“Dad! Did you forget your wife is standing right here?!”
A middle-aged woman in the crowd suddenly hissed angrily under her breath and grabbed the ear of the man who had just spoken.
“Ow!” The man cried out in pain, finally remembering that he had come to watch the excitement together with his wife.
His heart instantly turned cold with dread.
“Wife, spare me! I was wrong!” he begged in a low voice.
But the woman had no intention of letting him off so easily.
Without mercy, she dragged him down the hillside by the ear while scolding him:
“When I deal with you later, you’d better learn a thing or two from Shen Yingying and see if you can make me soften up the way she softened up Little Xie!”
The man stumbled and rolled after her miserably.
“Wife! I was wrong! I’ll never talk nonsense again!”
This little incident briefly livened up the crowd.
But once the commotion faded, everyone once again sighed in disappointment over Xie Fangzhu.
Little Xie was obviously smart and decisive at the mine. He handled work cleanly and efficiently.
So how did such a capable young man become completely useless when facing Shen Yingying?
Everyone understood one thing:
If a husband and wife reconciled in bed after a fight, then the fight was basically over.
And judging from Xie Fangzhu and Shen Yingying’s current situation, forget beating her anymore—even continuing the argument was probably impossible now.
Besides, things had already reached this point. Nobody felt comfortable staying around to listen any longer.
One after another, the crowd gradually dispersed.
In the end, only Liu Guizhen remained—the woman who had suffered humiliation from both Shen Yingying and Xie Fangzhu.
She was burning with anger.
Not only had she failed to hit Shen Yingying today, she had also been publicly embarrassed after Xie Fangzhu snapped at her.
Originally, if Xie Fangzhu had beaten Shen Yingying badly, Liu Guizhen would have at least felt somewhat satisfied.
But who could have expected that Xie Fangzhu simply couldn’t handle that woman Shen Yingying?
A few words and she had already defeated him.
It made Liu Guizhen so angry her liver hurt.
She wished she could rush inside and slap Shen Yingying twice across the face.
But clearly, she couldn’t.
Setting aside the fact that the door was bolted from the inside—
Just remembering the look Xie Fangzhu gave her earlier was enough to scare her. How could she dare charge inside?
Still, Liu Guizhen refused to give up.
Those lies Shen Yingying spouted might fool an idiot like Little Xie, but she certainly didn’t believe them.
How could a woman like Shen Yingying possibly still be pure?
Sooner or later, Liu Guizhen swore she would catch evidence against her.
Then everyone would finally see exactly what kind of shameless woman Shen Yingying really was.
…
Some people were simply born talented at certain things.
For example, Xie Fangzhu.
In the novel, he was clearly described as a lunatic completely uninterested in women.
Yet after personally experiencing things with him today, Shen Yingying felt her worldview completely refreshed.
He was way too strong.
After round after round after round, her waist ached, her back hurt, and her whole body felt as though it had fallen apart.
Only after repeatedly begging for mercy did she finally escape his grasp and drift into a hazy sleep.
When she woke up again, she had no idea how much time had passed.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw someone propping himself up on one arm while staring at her.
He looked at her without blinking, brows slightly furrowed.
There was scrutiny in his eyes.
And a dark gloom that made one’s heart shiver.
Shen Yingying jumped in fright at that expression, thinking he was about to go crazy again.
Her half-awake brain immediately began spinning frantically as she prepared herself to react.
Yet suddenly, the shadow in his eyes vanished.
With his other hand, he casually pulled the thin blanket covering her a little higher and asked softly:
“You’re awake?”
The man before her had a handsome face and bright eyes, as though that terrifying gloom earlier had been nothing but her imagination.
For a moment, she almost suspected she had really seen it wrong.
But she quickly came back to her senses.
In the novel, Xie Fangzhu was the best actor of them all—a ruthless, vicious madman skilled at schemes and manipulation.
That darkness in his eyes definitely hadn’t been an illusion.
What bad idea was he plotting now?
Though she was frightened senseless inside, outwardly she still looked sleepy and dazed.
She nodded gently, two faint blushes appearing on her pale face.
Then shyly, she snuggled closer into his arms and wrapped her arms around his lean waist.
Because of her movement, most of the thin blanket slipped down, revealing large patches of bare skin.
Xie Fangzhu’s breathing stalled.
The calm expression on his face instantly collapsed.
He hurriedly looked away and awkwardly used the corner of his eye to pull the blanket back up over her, leaving only her head exposed.
Shen Yingying noticed his little movements and only then realized he had already gotten dressed, while she herself was still naked beneath the blanket.
She could clearly feel it.
Most likely, after she fell asleep, Xie Fangzhu had been too embarrassed to face her undressed body—and even more embarrassed to help dress her—so he had simply covered her with the blanket instead.
Thinking this, she lifted her gaze toward him.
Sure enough, obvious redness still lingered on his handsome face.
Once again, Shen Yingying was shocked.
She truly hadn’t expected Xie Fangzhu to be this innocent in such matters.
Still…
This version of him was much more pleasing to look at than the one full of sinister gloom.
Her courage unconsciously grew a little, and she suddenly felt like teasing him.
Her arms slowly slid upward around his waist. Two pale jade-like arms slipped out from beneath the blanket and hooked around his neck.
In a sweet, soft voice, she complained:
“My whole body hurts right now. You were way too rough. You don’t know how to be gentle at all…”
Her words were completely blunt, yet there wasn’t the slightest trace of anger in them.
Instead, it sounded more like coquettish complaining.
Feeling the coolness of her bare arms, Xie Fangzhu reacted as though facing a mortal enemy.
In a panic, he hurriedly pulled her arms back down and stuffed them under the blanket again.
His entire face burned hot as he muttered thickly:
“I’ll be more careful next time… Hurry up and put your clothes on.”
Shen Yingying couldn’t help laughing.
Her eyes curved beautifully as she smiled, her gaze sparkling like rippling spring water.
“Okay.”
Nodding obediently, she wrapped the blanket tightly around herself and sat up on the bed.
Seeing this, Xie Fangzhu quickly sat upright too and immediately turned around, sitting with his back toward her so he wouldn’t look.
“Where are my clothes?”
“They’re on your left.”
She looked beside her and saw that the clothes which had originally been scattered everywhere were now folded neatly against the wall.
Without even thinking, she knew Xie Fangzhu must have folded them.
She couldn’t help wondering what kind of mood he had been in while doing it.
Picking up the top piece of cloth, she paused.
In this era, bras weren’t commonly worn yet. Most women either wore cotton undershirts or chest-binding cloth wraps.
The original host had used the latter, tightly wrapping herself every day to hide her curves.
As a modern woman, Shen Yingying had never worn anything like this before.
After fumbling awkwardly for a long time, she finally managed to put it on properly.
Instantly, her originally impressive figure shrank considerably.
And the binding cloth was extremely tight and uncomfortable.
After putting on her shirt and pants, she was buttoning them up when her gaze suddenly landed on the glaring red stain on the checkered bedsheet.
Shen Yingying let out a sigh of relief.
Looks like the original host’s memories were accurate after all.
Her body really had been untouched.
Even so, Shen Yingying still found it hard to hide her shock.
Based on the author’s descriptions in the novel, Shen Yingying was portrayed as a flirtatious woman.
Even before her former fiancé broke off their engagement, she had often sneaked into the woods with him.
And after marrying Xie Fangzhu, she had continued searching for better prospects behind his back.
Any normal person would assume a woman like that couldn’t possibly still be innocent.
But after inheriting the original host’s memories, Shen Yingying realized things weren’t entirely as they appeared.