Chapter 13 Fear
When Li Youde heard Chen Hui speak those things without any prior indication, he was slightly in daze. He was somewhat surprised at her eloquence and the meticulousness of her line of thinking and he thought about her previous deranged look that would cause anyone who looked at it to get the desire of wanting to beat her. He suddenly comprehended that it was a disguise of her. He also thought about that Chen Pingzhi who smiled flatteringly and deviously. His mouth twitched at that thought. He didn’t stop her from continuing to speak. After watching for a while, he was a bit bewildered and indeterminate and thought to himself that he didn’t expect this daughter of a merchant to be so malicious. When she spoke about killing someone, she said it without care.
At this moment, Li Youde’s emotions were a bit complicated. Firstly, he felt that he had made an error in judgement. This Lady Chen was indeed smarter than he thought. The other emotion was probably a sigh of relief. Even if he didn’t fancy her, but if a woman of his yard truly had an affair with another, he would really be put in a difficult position; it wasn’t good to kill her, but keeping her would upset him. Presumably, he will only be able to make her kill herself.
After all the emotions boiled and interweaved, the first thing that came up was his irritation at grandmother Xu, “Very well, you actually dare to lie to me! Ah Da, block her mouth. I don’t want to hear a word from her.”
“Master, master…”
Grandmother Xu’s cry for help was blocked by Ah Da. She whimpered twice, but after being punched twice by Ah Da, one of her eyes was swollen and she didn’t utter a word anymore. Tears only felt silently.
Chen Hui breathed a sigh of relief. Her suspicion of having an affair was finally cleared…
“Lord!” The young servant who had been kicked once previously by Li Youde and who went to dig the letter, ran back hurriedly. Both of his hands were stained with mud. He knelt and said tremblingly, “Lord, this little one, this little one is incompetent. This little one didn’t find the letter…”
Just as Li Youde was about to let Ah Da proceed with the punishment and truly take in Chen Hui’s suggestion of fifty beatings, he was slightly stumped for words. Then, he glared and raised his foot to kick.
“Lord!” The one who called him this time was Chen Hui.
Seeing Li Youde look over, Chen Hui revealed a slight smile with a guilty conscience, “Lord, don’t blame him. even if he dug to three feet under the ground, he won’t find the letter.”
Li Youde’s eyes narrowed. His voice turned sweet and eerie, “What do you mean?”
“The letter has truly been burned by me…” Chen Hui honestly admitted her mistake. “Before, this Lady Chen said those to bluff grandmother Xu. The letter had long been burned.”
Momentarily, that pair of small eyes of grandmother Xu suddenly looked over. Rays of resentment were filled in them.
“Nothing that can’t be shown to others? Mm?” Li Youde’s expression darkened when he recalled what Chen Hui had said. He even got up from the chair and glared coldly at her. “What was written in the letter?”
Grandmother Xu had already admitted that she had never read the letter, but that didn’t mean that the letter was not written by Lady Chen’s lover. If it was truly a letter from her family, why was there the need to burn it?
Chen Hui took a slight step back. This look of Li Youde truly was like she was caught by him while cheating. He is a eunuch. To occupy a latrine but not shit and also not allowing other people to have a small pursue…ah, not right, why did she had to compare herself as a latrine…?
To occupy a latrine but not shit: dog in the manger. Dog in the manger is a Greek fable: There was a dog lying in a manger who did not eat the grain, but who nevertheless prevented the horse from being able to eat anything either.She only thought about it. Chen Hui will not speak that out loudly. She faced Li Youde’s eyes and didn’t evade. Instead, she said a bit unwillingly, “The letter was written by my father. My father said that something happened at home and to let me help.”
She had already made up her mind to not help Chen household. She really didn’t want to mention this matter, but now, in order to deal with this exasperating eunuch, she could only tell the truth. Otherwise, there was really no viable excuse to explain why she burned the letter.
Li Youde said sarcastically, “Why did you burn a letter from your family?”
Chen Hui looked once at him. The emotions in that one glance were complicated. As soon as Li Youde frowned, Chen Hui whispered, “My father said, the good had been already received, but the matters are getting harder to handle. He didn’t know what is going on and let me inquire.”
The content of the letter is that Li Youde already received Chen Hui, but the business became harder to handle.Li Youde’s eyes darkened. He finally remembered now that he let people stuck Chen household’s business. Previously, he just gave a casual order after being angered by Chen Hui. He didn’t put it in his heart. He didn’t expect that Chen household was so not tactful and brought this kind of thing to his yard, troubling him.
