Chapter 6: One Life, One Death.

  On the seventh day of summer, I couldn't breathe smoothly and cursed Fan Shi's neurosis in my heart!

  Who cares about her husband?

  Damn it!

  However, she was trained in the Red Thorn after all, and even if she had a serious illness, she wasn't someone to be taken advantage of. With a burst of energy, she grasped Fan Shi's wrist and growled in a hoarse voice.

  "Shrew, are you looking for death?"

  Fan's wrist hurt, her eyes widened, and she felt like she had changed into a different person.

  "You, you, you're not stuttering anymore? You still have so much strength, who are you?"

  Xia Chuqi sneered inwardly and approached her with a sly smile.

  "Who are you to ask about Laozi? I'm warning you, don't mess with me. Otherwise, I'll make Lang Xiucai abandon you!"

  "Mr. Fan's eyes narrowed, 'My husband would never divorce me.'"

  "Really?!"

  At the beginning of summer, Qiuli sneered repeatedly, "Don't you know? Lan Xiucai had a crush on me all along. It was he who said he wanted to take me back earlier. I was also rescued by him when I fell into the water and he secretly dove in to save me. The feelings between us two..."

  "You're talking nonsense! You damned bastard, rotten to the core, I'll strangle you to death..."

  Mr. Fan suddenly let out an "ah" as if he had seen a ghost and stared straight at her face.

  "What's on your forehead?... You're a prisoner of the imperial court, aren't you? Is this stutter also fake? No way, I'm going to tell my dad..."

  Before Xia Cao, the "jian" character on her forehead was covered very well, and the villagers didn't know about it. But when Fan Shi tore at her, she happened to brush open her bangs.

  Just as Xia was thinking of a way to get out of the situation, a figure suddenly kicked open the door and rushed in. Without saying a word, he swung his fist and landed a heavy blow on Fan's body.

  The newcomer was a fool. He had a weak character and had been bullied by people in the village for many years. In all these years since marrying into the Fan family, she had never seen him get angry like this before. Amidst her shock and fear, she covered her belly and began to wail loudly.

  "Big brother, big brother, stop, stop fighting, sister will buy you candies later..."

  She cried pitifully, but the fool was like a firecracker and didn't care about her at all.

  "You're a bad guy! You bullied my grass, I'll hit you! Hit you to death..."

  "Ah! Big brother spare... Ah! Murder... Help..." Fan's face was covered in blood, wailing like a pig being slaughtered.

  "Idiot! Stop it at once, you're going to beat her to death!" Seeing this, Xia Chuyi hastily intervened.

  "No! I'll beat her, even if it kills her! She's not a good person!"

  The fool had been doing farm work for many years, and he grew tall and strong, with great strength. With a few punches, Fan Shi fell to the ground motionless, wailing in pain. He didn't care whether Fan Shi was dead or alive, and instead turned into a pampered little animal, tightly hugging Xia Chuqi and comfortingly smiling at him with an open mouth.

  "Grass, I hit her. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, it's nothing, it's nothing..."

  Xia Qiqi finally put her mind at ease after feeling Fan's carotid artery.

  "Alas, I'd really kill her, and not be afraid of getting into trouble with the law?"

  Lowering his head, Lan Da said in a dull and stupid tone, "I'm not afraid, as long as you don't die, I'm not afraid of anything else..."

  Seeing him being scared stiff but still trying to put on a brave face, Xia QiQi couldn't help but feel both amused and annoyed, her heart warming up at the same time. But when she saw Fan Shi getting beaten up so badly that it was unbearable to watch, she got a headache thinking about how to deal with the aftermath.

  There were two roads before her, one life and one death.

  The first dead end: If Fan wakes up and has her father, who is the county magistrate, both she and Big Fool will be finished.

  Second way: Let Fan shut up forever.

  Everyone would choose a way out. Unfortunately, looking at Fan's high and bulging belly, she couldn't bear to do it.

  In this way...

  A bold plan emerged in her mind, and she beckoned to the big fool with a hooked finger.

  "Come on, fool, you do two things for me."

  "Oh." The fool came over like a well-behaved child, obediently leaning in.

