Sharp brows, bright eyes, strong features.
Even the man’s shabby cloth clothing couldn’t hide the oppressive aura he carried.
Luo Wangshu looked directly at him.
The moment the man met his gaze, he revealed a silly grin.
“Wife.”
Luo Wangshu: “…”
Was there something wrong with his ears?
Or had his eyes gone bad?
Hearing that, the woman immediately smiled brightly at the man.
“Young man, you sure have good taste. He’s the last one we’ve got. Normally, we wouldn’t sell him to just anyone.”
As she spoke, she meaningfully glanced at his money pouch.
The man understood immediately.
He poured out a huge pile of copper coins and said to Luo Wangshu, “Wife, let me count first. Don’t rush me.”
After speaking, he even grabbed Luo Wangshu’s hand and held it out as though to receive the money.
Luo Wangshu silently watched the man count the copper coins with utmost seriousness.
“One… two… three…”
After watching for a long while, the woman’s eyes practically popped out from staring.
Unable to bear it anymore, she said, “Just give me the whole pouch. Stop counting already.”
The man looked at her strangely.
“Father said I could spend at most fifty copper coins. The rest is for buying grain.”
“Th-this… fifty…”
The woman originally wanted to say fifty wasn’t enough, but the instant the man stared at her without blinking, her momentum instantly deflated.
“Enough, enough…”
“Huh? Twenty coins is already enough? But my wife is worth fifty.” The man frowned, seemingly unhappy.
Luo Wangshu no longer had the energy to complain. Should he thank this man for raising his market value?
The woman still wanted to say something, but the man had already handed over the twenty copper coins and said confidently, “Father said if it’s under fifty copper coins, then whatever price the boss says is fine.”
Then, after paying the woman twenty copper coins, the man hoisted Luo Wangshu’s skinny body over his shoulder like a sack of grain and simply walked away.
After getting farther from the market, Luo Wangshu struggled a little, only to receive a light smack on the butt from the man.
“Wife, don’t fuss. We’ll go home after buying vegetables.” The man’s tone sounded like he was coaxing a child, leaving Luo Wangshu feeling helpless.
He also gave up struggling. This man was even sturdier than the previous few people. Those terrifying muscles alone were enough to make Luo Wangshu lose any courage to provoke him.
After being carried for several miles, a small village gradually came into view. Since Luo Wangshu looked like he was about to throw up from being carried, the man switched from carrying him on his shoulder to carrying him on his back. Naturally, the hemp rope around him loosened as well.
Every villager they passed stared at him strangely.
Shock, fear, disgust—
Luo Wangshu had already seen far too much of those mixed emotions today.
After crossing fields, the man walked farther and farther into the outskirts until they finally stopped in front of a mud-brick house. Various medicinal herbs were spread out in baskets by the entrance.
“Father—!” the man shouted as he walked inside.
“Ah! Ali’s back?”
An old man with a white beard walked out of the house. He looked healthy and rather approachable.
But when he saw Luo Wangshu, he also froze in shock. After frowning briefly, he returned to his smiling expression.
“Ali, put him inside first. Scoop him some thin porridge to fill his stomach. Don’t let him starve.”
Mo Li grinned foolishly and answered, “Alright!”
Luo Wangshu was set down onto a chair while the old man entered with a solemn expression.
“No matter what you did before, the fact that our Ali likes you is your blessing. Live properly from now on. Tomorrow we’ll go find the village chief and register your household status.”
After listening to the entire sentence, Luo Wangshu only understood words like “blessing” and “live properly.” He completely failed to understand the latter half.
He now understood that the biggest problem with transmigration was language.
A perfect demonstration of how important dialects were…
Mo Fang saw the blank look on his face and realized it was probably because of the language barrier. What should they do if he couldn’t understand?
Then they’d just have to teach him.
“Wife, drink porridge.” Mo Li grinned foolishly as he handed Luo Wangshu a roughly made porcelain bowl.
