My domineering ex-husband is living off his wife in ancient times.

Chapter 51: Has something happened to Si Shaoheng and the others?

Jealousy twisted Cheng Ruoan's face.

To test whether this "speech-gazing acupoint" was real, after Shao Yang tied the two to a dead tree stump in the yard, the "twisted" Cheng Ruoan took out a silver needle and directly pricked it to wake Xia Shi up.

Xia woke up with a start: !!

Ok?

Wait a minute?

Xia was filled with questions.

She was in so much pain that her soul felt like it was leaving her body, and her mouth was agape, so why couldn't she make a sound?

When Xia saw Cheng Ruoan staring straight at her, she moved a couple more times and realized that she was tied up. She felt terrified and angry.

It must be her!

It must be that vicious woman, Cheng, who did something to me!

Xia opened her mouth wide and tried desperately to mouth the words to Cheng Ruoan, but she couldn't utter a single word or even a single syllable.

Sealing the acupoints makes someone even more mute than a real mute.

There wasn't even a soft whimper; Xia Shi was completely silent.

Xia didn't know what was wrong with her. In her panic, she even urinated a few drops.

Afraid that Cheng Ruoan would smell it, she kicked her legs wildly.

Unfortunately, he couldn't even reach the hem of Cheng Ruoan's clothes.

Cheng Ruoan looked at her silent and powerless rage and sneered: "Sure enough, the world is most peaceful when a dog can neither bark nor bite."

Seeing this, Shao Yang nodded in satisfaction.

See, it's true that if his brain says he can do it, his hands really can.

Cheng Ruoan stopped paying attention to Xia Shi and said, "Alright, brother-in-law, go and talk to my eldest sister, and while you're at it, call Da Hua in to help me take stock of our things and see what else the Xia family has stolen from us."

"it is good."

Da Hua came into the yard and helped Cheng Ruoan check all the items on the wheelbarrows.

Of course, Cheng Ruoan only asked Da Hua to take inventory after he had "taken" some things.

Several wheelbarrows were parked by the dry well in the southeast corner of the courtyard wall. The dead tree stump that bound Xia Shi and Xia's wife was in the southwest corner. Cheng Ruoan turned her back, blocking the view, so Xia Shi couldn't see that she had "taken" several bags of grain.

Da Hua followed Cheng Ruoan quietly, and she didn't look at Xia Shi and Old Lady Xia once when she came in.

She stayed close to Cheng Ruoan, holding a yellowed but clean notebook that Cheng Ruoan had given her, and a charcoal pencil.

"Third Aunt, I can't write..."

Cheng Ruoan noticed her unease and also saw that Cheng Ruotong had carefully treated the injury on her face.

Although it was still red and swollen, there were faint yellow marks on the broken skin, which must have been from the iodine that Cheng Ruotong had applied.

Cheng Ruoan nodded. "It's alright."

“I know that when your third uncle was teaching Xin Ge’er to read, you overheard him, and you can count.”

I don't need you to be able to write; you just need to help me remember what's left. You can draw it.

Da Hua frowned, looking completely bewildered.

Cheng Ruoan sighed softly, took her hand, and drew a small oval on the notebook, followed by the four strokes of the character "正" (zhèng).

"This is white rice, there are four bags left."

I drew another circle with a few wavy lines inside, and then wrote a tally mark with one more stroke.

"This is wheat flour, there are six bags left."

Da Hua suddenly understood, as if a new world had opened up for her. She smiled with delight, "I understand, Auntie! I've got it!"

Then she counted the smoked chickens in the wheelbarrow carrying wild game, drew an unidentified creature that looked like a chicken in her notebook, and wrote the character "正" (zhèng) after it.

"Third Aunt, there are two smoked chickens left!"

Cheng Ruoan smiled and nodded: "Yes, you're very smart. Just help me count and record it like this, as long as you can understand it yourself."

"it is good!"

