Fang Yong followed Bai Yiqiao’s voice and saw her lying in a ditch. He quickly slid down to pick her up.

  “My foot hurts so much.” Bai Yiqiao said in a tearful voice.

  Fang Yong picked up Bai Yiqiao, carried her out of the riverbed, and walked into the house. Suddenly, Fang Yong stopped.

  Bai Yiqiao’s heart shook heavily. She asked in a trembling voice, “What’s the matter?”


  Fang Yong frowned and said with some uncertainty, “I feel like someone’s watching us.”


  “How’s that possible?” Bai Yiqiao thought that Fang Yong was talking about Li Gouzi, so she immediately said pitifully, “How could there be someone in the middle of the night? Fang Yong, my foot hurts so much.”


  Fang Yong shook his head. It must’ve been just his imagination. He took Bai Yiqiao back to the house and then went to boil water for her to bathe in.

  Bai Yiqiao looked at the bustling Fang Yong, biting her lips hard. Her tears would not stop flowing.

  “Why are you crying?” Fang Yong saw her red eyes.

  Bai Yiqiao wiped away the tears, but there was muddy water on both her hands and face. “My foot hurts.”


  “It must be dislocated. After taking a bath, I’ll handle it for you. It’ll definitely stop hurting then,” Fang Yong comforted Bai Yiqiao. “How did you fall into the ditch?”


  Bai Yiqiao had already come up with an excuse. “I was squatting and my legs went numb. It was dark and I was so sleepy that I couldn’t even open my eyes, so I accidentally stepped into the ditch.”


  “You…” Fang Yong said helplessly.

  Bai Yiqiao looked at Fang Yong and hardened her heart. Nothing was going to destroy her happiness. She was reborn, so her life shouldn’t be like this. She shouldn’t fall into disrepute and be disdained by Fang Yong.

  Bai Yiqiao clenched her fists tightly. At least for the time being, she passed this hurdle.

  Watching this dazzling development, Ning Shu silently laughed. It seemed that Bai Yiqiao was determined to hide tonight’s events.

  But Li Gouzi was a disgusting blood-sucking parasite. Once he grasped onto someone, he would suck all their blood dry. The only way to stop him would be to kill him.

  Ning Shu returned home quietly. She didn’t practice that night, but lay down on her bed and slept peacefully.

  Elsewhere, Bai Yiqiao was washed clean until there were no traces that she had been violated. All traces had been washed away.

  Bai Yiqiao looked at the man comforting her. She would never speak of this until the day she died.

  Meanwhile, Li Gouzi ran back to the dilapidated house and lay on the bed panting. He didn’t expect that he could sleep with Bai Yiqiao. It felt so good.

  Li Gouzi had an idea. He felt that he had finally found a way to pay back the money. If he threatened Bai Yiqiao with what happened, he might get a hundred taels from her.

  Early the next morning, Li Gouzi wandered around Fang Yong’s house. Since the house was calm, he knew that Bai Yiqiao, being such a crafty woman, had concealed what happened last night.

  Li Gouzi felt that he had caught Bai Yiqiao’s Achilles heel.

  “Why are you roaming around here? Do you think I won’t break your legs?” Fang Yong said ruthlessly as soon as he saw Li Gouzi roaming around his house.

  Li Gouzi shrank a little. But when he thought of having taken Fang Yong’s woman last night, he suddenly started laughing wretchedly.

  Li Gouzi felt refreshed. This feeling was probably even better than placing first in the imperial examination.

  Fang Yong saw Li Gouzi’s vulgar and inexplicable laugh and he couldn’t help furrowing his brows. He picked up a wooden stick that was leaning against the foot of the wall.