“You!” The woman’s face turned livid with rage.
Someone nearby quickly pulled her back: “Why provoke her? Don’t you know how sharp her tongue is? Losing an argument will only make you angrier. Why bother?”
Meng Xizhou nodded in agreement, grabbing a handful of sunflower seeds to snack on, pleased that her eloquence had left a deep impression.
The group of women slunk away in defeat.
Meng Xizhou paid them no mind, but found it strange that the Village Chief hadn’t arrived yet. Had the “gift” she sent last night scared him to death?
It wasn’t until mealtime that the Village Chief appeared with a grim expression. Unusually silent, he kept his head down and ate without causing any trouble throughout the entire meal.
Meng Xizhou sneered inwardly: It seems he’s saving his energy to unleash a major move tonight.
Sure enough, as dusk began to fall, the Village Chief arrived with most of the village’s residents, storming up to her door with menacing determination! This time, his face bore a desperate, vicious expression.
“Zhang family’s daughter-in-law!” The Village Chief strode to the center of the courtyard, glaring darkly at Meng Xizhou. “Did you sleep well last night?”
Meng Xizhou sat on a stool, legs crossed as she cracked sunflower seeds: “Thanks to your blessings, Village Chief, I slept very well. But judging by your demeanor, you must have had nightmares last night? It seems you were quite satisfied with my gift!”
So it was her doing after all!
The muscles in the Village Chief’s face twitched violently, the last shred of his pretense torn away! He knew it – this little bitch Meng Xizhou was impervious to both soft and hard approaches!
“Good! Very good!” The Village Chief let out a sinister laugh, scanning the surrounding villagers before raising his voice. “Fellow villagers! Today, I bring you tremendous news! An opportunity for all of us to extend our lives and live to a hundred!”
The villagers looked at each other in confusion.
“I’ve obtained an immortal formula for longevity from a wandering miracle doctor!” The Village Chief declared fervently. “I plan to add it to our village well! So every man, woman, and child in our village can benefit!”
The crowd stirred. Who wouldn’t want to live to a hundred?
“But!” The Village Chief’s tone shifted abruptly, his finger pointing sharply at Meng Xizhou who sat on the stool with a mocking smile. “This immortal formula still lacks the most crucial medicinal primer – the blood of a virgin!”
“In our entire village, only she! The Zhang family’s new daughter-in-law! remains an untouched virgin! I know that useless Zhang Zhi hasn’t laid a finger on her!”
All eyes instantly focused on Meng Xizhou, filled with either greed or lust, their gazes almost tangible enough to drown her!
“This concerns the welfare of our entire village! As a daughter-in-law of Xiaohe Village, you have a duty to contribute!” The Village Chief stared at Meng Xizhou as if she were a piece of prime meat.
Meng Xizhou finished her last sunflower seed, clapped her hands clean, and stood up, her smile unchanged: “Oh? Did the Village Chief forget to mention something?” She stepped closer. “This virgin blood… I suspect it’s not just ordinary virgin blood, is it?”
A flicker of surprise crossed the Village Chief’s eyes, but was quickly replaced by madness! So what if she knew? Tonight, she wouldn’t escape even if she grew wings!
“Correct!” The Village Chief tore away all remaining pretense. “This virgin blood must be combined with the primordial yang of ten strong men to become an effective medicinal primer! It requires… them to personally take your virginity and harvest your essence!”
The crowd erupted into chaos! The men’s breathing instantly grew heavy, their eyes turning naked with desire!
“Why didn’t the Village Chief say a hundred men?” Meng Xizhou’s voice remained calm, even carrying a hint of mockery.
The Village Chief sneered, “Naturally… the more, the better!”
The village men could no longer restrain themselves. Like starving wolves stirred by the scent of blood, they slowly closed in.
Meng Xizhou stood alone, silently confronting a crowd of men driven mad by desire. The flickering firelight illuminated her cold, composed face, while deep in her eyes surged a torrent of overwhelming hatred!
Enough! These maggots! They all deserve to go to hell!
Slowly, she raised her hand, pointing toward the remnants of the funeral feast in the courtyard. Her voice, though not loud, cut clearly through all the clamor:
“Hah… Prolonging your lives? Stop dreaming.”
“In yesterday’s funeral feast, I poisoned the food.”
“None of you… will live through the night!”
The biting chill of the spring night was no match for the icy sharpness in Meng Xizhou’s words.
The villagers’ terrified gazes swept over the leftover dishes. Instantly, cold sweat poured down their backs, and their faces turned as pale as paper! Some immediately began frantically gagging themselves to vomit, while others, jolted to their senses, followed suit. In moments, the sounds of retching, wailing, and cursing mingled into chaos.
Amid the turmoil, the Village Chief’s laughter rang out harshly: “Bullshit! You think we’d believe that? You ate the food yourself! Even if you did poison it…” He suddenly pointed at Meng Xizhou, his eyes filled with venom, “I’ll make sure you die before us! Die without a whole corpse!”
The Village Chief’s words instantly snapped the panicked villagers out of their fear.
That’s right! The food was prepared by the other village women together, and Meng Xizhou had eaten it too! How could only they be poisoned?
This bitch… was making a desperate last stand! Trying to scare them off!
Realizing they had been tricked, their throats burning from forced vomiting, the villagers’ rage surged to their heads. Their eyes toward Meng Xizhou were filled with a desire to devour her alive!
“The Village Chief is right! Even if we die, we’ll drag her down with us! Make her die ten thousand times worse than us!” someone roared.
The crowd advanced toward Meng Xizhou once more, their overlapping shadows completely engulfing her!
Standing at the center of the darkness, Meng Xizhou instead smiled more lightly and contentedly, as if watching a farce.
Unhurriedly, she pulled a small porcelain bottle from her bosom: “What’s the rush? I said I poisoned the food, but I never said… I didn’t leave you all a way out.”
“Zhang’s wife! How dare you play tricks at death’s door! Folks, don’t listen to her…” the Village Chief’s eyes bulged with fury as he urgently urged.
“Village Chief.” Meng Xizhou interrupted, her tone playful, “The wine in your bowl was specially prepared for you by me—King Yama’s Intoxication… By my calculations, it should be taking effect around now, shouldn’t it?”
Before her words faded, the ferocity on the Village Chief’s face froze instantly, replaced by sheer terror! He clutched his chest, strange noises gurgling in his throat, then let out a violent “wah!” as a torrent of foul blood spewed from his mouth! The poison seemed determined to drain him into a desiccated corpse, one gush of blood after another splattering gruesomely on the ground!
When the vomiting of blood finally stopped, he crumpled like a boneless, mangy dog, twitching on the ground.
Death seemed to have seized the villagers by the throat! The air solidified, leaving only the Village Chief’s agonized gasps and the heavy, fearful panting of the crowd!
Meng Xizhou leisurely toyed with the porcelain bottle in her hand: “Or, shall we make a bet? Bet that I never poisoned the food at all… Bet that tonight, you won’t even get to meet Black and White Impermanence? How about it?”
Bet their lives? Who would dare?!
The crowd’s faces were ashen, their teeth chattering, but not a single person dared to respond!