Chapter 32 A handsome man fell down?

“Minghu, have I ever been more flashy than you? At least my marriage with Jia Wei was open and aboveboard. What about you? How did you marry into this family? Do you really think that after all this time, no one remembers?”
“So what if they do? At least my son is a good kid.”

Minghu’s words finally broke Qu Yanan’s last shred of reason, and she immediately joined the ranks of the shrews. Jia Wei was already a ruthless man who never minded hitting women. Now that his own wife was involved, as the husband, he naturally wouldn’t just stand by and watch. Soon, a chaotic fight erupted in the Jia family.

In the end, the ones who suffered were the two women from the Ming family — aunt and niece. The old lady, clutching the bride price money for Ming Yuehe, still harbored hope and busied herself running around on behalf of her eldest son. She didn’t bother about Ming Yuehe anymore; now that she was married into the Jia family, whether she lived or died was no longer the old lady’s concern. Nor would she bother spending money on a return gift ceremony for her. This was just the old lady’s nature — selfish and self-righteous.

Meanwhile, Ming Leyao’s life was getting smoother and smoother. Today was the day she had arranged a meeting with the black market boss. At eight o’clock, Ming Leyao sneaked out of the house and rushed to a dirt mound on the outskirts of the county town. She changed her clothes and waited there.

The first to arrive was the old master. From a distance, he saw a figure standing on the mound and shakily asked, “Is that you?”
“Yes.”

Hearing the familiar voice, the old master straightened his back and quickly walked over, shoving all the gold, silver, and jewelry hidden in his arms into Ming Leyao’s hands, as if a second’s delay would mean losing them. This stuff had become a hot potato.

“It’s all yours, all yours. Do you think it’s enough?”

Ming Leyao glanced over it — the value of these items was obvious for the future, but at the moment, they could only be exchanged for some food grains. It was quite bittersweet.

“It’s enough, master. Can you get it?”
“Yes, yes, I brought people.”

He turned and waved, and a few old men appeared quietly behind Ming Leyao, their heads wrapped in floral cloth, looking somewhat comical in the moonlight. The old men had no intention of showing their faces or talking and just hurriedly lifted the grains on the ground and left.

“Sorry, girl, they’re afraid of being seen.”
“It’s fine, master, you should get home early too. It’s not safe outside.”
“All right, all right, I’m leaving now. Next time there’s something like this, come find me, and I’ll have the goods ready for you.”
“Okay.”

After the old men left, Ming Leyao waited another twenty minutes or so, timing it just right, and then placed all the grains, fruits, and vegetables she was trading with the black market boss onto the ground. Sure enough, within minutes, the black market’s vehicle arrived.

Compared to the old master’s low profile, the black market’s arrival was much more conspicuous. Seven or eight people each pushed a cart loaded to the brim with coal.

“Unload, weigh.” The black market boss was quick and efficient. After a few words, the men started moving. Some unloaded, others counted and carried the goods, and finally reported the quantities to the boss.

“It’s enough. There’s some leftover. Can we pay with money?”
“Sure.”

What’s wrong with that? Who would complain about having too much money? Taking the cash bundle, Ming Leyao counted about a hundred yuan — this trip had paid off.

After everyone left, she stored the coal in her space and, under the moonlight, returned home, putting some of the bags into the woodshed. But she didn’t put all the dozens of bags inside, just a few. She planned to store more later but mainly wanted to avoid attracting others’ attention and suspicion by being too conspicuous.

Feeling good, Ming Leyao comfortably took a hot bath. After a night of running around, she was a bit hungry and cooked a big pot of pork rib porridge, making extra to take with her for breakfast tomorrow. She even generously fed some pork to the dog.

The dog had grown from a pitiful little creature to a powerful and imposing one. Thanks to Ming Leyao’s daily three meals plus snacks, the dog became stronger and more formidable, not to be underestimated. Yet, it was still the same dog, always acting cute, throwing tantrums, and begging for treats in front of Ming Leyao.

Lately, when she had time, she threw the dog into the space. The little one named Jinlian occasionally woke up and played with the dog. After learning the dog was meant to protect Ming Leyao, Jinlian trained it to be strong, sturdy, and durable… how well it’s trained remains to be seen.

Since the incident with Shi Tieniu, this “kill the chicken to warn the monkey” tactic had worked. Few dared to mess with Ming Leyao anymore — except for some unruly people at the old house. But even they had been behaving lately, busy helping Ming Shi out, probably too occupied to bother her.

After enjoying her midnight snack and letting out a dainty burp, Ming Leyao cleaned up the kitchen and prepared to sleep. Just after taking off her clothes and before blowing out the kerosene lamp, a loud ‘thud’ came from the courtyard.

The sound was so loud it was impossible to ignore. Ming Leyao quickly put on her clothes, grabbed the wooden stick she kept by the kang (heated brick bed), and with her long legs, adopted a stance that made her look invincible.

The dog followed her, strutting proudly, and they reached the courtyard wall. The dog caught a familiar scent and wondered who it was.

Before the dog could move forward, Ming Leyao was already helping someone up.

Dog: “??????”
Today, master, I guess I’m just here to accompany you? You’re too strong, no chance for me to do anything. Woof woof… so sad.

“Don’t bark, you might scare others.”
“……”
What a torment, no love at all.

Ming Leyao helped the person inside and placed them in the west room where the old master used to stay. She lit the kerosene lamp and saw a handsome, three-dimensional face.

The smell of blood soon filled her nostrils. Without thinking about why Fu Wencheng was here, she lifted his outer clothes to reveal a blood-red wound, still oozing blood, about ten centimeters long, deep to the bone. There was more than one such wound…

Tsk, what bad thing did this man do to get cut up like this?

She went to the kitchen to boil water, then returned to get silver needles and some sheep gut thread from her space to disinfect and sew the wounds.

Just as she was cutting open the clothes, a soft hand was suddenly restrained.

The piercing pain came through, but Ming Leyao’s expression did not change. She knew Fu Wencheng was a soldier and naturally alert; this was just a trauma reaction.

“Let go, I’m going to treat your wounds.”
“Leyao?”
Ming Leyao: “??????”

When did I get so familiar with this man? Familiar enough to be called by his first name?