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That night, Liu Ya lay on Sun Zhu's chest, gently tracing circles with her finger as she playfully said, "Sun Lang, what do you think is going on with Ye Chen? He used to pretend not to see anything, but last night…"
At the mention of this matter, Sun Zhu felt a surge of anger. Fortunately, when he returned home last night, that fierce woman happened to be visiting her maternal home and wouldn't return for three or four days. Otherwise, he might have been bedridden today. However, Ye Chen's behavior was indeed puzzling. In the past, he had only made small moves out of anger regarding their affairs and had never publicly aired such disgraceful matters. Why had he caused such a commotion yesterday?
Sun Zhu took Liu Ya's delicate hand and kissed it lightly before raising an eyebrow at her. "So what do you think Ye Chen wants? Is he trying to extort money or food from us? But he's already spilled the beans; there's no way he can negotiate now."
Liu Ya leaned slightly forward. "After the villagers left yesterday, do you know what Ye Chen asked me for?"
"What did he ask for?" Sun Zhu sat up as well.
"He actually asked me for Lu Ying." Liu Ya pouted slightly and continued, "What does a thirteen-year-old boy want with Lu Ying? The world is in chaos, and people are struggling to survive; where can he possibly go?"
Sun Zhu pondered for a moment and found Liu Ya's reasoning sound. His interest was piqued. "So what do you think Ye Chen intends to do?"
Liu Ya's beautiful eyes sparkled with myriad emotions. Sun Zhu reached out to grasp the edge of her garment but found it slipping from his grasp.
Liu Ya got out of bed and opened the window, gazing into the darkened room where Ye Chen had already extinguished his lamp. With a deep gaze, she said, "I once heard Ye Fang mention that Ye Chen's mother was the daughter of a wealthy merchant from Jiangnan. She married his father after their family fell on hard times and came to our Lin'an County seeking refuge."
After speaking, Liu Ya turned back to look at Sun Zhu with a smile. Sun Zhu's lips curled into a charming smirk as he embraced her from behind, lightly biting her earlobe and teasingly said, "So you think that Ye Chen leaving Sun Family Village now is likely in search of the Jin Yin treasures left by his mother?"
Liu Ya nodded in agreement, blinking her eyes softly. "Yes, Sun Lang. I've raised him for many years; even if I have no merit, I have put in effort. How could he abandon me and go off alone to claim money? Isn't that an act of ingratitude?"
Sun Zhu knew well what Liu Ya was thinking. Since she had shared such good news with him, he naturally would not hold back.
He gently caressed Liu Ya's tender arm. "Don't worry; as soon as Ye Chen steps out of Sun Family Village, I'll follow him closely and ensure he comes to no harm." With that, Sun Zhu playfully lifted Liu Ya's chin with his finger.
"You're so annoying."
Liu Ya raised her hand and swatted Sun Zhu's hand away, and soon the sounds of playful banter filled the room.
At that moment, Ye Chen, hiding in the corner by the window, felt a wave of frustration wash over him.
He had wondered why Liu Ya so readily handed Lu Ying over to him; it turned out she mistakenly believed that the original owner’s biological mother had left him a fortune, hoping to reel him in slowly.
Unfortunately for her, he was no longer the foolish simpleton that the original owner had been.
Ye Chen gestured for Sun Mao to follow him, but after taking a few steps forward and glancing back, he noticed that Sun Mao had not followed. Instead, the boy was still eavesdropping, excitedly waving at him while listening intently.
Ye Chen sighed.
He raised his hand to his forehead; the allure of this innocent young boy was simply too great.
Ye Chen retraced his steps and quietly pulled Sun Mao away. Before long, they both emerged with a small clay pot in their arms.
Ye Chen exchanged a glance with Sun Mao, and they began to pour oil around Liu Ya's earthen house. After making a complete circle and ensuring everything was ready, Ye Chen and Sun Mao stood at the back door. Sun Mao’s eyes were red as he grabbed Ye Chen's arm. "Brother Ye, do you really have to go?"
Ye Chen shook his head. "I'm sorry, Sun Mao, but I must leave."
If he didn’t leave now, he would end up sold to Spring Breeze Tower by Liu Ya. He had learned this just recently while eavesdropping on the two of them. Otherwise, why would he leave such a comfortable place? A man like him could never bring himself to submit to a woman's whims.
Since she showed no mercy, he could not be blamed for being ungrateful.
