“Which blind fool dared to steal from me?!”
A thunderous roar exploded like a bolt from the blue, shaking Su Wan’s eardrums painfully.
Lei Deshui had been jolted awake, and his body reacted faster than his mind. Over the years of running transport and managing brick kilns, he had made plenty of enemies. Nighttime troublemakers and melon thieves were nothing new to him.
He always slept with half his mind alert, and his hand never left a weapon.
With a violent yank, he dragged Su Wan toward him as if she were a dead dog.
Su Wan had no strength to resist at all. Her body was pulled across the wooden bed by that monstrous force, slamming hard against the edge with a loud bang. Pain shot through her, and tears burst from her eyes uncontrollably.
Before she could even recover, the massive body of the man—like a small mountain—pressed down on her, pinning her completely beneath him.
“Don’t… don’t kill me…” Su Wan cried out in terror, struggling desperately.
“Shut up!”
Lei Deshui’s rough hand clamped over her mouth, his calloused palm scraping painfully against her delicate skin.
With his other hand, he slammed the hunting knife into the wooden board right beside her ear with a sharp thud. The blade sank deep into the wood, stopping only a few centimeters from her neck.
The icy killing intent made Su Wan’s skin break out in goosebumps.
At that moment, the thunder outside faded, and the melon shed fell into a deathly silence, broken only by their rapid breathing.
Under the faint light seeping in from outside, Lei Deshui narrowed his eyes and finally saw clearly the person he was pinning down.
It wasn’t a burly man, nor a sneaky melon thief.
It was a woman.
A small woman, soaked through and trembling like a frightened little bird.
Because of her struggle, Su Wan’s already torn clothes had become even more disheveled. The wet fabric clung tightly to her body, outlining soft, graceful curves.
Her collar was wide open, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin that shimmered faintly in the dim light.
Her palm-sized face was covered in tears and rainwater. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide with terror, lashes wet with droplets, making her look unbearably pitiful.
Lei Deshui froze.
He recognized those eyes.
It was Wang Dajun’s new wife—Su Wan.
Whenever she was seen in the village, she always kept her head down, sticking close to the walls, barely daring to speak above a whisper.
Although Lei Deshui was rough and crude, he had occasionally glanced at her before, even cursing inwardly that Wang Dajun must have been unbelievably lucky to marry such a fairy-like woman.
“Su Wan?” Lei Deshui frowned, his voice hoarse and low, carrying the rough danger of someone just waking up. “In the middle of the night, instead of staying home and serving your man, what are you doing running into my melon shed?”
He loosened his hand covering her mouth, but his body still pinned her down.
That intense masculine presence instantly enveloped Su Wan—the scent of sweat, tobacco, and alcohol, aggressively invasive.
Lei Deshui had been drinking heavily that night, and the alcohol still lingered in him. His gaze was unfocused, yet burning hot.
“Brother Lei… please let me go…” Su Wan’s voice trembled, almost breaking into sobs. “I’m not here to steal melons… I ran away… my mother-in-law forced me, forced me…”
The shame was too hard to speak aloud, and her words broke off.
Lei Deshui listened in confusion, but he caught the key point—she had run away.
He let out a cold laugh, his eyes shamelessly roaming over her body, his breathing growing heavier.
“Ran away? And you ran straight into my bed?”
Lei Deshui was a normal man—a hot-blooded, twenty-six-year-old laborer who had not touched a woman in years.
At this moment, with a beauty in his arms, half-dressed and trembling, the combined visual and physical stimulation was enough to shake even the most disciplined man. He was anything but disciplined.
Add the influence of alcohol, and the thin thread of rationality in his mind snapped with a crack.
He mistakenly thought Su Wan had come to him because she couldn’t endure the Wang family’s poverty or mistreatment, or perhaps she was seeking protection—or even worse, that Wang Dajun, unable to repay debts, had sent his wife to “pay in flesh.”
In a poor rural village, such things were not unheard of.
That Wang family is a bunch of cowards, that’s all they’re good for. Lei Deshui cursed, his large hand moving along Su Wan’s waist, Since you’ve entered my shed, you’re my woman. If the Wang family dares to cause trouble, I’ll chop them up!
No… it’s not like that! Su Wan noticed the man’s intentions and tried to push him away in horror, Brother Lei, don’t be like this… I’m a married woman…
A married woman? Lei Deshui sneered, grabbing Su Wan’s flailing wrist, easily raising it above her head and pressing it against the wooden board, Can that softie Wang Dajun satisfy you? Now that you’re here, stop pretending.
He lowered his head, his scalding lips roughly imprinted on Su Wan’s cold neck.
Ah! No!
Su Wan screamed in despair, desperately twisting her body to escape.
But the difference in strength between men and women was too great, her little strength was like an ant trying to shake a tree in front of Lei Deshui.
Lei Deshui’s movements were rough and urgent, with a punishing force.
He tore at the obstructive wet clothes, with a tearing sound, the sound of cloth tearing was particularly clear in the small space.
Su Wan’s tears welled up.
She had just escaped the wolf’s den, but now she had fallen into the tiger’s mouth. Was this her fate?
What are you crying for! I will cherish you! Lei Deshui was a little annoyed by her crying, but more than that, he had a brutal desire to completely possess and conquer her.
He didn’t have any foreplay, nor any tenderness, like a beast that had been hungry for a long time, finally pouncing on its prey, wanting to feast on it.
The storm swept through again, beating the fragile melon shed, teetering.
I don’t know how long it took before the storm finally stopped.
The melon shed was filled with a richer atmosphere.
Su Wan huddled in the corner like a rag doll, hugging the old, stiff cotton quilt, her body bruised and her eyes empty.
Lei Deshui sat on the edge of the bed, bare-chested, lighting a cigarette.
The sparks flickered, illuminating his angular face.
He took a deep breath of the cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, and his eyes fell on the dazzling red on the sheets.
Lei Deshui’s fingers holding the cigarette suddenly stopped, his eyes instantly becoming deep and complex.
Wang Dajun had been married for three years, and this Su Wan was still a virgin?
What had Wang Dajun been doing for the past three years?
An inexplicable fire and an indescribable possessiveness rose in Lei Deshui’s heart.
This woman was his.
Completely his.
Just then, noisy voices and the flashing beams of flashlights suddenly came from a distance.
Su Wan! Where did that little bitch run off to!
Search for me! She definitely can’t run far!
That was Zhang Guihua’s sharp and mean scolding, which traveled far in the silent night.
When Su Wan heard this voice, her originally dead body trembled violently, it was a fear engraved in her bones. Her face was pale, and she subconsciously shrank behind Lei Deshui, grabbing his thick arm.
Mother-in-law… they’re here… I don’t want to go back, I’ll be beaten to death if I go back…
Lei Deshui felt the trembling coming from his arm and looked back at the woman who was like a frightened bird.
He snuffed out the cigarette butt, his eyes becoming extremely fierce, it was the fierceness he only had when he was in the underworld.
What are you afraid of.
Lei Deshui grabbed the quilt and wrapped Su Wan tightly, revealing only a pair of frightened eyes.
He picked up the hunting knife inserted in the head of the bed, walked barefoot, and strode towards the door of the melon shed, kicking open the broken wooden door.
Let me see who dares to touch my woman!