r18novel Chapter 25 The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat
Chapter 25 The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat
Loud snoring filled the main room.
Aunt Zhao and her daughter Zhao Xiaoyun were probably dreaming of getting rich, sleeping soundly on their backs.
Because of her gluttony, Zhao Xiaoyun drank quite a bit of homemade liquor with dinner. Right now, she was draping her leg, which was wearing polyester pants, over the blanket, smacking her lips, probably dreaming about something delicious.
Qin Rushan stood by the kang (a heated brick bed) like a ghost, coldly watching the two women with hearts of snakes and venom.
Without the slightest hesitation, he placed the handkerchief soaked in medicine directly over Zhao Xiaoyun's mouth and nose.
Zhao Xiaoyun twitched suddenly in her sleep, her eyes still closed, and a muffled gurgling sound came from her throat. Then her body went completely limp, and the snoring stopped abruptly, turning into a heavy, deathly silence.
Qin Rushan moved with extreme agility, lifting Zhao Xiaoyun's body, which weighed over 100 pounds, up with one hand as if she were a chick.
He didn't forget to do the whole thing.
He rummaged around on Zhao Xiaoyun for a while, took out the few dozen yuan of her secret stash from her pocket, and broke the red string around her neck that she used to show off, then casually threw it on the corner of the kang (a heated brick bed).
After doing all this, he carried the unconscious Zhao Xiaoyun and strode out of the main house.
The whole process took less than three minutes. On the other side of the kang (a heated brick bed), Aunt Zhao turned over, smacked her lips, and was completely unaware that her own daughter had been switched with someone else.
Back in the west room, Qin Rushan threw Zhao Xiaoyun onto the tattered straw mat.
"This is retribution." Xianglian looked at her unconscious sister-in-law without a shred of sympathy.
If it weren't for Qin Rushan, she would be the one lying here waiting to be sold.
Qin Rushan swiftly used the same hemp rope to tie Zhao Xiaoyun up tightly, in the exact same way he had tied Xianglian before.
Then he shoved the rotten rag that smelled sour into Zhao Xiaoyun's mouth.
"Take off your coat and put it on her," Qin Rushan instructed in a low voice.
The buyer only cares about the clothes, not the person. Plus, it's dark here. If it's a woman and she was carried out from the west room of the Zhao family, who would carefully inspect the goods?
The two worked together seamlessly and quickly changed Zhao Xiaoyun into Xianglian's old, patched-up clothes.
Zhao Xiaoyun was broad-shouldered, and Xianglian's old clothes were too tight on her, the buttons almost popping off.
Qin Rushan grabbed a handful of ashes from the stove and smeared them haphazardly on Zhao Xiaoyun's face. He then ruffled her otherwise neat hair into a mess, covering most of her face.
With everything prepared, Qin Rushan put the prepared large sack over Zhao Xiaoyun's head and tied it tightly.
Just then, a dog barked twice at the village entrance in the distance, and the night grew even deeper.
"Let's go." Qin Rushan took Xianglian's hand. "The show has only just begun."
He led Xianglian and quietly climbed over the courtyard wall, hiding in the dense cornfield behind the Zhao family's courtyard.
The view here is excellent; you can clearly see the back gate of the Zhao family's house and the dirt road leading to the grove behind the village.
The cornfield was so dense and airless on a summer night that the long leaves brushed against my skin and made me feel a little itchy.
Qin Rushan wrapped Xianglian up in his arms, using his broad back to shield her from the pulling leaves.
The two were pressed tightly together, their heartbeats sounding exceptionally clear in the quiet night.
"Are you scared?" Qin Rushan held her cold little hand in his large hand, transmitting a continuous stream of warmth.
"I'm not afraid."
Xianglian shook her head, raised her eyes to look at the man so close to her, her gaze firm, "As long as you're here, I'm not afraid of anything, not even mountains of knives or seas of fire."
Qin Rushan's heart warmed, and he lowered his head to kiss her lips deeply: "Once this is over, see how I pamper you."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the door to the Zhao family's backyard creaked open.
Two furtive figures squeezed out from the crack in the door.
It was Aunt Zhao and Old Man Sun who had been hiding in the shadows.
Old Sun was hunched over, holding a flashlight in his hand, but he dared not turn it too bright, only using that dim light to light his way.
Aunt Zhao followed behind, and the two of them worked together to lift the heavy sack.
"This brat doesn't look like she's got much meat on her bones, how come she's so heavy? She's making my old back feel like it's going to break!"
While panting heavily, Aunt Zhao complained in a low voice, "Old Sun, raise it a bit higher, don't let it bump or get hurt, or the buyer will find fault with it."
"Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense." Old Sun was panting heavily. "Hurry up, they're already waiting in the woods. This is a big deal worth several hundred yuan, don't dawdle!"
The two men, huffing and puffing as they carried the sack like a dead pig, trudged towards the back of the village.
Little did they know that the sack contained Zhao Da Niang's precious daughter, who was eager to wear new clothes.
In the cornfield, Xianglian covered her mouth tightly, afraid that she would laugh out loud.
Qin Rushan felt the person in his arms trembling, and he lowered his head to bite her ear: "Does that feel better?"
Xianglian nodded emphatically.
"Follow me." He pulled Xianglian up, crouched down, and silently followed, using the cornfield as cover.
The grove behind the village was gloomy, with several crooked old locust trees standing menacingly in the darkness.
A dilapidated donkey cart was parked at the edge of the woods, and an old man with a burly face wearing a felt hat was sitting on the shaft, puffing on a pipe.
The sparks flickered, illuminating his murky, greedy eyes.
Aunt Zhao and Old Man Sun arrived, panting, carrying sacks.
"You're here?" The old man tapped his pipe on the sole of his shoe, jumped off the truck, and stared intently at the sacks on the ground. "How's the cargo? Didn't kill anyone?"
"No way! A perfectly healthy, lively person!"
Aunt Zhao approached him with a fawning expression.
At that moment, all she could think about was money. She didn't even consider opening the sack to take a look. "My wife here has big hips, which is good for childbearing, and she's also known for her beauty for miles around. If we weren't starving, I wouldn't be willing to part with her."
The old man chuckled lewdly twice, stepped forward, and kicked the sack.
The person inside the sack did not react.
Why isn't it moving?
"He took his medicine and is sleeping soundly," Sun Laowai quickly explained. "That's good, it'll save him from causing trouble on the road. Brother, about the money..."
The old man pulled out a crumpled wad of ten-yuan notes from his pocket, counted them while spitting on them, and threw them at Aunt Zhao: "Three hundred and fifty, not a penny less. I'm taking the person with me. Once we're out of this village, whether this person lives or dies is none of your business."
"That's right, that's right!" Aunt Zhao took the money, her hands trembling. Three hundred and fifty! That's a huge sum of money! She counted it over and over again by the moonlight, her face crinkling with laughter so wide it could trap flies.
The old man stopped talking nonsense, grabbed the sack, and with the brute strength he had developed from years of farm work, he threw the sack, which weighed over 100 pounds, onto the donkey cart with one hand.
"drive!"
With a flick of the whip, the donkey cart creaked and groaned, carrying the still-sleeping Zhao Xiaoyun, and swayed and disappeared into the boundless night, heading towards that deep mountain forest that was said to devour people without spitting out their bones.
Clutching the warm banknotes, Aunt Zhao watched the donkey cart disappear into the distance and let out a long sigh: "Finally, that jinx is gone! Old Sun, tomorrow you spread the word that Li Xianglian ran off with some random man!"
Old Sun chuckled, his hand wandering over Aunt Zhao's bottom: "Don't worry, I'm good at this."