Chapter 2
As someone who attached great importance to good looks, Gu Jiao had gathered many handsome men in her previous life. And yet, not a single one of them... To be exact, all those beautiful men combined couldn’t compare to this one before her eyes.
This person had a very clean countenance, the edges and corners of his face were as exquisite as jade carvings, and his pair of eyes looked very cold and deep that one couldn’t see to the bottom.
His face was abnormally pale, but because of shame and anger, a faint blush appeared, giving him an alluring look.
Based on his age, Gu Jiao thought it was more appropriate to call him a young man than a man.
"Have you seen enough?” Xiao Liulang asked through gritted teeth.
"I haven"t seen enough, but..." Gu Jiao’s eyes swept his body and her phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, "I’m afraid I’d crush you."
Thereupon, Gu Jiao got up in a pretentious manner.
However, although she was already standing, her eyes remained stuck on him, exploring his body meaningfully.
"Gu Jiao, you..." Xiao Liulang was exasperated by her gaze.
"Do you want my help?" Gu Jiao smiled and tried to reach out.
"No need!”
Xiao Liulang, with a cold look on his face, turned sideways and helped himself up with the chair at the side.
He obviously had difficulties moving about, but he still refused Gu Jiao"s good intentions.
Soon after, he ignored Gu Jiao and limped out of her room.
Gu Jiao now remembered who he was. It was Xiao Liulang, the original soul’s husband.
Xiao Liulang was picked up by Gu Jiao. After he regained his consciousness, the Gu Family inquired about his situation and found that he was an orphan and had nowhere to go. Thereupon, they made prompt decisions. They told him that a man and a woman shouldn’t touch each other casually, but since the daughter in their family already saved him, the two of them might as well get married so as to keep her reputation and whatnot. In shhort, Xiao Liulang was forced to take Gu Jiao as a wife.
But rather than taking her as a wife, it was more like him marrying into and living with the bride"s family. They lived in the shabby house given by the Gu Family, and a plot of land for growing crops was also allocated to them, which was actually the worst type of land.
When they first got married, Gu Jiao didn"t know that Xiao Liulang was a cripple. After she learned about it, she began to dislike Xiao Liulang and turned her head to "hook up" with the Young Gentleman Qin of the town.
The village folks felt indignant at the injustice done to Xiao Liulang. They said that a flower was planted on the cow dung. Of course, Xiao Liulang was the flower and the cow dung was Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao didn’t know what was on Xiao Liulang’s mind, but the fact that he just ignored her current miserable appearance showed his hate and disgust towards the original soul.
Gu Jiao opened the door of the cabinet and tried to change her wet coat, but she was sad to find that there were no clean clothes in the cabinet.
"Big brother Xiao, are you there?" A delicate voice suddenly sounded from the outside of the house.
It was a young lady dressed in a flowered-patterned purple coat, her glossy hair was worn in a bun and her face was painted with rouge. In the crook of her arm, she carried a basket which was covered with cloth, so that one could not make out what was inside.
Gu Jiao quickly dug up this character from the original soul’s memory—— Qingquan Village’s little widow, Xue Ningxiang.
Xue Ningxiang was their neighbor. She usually liked to make her way into their house, most of the time when the original soul was away. Occasionally, she would also let the original soul b.u.mp into her several times. And since the original soul was a fool, she suffered a lot of losses at the hands of Xue Ningxiang.
Xue Ningxiang was also the one to reveal to the original soul about the news of Young Gentleman Qin’s visit to the village this time.
"Yo, isn"t this Sister Ningxiang? What are you doing in my house in broad daylight??"
Xue Ningxiang was surprised by the sudden appearance of Gu Jiao at first, then she said in disappointment, "How come it"s you?"
Gu Jiao smilingly tapped on the door and said, "This is my house. Why are you so surprised to see me here? What are you disappointed about?"
Xue Ningxiang choked up. Of course she was disappointed not to see Xiao Liulang.
Xue Ningxiang looked at Gu Jiao again.