Cheng Ruoan kept quiet about what Da Hua had experienced in the dilapidated temple, but she knew that even if no one mentioned it, Da Hua would never forget the scene of being pinned to the bed, beaten and having her clothes torn by that little beast.

So she would help her distract herself.

Cheng Ruoan was very experienced in this kind of thing.

Seeing that Da Hua was focused on taking inventory, Cheng Ruoan casually asked, "You believe that your third aunt wouldn't harm you, right?"

Da Hua paused for a moment, then continued counting without looking up, replying, "Yes, Third Aunt would never harm me, so I will always listen to Third Aunt."

"Good boy."

Not long after, Cheng's mother returned with the other children, and later, those cowards from the second branch of the Si family were also sent back by Boss Qian.

But the three Si brothers have not returned yet.

As it was getting dark, Cheng Ruotong couldn't sit still any longer. "Shaoyang, why don't you go find your brother-in-law and the others? If it gets any later, we won't be able to continue our journey today."

Cheng's mother looked worried: "That's right, Shaoyang, go and check on them. I hope nothing has happened to them. Such a big thing has happened here. My mother-in-law is so scared that she's delirious with fever. The three brothers haven't come back yet. It's really worrying us both."

"Yes, Mother-in-law." Shao Yang handed the task of starting the fire to Si Erlang.

Sijiro:......

You're quite adept at it.

But then she glanced at Mrs. Li, who was massaging Cheng Ruoan…

Si Erlang could only sigh, shake his head, and obediently get back to work.

Oh well, what can they do? They owe the eldest son of the Cheng family a sum of money now.

"An'an, do you think your three brothers, Sanlang and his brother, encountered some trouble in the mountains? Should we not continue our journey tonight?"

Cheng's mother looked at Cheng Ruo'an.

Cheng Ruoan sat in the only rocking chair in the dilapidated temple, leisurely enjoying Li Shi massaging her shoulders, completely unaware of her mother's gaze.

Cheng Ruotong: ...

"Cough cough!" She coughed twice on purpose.

Cheng Ruoan looked over and said, "Hmm? It's alright, Mom. Since we can't leave anyway, we can just spend the night here."

"Nonsense! Didn't you say we've offended the bandits? The bandits have something going on with the officials in the county town or something. If we don't run away, won't something terrible happen?" Mother Cheng said sternly.

The more Cheng Ruoan looked at her mother, the more she felt that her mother's nickname "Tofu Beauty" in the village was quite fitting.

Especially her mother, at her current age, has a special charm; she's incredibly alluring when she's angry.

Tsk tsk, the "stepmother literature" is truly accurate.

A young girl is not as good as a young woman, and a young woman is not as good as a stepmother.

When Cheng Ruoan thought of the memes and comments from netizens, and imagined her mother's face, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Mother Cheng clicked her tongue and pinched Cheng Ruoan's waist: "I'm asking you! You just keep laughing like an idiot instead of answering. What are you laughing at? You've lost so much silver worth of goods and so much grain, and you can still laugh."

Cheng Ruoan slapped her mother's hand away with a groan and rubbed her lower back: "The bandits and refugees were fighting each other, who knows how many were left."

If there are any left, then Si Sanlang and the others may have already perished.

"Where else can we go?"

"Cheng Ruoan!" Cheng's mother covered her mouth and scolded, "You're getting more and more outspoken. Luckily, Lin is taking care of the child in the back room, otherwise she would have cried for half a day after hearing this!"

Cheng Ruoan chuckled: "It's just speculation. What I mean is, if Sanlang and the others are alright, then they must have discovered something over there that's more important than our journey. In that case, we can only wait."

Li, patting her shoulder, said, "I think my third sister-in-law is right. Anyway, it's already dark, so we can only wait until tomorrow. There's no use in being anxious."

Cheng's mother clicked her tongue again: "Don't massage her anymore. Her leg is injured, but her shoulder is fine. Go take care of your mother-in-law!"