Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Hug

Xu Qinghuan looked at her indifferently; in her eyes, Song Wanlin undoubtedly seemed mad.

No one was there, the care in Song Wanlin’s eyes faded, and she scrutinized Xu Qinghuan with a critical gaze, only realizing that she didn’t really know her daughter.

Every year, she’d have someone take a photo of Xu Qinghuan. Each time she got the photo, she’d look at it many times carefully. But the girl before her, and the one in the photo, seemed like two entirely different people.

They were the closest, yet most distant, mother and daughter in the world.

Song Wanlin had a moment of bewilderment, but upon looking again, it was indeed the person from the photo.

“Break off the engagement with that rural brute; I’ll help you choose a better match than Jiang Chengxu. Are you planning to stay in the countryside and farm forever? You and he are not the same kind of people. Finding someone like that is simply self-imposed degradation!” Song Wanlin said coldly.

“If you’re here to say that, it’s unnecessary!” Xu Qinghuan was not in the mood to hear more, “If you dare to harm him again, if anything happens to him, I will make the Lu Family pay entirely!”

Xu Qinghuan stepped closer and gripped her wrist, “Including you! Don’t act out a close mother-daughter bond in front of me. If you could regard me as nonexistent, for the sake you once gave birth to me, I can pretend not to have you as a mother.

But if you can’t take the hint, I won’t spare you either. Let’s see who my father’s spirit in the heavens will support!”

Song Wanlin was extremely shocked; at this moment, her daughter really did seem like her.

She didn’t believe Xu Qinghuan had genuine feelings for Jiang Xingye; she had good tactics, using a rural brute as a shield to avoid her interference in her marriage.

After a while, Song Wanlin regained her senses, “What did you say? Who did I harm?”

Xu Qinghuan wouldn’t be fooled by her expression; in the past life, she had stepped over the corpses of dozens of siblings to rise to power, the kind of people she had seen.

“I know all you’re doing is to pave the way for Lu Mingxu. What if I decided to harm Lu Mingxu, what would happen?” Xu Qinghuan smiled coldly and ruthlessly.

Song Wanlin responded in fear, “No, you can’t do that, he’s your brother!”

Xu Qinghuan released her hand, stepped back two paces, glanced at her coldly, and then turned to leave.

Brother? She had shallow kinship connections in both lives, never having fancied such things!

That night, Song Wanlin developed a high fever, and her body broke out in rashes; Liao Yongqiang took her to the county hospital. Song Yanqing diagnosed it as illness due to recent exhaustion and poor resistance.

After leaving Song Wanlin, Xu Qinghuan went to Jiang Xingye, who was sitting at the door twisting straw ropes, soon starting to rush to harvest. Every household would twist straw ropes whenever possible, then exchange them for work points with the team.

Straw ropes were used to tie haystacks and wheat stalks.

He kept glancing at the door; as soon as Xu Qinghuan’s figure appeared on the hillside, he saw her and hurriedly got up to wash his hands clean by the well, took off his shirt and washed it, then pulled on a piece of clothing to change.

Twisting straw ropes often left grass debris clinging to the skin, which would itch if the skin was tender.

When Jiang Xingye saw her, his dark eyes shone brightly; reaching out to hold her, Xu Qinghuan dodged.

His eyes turned somber but then saw Xu Qinghuan walk to the well, scooping water to wash her hands, scrubbing her two delicate hands clean under her nails.

Jiang Xingye handed her a clean towel, after she finished wiping, she then took Jiang Xingye’s hand, and the two went inside.

“What did she say?” Jiang Xingye was very anxious, tightly gripping Xu Qinghuan, afraid of hearing from her that she’d leave.

“Nothing much,” Xu Qinghuan sensed his unease and added, “I don’t want to listen to her speak. None of her words are true; rather than hearing lies, it’s better not to listen.”

Only then did Jiang Xingye relax, his brows softening, “Hmm, those kinds of lies aren’t worth listening to anyway.”

Xu Qinghuan took out a Bone Tempering and Muscle Strengthening Pill, about the size of an adult thumb; she scraped off a little each day to eat, greatly improving her physique. In the mountain forest, those two people, if it weren’t for Jiang Xingye, she might not have been able to counterattack, but escaping without a doubt would have been no problem.

She worried Song Wanlin, the madwoman, would send people again; Jiang Xingye’s future held endless possibilities, which couldn’t be wasted at this time at the hands of a vile person like Song Wanlin.

She cut off an eighth of it and put it to Jiang Xingye’s mouth, “Take this, it will hurt extremely, like scraping bones and peeling skin, pulling tendons kind of pain. But if you endure, it’s a transformation, are you afraid?”

“Not afraid!” Jiang Xingye looked only at Xu Qinghuan’s face, even if it was poison, as long as she handed it to his mouth, he could swallow it.

Xu Qinghuan placed the pill half the size of a little finger into his mouth, the pill dissolved instantly, and as it went down his throat, excruciating pain like being cut with a knife spread, veins bulging from his forehead stretched down to his neck.

He closed his eyes, releasing Xu Qinghuan’s shoulder, stepping back a few paces, unable to hold on, collapsed onto the brick bed.

Then, as Xu Qinghuan said, pain emerged from every pore, meridians breaking inch by inch, then reforming inch by inch, bones similarly gradually shattered, then reassembled bit by bit.

He curled up on the brick bed, arms tightly hugging himself, enduring the agony, teeth clenched tightly, unwilling to utter a sound despite the pain.

Sweat drenched his forehead and soaked his entire body.

He knew he was in a sorry state, but stubbornly wished to maintain a little dignity in front of the person he liked.

Sitting on the brick bed, Xu Qinghuan’s hand lay on his waist and abdomen, feeling his suffering, her heart twisted in pain too. Originally she didn’t need to use such a drastic way to enhance his physique, but she was terrified; a careless move, and he might be killed.

If blame were to be placed anywhere, Song Wanlin was undoubtedly the archvillain.

Today she had smeared some medicinal powder extracted from spatial insects onto Song Wanlin’s wrist, powder that would cause fever and itchy, dry skin, incurable by medicine, having to endure for seven days before the symptoms dissipated.

But beauty would greatly deteriorate, aging would also accelerate.

Song Wanlin probably cared most about her face; she’d watch herself lose what was most precious.

She wasn’t sure whether the two men hunting Jiang Xingye were sent by Song Wanlin; it wasn’t important, Song Wanlin shouldn’t have appeared here, let alone treated her like a fool.

Time crawled by slowly, until midnight, Jiang Xingye’s body finally relaxed, lying on the brick bed exhausted, sweat flowing like rivers on the bedding.

Xu Qinghuan appeared more clearly in his eyes, her eyes filled with deep worry, but also passing surprise, tightly holding his hand, tears slowly seeping out, snuggled into his arms.

Jiang Xingye smelled the stench on his body, as he reached out, he saw the thick layer of grime on his arm and quickly avoided.

Xu Qinghuan missed the snuggle, her watery eyes glaring at him with accusation.

After Jiang Xingye regained himself, feeling full of vigor, he smiled at Xu Qinghuan’s pouting face, “Don’t worry, look if I’m dirty; I’ll shower before I hug you!”

Xu Qinghuan’s fair face still had a bit of grime; she had rubbed off some on him earlier.

Jiang Xingye raised his hand to wipe it off, then saw the black mud hanging from his hand, awkwardly drawing his hand back.

“Who wants you to hug?” Xu Qinghuan said coquettishly, she was just worried sick, seeing Jiang Xingye come back alive, she felt like surviving a disaster with lingering fear.

“Wait for me!” Jiang Xingye said, and left, moving ten times faster than usual.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep