“You little wretch! Once you’ve swallowed this bowl of Soul-Severing Soup, I’ll dump your corpse out in the wilderness and let the wolves drag it away. Let’s see if you still dare stand in my son’s way!”
“Feicai, hold her down!”
“Shh! Mother, keep your voice down! Someone might hear!”
…
The vicious voices echoed beside her ears as Lin Xiazhi slowly regained consciousness.
The moment she woke, she felt someone forcing her mouth open and pouring a bowl of foul-smelling, fishy liquid down her throat.
Her mind snapped awake.
She instinctively struggled, only to realize that her entire body was limp. She couldn’t even open her eyes.
Wasn’t she supposed to have been infected by the zombie virus during the apocalypse, then had her brain dug out by other survivors? How was she still conscious?
As confusion filled her mind, the exact same conversation she had just heard suddenly surfaced in her memories.
Chen Feicai…
Feicai… Wastrel…
Poisoning…
Wait… wait… wait…
Wasn’t this the opening chapter of the novel she had just finished reading during her free time?
Chen Feicai and his mother had tried to poison the heroine, only for the villagers to rescue her in the nick of time.
Lin Xiazhi could only sigh in disbelief.
Of all the people she could have transmigrated into, she had ended up inside the body of the female lead, the girl who had been sold by her own father to the Chen family as a child bride for a mere five taels of silver.
Everyone knew that child brides in ordinary families rarely met a good end.
The original owner was no exception.
Not only had she signed a slave contract, but she had worked every single day since entering the Chen household. She had never enjoyed a single day of rest, nor had she ever eaten a full meal. Starved until she was little more than skin and bones, the sixteen-year-old still looked like a little girl, her body so malnourished that she hadn’t even begun to develop.
Fortunately, her birth mother and younger brother occasionally sneaked her dried food whenever they could.
Otherwise, she would have starved to death long ago.
As for what happened next…
“The poison’s spilling everywhere! Feicai, are you sure this Soul-Severing Soup can kill the little bitch? Don’t waste it!”
“It will. Xiuxiu went through a great deal of trouble to get this poison. Mother, don’t waste a single drop. Make sure she drinks every last bit.”
“Good, good. As long as she dies for good.”
Like hell!
She had her brain dug out in one life, and now she’d been force-fed poison in another.
How could Lin Xiazhi possibly swallow such humiliation?
Her blazing fury transformed into strength.
Her eyes flew open.
Her sharp gaze instantly locked onto the two people before her.
With one powerful kick, she sent Chen Feicai, who was pinning down her arms, flying backward.
The moment her hands were free, she clenched them into fists and smashed one directly into Wang Chuntao’s face.
“Ahhh!”
Everything happened so suddenly that Chen Feicai and Wang Chuntao were both knocked to the ground.
One clutched the space between his legs, cold sweat pouring down his face from the unbearable pain.
The other covered her nose, blood streaming between her fingers.
Both stared blankly at Lin Xiazhi, who had suddenly leaped to her feet, completely unable to process what had just happened.
Only when Wang Chuntao noticed the poison spilled all over the ground did she snap back to reality.
“My poison!”
Ignoring the blood pouring from her nose, she scrambled toward the bowl.
But a filthy, bony hand reached it before she could.
Wang Chuntao abruptly looked up and met Lin Xiazhi’s icy almond-shaped eyes.
Her heart skipped a beat.
For some reason…
Lin Xiazhi felt completely different.
Hmph.
So what if she’d changed? She was still the Chen family’s slave, someone Wang Chuntao could abuse however she pleased.
“You little bitch! You’ve got some nerve fighting back! I’ll teach you a proper lesson today!”
Wang Chuntao wiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand and struggled to her feet, pointing angrily at Lin Xiazhi.
“Give me the bowl!”
Looking at the tiny amount of poison left inside, Lin Xiazhi curled her lips into a playful smile.
“Sure. Here you go.”
“At least you know your… Urgh!”
Her vision suddenly went dark.
Lin Xiazhi slammed the large bowl straight onto Wang Chuntao’s face.
The remaining poison ran down from her forehead and into her mouth.
She desperately wanted to curse, yet clamped her lips shut in terror, afraid that opening her mouth would only make her swallow more poison.
The bowl slipped off her face and shattered on the ground, revealing Wang Chuntao’s hideous, furious expression.
“You little bitch! How dare you…”
Before she could finish speaking, Lin Xiazhi drove a brutal kick into her stomach.
Wang Chuntao was sent stumbling backward.
Lin Xiazhi grabbed her wrist and yanked her back.
Crack!
With one savage twist, both of Wang Chuntao’s arms were broken.
Another kick followed immediately, sending her flying through the air.
Her back slammed heavily against a stone ledge.
Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted from the overwhelming pain.
Lin Xiazhi dusted off her hands and snorted.
She would have preferred to kill them both and be done with it.
Unfortunately, her current situation didn’t allow that.
The marriage contract and her slave contract were both in Wang Chuntao’s possession.