At this moment, he somewhat believed Chen Hui’s reason for burning the letter.
Li Youde sat again and said slowly and softly, “Lady Chen, do you want me to help your father?”
Chen Hui went blank for a moment. She didn’t expect that he would ask her this. A “no” reached her throat when she swallowed it back. She pretended to take a peek at him and said in a low voice, “This Lady Chen…this Lady Chen will listen to lord. If lord says to help, then help. If lord is not willing to help, then don’t help.”
Li Youde scoffed once, “It was said that a woman’s heart is with her husband. Lady Chen, you don’t even care about your maiden family anymore.”
Chen Hui lowered her head and didn’t spoke. Anyway, she was unwilling to let this exasperating eunuch help Chen household, even if he had said that.
Li Youde laughed eerily again, “Lady Chen, do you hate Chen Pingzhi for sending you here? Just one word from you, I will help you break Chen household, what do you think?”
Chen Hui glanced once at Li Youde in surprise, but the lantern wasn’t bright enough. She couldn’t see his expression clearly. She didn’t know whether he was joking with her or that he would really help her.
However, Chen Hui pondered for a moment, she didn’t have such an idea. Chen household indeed let Lady Chen down. However, to Lady Chen, Chen household was the place where she was born, grew up and had her childhood memories. Moreover, not every member of Chen household had wronged Lady Chen. The light sentence “break Chen household” from this exasperating eunuch may result in the ending of a ruined and orphaned family. She didn’t dare to overestimate his character.
“This Lady Chen doesn’t hate Chen household,” Chen Hui whispered with her head lowered. The voice seemed to be a bit shy. “If it wasn’t because Chen household sent this Lady Chen here, this Lady Chen wouldn’t have met lord.”
The sentence couldn’t be more ordinary, the meaning of praising was not less. Even when Chen Hui heard it, she wanted to vomit. She couldn’t help but spurn herself. She was certainly the kind of person who would casually flatter the rich. Thinking about that she had long thrown away her integrity, she added a sentence.
“…Lord, such a wise and brilliant person.”
The courtyard couldn’t help from being silent. Even thick-skinned as Li Youde couldn’t help from blushing at these words. Especially, when the other party said this very sincerely. Even if he didn’t believe it, he couldn’t help himself from enjoying it a little bit. As if to cover up his embarrassment, Li Youde didn’t even raise the question he asked Chen Hui before anymore. Instead, he reprimanded Ah Da, “Ah Da! What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for me to invite you with a palanquin with eight carriers?”
A palanquin with eight carriers was usually used at a wedding to get the wife from her maiden home to the husband’s home.Chen Hui didn’t ridicule Li Youde’s ‘palanquin with eight carriers’ yet, when she saw Ah Da quiver once. He immediately ordered the two servants. When the rod fell, there was also the painful cried from grandmother Xu. Each cry was so miserable as if to tear one’s eardrums.
Ah Da asked, “Lord, should still give her twenty beatings?”
Li Youde looked once at Chen Hui and said full of smiles, “Listen to Lady Chen, fifty beating and it’s the best if she died from the beating.”
Along with the desperate cries from grandmother Xu, there was Chen Hui’s exclamation, “Lord, don’t…”
Hearing the muffled cries, Chen Hui’s face was a bit pale. She quickly said, “Lord, this Lady Chen just said that to bluff her…her crime doesn’t deserve to be paid with the death. Begging lord to spare her life!”
A mocking smile appeared on Li Youde’s face. He looked at Chen Hui and said meaningfully, “Lady Chen, you are kind-hearted, but this old lady is very vicious. If your bluff didn’t work, perhaps, the one who will die will be you.”
Chen Hui’s hands on her sides clenched tightly into fists. The small joy of the previous victory was gone. The sound of the rod falling on the flesh made her whole body shiver slightly. She didn’t dare at all to look at grandmother Xu’s side. Suppressing the fear in her heart, she hurriedly said, “Lord, this Lady Chen doesn’t blame her. Begging lord to please spare her life!”
Speaking of which, grandmother Xu’s current fate could be regarded as self-inflicted, but Chen Hui truly couldn’t watch others get beaten to death because of such a trivial matter.
Better said, she had never been so scared ever since she had time-traveled. She also didn’t know what the matter was with her before. When she caused trouble, she didn’t think that there was a chance that she could be beaten to death at all. But now, when the iron smell of blood entered her nose, although she didn’t dare to look, but when she was fully aware that someone was being beaten to death, all of the fear that had been sealed for a long time seemed to have erupted.
