Heart Protection

HEART PROTECTION: CHAPTER 3

Yan Hui stayed in the woodshed for one more day. When evening came, the run-down courtyard suddenly became lively. Actually when really looking at it, it wasn't very lively at all. Yan Hui listened to the voices. She could tell there were about 20 people there. If she still had the abilities she cultivated, she would've easily dealt with them and run, but......

Yan Hui focused inwardly. Still as before, her internal breath was completely gone. The snake venom was actually somewhat strong.

Thinking of this, Yan Hui once again switched her train of thought to that "idiot", A'Fu.

All of the villagers thought he was an idiot and assumed he was one since childhood, but no matter how Yan Hui looked at it, she couldn't see him as an idiot. He even had a bit of a sinister and calculating look.

As for what could suddenly make an idiot smart, Yan Hui thought about it. That would probably only happen if a demon possessed a body, yet Tong Luo Mountain's spirituality was nonexistent. As for demons that could cultivate here...she was afraid there was only one, the snake demon she stabbed yesterday.

While she was thinking about how to deal with the snake demon without any cultivated skills, the woodshed's door creaked open. It was the human trafficker from yesterday, Mrs. Zhou, who entered the room. A fake smile was plastered on her face: "Congratulations!"

Yan Hui looked at her askance. Mrs. Zhou supported Yan Hui up and with a practiced motion tied another loop around Yan Hui's wrist. Then like she was walking a dog, Mrs. Zhou held a long length of rope in her hand. She immediately cut the bonds tying Yan Hui's legs together.

"Come with me. I will take you to the wedding ceremony."

She tugged on the rope to pull Yan Hui out. Yan Hui stood in the doorway, not moving.

Mrs. Zhou's smile slightly hardened: "Little miss, don't think about playing any tricks. I've been in this business for a few years. Once you entered the village, there was no way out. Know your place and obediently come out to do the ceremony. Otherwise, I won't be as nice as Old Lady Xiao! Whatever thoughts you're having, I know them clearly."

"You know what I'm thinking?" Yan Hui shot her a side glance. "If you know, then why aren't you getting me a cloth to cover my head?"

Mrs. Zhou stared blankly. Her hard smile didn't go away. Astonishment filled her face. It was a comical sight. "What cloth?"

"Red cloth! A veil! Being led out like this, it's too embarrassing!"

Mrs. Zhou clearly didn't think that under these circumstances Yan Hui would care about this matter. She stared blankly for a long time then impatiently jerked on the rope. It made Yan Hui stumble. "Listen closely. Today is just to introduce you people. Later on, the entire village will help A'Fu watch you. We'll see how far you can run then. Move it!"

Damn it! This mountain was filled with bandits!

Yan Liang felt extremely angry. In a moment of impulsiveness, she lifted a leg and precisely kicked Mrs. Zhou in the butt. Yan Hui ruthlessly kicked her out of the woodshed and onto all fours.

"Ahh! Ahh! It hurts!" Mrs. Zhou laid on the ground and screeched from the pain.

When she screamed, everyone in the courtyard looked and started to walk over. Yan Hui stepped out of the doorway and flipped her hair. She still cut a sorry figure, but her back was as proud as ever. She looked at everyone one by one. Everyone was clearly shocked by her appearance and stood paralyzed in place. Even Mrs. Zhou's two burly hired thugs had no reaction.

Yan Hui's gaze finally landed on that fool, A'Fu. He stood behind everyone and was still wearing the same coarse clothing as before. However when he saw Yan Hui staring at him, he stared fixedly back at her. His eyes slightly narrowed and had a calculating gleam. There was no foolishness what so ever.

Yan Hui coldly snorted: "I can walk by myself. Who gave you permission to lead me out?"

The snake demon had entered A'Fu's body. Now they wanted her to leave, she couldn't leave.

His body held the 88 taels of gold that would make her rich!

Yan Hui, neither humbly nor haughtily, looked fixedly past the villagers who were still frozen in shock and walked directly toward A'Fu.

