kvmb Chapter 442 I'm Going to Change My Clothes
Chapter 442 I'm Going to Change My Clothes
The group of people surrounding Uncle Liu looked at him hesitantly, but none of them spoke again.
Sixth Uncle got up, lowered his head, and walked towards home.
After a short pause, everyone quietly dispersed.
It's unclear how much time passed—maybe a quarter of an hour, maybe a little longer—but a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the village.
It came from my sixth uncle's house.
Zhang, the wife of Liu Bo, clung tightly to thirteen-year-old Xiu Niang. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes bloodshot, and she held a pair of scissors in her hand, pointing them at Liu Bo with a hateful glare: "You beast, you dog, you're worse than a beast! Are you even human?! Xiu Niang is only thirteen! She's only thirteen! You're just sending her to her death like this? What's your heart made of? Are you even human?! I'm telling you, if you dare change Xiu Niang's clothes, I'll kill your whole family, burn the whole village down! Don't live anymore, don't live anymore! In this cannibalistic world, living is just suffering anyway, so die! Let's all die together—"
She waved the scissors in her hand like a madwoman. The aunties who had been called to help Xiu Niang change her clothes silently took a few steps back, tears streaming down their faces, and stood at the door, not daring to come in.
Sixth Uncle's face was grim as he hissed, "What nonsense are you spouting! What do you mean by sending her to her death? You're sending her to enjoy a life of luxury! She'll be a celestial concubine in the palace, served by others every day, wearing gold and silver—what's wrong with that! Even if she doesn't go tomorrow, she'll have to go eventually! A daughter will eventually grow up and get married!"
"Marry? Hahahaha..." Zhang laughed until tears streamed down her face. "What do you mean by marrying into a celestial palace as a celestial concubine? You've said that so many times, do you even believe it yourself? Let alone those high-ranking families, even in our rural village, who doesn't properly hire a matchmaker and exchange betrothal gifts when someone marries? Even a landlord taking a concubine has to give a few taels of silver to make a sound, to let them know where his daughter is going. Have you ever been to that celestial palace? Has anyone ever been there? You say you're getting married, but has anyone ever come back? In these surrounding villages, there used to be at least seventy or eighty girls of marriageable age, if not a hundred. Now, you can't find a single girl of marriageable age with any beauty. There aren't even any pretty young wives left. All that's left are some immature girls and old women half-buried in the ground. Even the emperor doesn't skin women like this when choosing concubines. And you have the nerve to say they're going to get married and live a good life!"
"Open your eyes and look at the kind of life everyone is living now. Yuzhou used to be remote and poor, but the Crown Prince's grace exempted it from taxes. Countless people who fled famine came here, and as long as they were diligent, they could all survive. Just when good days were about to arrive, they built some kind of fairy palace, demanding taxes every year and distributing some kind of elixir. They even fired all the good doctors. If they couldn't pay taxes, they were forced to do forced labor. They were conscripted for labor every three months, and each time it was heavier than the last. Not a single able-bodied young man who went there ever came back. If they didn't go, fine, they started holding sacrificial rites to marry off daughters. Each time a daughter was married off, they would request an elixir and be exempted from forced labor. As a result, the number of deaths increased year by year. You call this a good life? After your father died, you became the village chief, constantly claiming to think of the villagers. But what happened? You led them to become more and more irrational. Do you have any humanity left?"
Zhang's words, spoken with heartbreaking intensity, were filled with anguish.
The women waiting outside to help Xiu Niang change her clothes were a mix of emotions: some were silently weeping, some had turned away because they couldn't bear to watch, and others looked numb.
Uncle Liu clenched his fists, his face turning ashen.
He stepped forward and snatched the scissors from Zhang's hand, then slapped her across the face, drawing blood from her lips.
He pulled Zhang away and kicked her, as if to cover up his weakness. His blows grew heavier and heavier. "You damned woman, what do you know! What do you know! If we can't get the elixir, what will we do next year? The New Year is almost here. If we can't even get one elixir, how will the immortal master bless us next year! Do you want to watch everyone starve to death? You stupid woman! You stupid woman!"
He kicked Zhang repeatedly. At first, Zhang tried to protect her head with her hands, but gradually she stopped struggling.
Xiu Niang kept trying to stop her, but was pushed away by Liu Bo.
She knelt on the ground, crying and pleading again and again, "Father, Father, please stop hitting me, please stop hitting me..."
“Mother, Mother…”
She cried until her voice was hoarse, but her sixth uncle acted as if he hadn't heard her, continuing to punch and kick Zhang Shi in a fit of rage.
"I'll marry him! I'll marry him!" Suddenly, Xiu Niang shouted loudly. She looked up at her sixth uncle, clenched her fists, and said, "Father, I'll marry him. I'll marry anyone. Please don't hit Mother. I'm going to change my clothes. Please stop hitting me, or I'll kill myself and die with Mother!"
Sixth Uncle slowly withdrew his foot from Zhang's body, looked down at his daughter, and clenched his fist.
He has a son and a daughter. His eldest son is eighteen years old. Last year, he was sent to do manual labor because he couldn't get the elixir of immortality, and he hasn't come back since.
This is the only daughter I have left.
There aren't many people left in the village. If things continue like this, some will die, and some will never come back...
What could he do?
He didn't know either.
He waved his hand blankly, "Change your clothes."
Then he picked up the nearly dead Zhang, tied her up with a rope, and said to his daughter with his back to her, "Tomorrow, after you get married, I'll release your mother so she won't do anything foolish."
Xiu Niang knelt on the ground, and the aunties at the door came in one after another, helped her up, and took her to the room to dress and change clothes. Xiu Niang remained motionless and let them do whatever they wanted.
She felt as if she had been split apart, as if all her senses had vanished in an instant. She was illiterate and could not describe the feeling, only that she felt as if she had been split in two, one half on the ground and the other half in mid-air.
……
Lu Yangyang and his group wandered around Poison Snake Ridge for most of the night, finally managing to leave the ridge before dawn and enter the official road leading to the prefectural city.
The rain had stopped, but it wasn't time to open the city gates yet, and many people who wanted to enter the city and passersby had already lined up at the city gate.
Lu Yangyang asked Lu Zhan to go down and search, but they didn't see Luo Jing. Perhaps he hadn't arrived yet.
Even after the city gates opened, Luo Jing still hadn't arrived.
Looking at the people queuing to enter the city, Lu Yangyang instructed the waiter, "Let's go into the city first. Once we're settled, someone else can come and wait for Uncle Luo."
The man then drove the carriage toward the city gate.
There weren't many people queuing to enter the city, and it wasn't long before it was their turn. After showing their travel permits, the guards didn't make things difficult for them, collected the entrance fee, and let them in.
Just as they entered the city, a scream suddenly came from behind them.
Lu Yangyang and the others hurriedly turned around and saw that one of the people who had entered the city suddenly collapsed to the ground, convulsing. The people around them were instantly frightened and scattered.
"They've been punished by heaven! They've been punished by heaven!"