She was still that same person, but was somehow unfamiliar at the same time. Her expression wasn’t as wooden as before, and there was a hint of cleverness in her eyes. Even though she was soaked all over, she didn’t make people feel like she was in a sorry state. Instead, there was an imperceptible intimidating aura around her.
...It must be just her imagination. How could a fool change?
Xue Ningxiang raised her chin and said, "I"m looking for Big brother Xiao!"
Gu Jiao smiled faintly and said, "Calling him big brother Xiao so affectionately, do you know my husband very well?"
"Get out of the way!” Xue Ningxiang didn"t bother to talk to her further.
"What if I don’t?" Gu Jiao blocked her way.
Xue Ningxiang ignored Gu Jiao, raised her hand and tried to push her away.
Gu Jiao lightly moved aside and tripped her with her foot.
"Aiya——"
Xue Ningxiang fell flat on her face and dropped the basket in her arm.
"Fool Gu! You tripped me!"
This kind of tripping drama had been staged many times before, but this time the object of tripping was changed to Xue Ningxiang.
Gu Jiao crossed her arms and half leaned against the door panel. She was looking at her as if to say, ‘What"s wrong with tripping you? If you can, try it with me too.’
Xue Ningxiang seriously doubted that she was seeing illusions.
In fact, there originally wasn’t any friction between Xue Ningxiang and the original soul—— the two most gossiped about women in the village. One was the fool Gu Jiao, the other was the widow Xue Ningxiang. But Xue Ningxiang was good-looking and hardworking. Compared to Gu Jiao, she was still more decent.
When Xiao Liulang fainted at the entrance of the village, he was found by Xue Ningxiang and the original soul together. The difference was that Xue Ningxiang was afraid of causing trouble so she went into the village to call people for help while the original soul directly picked up the man back home.
Later, it was confirmed that Xiao Liulang was an innocent scholar, and Xue Ningxiang regretted it.
Xue Ningxiang was about to scold at the top of her voice when Xiao Liulang came out with a cold look on his face.
Xue Ningxiang immediately changed her expression as soon as she saw him and started to cry softly, "Big brother Xiao, she bullied me! She tripped me!"
Gu Jiao looked at Xiao Liulang and said, "She pushed me first."
Xue Ningxiang instantly got excited and said, "Big brother Xiao, you heard her, she admitted——"
"Is anything the matter for Sister Ningxiang to drop by?" Xiao Liulang interrupted her.
Xue Ningxiang was stupefied for a moment.
She looked at Xiao Liulang and then moved her gaze to Gu Jiao. Picking up the basket, she said, "I... That... You read a letter for me last time, but I hadn’t properly given my thanks. Is there not any food in your home? I’m here to bring some sweet potatoes I dug up in the field..."
Xiao Liulang responded, "No need, Sister Ningxiang. There’s still cornmeal at home. You can take them back and eat them yourself."
Xue Ningxiang bit her lip, "But..."
Gu Jiao raised her eyebrow and said, "Didn"t you hear it? You can take them back."
Her voice wasn’t loud, but there was a chill in her half-smiling eyes.
Xue Ningxiang’s scalp felt numb. She dared not stay any longer, and left gloomily with the basket in her arm.
Gu Jiao smiled and looked at her cheap husband, then said, "I didn’t notice before but you’re actually pretty popular with women despite your leg."
Xiao Liulang cast a faint glance at Gu Jiao and then went back to his room on his crutch.
Hiss——
Her wound was hurting again.
Gu Jiao held her head and went back to her own room.
She sat down on the stool and felt the wound with her hand. What a big cut, ah. Although it wasn"t too deep, if not sterilized in time, it would most likely get infected. But this was ancient times. Where could she get those disinfectants?
“If only I still had my medicine chest."
As soon as this thought flashed in her mind, Gu Jiao felt another sharp pain in her head, which made her pa.s.s out directly.
When she woke up, she was surprised to find an extra box on the table in front of her.