  At the beginning of summer, Xia Yu spoke in a low voice to him for a few sentences, but he just stared at her blankly. She had to explain it carefully again twice. Unexpectedly, when he finally understood, his big head shook like a rattle drum.

  "The first one is fine, but the second one won't do! Grass, Third Aunt knows about it and will be annoyed with me..."

  Helpless, Xia Qiuli could only put on a stern face.

  "Are you going to listen to San Shu's words or mine?"

  The fool has always been a bit afraid of San Shu Niang, but in the end he still nodded.

  "I'll listen to you."

  The fool listened and carried the Fan family away, sneaking out of the house from the back door. Fortunately, these several thatched cottages were separate, and at the west bridgehead of the village, relatively far from the densely populated area of the village, no one was discovered.

  When he came back again, Xia Chuqi was busy for a while, wiping the sweat from her forehead and feeling much more relaxed.

  But for this strange world, she had a sense of powerlessness.

  The world has changed, but people's hearts remain unchanged. However, no matter what people's hearts are like, she still has to live on.

  "Dummy, go find something to eat!"

  As for Fan's family, the fool didn't have such a strong sense of crisis as her, and just thought that his own family had done something wrong, so he kept hanging his head in shame. After listening to her words, he uttered an "oh" and went back to San Aunt's house, brought out a blackish pancake and stuffed it into her hand.

  "You eat, delicious pancake!"

  On the seventh day of summer, I ate a lot of sweet pancakes and my teeth all became sour.

  It's called a pancake, but it's just the mugwort and fine flour that San Auntie brought back, pinched into a piece and baked in an iron pan. There isn't even a single drop of oil, only slightly better than the coarse food she had been eating for the past few days. Taking a bite, it's hard to the point where she can't help but miss the big white steamed buns she used to throw away in the army's slop bucket.

  Thinking of the past, associating with the present, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness.

  "Fool, have you been eating these things since you were a kid?"

  The fool thought for a long time, furrowed his brow, "No, when I was young, I had the best... and then I started eating this."

  Childhood?

  The summer grass was taken aback for a moment.

  She only knew that the fool was brought over by San Shu Niang Liu from a foreign land, and he had been living here for over ten years. San Shu Niang only mentioned that she had begged for food with the fool, but never spoke of their past. However, the fool never lied, and when he said that he had eaten very well as a child, it was definitely true.

  "Ow, my teeth...!"

  She choked on her food and muttered a curse under her breath, unable to swallow. She put the buns on the low table by the bed and fell onto the wooden bed in a daze.

  "Grass, aren't you going to eat anymore?"

  "I've lost my appetite!"

  The fool must have been starving, swallowed hard, took the bun she had gnawed on and wolfed it down into his belly, without even seeing how he chewed before entering the five internal organs. Finally, he wiped his mouth, turned over his pale face, gulped his throat, and burst out laughing foolishly.

  "Delicious, the pancake is really delicious!"

  Staring at him for a long time, Xia Chuiqi reached into his pocket and carefully touched the "Little Golden Tiger" that had been passed to him, furrowing his brow and asking, "Fool, do you want to eat meat?"

  "Meat?"

  His belly made a cowardly 'gurgling' sound, and the idiot's hand was about to come out of his throat.

  "Oh, where's the meat? I haven't eaten for a long time."

  Thinking of the fatty and lean layers, crispy but not greasy, melting in the mouth with a sweet and soft braised pork belly, Xia Zhichu couldn't help but swallow hard, feeling a long-forgotten hunger that filled his heart, and his eyes gleamed with golden light.

  "Fool, I must make sure you have meat to eat every day."

  "Grass!" At this time, the wooden door full of wormholes creaked open with a "creak".

  A clever-looking San Aunt came into the house, put down her hoe in the corner, and looked around with an uneasy mood. The fool felt guilty and dared not lift his head. Unexpectedly, San Aunt only asked about Xia Chuqi's physical recovery and then said something else.

  "Grass, Uncle said that the King of Jin's palace is coming to the county, but for some reason, he suddenly changed his itinerary and wants to stay in the county for a few days..."

  "What does it have to do with us if he comes to our county?"

  "In every household in the county, there is a levy of money and grain. The clan elder said that it must be handed over tomorrow..."