The previous several encounters that this eunuch had with her before, he seemed to be quite reasonable, even if he didn’t allow her to eat meat no matter what. At least, he didn’t bring her under control because of the troubles she had caused. This gradually turned her numb and really regarded him as someone reasonable. However, now he wanted to beat grandmother Xu to death just because she had delivered her a letter! Previously, she had also heard Xiao Tiao mention that someone who had talked maliciously about Lady Jiang behind his back had been beaten to death. That time, she didn’t feel as fearful as experiencing it herself now.
Anxiety was on Chen Hui’s whole face after hearing grandmother Xu being beaten for more than ten times, but Li Youde seemed to be thinking about something unhurriedly. After quite a while did he motion with his hand.
After Ah Da got the signal, he quickly let the two stop. At this moment, grandmother Xu who had received nearly twenty beatings, her back was already badly mangled and even her groans couldn’t be heard anymore.
Ah Da checked on her and reported to Li Youde, “Answering lord, she is still alive.”
Li Youde seemed to say with a bit of regret, “Alive…then, let her family come take her back.”
“Yes, lord!” Ah Da sent someone to go inform grandmother Xu’s family.
Li Youde got up from the chair. As if he loosened his muscles, he swayed to Chen Hui, smiled and asked maliciously, “Lady Chen, are you satisfied now?”
Chen Hui had her head lowered. Her slightly bent body was surprisingly similar to Xiao Tiao’s. Li Youde frowned slightly. He raised his hand, grabbed Chen Hui’s chin and said mockingly, “This scared you? You were very bold before!”
Dared to provoke him several times, but was frightened by this small battle today. He was truly underestimated by her!
Li Youde suddenly felt very pleased. Full of malice, he pulled Chen Hui’s chin closer and let her look at grandmother Xu who was at her last gasp. He laughed evilly, “Lady Chen, take a good look. If you are not more well-behaved, her ending will be your ending!”
That fright of Chen Hui was not light. Li Youde looked down and saw that the back of his hand was slowly turning red. His expression immediately darkened. However, when he looked full of anger at Chen Hui, he saw that she was retching but nothing came out. Her trembling figure looked a bit fragile. His anger seemed to have been blocked by something. In the end, he only humphed, “Ah Da, send Lady Chen back to Plum Yard!”
Chapter 13 Fear
When Li Youde heard Chen Hui speak those things without any prior indication, he was slightly in daze. He was somewhat surprised at her eloquence and the meticulousness of her line of thinking and he thought about her previous deranged look that would cause anyone who looked at it to get the desire of wanting to beat her. He suddenly comprehended that it was a disguise of her. He also thought about that Chen Pingzhi who smiled flatteringly and deviously. His mouth twitched at that thought. He didn’t stop her from continuing to speak. After watching for a while, he was a bit bewildered and indeterminate and thought to himself that he didn’t expect this daughter of a merchant to be so malicious. When she spoke about killing someone, she said it without care.
At this moment, Li Youde’s emotions were a bit complicated. Firstly, he felt that he had made an error in judgement. This Lady Chen was indeed smarter than he thought. The other emotion was probably a sigh of relief. Even if he didn’t fancy her, but if a woman of his yard truly had an affair with another, he would really be put in a difficult position; it wasn’t good to kill her, but keeping her would upset him. Presumably, he will only be able to make her kill herself.
After all the emotions boiled and interweaved, the first thing that came up was his irritation at grandmother Xu, “Very well, you actually dare to lie to me! Ah Da, block her mouth. I don’t want to hear a word from her.”
“Master, master…”
Grandmother Xu’s cry for help was blocked by Ah Da. She whimpered twice, but after being punched twice by Ah Da, one of her eyes was swollen and she didn’t utter a word anymore. Tears only felt silently.
Chen Hui breathed a sigh of relief. Her suspicion of having an affair was finally cleared…
“Lord!” The young servant who had been kicked once previously by Li Youde and who went to dig the letter, ran back hurriedly. Both of his hands were stained with mud. He knelt and said tremblingly, “Lord, this little one, this little one is incompetent. This little one didn’t find the letter…”
Just as Li Youde was about to let Ah Da proceed with the punishment and truly take in Chen Hui’s suggestion of fifty beatings, he was slightly stumped for words. Then, he glared and raised his foot to kick.
“Lord!” The one who called him this time was Chen Hui.
Seeing Li Youde look over, Chen Hui revealed a slight smile with a guilty conscience, “Lord, don’t blame him. even if he dug to three feet under the ground, he won’t find the letter.”
