Chapter 31

Yun Pianpian had tasted that jar of peach blossom wine bought from the tavern in the county town.
Ancient peach blossom wine was a fermented liquor with a very low alcohol content, only slightly stronger than rice wine.
That’s why people in ancient times could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk.
If Yun Pianpian drank a thousand cups of rice wine, she’d probably be able to do the same.
Even so, Xiao Changyuan’s alcohol tolerance was exceptionally poor.
He’d only drunk half a jar and was already acting drunk.
Yun Pianpian looked at Xiao Changyuan with concern and said earnestly, “Husband, you should drink less in the future.”
She didn’t want to wake up every day to a drunken mess.
Xiao Changyuan sat with his back to her, lighting the fire on the stool.
She couldn’t see the expression on his handsome face, only his slightly reddened ears hidden in his dark hair.
“Okay.”
Seeing Xiao Changyuan nod slightly, Yun Pianpian finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Then I'll go back to brushing my teeth. Don't play with fire recklessly, wait for me to come in and make breakfast.”
Xiao Changyuan replied, “Alright.”
Yun Pianpian, holding her cup, ran to the ditch outside the courtyard and continued brushing her teeth with a willow twig.
After finishing, she suddenly let out a long sigh.
She began to miss her electric toothbrush.
How was the real world doing now? Her soul had transmigrated into this novel, was her physical body still okay? Had her parents noticed anything unusual about her body? Was the flow of time the same in the novel world as in the real world?
Holding the cup and the willow twig, Yun Pianpian silently called out to the system in her mind.
System, system, are you there?
The system didn't respond, as if it had already severed its connection with her.
Perhaps the system had already left this world.
Yun Pianpian thought about it and decided it might be for the best. If the system had stayed with her, living in her mind like a parasitic creature, wouldn't it have seen everything when she undressed to bathe or used the toilet, all those private moments?
When Yun Pianpian pondered things, she always preferred to look on the bright side.
After considering this, she forgave the system for its neglectful, leave, her, to, fend, for, herself attitude.
Of course, if she ever gained the power to teach the system a lesson, she would definitely give it a good thrashing, to show it that she wasn't someone to be bullied. But for now, she was just an ordinary girl who had transmigrated into a book, with no strength to oppose the system. So, she had no choice but to continue dutifully completing tasks, waiting for the day she could return to the modern world.
After finishing her washing up, Yun Pianpian applied face and hand cream. While tidying her dressing table, she suddenly noticed that one of her pearl hairpins was missing.
She didn't think much of it, assuming she had accidentally misplaced it somewhere.
Xiao Changyuan was still waiting for her in the kitchen to cook.
Yun Pianpian closed her vanity case and hurried to the kitchen to start preparing the meal.
After the two finished eating and cleaning up the kitchen, Xiao Changyuan went to the yard to chop firewood.
Yun Pianpian fed the chickens nearby. Lifting her eyes, she happened to see Jiang Cuicui walking over from the end of the village.
Earlier, while eating, she had heard some noise.
It seemed like another argument had broken out at the village's end.
Yun Pianpian waved to Jiang Cuicui and waited for her to approach before asking, “Cuicui, how are they doing?”
Yesterday, when the village chief heard about the trouble in the village, he rushed back from the banquet after only a few drinks to take charge. If he had been half a cup of tea later, someone might have lost their life in the village.
The village chief was kind and amiable. The practice of “dunking in a pig cage” was a private punishment passed down in the village for centuries. Unwilling to let the villagers stain their hands with blood and corrupt the customs of Jiangjia Village, the chief immediately abolished this punishment. Instead, he sent the offenders to the county magistrate’s office to be dealt with according to the law.
Under the laws of the Mo Kingdom, those guilty of adultery were to be punished with eighty lashes if unmarried and ninety lashes if married.
Jiang Meirong and her adulterous lover were dragged away by the bailiffs and publicly flogged, each receiving ninety lashes.