Without reclaiming them, buying back her freedom would be impossible.
Under the laws of the Great Sheng Dynasty, even if a couple had never married officially or consummated the marriage, both parties still had to appear together at the government office to cancel the marriage contract.
That meant Chen Feicai couldn’t die just yet.
She had to recover her slave contract, dissolve the engagement, and leave this place as quickly as possible.
According to the novel, enemy forces would soon invade.
Maple Leaf Village and the entire Zhou County would fall before long.
The villagers would be forced to flee their homes, beginning a long and horrific journey as refugees.
She had to prepare before that disaster arrived.
“Mother! Are you alright… Mother!”
Chen Feicai scrambled to his feet and rushed toward the unconscious Wang Chuntao.
He glared viciously at Lin Xiazhi.
“You actually dared hurt my mother!”
“I didn’t just hurt her. You’re next.”
Lin Xiazhi fixed her eyes on him.
A gleam of excitement flickered within them as she slowly walked forward.
The original owner had lived a life worse than death in the Chen household.
Most of that suffering had been caused by Chen Feicai.
If she didn’t teach him a proper lesson today, she would never vent this anger.
“Y-you… Don’t come any closer!”
Chen Feicai stared at the girl before him as though he’d seen a ghost.
Supporting himself with both hands, he desperately tried to crawl away.
But his feet kept slipping against the ground.
No matter how many times he struggled, he couldn’t get up.
A shadow suddenly fell over him.
Two dirty, stick-thin legs appeared in front of his eyes.
His body stiffened.
Slowly, mechanically, he looked up.
The first thing he saw was Lin Xiazhi’s swollen face, gaunt enough to resemble a skeleton.
She leaned close with a smile and lightly patted his cheek twice.
“Get up and run. Weren’t you so strong when you were holding me down just now? What’s wrong? Your legs gone soft already?”
The sinister look in her eyes sent cold sweat pouring down Chen Feicai’s back.
He frantically pushed himself backward with both feet.
“Lin Xiazhi! I’m your master! If you dare hurt…”
Crack!
“AAAAAH!”
Lin Xiazhi stomped down with full force.
Both of his knees shattered instantly.
Chen Feicai let out a scream loud enough to slaughter a pig.
His entire body shook uncontrollably from the agony.
His eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
Lin Xiazhi paused.
She hadn’t expected this coward to be so fragile.
She hadn’t even enjoyed herself yet.
Still dissatisfied, she gave him another kick before letting out a small breath.
“Hmph. I’ll spare your worthless life for now.”
This body was far too weak.
She had barely thrown a few punches and kicks before running out of strength.
She desperately needed proper food.
Chen Feicai’s screams echoed throughout Maple Leaf Village.
The villagers, who had just finished working in the fields, all stopped beneath their rooftops and looked toward the sound.
“Who’s slaughtering a pig? It’s not even a festival! Are they out of their minds? They actually have a pig to kill?”
Soon, quite a few people gathered along the sunlit ridges between the fields, whispering among themselves.
The families living closest to the Chen residence couldn’t resist their curiosity and decided to take a look.
“I think the sound came from the village chief’s house.”
“Chen Feicai just passed the county examination and became a xiucai. Then Wang Chuntao slaughters a pig right afterward… Could it be she’s finally willing to treat the whole village to a celebration?”
“Maybe! Pork… Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.”
One villager loudly swallowed, his eyes shining with longing.
The others couldn’t help swallowing as well.
The war on the front lines had become increasingly intense.
The imperial court kept raising taxes.
As a result, ordinary people barely had enough grain to survive and often went hungry throughout the year.
Autumn had already arrived, yet none of them had tasted meat once.
There was no way they would miss an opportunity like this.
“Come on! Let’s join the excitement! Seeing blood brings good fortune. Eating meat gives you the strength of an ox. Maybe your young wife will even give birth to a big healthy boy next year!”
Everyone’s eyes lit up.
That made perfect sense!
“Hurry! Hurry!”
The village had finally produced a successful xiucai scholar.
Chen He had also recently become the village chief.
Who wouldn’t want to curry favor with the family and share a little of their good fortune?
Just yesterday, every household had brought baskets of sweet potatoes, potatoes, and whatever food they could spare to congratulate them.
Now, believing Wang Chuntao was hosting a feast, they squeezed out another portion of their precious rations and happily headed toward the Chen residence, humming cheerful tunes along the way.
After all, compared to a handful of grain, pork was an irresistible temptation.
Completely unaware that nearly the entire village was converging on the Chen residence like zombies following the scent of fresh meat, Lin Xiazhi endured her hunger and went inside to search for the marriage contract and the slave contract.
She had only taken a few steps when she heard hurried, heavy footsteps approaching from several dozen meters away.
There were a lot of people.
She quickly looked around.
Not far away sat a reeking bucket of human waste.
An idea flashed through her mind.
She hurried over, picked up the bucket, held her breath, and dumped its contents all over the unconscious pair.