Li Youde’s eyes narrowed. His voice turned sweet and eerie, “What do you mean?”
“The letter has truly been burned by me…” Chen Hui honestly admitted her mistake. “Before, this Lady Chen said those to bluff grandmother Xu. The letter had long been burned.”
Momentarily, that pair of small eyes of grandmother Xu suddenly looked over. Rays of resentment were filled in them.
“Nothing that can’t be shown to others? Mm?” Li Youde’s expression darkened when he recalled what Chen Hui had said. He even got up from the chair and glared coldly at her. “What was written in the letter?”
Grandmother Xu had already admitted that she had never read the letter, but that didn’t mean that the letter was not written by Lady Chen’s lover. If it was truly a letter from her family, why was there the need to burn it?
Chen Hui took a slight step back. This look of Li Youde truly was like she was caught by him while cheating. He is a eunuch. To occupy a latrine but not shit and also not allowing other people to have a small pursue…ah, not right, why did she had to compare herself as a latrine…?
To occupy a latrine but not shit: dog in the manger. Dog in the manger is a Greek fable: There was a dog lying in a manger who did not eat the grain, but who nevertheless prevented the horse from being able to eat anything either.She only thought about it. Chen Hui will not speak that out loudly. She faced Li Youde’s eyes and didn’t evade. Instead, she said a bit unwillingly, “The letter was written by my father. My father said that something happened at home and to let me help.”
She had already made up her mind to not help Chen household. She really didn’t want to mention this matter, but now, in order to deal with this exasperating eunuch, she could only tell the truth. Otherwise, there was really no viable excuse to explain why she burned the letter.
Li Youde said sarcastically, “Why did you burn a letter from your family?”
Chen Hui looked once at him. The emotions in that one glance were complicated. As soon as Li Youde frowned, Chen Hui whispered, “My father said, the good had been already received, but the matters are getting harder to handle. He didn’t know what is going on and let me inquire.”
The content of the letter is that Li Youde already received Chen Hui, but the business became harder to handle.Li Youde’s eyes darkened. He finally remembered now that he let people stuck Chen household’s business. Previously, he just gave a casual order after being angered by Chen Hui. He didn’t put it in his heart. He didn’t expect that Chen household was so not tactful and brought this kind of thing to his yard, troubling him.
At this moment, he somewhat believed Chen Hui’s reason for burning the letter.
Li Youde sat again and said slowly and softly, “Lady Chen, do you want me to help your father?”
Chen Hui went blank for a moment. She didn’t expect that he would ask her this. A “no” reached her throat when she swallowed it back. She pretended to take a peek at him and said in a low voice, “This Lady Chen…this Lady Chen will listen to lord. If lord says to help, then help. If lord is not willing to help, then don’t help.”
Li Youde scoffed once, “It was said that a woman’s heart is with her husband. Lady Chen, you don’t even care about your maiden family anymore.”
Chen Hui lowered her head and didn’t spoke. Anyway, she was unwilling to let this exasperating eunuch help Chen household, even if he had said that.
Li Youde laughed eerily again, “Lady Chen, do you hate Chen Pingzhi for sending you here? Just one word from you, I will help you break Chen household, what do you think?”
Chen Hui glanced once at Li Youde in surprise, but the lantern wasn’t bright enough. She couldn’t see his expression clearly. She didn’t know whether he was joking with her or that he would really help her.
However, Chen Hui pondered for a moment, she didn’t have such an idea. Chen household indeed let Lady Chen down. However, to Lady Chen, Chen household was the place where she was born, grew up and had her childhood memories. Moreover, not every member of Chen household had wronged Lady Chen. The light sentence “break Chen household” from this exasperating eunuch may result in the ending of a ruined and orphaned family. She didn’t dare to overestimate his character.
“This Lady Chen doesn’t hate Chen household,” Chen Hui whispered with her head lowered. The voice seemed to be a bit shy. “If it wasn’t because Chen household sent this Lady Chen here, this Lady Chen wouldn’t have met lord.”
The sentence couldn’t be more ordinary, the meaning of praising was not less. Even when Chen Hui heard it, she wanted to vomit. She couldn’t help but spurn herself. She was certainly the kind of person who would casually flatter the rich. Thinking about that she had long thrown away her integrity, she added a sentence.
“…Lord, such a wise and brilliant person.”
The courtyard couldn’t help from being silent. Even thick-skinned as Li Youde couldn’t help from blushing at these words. Especially, when the other party said this very sincerely. Even if he didn’t believe it, he couldn’t help himself from enjoying it a little bit. As if to cover up his embarrassment, Li Youde didn’t even raise the question he asked Chen Hui before anymore. Instead, he reprimanded Ah Da, “Ah Da! What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for me to invite you with a palanquin with eight carriers?”
