Since he was unwilling to say, Chu Jiaojiao had no choice but to stop asking.
She suddenly realized her eyes hadn't been covered, which meant she could memorize the route. But before she could react, a sharp pain struck the back of her head—Qi Tushen had knocked her out.
Her vision went black, and her body went limp as she lost consciousness.
Qi Tushen held her in his arms, gently stroking her hair. "I'm sorry, wife. Rest well."
Then he turned and sternly scolded Qi Bao'er, "Don't you ever say such nonsense to her again, or Daddy will be angry."
"Daddy, Bao'er won't dare do it again."
Qi Bao'er nodded repeatedly.
The ox cart soon arrived home. Qi Bao'er got off to open the door, and Qi Tushen carried Chu Jiaojiao inside and laid her down on the bed. He then carried the rice into the kitchen and began cooking.
The moment she got home, Feng Cuier furiously smashed everything in the house.
Who on earth was that woman?
It couldn't really be a new wife Tushen had found, could it?
No, no way!
How could he just forget about her like that?!
Feng Cuier's heart felt suffocated.
"Cuier, what are you doing?"
Feng Cuier's mother, Liu Guihua, had just returned home and saw the mess everywhere. She quickly pressed, "If something's wrong, tell your mother. Don't go smashing things recklessly—I don't have that much money to buy new ones."
"Mother, go find out something for me." Feng Cuier grabbed Liu Guihua urgently.
"What is it?"
"Go ask the villagers whether Tushen has found a stepmother for that burden Qi Bao'er."
Liu Guihua was taken aback. "What? He has a wife? My silly girl, how can you still not forget him? What's so good about him that's worth you pining over him like this? He wasn't even willing to get rid of that burden for your sake. What kind of man is worth your longing? Even if he really does have one, it has nothing to do with you!"
"Mother, I don't care!"
Feng Cuier gritted her teeth, her fingernails digging into her flesh. "If I can't have him, no other woman will either. Go find out for me."
"You child, why are you so stubborn? I don't even know what to say to you anymore." Liu Guihua had no choice. "Fine, I'll go ask around for you. Stay home and wait for news. Don't go smashing things anymore, alright?"
With that, she set down the bamboo basket on her back and turned to go out.
She happened to run into the women who had been beaten black and blue by Qi Tushen. Liu Guihua went over and asked, "What happened to you all? Did a donkey kick you in the face?"
"Your face is what got kicked by a donkey! It was that bastard Qi Tushen who beat us. Your son-in-law is a real piece of trash."
"Don't talk nonsense. That's nowhere near settled. He and my Cuier have cut ties completely." Liu Guihua instinctively distanced herself from the matter.
"Your Cuier really has terrible taste. How could she fall for this garbage? A man who hits women—if she married him, he'd beat her to death. She'd be cursed for eight generations. Good thing she didn't marry him. She's lucky."
"Sigh. But my Cuier is stubborn."
Liu Guihua sighed. "She's still thinking about that boy even now."
"Tell her to stop. That man went and found some cheap slut from who knows where. A perfect match of adulterer and adulteress. Tell your Cuier to give up on him as soon as possible."
"What? He really has a wife?" Liu Guihua was shocked.
"How could it be false? We saw it with our own eyes. The three of them were a happy little family. That little slut has a sharp tongue, just like him. Neither of them is any good."
Liu Guihua's expression shifted.
If Cuier found out, she'd throw another fit!
Bad news travels fast.
After the women embellished the story, Qi Tushen and Chu Jiaojiao were described as a wicked man and an evil woman—the black and white demons.
They supposedly specialized in bullying women and beating them black and blue.
The villagers, lacking any sense of their own, followed the crowd and cursed and pointed fingers behind their backs, saying "a whore matched with a dog, together forever."
Of course, they didn't dare curse to their faces, afraid of getting beaten up by Qi Tushen.
When Feng Cuier learned that Qi Tushen had truly found another woman, she was furious half to death.
All these years, for his sake, she had never married.
The threshold of her home had nearly been worn down by matchmakers, but she had chased them all away.
In the blink of an eye, she had become an old maid in her twenties.
She had been waiting for him to come and make up with her on his own, but Qi Tushen had never softened. When he saw her in the village, he treated her like a stranger.
When she first met Qi Tushen, Feng Cuier had only been sixteen, and she had fallen for him at first sight.
Back then, Qi Tushen wasn't as broad and burly as he was now. He had once been a handsome young man.
Feng Cuier would never forget that first meeting.
What a pity.
It was all that bastard Qi Bao'er's fault!
Just thinking about her made Feng Cuier angry.
Otherwise, the person by Qi Tushen's side now would be her and only her.
Her fingernails dug into her palm as Feng Cuier clenched her jaw.
She refused to accept this!!
She had to go find Qi Tushen and get to the bottom of this!
Maybe he had deliberately found another woman just to make her jealous.
Every time he ran into her in the village, despite his coldness, she knew he still loved her. His eyes couldn't lie. He just couldn't swallow his pride to reconcile.
They had already missed so many years together. If she didn't take the initiative now, she would lose him completely.
After a bout of wild imagining, Feng Cuier scurried over to Qi Tushen's doorstep.
The door was half-ajar, and from inside came the sound of a woman yelling furiously: "Qi Tushen, you dog of a man, you rotten bastard! How dare you knock me out…"
"Wife, I'm sorry~ Don't be mad~ Today I specially made you some chicken soup to nourish your body."
"Hmph, sweet talk and bribes won't work!"
Feng Cuier bit her lip.
When had she ever seen Qi Tushen coax a woman so meekly before?!
Last time at the market, that woman had a cloth covering her face, so she hadn't gotten a clear look at her features.
This time, she was going to get a good look!
What could this woman possibly have that was better than her?
She was the recognized village beauty, with fair skin and lovely looks.
Her father was the village chief, running a livestock business—her family's circumstances were far better than most in the village.
Plenty of men wanted to marry into her family as a live-in son-in-law, but she'd stubbornly set her heart on Qi Tushen alone.
Feng Cuier leaned in for a closer look and was stunned by Chu Jiaojiao's beauty.
In her moment of distraction, she made a noise.
"Who's there?"
Chu Jiaojiao looked up and was about to go out and check when Qi Tushen beat her to it with a shout.
"Stop right there!"
Feng Cuier, who had been about to run, was instantly halted by the command. She stiffly turned around to face Qi Tushen.
"Feng Cuier, what are you doing here?"
Qi Tushen's expression shifted. "What do you want at my place?"
"Tushen…"
Feng Cuier's beautiful eyes welled up with tears as she gazed at him with a pitiful look.
"What? Want to sneak Bao'er out and abandon her again?"
Qi Tushen sneered at her, completely unmoved by her tears.
Ever since he'd learned she was a vicious woman, he'd had no good face for her.
Whatever trace of affection he'd once felt for her had long since vanished into thin air.