Flogging was a skilled task, the severity of the punishment depended entirely on the bailiffs carrying it out.
For an ordinary person, ninety lashes would surely be fatal. However, if the offender bribed the bailiffs, it was a different story. Even nine hundred lashes wouldn’t kill the person if silver had changed hands.
Jiang Meirong’s father secretly slipped thirty taels of silver to the bailiffs, managing to spare her life.
The ninety lashes only left Jiang Meirong’s skin bruised and broken.
Her lover, however, was not so fortunate. By the sixty, eighth lash, he had breathed his last.
Later, Jiang Qiao’er, dissatisfied that Jiang Meirong had not been beaten to death, caused a scene at the magistrate’s office, demanding that Jiang Meirong be executed. She threatened to travel to the capital and accuse the officials of accepting bribes and shielding criminals. As expected, Jiang Qiao’er was thrown into jail by the bailiffs.
The next morning, after a night of cooling down in prison, Jiang Qiao’er was released. No longer daring to confront the officials, she redirected her remaining fury toward Jiang Meirong. Returning to the village, she immediately went to Jiang Meirong’s parents’ home to settle the score.
But Jiang Meirong had already been hidden away by her parents.
When Jiang Qiao’er demanded to know Jiang Meirong’s whereabouts, they refused to tell her.
Enraged, she gathered her relatives, and the two sides clashed violently once again at Jiang Meirong’s home.
Upon hearing of the incident, the village chief put down his chopsticks and hurried over to mediate. Jiang Cuicui followed along.
Recalling the chaotic scene, Jiang Cuicui felt her scalp tighten. “You should have seen how terrifying the fight was, several children were frightened to tears. Luckily, Grandfather arrived in time to calm them down. Now they’re discussing how to compensate Jiang Qiao’er.”
Yun Pianpian asked, “What did Jiang Qiao’er say?”
Jiang Cuicui sighed. “She demanded thirty taels of silver to let the matter rest.”
Yun Pianpian frowned. “Thirty taels of silver can’t possibly make up for her marriage.”
“Exactly.” Jiang Cuicui agreed. “And she still has two children to raise.”
The two young women sighed in unison, lamenting Jiang Qiao’er’s plight.
It was said that Jiang Meirong’s family eventually paid Jiang Qiao’er thirty taels of silver, and Jiang Qiao’er never mentioned Jiang Meirong’s name again.
Jiang Meirong, for her part, never returned to Jiangjia Village.
The village gradually returned to its former tranquility.
One day, while Yun Pianpian and Xiao Changyuan were hunting in the mountains, they noticed that the crooked, neck tree had been cut down.
Exchanging a glance, they saw silence reflected in each other’s eyes.
They managed to hunt two river deer and hitched a ride on Xie Yu’s ox cart to sell them in the county town. On their way back, however, they encountered bandits.
At the time, Xie Yu was sitting at the front of the cart, holding the reins as he drove.
Suddenly, Xiao Changyuan reached out, grabbed Xie Yu by the collar, and yanked him off the ox cart.
Xie Yu’s vision went black as he tumbled to the ground, dizzy and disoriented. His face turned deathly pale, his legs went weak, and he thought Xiao Changyuan had finally decided to kill him. Unexpectedly, three cold arrows suddenly shot toward his ox cart, slicing through the air with a sharp, piercing whistle.
Xie Yu’s face instantly drained of all color.
If Xiao Changyuan hadn’t pulled him aside moments earlier, he might have died on the spot.
Xiao Changyuan plucked the arrows from the air, his wrist twisting as he sent the three cold arrows shooting back toward a patch of grass not far away.
His dark, icy eyes blazed with murderous intent, cruel and bloodthirsty as a demon from hell.
Several bandits, struck by the arrows, tumbled down from the grassy slope. The remaining bandits abandoned their hiding, leaping out of the grass with gleaming broadswords in hand. Their faces twisted with malice as they raised their blades toward Xiao Changyuan. “I’ll kill you!” they roared.
