“I want to be on top!” Lin Jingwan blurted out.
Without hesitation, she leaped up and pounced on him.
Afraid that the man might refuse, she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist and suddenly cupped his face with both hands. In the next instant, she kissed him passionately.
Her chaotic, hazy thoughts slowly returned to reality.
At this moment, Lin Jingwan was already fully dressed. She didn’t care who had pounced on whom last night. In any case, she planned to leave this place.
Li Zhaoye’s gaze fell on the trace of red on the bedding, and his expression became inexplicably solemn.
He had come to the countryside this time on a mission to find someone and deliver a letter.
However, after arriving in the village, he learned that his target had committed an offense and fled.
The village chief told him that his daughter had gotten married yesterday, so he advised him to wait until the next day.
Who could have known that someone had drugged the food last night? The drug had been particularly potent and violent, and that was how things had gone wrong.
He raised his eyes and looked at the woman whose expression was completely calm. His gaze was deep and unreadable.
This woman really had quite some nerve!
For most of the night, she had been the one calling the shots!
Images from the previous night involuntarily flashed through his mind. Li Zhaoye’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he forcibly suppressed his turbulent thoughts.
His thin lips parted, and he was just about to speak when a commotion of footsteps came from a distance, rapidly approaching the room in a great rush.
Someone was coming!
Lin Jingwan instantly became alert. Her mind raced. After a brief moment of hesitation, she still said, “You’re a soldier, aren’t you? If they find out, put the blame on me!”
Li Zhaoye’s eyes paused, and his heart filled with surprise.
He wasn’t wearing his military uniform today, yet she had immediately seen through his identity. What was more, she had voluntarily offered to protect his reputation?
This woman… was becoming more and more interesting.
Lin Jingwan couldn’t be bothered to dwell on his complicated emotions. She had been rescued by soldiers more than once in the apocalypse, so she had always had a favorable impression of military men.
This man had eight-pack abs and a well-proportioned, muscular physique. Those taut, powerful lines were clearly not something an ordinary person could develop. And his stamina…
At that thought, she hurriedly shook her head.
What am I thinking about stamina for? What kind of nonsense is going through my head?!
She headed straight toward the back window.
“Creak ”
The window opened, revealing two familiar little heads.
“Big Sister, hurry and jump out! The enemy has already reached the front door!”
Lin Jingwan: “……”
Yesterday, she had been so focused on herself that she had forgotten about her two younger siblings.
“You two were at the door yesterday?”
“No!” Luoluo answered. “Brother took me to sleep in the room next door.”
Just as Luoluo finished speaking, the front door was kicked open with a loud bang.
A group of older women rushed inside.
Li Zhaoye turned around and saw the empty back window.
Hmm. She’s pretty agile, too!
He coldly looked at the people who had entered and asked in an indifferent tone, “You’ve barged in without permission. May I ask what this is about?”
At the front, Zhao Erfen excitedly pushed her way inside, shouting, “I’m here to find my daughter!”
Li Zhaoye glanced at the village chief’s wife, who stood awkwardly to one side.
“Auntie, what about you?”
Under his cold, imposing gaze, Zhao Dafen, the village chief’s wife, felt her heart tighten. She hurriedly spoke carefully.
“Comrade Li, I’m terribly sorry!
“My niece Chunhua disappeared yesterday. Someone saw her come into this room, so we were worried and came over to look for her.”
Zhao Erfen searched around while sniffing the air with her nose.
“Oh my, just smell this room! They must have done something in here! Where’s my daughter? Where is she hiding?”
The insinuation in her words caused the atmosphere around Li Zhaoye to suddenly turn icy.
Everyone felt a chill and immediately abandoned their earlier excitement about joining in the gossip.
Just as the atmosphere became tense, a clear female voice came from behind the crowd.
“Oh? It’s quite lively here!”
Li Zhaoye looked toward the newcomer and slightly raised his brows.
Why has she come back again?
As if she had guessed what he was wondering, Lin Jingwan glanced meaningfully at the two people standing behind her.
Li Zhaoye immediately understood.
She hadn’t managed to leave.
The moment Old Madam Gao at the front of the crowd heard that voice, she immediately recognized Lin Jingwan and shouted angrily,
“Lin Jingwan! Why aren’t you at home serving Da Niu? What are you doing here?”
Lin Jingwan’s expression instantly darkened.
She curled her fingers into fists and warned herself inwardly:
Stay calm. I can’t resort to violence.
In this era, she had to learn to use her brains and her words!
Murder is against the law!
She took a deep breath and pretended to be confused.
“Why should I serve Gao Daniu?”
“He’s your man! It’s only natural that you serve him!”
“Who said he’s my man?
“Do we have a marriage certificate? Did we hold a wedding ceremony? Did we even pay our respects to the Great Leader?
“Old Madam Gao, you’re spreading malicious rumors about me. I can report you to the police for that!”
The moment she finished speaking, everyone fell silent.
Everyone knew that Lin Jingwan had never agreed to this marriage. She had been tied up by her step-grandmother and forcibly sent into the Gao family. There had been no proper wedding ceremony and no legal paperwork.
Old Madam Gao panicked when she heard this.
“Bullshit! You two spent the wedding night together yesterday! I’m not spreading rumors!”
“Then what evidence do you have?”
“Our entire family is evidence! Yesterday, you were clearly tied up and brought into my house and forced into the bridal chamber. We even paid a hundred yuan as the bride price!”
“Oh… So I was tied up and forcibly brought into your house…”
As she spoke, Lin Jingwan turned toward the village chief’s wife.
“Auntie Dafen, please help me report this to the police!”
