Scoundrel Liu immediately said with excitement, “Aunt, I agree to this! Hurry up and go talk to her for me.”
Auntie Liu let out a sigh and continued, “I just went over there this morning. That girl from the Shen family actually refused! She even kicked me out.”
Mrs. Li said in disbelief, “What’s going on? That little hussy—how dare she refuse?!”
The more Auntie Liu thought about it, the angrier she got. “Don’t even get me started! I was so furious this morning…” She then recounted the morning’s events with heavy embellishment, driving both Mrs. Li and Scoundrel Liu into a fit of rage.
Gritting her teeth, Mrs. Li spat, “A shameless creature like her should be grateful my son doesn’t look down on her, yet she actually has the nerve to look down on my son!”
Scoundrel Liu chimed in, “Aunt, don’t worry about this anymore. I have my own ways to make her obediently agree to this marriage.”
Auntie Liu asked curiously, “What ways?”
Scoundrel Liu said mysteriously, “Just don’t ask. You two only need to wait for me to bring her home as my bride.”
With that, he walked off humming a little tune. He headed down the path toward the Shen residence. While still a distance away from her house, he spotted Shen Qiao heading up the mountain with a basket on her back.
Shen Qiao walked up the mountain, searching for anything edible as she went.
[Ding! Triggering a new mission: Give Liu Youfu a beating to earn ten mission points.]
Hearing the new mission from Xiao Mo, Shen Qiao stopped dead in her tracks, forgetting even to forage for wild greens.
“A beating for Scoundrel Liu? Ten points?”
“Correct.”
“How am I supposed to complete that? I can’t just run over to the Liu family’s house for no reason and beat Scoundrel Liu up, can I?”
“You woman—whenever I call you stupid, you refuse to accept it. Since a new mission has been triggered, it obviously means the target has appeared.”
“The target has appeared?” Shen Qiao thought it over for a moment before it clicked. If the target had appeared, that meant Scoundrel Liu was nearby.
Knowing Scoundrel Liu was close, Shen Qiao instantly went on high alert while keeping her composure. Sure enough, she soon noticed someone tailing her from a short distance behind.
She immediately accepted the mission using her mind. This is a major contract—how could I possibly let it slip through my fingers?
Aware that Scoundrel Liu was right behind her, Shen Qiao began looking for a handy weapon. Soon, she found a wooden stick about as thick as an infant’s arm. She weighed it in her hand to test it out; it had a pretty solid feel.
Just then, a greasy voice echoed from behind: “Little Sister Shen, it’s dangerous to go up the mountain all by yourself. Do you want your big brother to keep you company?”
Shen Qiao spun around, only to see a thoroughly disgusting face. “No need. Stay away from me.”
Scoundrel Liu took two steps closer with a cheeky smirk, narrowing the distance between them. “Don’t be so cold! We’re going to be family very soon anyway.”
“Who’s family with you? Get lost!”
Scoundrel Liu rubbed his chin with one hand while eyeing Shen Qiao up and down. He had only seen her when the Shen family first arrived at Qingshan Village. Back then, they had just fled a famine, suffering immensely from hunger and exhaustion along the journey. Shen Qiao had been nothing more than a little slip of a girl with a sallow complexion and dry, straw-like hair that hadn’t been washed in ages. He hadn’t looked closely at her since.
When his aunt brought her up earlier, he had only agreed because he was already in his thirties and couldn’t resist the idea of taking a teenage maiden as a wife.
Looking at her now, although she was somewhat thin and her hair remained dry, a closer inspection revealed that Shen Qiao was actually quite pretty.
Felt disgusted by Scoundrel Liu’s lingering gaze, Shen Qiao tried to step around him and head down the mountain. To her surprise, the moment she moved, Scoundrel Liu extended an arm to block her path.
Startled by his action, Shen Qiao took a step back. “Scoundrel Liu, what do you think you’re doing?! Move out of my way!”
Instead of moving aside, Scoundrel Liu rubbed his hands together and took another step forward. “Move aside? You’re about to be my wife, so why should I move aside?”
“Can’t you understand plain human speech?! I told you, I will never marry you! If you take one more step forward, I’ll call for help!”
Hearing her words, Scoundrel Liu didn’t retreat; instead, he stepped closer with a grin, reaching out a hand to touch Shen Qiao’s face. “Call for help? Don’t waste your energy. It’s just the two of us out here. Besides, who would interfere in business between a husband and wife?”
Seeing him reach for her face, Shen Qiao swung the stick in her hands and brought it down hard on him. Though her swings were completely wild and devoid of any proper technique, the sheer suddenness of her attack—paired with relentless, consecutive strikes—carried real weight.
Scoundrel Liu had never expected her to fight back. Caught completely unprepared, he could do nothing but cover his head and duck repeatedly.
Seeing him doing nothing but shielding his head and scurrying like a rat, Shen Qiao delivered a few more vicious whacks before quickly skirting past him to sprint down the mountain.
At the same time, the familiar prompt echoed in her mind:
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the mission. You have earned ten points.]
Noticing the stick was no longer falling, Scoundrel Liu pushed himself up and gave chase. Hearing the heavy footsteps behind her, Shen Qiao glanced back, only to see Scoundrel Liu closing in right behind her.
Scoundrel Liu glared at her and barked, “Stinking bitch, you actually dared to hit me?! See how I teach you a lesson!” With that, he lunged straight at her.
In her desperation, Shen Qiao only had time to dodge to the side. She hadn’t expected Scoundrel Liu’s lunge to be so reckless—losing his balance, he went tumbling straight down the slope.
After a long while, there was still no sound coming from the bottom of the slope.
She didn’t dare go down to check on him. If he had sustained serious injuries from the fall, what would she do?
Just as she was in a panic, unsure of how to handle the situation, someone tugged at her arm. She almost shrieked in terror, but when she turned and saw that the newcomer was Lu Zheng, she let out a massive sigh of relief.
Lu Zheng whispered to her, “Head down the mountain right now using the other path. No matter who asks, say you never saw Scoundrel Liu.”
Even though Scoundrel Liu was a good-for-nothing, a human life was still at stake. Shen Qiao asked with lingering anxiety, “Could he have fallen to his death?”
“No, don’t worry. I’m here. Besides, this slope isn’t steep; at most, he’s just been knocked unconscious.” After speaking, Lu Zheng placed two wild rabbits from his hand into her back basket. “Take these two rabbits back with you.”
“Oh… okay.” Shen Qiao nodded, taking the alternate path down the mountain to head home.
Lu Zheng waited until Shen Qiao was gone before walking over to where Scoundrel Liu lay. Squatting down, he checked him over and found that apart from a few scrapes, he really had just been knocked unconscious and was in no serious danger.
Once he confirmed the man was fine, Lu Zheng left as well.
Shen Qiao moved quickly through a patch of woods and didn’t slow her pace until she reached the other small mountain path. By now, she had thought things through: no one had seen Scoundrel Liu follow her up the mountain, and in times like these, there were no security cameras around. As long as she dug in her heels and denied everything, no one could prove a thing.
With her mind put at ease, she began observing her surrounding environment. This was a trail she had never taken before. As she walked down the mountain, she poked through the bushes with her stick, hoping to find something of value.
However, given her current level of luck, she only spotted the most common herbs like dandelions, plantains, and some honeysuckle. None of these were worth much; once dried, they would only fetch around ten to twenty coins per pound.