When the villagers' gazes followed Yan Hui's stare and switched to A'Fu, he blinked. In a split second, the calculating look dissipated without a trace.

He really could act.

Yan Hui raised her two hands. The rope connected to her hands was flung up and hit A'Fu. "Here, lead me," she ordered. A'Fu stared at the rope, then reached out and grabbed it. "Come over. Let's do the ceremony."

No one expected this girl, that was fished out of a brook, that was sold like a thing, would be married out like this.

It looked like......she was the master buying the item, aggressive and imposing.

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After all the fussing was done, Old Lady Xiao sent everyone home after they were done eating.

Yan Hui was in the bridal chamber. Actually it was just A'Fu's room. It was simply a little cleaner than the woodshed with an additional room for a bed. She was sitting on the bed when her sharp ears picked up what Old Lady Xiao was explaining to A'Fu:

"This little girl has a fierce temper. You must first kiss her, pacify her. Then touch her and take off her clothes. Be gentle. Don't hurt her. But if she starts to resist a lot, don't let her hurt you. If it gets too hard, call for Grandma. Grandma will talk to her for you. After tonight, everything will be fine."

Yan Hui thought it was hilarious yet maddening. On one hand, she felt like this grandma was trying so hard for this fool. On the other hand, she felt like this grandma was extremely selfish for making her grandson continue the family tree. It was hard to feel even a little sorry for her.

It was a pity though. The granny would've never thought that this fool hadn't been her precious grandson for quite some time.

With a creaking sound, the old wooden door was pushed open. A'Fu walked in alone.

The granny was still standing outside. She stuck her head out and pressed it against the door.

Yan Hui shot a glance but pretended like she didn't see anything. She waited for A'Fu to walk over and then grabbed his clothes in her hands and pulled him over. Then she pushed him onto the bed. The bed curtain dropped, isolating the bed from the outside world.

Although Yan Hui's hands were still tied together so they couldn't freely move, there was no difficulty choking someone.

Yan Hui sat astride the young man's waist and pushed down on the waist's acupuncture point, making him unable to move. Then she wrapped her hands around his neck: "Let's see if I can't capture you now."

"Heh," The young man coldly laughed. His expression had a hint of despise. "Straddling a man to catch a demon. Do all people cultivating to be a xian act like this nowadays?"

"Little demon." Yan Hui slightly bent over and lowered her voice. It was just like a lover whispering sweet nothings: "Don't talk to me about cultivating. I don't care about lectures that inconvenience me." She struggled with one hand. Copying what A'Fu did when he touched her face, she placed one finger on his face. Then she used two fingers to pinch his cheek and ruthlessly squeezed while pulling outward. It pulled A'Fu's face out of shape.

Yan Hui was happy: "Aren't you great at pretending? Why don't you use this face and continue acting for me to see, A'Fu?" Behind the bed curtain, the pair's position couldn't be more suggestive. Yan Hui was so happy bullying him that she didn't even notice.

However A'Fu scowled. He leaned his head away to shake off Yan Hui but failed.

"Let go. Get off," he coldly ordered. His voice was clearly full of impatience.

Yan Hui was having a great time. She thought about today's and yesterday's sorry figure, bowing to this guy in the ceremony. Now she was actually enjoying this scene. She sneered and mockingly laughed: "What, now that I'm bullying you, you don't want it? Yesterday when you touched my face, you didn't ask if I wanted it or not. The day before when you made me bleed, you didn't ask if I wanted it or not."

"Are you letting go or not?" A'Fu's eyes gradually became frosty.

Yan Hui was smug: "You want me to let you go. I wo......"

She hadn't finished speaking before she suddenly felt like her body was flying. Then the world seemed to spin, and her head was hurting. A'Fu and her had switched positions. Now she was the one pinned to the bed.

Yan Hui was in disbelief. She was clearly pressing down on his pressure point. This guy's martial arts was actually higher than hers?

Yan Hui foolishly stared the entire time. A'Fu pressed down on her shoulders. His face was contemptuous.