“Just say that the commune’s publicity efforts have been inadequate. Even though slogans saying that forced marriage is prohibited are plastered all over the walls, the Gao family of Dala Village still dared to openly buy and sell people, violating national law! For such behavior, sending them to a forestry labor camp for three to five years would not even be excessive!”
The village chief’s wife’s expression darkened.
Buying and selling people? Inadequate publicity?
If those words got out, wouldn’t that mean her husband, the village chief, was responsible?
“You dare!” Old Madam Gao was furious. She pointed at Lin Jingwan and cursed, “You little slut! You actually dare to turn around and report us to the police? I’ll scratch your face to pieces!”
With that, she raised her arm to strike.
But in the next instant, before her hand could come down, someone grabbed her lower lip tightly!
Lin Jingwan, who had just been standing there calmly with her arms crossed, had somehow already moved right in front of her. With two fingers, she accurately pinched Old Madam Gao’s lower lip and violently yanked it.
“Ahhh!”
The skin split open on the spot, and bright-red blood slowly seeped from the corner of Old Madam Gao’s mouth.
“If you don’t know how to use your mouth properly, then you shouldn’t have one!”
Immediately afterward, there was another sharp smack!
Old Madam Gao was slapped across the face.
The force was so great that her head was knocked ninety degrees to the side.
Old Madam Gao was completely stunned. She couldn’t even get the words out.
And she wasn’t the only one stunned.
Everyone stood there with their mouths hanging open as Lin Jingwan continued slapping her from side to side.
Smack!
“I told you that you need evidence when making accusations, yet you still insulted me!”
Smack! Smack!
“You’re the slut! Your whole family is!
“And screw your mother, you damn idiot! Your father’s rotten roots, your grandmother’s your grandfather’s filthy underwear, and your great-grandmother’s…”
The crisp sound of slaps and a torrent of insults directed at Old Madam Gao’s entire ancestry echoed throughout the room.
“This… this woman riding the old lady and slapping her is that really Lin Jingwan?”
“My eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, are they? I just saw her grab Old Madam Gao’s lip and tear it open. Look! It’s still bleeding!”
“I can’t believe it either. Is this really the timid, quiet Lin Jingwan who’s been such a pushover since childhood?”
“She beats people so efficiently! And she’s so ruthless! Her insults are absolutely vicious!”
Everyone began discussing excitedly.
Meanwhile, Li Zhaoye quietly watched the little woman before him who seemed to have an endless supply of colorful insults and was ruthless when she struck.
The corners of his lips lifted slightly.
She certainly knows how to curse!
So this is what her true personality is like.
He wasn’t a rigid or old-fashioned man.
If you haven’t suffered what someone else has suffered, don’t tell them to be kind.
When someone schemes against you, fighting back is only natural.
But there was one bottom line:
No one could be killed.
He watched as the old woman lay limp on the floor, her eyes dazed after being beaten, and only then did he slowly speak.
“So this is what the atmosphere in Dala Village is like.”
It was just a simple sentence, but a chill immediately ran down Zhao Dafen’s back.
She understood perfectly well.
Yesterday, this man had entered the village in a small county government car.
Her husband had privately told her that he came from a military district and had an extremely high-ranking background.
It was precisely because of this that she had dared to take such a dangerous gamble.
Zhao Dafen turned toward her younger sister, Zhao Erfen.
They had searched through every cabinet in the room but still hadn’t found anyone. She knew that their entire scheme had failed.
“All right! Everyone, stop arguing!” Zhao Dafen suppressed her panic and spoke sternly. “The private matters between the Lin and Gao families can be dealt with after we go back. Everyone, disperse!”
“No!” Zhao Erfen refused to give up. Her face was filled with anxiety. “We still haven’t found my daughter!”
She looked up at the cold, imposing man. Her legs trembled involuntarily, but she stubbornly continued.
“You…
“There’s definitely something wrong with the smell in your room. All of us old women know what that smell means. And my daughter is still nowhere to be found…”
“That’s enough.”
Before Zhao Erfen could finish, a stern male voice came from the crowd.
The villagers automatically parted.
The village chief walked slowly into the room, his face ashen.
His mother-in-law had deliberately summoned him away the previous night! He never imagined they would cause such a mess in his absence.
He glared fiercely at his panicked wife before turning toward Li Zhaoye, forcing an apologetic, ingratiating smile onto his face.
“Comrade Li, I’m truly sorry. These women from the village are uneducated, narrow-minded, and don’t understand the rules. I’ll take them away immediately for behaving so recklessly.”
Li Zhaoye calmly responded,
“It’s more than simply being poorly educated. They have no regard for national law, engaging in forced buying and selling! They have openly violated the nation’s marriage policies. Such reckless ignorance is this because the people’s morals have gone astray, or is there a problem with the village’s management?”
“A problem with the management?”
The village chief’s expression stiffened.
Those words carried considerable weight!
Comrade Li was clearly angry.
He couldn’t bring himself to mention that he himself had been drugged, so he was obviously using Lin Jingwan’s situation to make an issue of the matter.
If he didn’t handle this properly, his position as village chief might very well be finished!
His gaze swept over Lin Jingwan, who was rubbing her wrist, then shifted to Old Madam Gao lying on the floor with a face swollen like a pig’s head.
He cursed inwardly:
These useless old women! They’re good for nothing except causing trouble! They actually managed to make such a huge mess out of this!
Ah! They don’t even know that Comrade Li came to the village specifically to find Lin Jingwan’s mother!
(Keep reading and you’ll become rich, your child will pass the civil service exam, your boyfriend will be a nouveau riche, and when you get married, he’ll transfer ten houses into your name.)