A palanquin with eight carriers was usually used at a wedding to get the wife from her maiden home to the husband’s home.Chen Hui didn’t ridicule Li Youde’s ‘palanquin with eight carriers’ yet, when she saw Ah Da quiver once. He immediately ordered the two servants. When the rod fell, there was also the painful cried from grandmother Xu. Each cry was so miserable as if to tear one’s eardrums.
Ah Da asked, “Lord, should still give her twenty beatings?”
Li Youde looked once at Chen Hui and said full of smiles, “Listen to Lady Chen, fifty beating and it’s the best if she died from the beating.”
Along with the desperate cries from grandmother Xu, there was Chen Hui’s exclamation, “Lord, don’t…”
Hearing the muffled cries, Chen Hui’s face was a bit pale. She quickly said, “Lord, this Lady Chen just said that to bluff her…her crime doesn’t deserve to be paid with the death. Begging lord to spare her life!”
A mocking smile appeared on Li Youde’s face. He looked at Chen Hui and said meaningfully, “Lady Chen, you are kind-hearted, but this old lady is very vicious. If your bluff didn’t work, perhaps, the one who will die will be you.”
Chen Hui’s hands on her sides clenched tightly into fists. The small joy of the previous victory was gone. The sound of the rod falling on the flesh made her whole body shiver slightly. She didn’t dare at all to look at grandmother Xu’s side. Suppressing the fear in her heart, she hurriedly said, “Lord, this Lady Chen doesn’t blame her. Begging lord to please spare her life!”
Speaking of which, grandmother Xu’s current fate could be regarded as self-inflicted, but Chen Hui truly couldn’t watch others get beaten to death because of such a trivial matter.
Better said, she had never been so scared ever since she had time-traveled. She also didn’t know what the matter was with her before. When she caused trouble, she didn’t think that there was a chance that she could be beaten to death at all. But now, when the iron smell of blood entered her nose, although she didn’t dare to look, but when she was fully aware that someone was being beaten to death, all of the fear that had been sealed for a long time seemed to have erupted.
The previous several encounters that this eunuch had with her before, he seemed to be quite reasonable, even if he didn’t allow her to eat meat no matter what. At least, he didn’t bring her under control because of the troubles she had caused. This gradually turned her numb and really regarded him as someone reasonable. However, now he wanted to beat grandmother Xu to death just because she had delivered her a letter! Previously, she had also heard Xiao Tiao mention that someone who had talked maliciously about Lady Jiang behind his back had been beaten to death. That time, she didn’t feel as fearful as experiencing it herself now.
Anxiety was on Chen Hui’s whole face after hearing grandmother Xu being beaten for more than ten times, but Li Youde seemed to be thinking about something unhurriedly. After quite a while did he motion with his hand.
After Ah Da got the signal, he quickly let the two stop. At this moment, grandmother Xu who had received nearly twenty beatings, her back was already badly mangled and even her groans couldn’t be heard anymore.
Ah Da checked on her and reported to Li Youde, “Answering lord, she is still alive.”
Li Youde seemed to say with a bit of regret, “Alive…then, let her family come take her back.”
“Yes, lord!” Ah Da sent someone to go inform grandmother Xu’s family.
Li Youde got up from the chair. As if he loosened his muscles, he swayed to Chen Hui, smiled and asked maliciously, “Lady Chen, are you satisfied now?”
Chen Hui had her head lowered. Her slightly bent body was surprisingly similar to Xiao Tiao’s. Li Youde frowned slightly. He raised his hand, grabbed Chen Hui’s chin and said mockingly, “This scared you? You were very bold before!”
Dared to provoke him several times, but was frightened by this small battle today. He was truly underestimated by her!
Li Youde suddenly felt very pleased. Full of malice, he pulled Chen Hui’s chin closer and let her look at grandmother Xu who was at her last gasp. He laughed evilly, “Lady Chen, take a good look. If you are not more well-behaved, her ending will be your ending!”
That fright of Chen Hui was not light. Li Youde looked down and saw that the back of his hand was slowly turning red. His expression immediately darkened. However, when he looked full of anger at Chen Hui, he saw that she was retching but nothing came out. Her trembling figure looked a bit fragile. His anger seemed to have been blocked by something. In the end, he only humphed, “Ah Da, send Lady Chen back to Plum Yard!”