Yan Hui was irritated by his expression. Back when she was on Chen Xing Mountain, when they sparred, not mentioning the disciples in her class, it was very likely quite a few masters wouldn't be able to beat her. Today her prided martial arts unexpectedly lost. Yan Hui was embarrassed.

She clenched her teeth and bent both knees. She directly pressed against A'Fu's important lower area. He stifled a groan. Yan Hui seized this opportunity to flip positions. Once again he was pressed under her: "Yield!"

 A'Fu frowned: "I have no intention to compete with you."

"Resisting me means you're competing with me."

"......"

After that bout, Yan Hui felt much better. She looked down at A'Fu from above: "So now you're behaving."

After getting a taste of Yan Hui's temper, A'Fu might as well get another taste. He silently stared at Yan Hui.

"Don't you think it would've been better if you behaved earlier?"

 If he had quietly given her three times the reward, then she wouldn't have to bother him!

But now as matters stood, Yan Hui couldn't say something like that. She calmed herself, took a deep breath, and said: "Fine, even though you tricked and injured me and there should be bad blood between us, I still stand by the words I said yesterday; I don't have any deep grudge against you. I don't intend to take your life. You just have to quietly hand over the treasure you stole. Then I won't bother you anymore."

"Oh." A'Fu looked around for a few moments, then said: "So tomorrow, I'll take you to find the hidden treasure."

Yan Hui stared.

She didn't think he would actually agree so easily.

Thinking back, he was willing to bribe her three times the amount for the stolen heirloom. Even under the risk of ripping his tail in two, he drew a face full of blood from her! Now after being threatened, he just......agreed?

It was a trick.

Yan Hui's look became frosty. Her hands squeezed A'Fu's neck again until his complexion slowly became unsightly. Then she said: "This girl's Spirit Fire isn't easy to handle. Did you want to feel it again?"

This snake demon probably didn't know her skills disappeared. She was bluffing, hoping to trick something out of him.

A'Fu stared at Yan Hui. As expected, his expression changed a little. He was quiet for a short moment: "I have a condition. The hidden treasure can help me cultivate. If you take the treasure, then you cannot interfere with me using the villagers' energy to cultivate."

After hearing this condition, Yan Hui's heart slightly sank.

But immediately her eyebrows slightly furrowed. After many years as a student of the Dao, she kept her original disgust of demons feeding on human energy. She thought deeply for a while before saying: "This village is full of habitual human traffickers. It's a vile path, yet there is no punishment. As long as you don't kill them, you can do whatever you want. I will pretend like I don't know."

"I want their spiritual energy, not their lives."

Yan Hui slowly loosened her hands after hearing his words: "Little snake demon, I have a bad temper. If you dare to play any tricks on me, then I'll make things difficult for you."

A'Fu rubbed his neck that was red from being choked. He glanced at Yan Hui: "Since you won't hinder my cultivation, why would I trick you?"

Yan Hui sized him up. Then she held her hands in front of him: "Untie me."

After A'Fu heard those words, the tip of his eyebrow twitched: "Your Spirit Fire Technique can't burn the rope?"

Yan Hui's face tightened. She made an effort to keep cool: "This was tied because of you. Naturally you should be the one to untie it. I'm letting you off easy by not making you kneel while untying it."

A'Fu shot Yan Hui a look. It was clear he didn't want to continue arguing with her. He raised his hand and untied her bonds. He frowned and said: "Get off."

Yan Hui looked down at her position and coldly scoffed: "Turns out you're embarrassed. I'm not bothered by this. What's there to bother you, a demon?" After saying this, Yan Hui rolled off.

A'Fu didn't react to her words: "Sleep." He said and got off the bed. He walked to the other side of the room and leaned against the wall to sleep.

Yan Hui raised an eyebrow. Was it her imagination? Why did it seem like this snake demon didn't like being close to her? But then, why did this snake demon touch her face yesterday? Could it be that yesterday she was pretty, but today she became ugly?