Luo Wangshu looked at them warily. After confirming the bowl was really for him, he immediately grabbed it and gulped it down.
He was starving to death!
After finishing the warm bowl of porridge, Luo Wangshu finally let out a long breath. His stomach, which had been tortured by acid for so long, finally felt better.
Mo Li took the empty bowl from his hands and foolishly smiled as he wiped away a grain of rice from the corner of Luo Wangshu’s mouth with his finger before stuffing it into his own mouth.
“Father said not even one grain of rice can be wasted.”
The man spoke slower than most people, and his meaning wasn’t difficult to understand.
Feeling awkward, Luo Wangshu wiped his mouth again while the tips of his ears turned slightly red.
Mo Fang gave Luo Wangshu a strange look and slowly asked, “Are you mute?”
Luo Wangshu: “…”
Fine then. Mute it was.
He neither nodded nor shook his head. His silence counted as agreement.
Mo Fang frowned unhappily and turned to Mo Li.
“How much did you spend buying him?”
Mo Li tilted his head and thought for a moment. “Twenty copper coins.”
“You foolish brat!” Mo Fang poked Mo Li hard on the forehead in heartache. “For this weird mute thing that can’t carry or lift anything, you spent twenty copper coins? Other than being good-looking, what use does he have? Someone like this should be sent to a male brothel—that’s where he’d actually make money!”
Mo Fang spoke rather quickly, but that didn’t stop Luo Wangshu from hearing the blame and dissatisfaction in his tone.
Mo Li grabbed the corner of his clothes and stayed silent.
Luo Wangshu watched coldly from the side, guessing they were probably going to sell him off again.
After finishing his scolding, Mo Fang sat angrily on the stool.
He should’ve known better than to trust a fool’s judgment. Just because the person looked pretty, he bought him home. Was he trying to anger him to death?
“Father, don’t be angry.” Mo Li gently patted Mo Fang’s back to calm him down. “I’ll raise my wife.”
The moment Mo Fang heard that, he slammed the table heavily, startling Luo Wangshu.
Mo Li hurriedly grabbed him. “Father, wife’s already been brought home. I finally found someone I like—how can I send him back?”
Mo Fang fell silent after hearing the last sentence.
It wasn’t as if their family couldn’t afford to feed someone who ate less than a little boy. Mo Li was already old enough to marry, but nobody in the village was willing to marry a good daughter to a foolish man who looked especially frightening whenever he wasn’t speaking.
And Mo Fang refused to let a bad woman marry into the family.
After delaying again and again, Mo Li had already reached twenty-five years old without marrying. So Mo Fang had sent him to work at the docks carrying cargo to save money and simply buy someone instead.
“Father, I only want him.” Mo Li directly laid down his stance.
Mo Fang sighed deeply. “Then take good care of him.” As he spoke, he glanced at Luo Wangshu and snorted coldly. “I’m just afraid he won’t be able to endure our hard life here.”
Luo Wangshu lowered his eyes silently.
“Enough. Go get him a set of clothes from the room and let him change. Dressed like this, it’s like he’s afraid others won’t know he’s a freak.”
Mo Li answered with an “Mm,” then pulled the limping Luo Wangshu toward his room.
“Wife, sit here for a while.”
He forcefully pushed Luo Wangshu down onto the edge of the heated kang bed before rummaging through a wooden chest. One piece of clothing after another was tossed out while Luo Wangshu rested his chin on his hand and watched him.
After a while, Mo Li frowned as he pulled out a fairly new light-blue outfit and carefully said, “Wife, let’s use this one.”
Luo Wangshu nodded and accepted the clothes.
“Hehehe, I’ll fetch water for wife.” Mo Li ran off after speaking.
Bathing in this place was generally simple. Men usually just rinsed themselves directly with water, while married women would hang up a curtain and bathe more slowly. During summer, no household would waste firewood heating water. Instead, they filled a large water vat and left it under the sun. After a full day, the water temperature would become just right.