Finally, Sun Mao pulled out a cloth bag from his pocket and handed it to Ye Chen with tears in his eyes. "Brother Ye, these are the steamed buns my mother made for me over the past few days. I’m giving them all to you. You must come back alive!"
Looking at the food in front of him, Ye Chen was momentarily taken aback. In this era, white flour was extremely precious, and Sun Mao had given all of it to him. It seemed that he truly regarded him as a brother. Thinking of this, Ye Chen stepped forward and gave Sun Mao a big hug.
As he let go, Sun Mao's tears and snot smeared across Ye Chen's collar. Ye Chen's expression changed instantly, his face filled with disgust as he pushed him away. "Hey, stop crying! I only have these two pieces of clothing, and now one of them is ruined. I’m the one who has to suffer!"
Sun Mao sniffled and wiped his tears away. "I didn't mean to, Brother Ye. It's just that you smell really nice, so I held on a little longer."
"Nice smell?" Ye Chen wiped the corner of his clothes. "It’s probably from the laundry detergent Liu Ya used earlier."
"Forget it, forget it. Let’s not talk about that anymore. Did you remember what I taught you before?"
Thinking of what Ye Chen had instructed him, Sun Mao nodded earnestly.
An hour later, Ye Chen walked along the Back Hill Slope of the village, glancing back at the flicker of flames rising in the distance, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
He was finally free.
"Sun Lang is on fire."
In the middle of the night, as Sun Zhu was dozing off, he was jolted awake by Liu Ya shaking him.
Opening his eyes, he was met with thick smoke filling the room. The window was blocked by something, letting in only a few rays of moonlight, making it hard to see clearly inside.
"What’s going on?" Sun Zhu asked anxiously while hurriedly putting on his clothes.
Liu Ya gritted her teeth and said fiercely, "Who else could it be? It’s probably that little rascal Ye Chen again. This time he must want to burn us alive."
Sun Zhu's heart sank as he rushed to pull the door, but it seemed to be stuck by something outside; it wouldn’t budge at all. After several attempts to yank it open in frustration, he kicked it hard a few times, but it remained unyielding.
"Let’s go out through the window." Sun Zhu turned to look at the window.
Liu Ya shook her head. "It's no use; this side is blocked too."
Sun Zhu, not willing to accept defeat, stepped forward to try again. Sure enough, the window was also obstructed and could not be opened.
"What’s going on? Is Ye Chen trying to kill us?" Sun Zhu asked Liu Ya anxiously, his face dark with worry.
At that moment, Liu Ya was coughing from the thick smoke, crouching down and unable to hear what Sun Zhu was saying.
"Fire! There's a fire!"
Suddenly, several voices came from outside the door. It seemed that the place was on fire, and some villagers had noticed.
Hearing the voices, Sun Zhu and Liu Ya immediately felt a glimmer of hope and Submissive ted loudly towards the figures outside the door.
"Help! Help us!"
"We're in here! Please save us!"
After a night of chaos, everyone fell into deep thought as they watched Sun Zhu emerge from Liu Ya's room.
Even though both were disheveled and covered in soot, they were from the same village; how could anyone not recognize them?
Suddenly, amidst the silence of the crowd, a voice broke through.
"Where is Ye Chen?"
The crowd snapped back to reality.
"Where is Ye Chen? Why haven't we seen him?"
"Could he have been trapped under the rubble?"
"Come on, let's keep looking for him."
After another flurry of activity, the villagers began to doubt themselves again. "Where is Ye Chen? He couldn't have been burned to ashes, could he?"
"Impossible! It hasn't been long since the fire started. Liu Ya and Sun Zhu survived, so Ye Chen Submissive ld be fine too."
As a group of people rummaged through the debris of the collapsed earthen wall, an elderly man with gray hair and a cane slowly emerged from the crowd.
He gazed at the charred remains of the wall, stroked his beard, and sighed deeply. "Enough of this. Stop searching; Ye Chen is likely not here. As for where he might be, we Submissive ld report this to the authorities and let the Official interrogate those two properly."
Once he finished speaking, all eyes turned to Liu Ya and Sun Zhu.
Seeing this, Liu Ya and Sun Zhu clung tightly to each other, trembling in fear as if disaster had befallen them.
After all, adultery was punishable by exile in this dynasty's laws.
Previously, villagers had kept quiet to protect their reputations, but now that a life had been lost and the village chief had spoken up, no one would dare to conceal the truth any longer.
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