The ferocious pounding on the gate made Thu Quynh narrow her eyes. Could this be a den of thieves and robbers? Was that brute from yesterday their leader?
Oh, heavens!
For a moment, Thu Quynh nearly leaped to her feet. Was she fated to be a bandit's wife for the rest of this life?
No way!
A bandit's den was filled with the most vicious and evil of men!
She was a well-bred, educated woman. How could she be a bandit's wife?
It was said that a bandit's den was basically all men, and ill-mannered men at that!
What if this leader later captured a more beautiful woman? Would he toss a defiant person like her to his underlings?
Thinking of a horde of fierce, filthy men taking turns violating her, Thu Quynh couldn't help but gulp.
She looked up to the sky and lamented: I'm done for, I'm done for. I can't even run. What do I do now? Did she really have to die again?
Death wasn't scary, but what was terrifying was the thought that heaven, as punishment for not cherishing life, might make her transmigrate into a forty- or fifty-year-old widow, forced to live with some old widower in the village.
Her mind in a daze, Thu Quynh was like an ant on a hot pan, her usual composure completely gone!
Fortunately, she wasn't an impulsive person and eventually managed to calm down. No, that brute was definitely not the bandit leader!
If he were really the leader, why would he live in such a dilapidated place and have people banging on his gate? At most, he was just a petty, vicious but incompetent bandit!
The thought of being violated by such a person filled Thu Quynh with disgust...
"Big Brother, are you in there?"
Heavens?
Big Brother?
Wasn't that how bandits addressed each other?
In an instant, Van Dai's status in Thu Quynh's mind shifted from a petty thug back to the leader!
The urgent knocking snapped Thu Quynh to her senses. She looked down at herself; she absolutely couldn't let anyone see her in this state!
She quickly looked around, but the dilapidated courtyard didn't even have a place for a bird to hide, making Thu Quynh suddenly feel the urge to kill someone. Damn it, did she have to hide in the firewood stack?
"Tu, Mai, what are you two doing?"
Just as Thu Quynh was thinking of a way to scare off the people outside the gate, an old voice suddenly called out.
"Second Aunt, it's nothing. Big Brother told me to wash his clothes for him before he left, but he accidentally locked the gate. So I can't get in."
Le listened to Thi Mai's words with a skeptical expression. "He told you to wash his clothes? I always see him washing them himself. You two aren't taking advantage of his absence to sneak in and steal, are you?"
Thi Mai, hearing her thoughts exposed by Le, grew angry. "Second Aunt, what is there to steal in Big Brother's house? Two dilapidated rooms, two sets of ragged clothes. What would I steal them for?"
Le had never liked this nephew and his wife. Two perfectly healthy young people who were lazy to the bone, leeching off their elder brother every day. Truly shameless!
"Is that so? It's true your brother's house has nothing. The money he saved up over the years either went to building a house for Tu or was given to your family as a betrothal gift. If he locked the gate, just wait for him to come back. This lock is worth a few dozen coins."
Van Tu, feeling his second aunt's stare, finally blushed. "Then we'll listen to you, Second Aunt. Mai, let's wait for Big Brother to come back this afternoon and talk to him. We'll ask him for a key then, so we won't be locked out when we need something."
Le looked around. "I think that's for the best. Otherwise, the neighbors will start gossiping. I have to get back; the kids at home are waiting for lunch."
Watching her second aunt's departing figure, Thi Mai finally let out a curse. "That damned old hag! None of your business, you nosy old bat. Watch out, or you'll die an early death!"
Although Van Tu listened to his wife in all matters, there were still people on the street. He pulled Thi Mai's hand. "That's enough. Don't let anyone hear you, or Big Brother will get angry again!"
"Hmph! Angry? What's he got to be angry about? He's your biological brother. What's wrong with us taking a few of his things? He even locked the gate tight. Isn't he deliberately trying to keep us out? And besides, for a boorish man, he's always putting on airs about filial piety. Does he think this mountain hollow is some grand mansion? Useless old thing. Let's see who he relies on when he's old!"
Listening to the woman's tirade, Thu Quynh, standing behind the courtyard gate, finally understood: this pair was that bastard's younger brother and sister-in-law!
Remembering what that beast had done to her last night, Thu Quynh felt a sense of glee. Serves you right for being so evil! You deserve a pair of ungrateful siblings like them! Let them piss you off to death in the future!
As she was cursing inwardly, her stomach suddenly let out a long rumble. She touched her belly. It was completely empty, probably without even a drop of water in it!
A gentleman's revenge is a dish best served cold!
Nothing else mattered; eating was the priority!
Thu Quynh staggered towards the kitchen. She wasn't expecting any ready-made food and just intended to find some grain to cook for herself.
However, when she lifted the pot lid, the rich aroma of chicken soup wafted into her nose.
Instantly, her stomach cooperated with a loud gurgle.
As she was about to put the front pot lid back on, she noticed a wooden basin on the back lid, pressing something down. Having lived with her grandmother in the countryside since she was young, Thu Quynh was very familiar with this type of stove. She placed the pot lid on the windowsill next to the stove.
She reached out and lifted the wooden basin. Underneath was a pot of coarse rice.
Looking at the stiff rice, Thu Quynh couldn't help but curse silently. Although she was born and raised in the countryside, in her more than twenty years of life, no matter how poor her family was, she had never had to eat such coarse rice.
She bitterly hated her carelessness this time. If she hadn't been so conceited, she would still be living happily in her own world, not stranded in this godforsaken place!
Thu Quynh knew from the flood of memories in her mind that this wasn't her true self, but an unlucky soul named Do Thu Quynh! A poor wretch who was framed by her own younger sister to steal her fiancé, pushing her into this river!
As Thu Quynh sat on the firewood stack in the yard, eating a large bowl of coarse rice soaked in chicken soup, she furiously cursed that fool, Do Thu Quynh. To think she could treat her stepmother's daughter like a real sister, even giving more than half of the gifts from her fiancé to that venomous Do Thuy Van every day!
And look at the result. They had an affair, and she lost her life!
Damn it, where did this idiot come from?
If it weren't for this fool, would she, a Thu Quynh who could fight her way through the entire village without an opponent, have ended up in this barren place where even dogs and chickens couldn't find food?
At this thought, Thu Quynh gnashed her teeth and gnawed on a chicken bone, as if she were gnawing on that fool Do Thu Quynh, or perhaps on Do Thuy Van, and even more so, on that bastard Van Dai.