Luo Wangshu stayed behind the curtain Mo Li hung up for a very long time without coming out.
Actually, bathing itself was simple. Even with his injured leg, it shouldn’t have taken that long.
The real problem was these damned ancient clothes with separate upper and lower garments. No matter how he tied them, they stayed loose and sloppy.
“Wife, are you done washing?” Mo Li called from outside the curtain.
Unable to deal with the clothes anymore, Luo Wangshu simply grabbed the waistband and walked out while looking at Mo Li in frustration.
Mo Li blinked.
After washing clean, wife looked even whiter and prettier. Like a freshly steamed white bun.
Seeing the fool staring blankly at him, Luo Wangshu frowned slightly and reached out to tug at Mo Li.
“Wife, why’d you come out without putting your clothes on properly?” Mo Li looked at him in confusion after snapping out of it.
Did wife want to sleep already?
Why?
As if he could put them on properly!
Luo Wangshu’s already terrible temper finally exploded. He directly reached out and grabbed Mo Li’s waistband.
If he didn’t know how to wear them, couldn’t he just take apart someone else’s clothes to learn?
Mo Li instinctively wanted to push him away, but after seeing Luo Wangshu’s thin frame, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He could only watch helplessly as his waistband got yanked loose and his pants nearly fell down.
“Wife… broad daylight… not good…” Mo Li whispered pitifully. “How about tonight?”
Luo Wangshu rolled his eyes at him.
After figuring out how the straps were tied, he immediately pulled the curtain shut again and went back inside to continue studying the clothes.
Meanwhile, Mo Li remained standing there in confusion.
Wife yanked down his pants and then ran away.
Why?
“Ali! Tell him to come eat porridge!” Mo Fang shouted from beside the stove.
“Got it—!”
Mo Li quickly pulled his pants back up and tied the waistband. Before he could even speak, Luo Wangshu already walked out looking as though nothing had happened.
Luo Wangshu knew he’d starved too badly and couldn’t overeat, so after drinking half a bowl of porridge and eating a little cornbread, he set down his chopsticks.
He wasn’t thinking about running away.
He was just puzzled about why everyone looked at him with disgust wherever he went. It was almost as though…
“What’s your name?” Mo Fang asked.
Only after asking did he remember Luo Wangshu was supposedly “mute.”
“Then we’ll call you Mo Yan.”
The name sounded strangely familiar…
Luo Wangshu picked up a piece of black charcoal from beside the stove and carefully wrote the three characters “Luo Wangshu” onto a stove brick.
He had no idea whether ancient people could understand simplified standard script…
“Luo Wangshu? Wife’s called Wangshu?” Mo Li swallowed his mouthful of cornbread and looked at Luo Wangshu with sparkling eyes.
Mo Fang coughed awkwardly.
He hadn’t expected someone from that sort of place to know how to read and write.
They could understand?
Luo Wangshu felt somewhat excited inside.
As long as they could communicate, things would be fine.
Actually, ordinary families rarely learned many characters. Plenty of people remained completely illiterate their entire lives. Meeting Mo Li and Mo Fang was already a blessing among misfortunes.
After the meal, Mo Fang dragged Mo Li aside and muttered something quietly to him.
Luo Wangshu suddenly developed a bad feeling.
The house only had three rooms, and one glance was enough to see everything. The smallest room stored medicinal herbs. The room on the left belonged to Mo Li, and the one on the right belonged to Mo Fang.
Luo Wangshu would be sleeping together with Mo Li.
That night, when it was finally time to sleep, Luo Wangshu discovered exactly where that bad feeling came from.
“Father said we should consummate the marriage.”
Just as Luo Wangshu was about to turn over, he froze after hearing Mo Li’s words.
What?
Before he could react, a mountain of flesh suddenly pressed down on him…