she hadn’t been born that way.
When she was eight years old, Wei Ming’s mother had found her by the riverbank. She had been so severely starved that she was barely clinging to life. From that point onward, her reactions had been slower than those of ordinary people.
However, to everyone else, there wasn’t much difference between that and being mentally disabled. As a result, she had even acquired the nickname “Silly Girl.”
“Father, Mother,” Wei Guoqiang said, hobbling two steps forward with the support of his crutch. “We can give you half of the death compensation, but Lezhi cannot be forced to remarry.”
“Bullshit!”
Wei Guo’an suddenly jumped forward and kicked over the stool beside him.
“You’re handing over every last bit of it! And from today onward, the monthly allowance from the authorities belongs under our management, too!”
The stool crashed to the floor with a loud bang, startling Wei Ming’s mother into a shudder.
“Guo’an…” Wei Guoqiang stared at his biological younger brother in disbelief. “You… How could you…”