Chapter 2: Fake Marriage for Protecting Her (2/2)

Aunt Cui had received education in the village. What Xie Mengxuan meant was quite clear. She changed her face and said angrily with an arm on the hip, “You! How dare you speak in this way? Is it wrong of us to save your life? Don’t beat around the bush. To be frank, what you mean is that if you die outside, the debt will be owed to us, right?”

While she was in the growing anger, Xie Mengxuan wore a smile. She glanced at the hairpins, Bu Yao (literally means step shake, referring to hair ornaments with a pendant that’ll shake as one walks), earrings and so on placed at the bedside, and squinted, “Don’t worry. I just mentioned it by the way. After listening to your dialogues for a while, I figure out that my arrival has caused some loss to your village in livestock and money through which the farmers make a living. It’s my fault. I have some jewelry which is worth some money. Why not accept these and go to estimate the price? It can be counted as the money I pay to you. Please allow me to have a rest. I will leave when I’m able to walk.”

“Nobody knows whether your jewelry is valuable or not. It is likely that all your things cannot outweigh a pig in price. You’d better leave here as early as possible! Otherwise, we will drive you away!”

When she offered to provide her jewelry, Aunt Cui didn’t say anything but turned her head to observe her husband and others in the village. Everyone hesitated and thought it was not bad to claim compensation as every family had loss.

However, they were not sure. Turning her eyes, Aunt Cui chimed in: “Yes! If your things are not valuable at all, we lose both the money and time.”

In fact, till present, they were still not sure if to accept the offer. They only wanted to get more money. When Geng Zhishan brought her back, according to those onlookers, it was obvious that her clothes and hair accessories were not cheap.

“Whether my jewelries are good or not, you could accept them and have a good look later,” Xie Mengxuan thought for a while and finally recalled the man’s name and said loud, “Come in, Geng Zhishan.”

“Ok, I’m coming, darling.” Geng Zhishan responded so naturally that Xie Mengxuan couldn’t help frowning, but she didn’t say anything.

Geng Zhishan pushed the door and came in, only to find her sitting on the ground in an embarrassed way. He quickly walked straight to her and gently lifted her up onto the bed.

“Here is a bracelet, a Bu Yao, a pair of hairpins, two pearl ornaments, and the pair of earrings. Please ask a reliable person to find a pawn shop to estimate the price. It will also buy me several days for rest.” Xie Mengxuan took off the bracelet on her wrist and put it together with the hairpins and Bu Yao. She pointed at the things and looked at Geng Zhishan.

Geng Zhishan went forward, but Xie Mengxuan was shocked by his appearance. As the man bent down to pick up things, she reached out and grabbed the man's hand, staring at his face.

“Darling, what's wrong? If you have something to tell me, leave it till they leave.” Geng Zhishan said with no understanding of Xie Mengxuan’s mood. He pulled her hand off, took the things and went outside.

Xie Mengxuan whispered with her lips shuddering, “No, not him. It is impossible for him to be still alive.”

As the voice fell, she sat down on the bed with her eyes looking down when the noise outside called her thoughts back.

“How can these just a handful of things be valuable?”

“Right! It doesn’t look good, which may be cheaper than my chicken.”

Among all these disparaging words, suddenly a positive voice came out. “Hey, I have seen that Bu Yao, which is worth dozens of tales of silver. And that bracelet, it is those noble ladies in the capital city who are able to wear it, which is said to be worth a lot.”