Chapter 4

The countryside is empty and quiet at night.

It was so quiet that the only sounds could be heard: Lu Yujiao’s low, soft voice, and her breathing under the covers.

She was nervous and scared.

Her eyes were filled with tears that were about to overflow. The tears were picked up by her trembling eyelashes and quickly evaporated due to the heat in the quilt.

There was silence for a few moments.

Lu Jingze asked, “What do you want from me?”

He thought he was keeping calm, but his completely mute voice revealed that he was losing control of himself at the moment.

Lu Yujiao stretched out her little hand, took the corner of his sleeve, and tugged it very lightly.

“Please, protect me.”

Lu Jingze’s Adam’s apple rolled, he looked up at his head and tried to keep his voice level.

“Protecting civilians is a soldier’s duty, but you—”

“You want me.”

Lu Yujiao suddenly said.

Lu Jingze’s entire body was so stiff that he doubted his ears.

But Lu Yujiao repeated it again.

Her voice was low and soft, and her neck turned a shy pink. “I don’t want to be just a commoner. I, I want to be your woman.”

Lu Yujiao didn’t believe that he would go to great lengths to protect a commoner.

But he will definitely protect his woman.

Lu Jingze sat up suddenly, pulled up the quilt to cover himself below the waist, his face was red and black.

“…What nonsense are you talking about?”

He was a serious and solemn man, and this was probably the only night in his life that was so absurd that it felt like a dream.

Lu Yujiao bit her lip, tears welling up in her beautiful, clear eyes.

“Do you dislike me?”

Lu Jingze didn’t hear clearly what she said, his head was still buzzing from her previous sentence.

He just wanted to stand up.

It was really inappropriate for the two of them to sit and lie like this, talking under the quilt.

Lu Yujiao reacted quickly when she noticed Lu Jingze’s actions.

She hugged his strong waist.

Her arms were bare, as tender and white as lotus roots, and a little dazzling.

Because the movement was a bit too big, the scenery covered under the quilt was exposed.

It turns out she wasn’t wearing any.

…

Lu Jingze quickly turned his head away and pretended not to see anything.

At the age of twenty-five, when one is full of vigor and vitality, how can one bear this?

He seemed to suddenly understand how those men died on Lu Yujiao’s wedding night.

At this time, Lu Yujiao began to describe her three wedding nights.

The first time, she got married at the age of sixteen.

My husband is a fool.

The fool was no more than a seven or eight-year-old kid in the village. He only knew that his father told him to take off his clothes and pants.

So the fool started chasing her as soon as he walked in.

Lu Yujiao dodged, and he accidentally kicked the corner of the table, hitting the back of his head on the ground and falling to his death.

…

The second time, Lu Yujiao was seventeen years old.

After the incident had died down, her uncle and aunt married her off to a village farther away.

This time it wasn’t a fool, but a bachelor in his thirties.

The man was the only son in the family and had very picky tastes.

His parents saved money all their lives and spent a lot of money to marry him such a beautiful wife.

On his wedding night, he was so excited that he drank all the wine in the house and stumbled and kicked open the door.

Because of the lesson from last time, people were afraid that Lu Yujiao would run around, so she was tied to the bed early.

The man rushed over and kissed her.

She tried to hide as best she could, but after just a few kisses, he started twitching, foaming at the mouth, and soon became motionless.

…

Lu Yujiao didn’t say that she deliberately stayed with the man all night and only shouted “Help” after she was sure that he was dead.

She didn’t want Lu Jingze to know how dark her heart was.

But she wanted him to look at her.

“He kissed me here and here.”

“But I washed it very clean. If you don’t believe me, just look at it.”

She was about to lift the quilt when Lu Jingze’s palm came over and held it down tightly.

He was strong and his heavy breathing sprayed on her head.

Lu Yujiao twisted her body helplessly, only to find that even his finger joints were so stiff and rigid.

…

She pursed her lips and continued.

“The third time I got married was after I turned eighteen.”

Although her uncle and aunt lowered the bride price again and again, Lu Yujiao’s husband died twice on her wedding night, and many people who coveted her beauty became wary of her.

This time, the uncle and aunt sent Lu Yujiao to a widower.

He was very lucky. Two of his wives had already died when he was in his thirties.

On their wedding night, he couldn’t wait to have her.

Having already tasted that feeling and been single for two years, he was extremely impatient.

It was summer then, and the clothes on my body were thin and could be torn apart with just a tug.

But in the end it didn’t work out.

He drowned in the pond outside.

Lu Yujiao vaguely skipped over the part about why he went to the pond and how he drowned.

She just raised her charming eyes and looked at Lu Jingze pitifully.

“Although he has seen me and touched me, he is already dead. Please don’t mind it, okay?”

Lu Jingze’s eyes were now dark, his breathing was hot, and the veins on his neck were faintly bulging. He looked somewhat like the three men before.

Lu Yujiao could feel that he definitely wanted her.

But why didn’t he kiss her?

Lu Yujiao thought about it, hugged his waist tightly, pressed her body up, and her soft and rosy lips moved closer and closer.

…

Lu Jingze never thought that his imagination would be so rich.

As soon as she said a word, the image of—

How she was tied to the kang, how her snow-white skin turned red from struggling, how she was…

He felt more and more like he was about to explode, and his neck was thick and he was short of breath.

The scales in my heart are fighting.

While saying, she is so pitiful, just agree to her, take her, you can marry her and be responsible for her.

While saying, Lu Jingze, are you still a human being? Taking advantage of others’ misfortune and robbing them, you have no shame!

At this time, Lu Yujiao came out from the bed and offered a kiss.

Lu Jingze subconsciously raised his arm to block.

It didn’t take much strength, but it pushed her far away.

Lu Yujiao fell into the bed. She didn’t feel any pain, but suddenly started crying.

“Do you hate me that much?”

She cried with great grievance, her eyes were red, tears fell one by one, like a pear blossom in the rain, she looked extremely pitiful.

Lu Jingze frowned, feeling helpless and panicked.

He has never made a woman cry, let alone coaxed a woman.

Asking him to face the current situation is much more difficult than asking him to go to the battlefield and kill a hundred enemies.

“Don’t cry.” Lu Jingze coaxed stiffly, “I don’t hate you.”

“Then why don’t you want me?” Lu Yujiao’s long eyelashes trembled, tears rolled down, and her collarbone rose and fell.

Lu Jingze looked away again, his Adam’s apple rolling, “I don’t want you to regret it.”

“I don’t regret it.” Lu Yujiao bit her lip and looked at him, her eyes sparkling.

How could she say that Lu Jingze was the best candidate after her careful selection and comparison?

Who knew he was so serious and old-fashioned.

Lu Jingze turned around and faced her with his back.

“Don’t worry, I will help you. This is a new era and a new society. If you don’t want to get married, no one can force you.”

Lu Yujiao didn’t believe it.

“You’re just helping me for no reason?”

Lu Jingze’s pupils were as black as ink, “Yes.”

Lu Yujiao was even more unconvinced. How could there be such a good person in the world?

“If you don’t want me, then you don’t want to help me. There’s no need to say nice things to deceive me.”

“I’ll leave.”

She stretched out her bare arms to get some clothes to wear.

Lu Jingze frowned slightly, “Where are you going?”

Lu Yujiao thought about it, and said frankly and confidently: “I will find another man, there will always be someone willing.”