Yun Pianpian’s pupils contracted in terror, her heart pounding so fiercely she forgot to breathe.
Suddenly, a low, melodious voice sounded beside her ear.
“Wife, close your eyes.”
At the same time, a pair of slender, pale, and elegantly shaped hands gently yet coldly covered her eyes.
Her vision plunged into darkness.
Yun Pianpian could only hear the agonized screams of the bandits and the sickening sound of blood spraying.
She was too frightened to move a muscle.
In the distance, the setting sun blazed like blood, its fiery glow spreading across the sky and blanketing the land.
The air seemed thick with the nauseating stench of blood.
Yun Pianpian felt as cold as if she were trapped in an icy cavern.
The bandits met gruesome deaths, their bodies collapsing at Xiao Changyuan’s feet.
A river of blood pooled beneath him.
Xiao Changyuan didn’t even need a weapon, with just the force of his palms, he had slaughtered the bandits.
Xie Yu witnessed Xiao Changyuan’s merciless killing, he saw the terrifying, overwhelming power of Xiao Changyuan.
This was the real Xiao Changyuan.
Xie Yu’s face turned ashen, his lips trembling uncontrollably as he stared at him with wide, terrified peach, blossom eyes.
Xiao Changyuan withdrew his hands, his expression as cold as frost, and cast a frigid glance at Xie Yu.
He could feel Yun Pianpian trembling faintly beneath his palm.
Xiao Changyuan’s brow furrowed slightly.
He didn’t remove his cold hand from her eyes but instead wrapped an arm around her waist. With a single leap, he used his inner strength to carry her to a clean patch of land, untouched by blood, where lush green grass flourished.
Only after he landed did Xiao Changyuan lower his hand from Yun Pianpian’s eyes.
“Wife, it’s over now. Don’t be afraid.”
Yun Pianpian’s eyelashes fluttered as she slowly opened her eyes.
She didn’t dare look down at her feet, her gaze remained fixed on Xiao Changyuan’s face.
Her lips pale, she whispered, “What happened to those bandits?”
Xiao Changyuan said, “Dead.”
Yun Pianpian's pupils slightly contracted. She was born in an era of peace and stability, and she had never imagined that killing could be such an effortless matter.
Xiao Changyuan had actually killed someone right before her eyes.
Yun Pianpian's face turned deathly pale from fright.
Noticing the expression on Yun Pianpian's face, Xiao Changyuan frowned slightly.
“Wife, they are not human, they are merely beasts in human skin.”
Hearing Xiao Changyuan's words, Yun Pianpian seemed somewhat dazed.
She lifted her eyelashes to look at him. “Have you ever killed an innocent person?”
Xiao Changyuan replied, “I have not.”
“Truly not?”
Xiao Changyuan pressed his thin lips together and said, “I only kill those who wish to kill me.”
Hearing this, Yun Pianpian felt somewhat relieved. She could not bear the thought of Xiao Changyuan slaughtering the innocent.
And these bandits, they were not innocent people, they had nearly killed Xie Yu just moments ago.
The bandits were nothing but beasts.
As for the twelve meritorious officials of Yinglan Hall who died at Xiao Changyuan's hands in the original story.
Yun Pianpian forced herself not to think about it.
Some things, she could only find peace by not dwelling on them.
Yun Pianpian lifted her gaze to Xiao Changyuan and said, “I'm fine now. Let's go.”
Xiao Changyuan glanced at her and replied, “Alright.”
Xie Yu drove the ox cart, taking them away from the mountain path.
Throughout the journey, none of the three spoke.
Xie Yu, his face pale, suddenly asked, “Why did you save me?”
The way Xiao Changyuan usually looked at Xie Yu was extremely cold, occasionally even tinged with killing intent.
He thought Xiao Changyuan disliked him.
Xie Yu truly could not understand why Xiao Changyuan would save him.
Xiao Changyuan gently held Yun Pianpian's trembling body in his arms.
He lifted his eyelashes and said indifferently, “Because I cannot let her have nightmares.”