Li Shu couldn’t help but find it laughable.
Last night, he hadn’t come to take her home as his future daughter-in-law. Today, after she had killed someone, he suddenly affirmed her status instead.
What gratitude or righteousness? What he wanted wasn’t repayment of a debt—it was his reputation.
That suited her just fine. The original owner of this body was already dead. Whether it was the Ma family or the Niu family made no difference to her. She had no interest in going back to fight Yao A’ning over a man. What she wanted was simply to stay alive. With Ma Xiaowei’s abilities, protecting her—a “murderer”—was not impossible.
That was also one of the reasons she had dared to kill Qi Yanfeng.
If you wanted relief, you had to accept risk.
Li Shu didn’t want to swallow Qi Yanfeng’s abuse anymore. Now she would learn to rein in her rage and use the Ma family’s influence to cross this narrow bridge alone.
“Since Young Master Ma has already consummated the marriage with Miss Yao, if I were to step in, I’d only be excess. So let this marriage be annulled. Cough… Besides, although it was unintentional, I did kill a man in the end. Madam Qi will surely want me torn to pieces. I may not even know how long I’ll live… Since we have neither fate nor bond, why force it…”
Her voice grew softer and softer, like rootless duckweed, pitiful to behold.
How could Ma Xiaowei allow her to die?
He immediately turned to the constable handling the case and spoke decisively:
“I will return to the yamen with you. There is another explanation for the Qi family’s case. It absolutely cannot be handled as a murder!”
For Ma Xiaowei, saving A’Li’s life wasn’t difficult.
Qi Yanfeng was a madman; a young girl acting in self-defense was not at fault.
He also couldn’t acknowledge a marriage between Qi Yanfeng and A’Li—otherwise he would become a man who broke his word. So he had to firmly deny that the two had ever been legally married. By the same logic, Yao A’ning would not be his son’s lawful wife either.
Everything had been an accident.
Only after untangling all the blame could he deal with his son and the Yao family.
Li Shu cooperated fully and quietly went to the yamen.
To outsiders, she looked as though she had already lost the will to live.
Li Shu had calculated the worst outcome.
If Ma Xiaowei hadn’t come, if the magistrate had been ruthless and sentenced her to death, the execution would probably take place three months later. During that time she’d be sent to do hard labor. If so, it would be an extreme survival mode—terrifying but stimulating. Life would be bitter, but she wouldn’t die immediately. There would still be time.
If she were executed on the spot…
That wouldn’t be a loss either. At least she would have avenged a portion of the original owner’s suffering. She wouldn’t have come here for nothing.
If she hadn’t killed Qi Yanfeng, she could have avoided all this trouble.
But she couldn’t face the grief buried in the original owner’s memories. That emotion was like an infectious virus, spreading through her entire mind, filling her with rage.
So she did it. As for whether she lived or died afterward—that would depend on fate.
Clearly, her luck wasn’t bad. Things developed exactly as she’d anticipated.
Soon, Li Shu was imprisoned.
Fortunately, Ma Xiaowei escorted her all the way to the county seat. The magistrate gave him face and arranged a clean, relatively comfortable cell for her. She said little along the way, remaining quiet and pitiful, making people worry despite themselves.
“Rest assured, I’ll hire the best lawyer for you. I will never let you bear the crime of murder. Miss A’Li, you’re a good child. It’s my useless son who didn’t know better and harmed you. When you’re released, I’ll make him kneel before you and atone!”
Ma Xiaowei spoke earnestly; he truly felt his family was at fault.
If only he had gone to the Qi household the previous night and taken her away.
But by then, his son had already slept with the Yao girl. It would have been impossible to explain things to both the Yao and Qi families. He had thought perhaps Qi Yanfeng and A’Li could make do together—and so he turned a blind eye.
One wrong thought led to catastrophe.
Even if the girl left prison alive, she would probably be ruined. After enduring such suffering and terror, her future…
Ma Xiaowei sighed deeply.
Li Shu looked at him and slowly smiled. “Thank you for saving me, Uncle. I don’t blame you. This was all… an accident. It was my bad fate that led me to the Qi family by mistake.”
“…”
Something stabbed at Ma Xiaowei’s heart. Facing the girl’s innocent gaze, he felt deeply ashamed.
“I’ve arranged for a physician to see you. I’ve also taken care of your food and daily needs. Rest here and recover. I… I’ll come see you another day.”
He left in a rather flustered manner.
Watching his retreating figure, Li Shu’s smile slowly faded. She sat down on the wooden plank bed and let out a cold laugh.
Kneeling to atone?
That was indeed necessary.
But A’Li was already dead. If Ma Chengtíng wanted to kneel, he should do so in hell.
Only a fool like the original owner would believe this mistaken marriage was truly an accident.
So many coincidences—both families marrying daughters on the same day; identical sedan chairs and bridal clothes; nearly identical wedding processions; even the sudden news of bandit unrest… And such perfect timing, that as soon as the veil was lifted here, the deed was already done over there.
Too many coincidences meant deliberate design.
If Ma Xiaowei truly hadn’t wanted A’Li to enter his household, he wouldn’t have used such a method. More likely, it was Ma Chengtíng’s idea—childish yet terrifying, willful and self-righteous.
Ma Chengtíng’s status was different from Qi Yanfeng’s. Ma Xiaowei held considerable prestige in the town.
Li Shu knew her limits well. Who she could kill now, and who she would have to wait to kill later—she was very clear.
She settled down to recover.
In cases like mistaken marriages, silently swallowing losses only leads to being forgotten. Now that she had killed someone, she had pushed the matter to the extreme. Not just the town—perhaps the entire Yunjing Pass region would hear of it.
So she stayed in prison without worry. Compared to the outside world, the jail was safer and quieter.
The environment wasn’t great, but it was still better than the life the original owner had lived.
Her injuries were no joke. She had endured the pain all the way here. Now that things were quiet, the pain surged even more violently—so much so that she bared her teeth and cursed the Qi family ancestors aloud.
The physician came. One rib was broken; there were internal injuries. Multiple external wounds covered her body.
She also had ringing in her ears and dizziness—likely a mild concussion. Not long after, she passed out cold, frightening the physician into a panic.
“Cruel! Too cruel! For this little girl to still be alive is truly heaven’s mercy! A broken rib, internal bleeding—this alone could take half a life! She was struck heavily at the back of the head as well. With these injuries, if her luck were any worse, she’d already be dead! Sir, the attacker clearly intended to kill her, showing absolutely no restraint. That’s why she’s covered in wounds… ah, truly too horrible to bear.”
Li Shu was unconscious, but others still felt pain for her.
Hemostatic medicine was applied. Painkillers were given. But with so many injuries, there was scarcely a place left untouched.
Some had once thought Li Shu went too far by killing a man. But seeing this, they now felt that Qi Yanfeng—using his madness to commit violence, oppressing a helpless young girl—was no different from bandits or robbers, and deserved to be cut into a thousand pieces.