Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

"Xiao Qiu," Pei Ling said in a low voice. "We were wrong." "Don't blame me again," Xiao Qiu said angrily. "I don't like her, I don't trust her." "You've made it very obvious." Xiao Qiu will not let Pei Ling's soft heart shake her.Before seeing this girl named Aiya, Xiao Qiu already knew what kind of person she was, and nothing she did during the ten days she stayed here made Xiao Qiu change his opinion of her. "How can you watch her try to take over the family and still have a crush on her?" "Oh, Qiu, how did you become so unreasonable? She just rolled up her sleeves and cleaned the kitchen."

"It's about power, you should see that." "You mean, I can't see anything else?" "She made us fight!" "No, she didn't make us quarrel, it was you who made us quarrel. Oh, Joe, it's all caused by that fool O'Henry, why should I let you bring him into it?" "Someone has to figure out a way. I can't let our idiot brother..." Xiao Qiu's voice faded away, because all the things she hoped would never happen happened.They originally thought that asking O'Henry to "kidnap" the heir to the Mei family would make Jemin chase after her to save her, and then fall in love with her.But unexpectedly, O'Henry did not give the note that Xiao Qiu wrote for him to Jemin, but wrote a note himself, and—accidentally—shot Les in the leg.His arrow was meant to hit the ground in front of Rice, but O'Henry's eyesight was poor.

"Only O'Henry can be so bad that he can't even hit the ground." Xiao Qiu said disgustedly when she learned that Rice had been hit by an arrow. Unexpectedly, things backfired, when my brother chased after him to save the heir, he took Aya with him, and married her on the way!Now O'Henry says that unless Pei Ling marries him, he will never release the heir, so Jaymin has been dealing with O'Henry's house for several days, while his newly married wife stays here, trying his best to change their lives . But Xiao Qiu stopped Aiya yesterday because she accused Aya of ruining the Meng family by abducting Jemin and marrying her. "If it wasn't for your intervention, he would have married an heir a long time ago." Xiao Qiu said maliciously. "We're all going to get rich now. Do you think being called 'Lady Aya' will keep you fed and fed this winter?"

Faced with such vicious accusations, Aya could only step back step by step, muttering: "I'm sorry, please forgive me," then turned and ran upstairs to Jemin's room to hide. Since then, she hasn't been seen again, or even eaten, and everyone knows she hasn't left the room. Now, Pei Ling and Xiao Qiu are alone in the room on the second floor, and Pei Ling regrets what she allowed Xiao Qiu to do.Originally—according to the letter written by Jieming—they had the same view on Aya, thinking that this woman had no good intentions, but after Aya arrived, Pei Ling began to have different views.

"If only I could see them together," Pei Ling said—of course she didn't mean to actually "see" but to be next to Jemin and his new wife. "I'll know if Jemin really loves her." But Xiao Qiu thinks it's impossible for Jamin, who is so handsome, to fall in love with an ordinary woman like Aya.Frankly, seeing Aya bustling in and out of the kitchen made her look more like a housewife than a countess. "It's a done deal," Pei Ling said. "We can't change the fact that Jemin married Aya." "But I want her to know how bad her scheming has done us! Maybe she thought clearing the beans would earn her a spot here, but we'll soon have no more beans to clear because of her presence. "

"What's that sound?" Pei Ling tilted her head, listening to the sound coming from outside the house. "I didn't hear anything." "No, listen, it's coming again." When Joe went to the window and looked down at the yard, her anger came up again because she saw the woman who had ruined all their plans sitting next to her mother, her poor, mad mother. "What's that sound?" Pei Ling asked again. It took Xiao Qiu a long time to confirm what she saw, "Aiya wrote something for her mother, and she... mother smiled." Xiao Qiu said incredulously.

"I'm going downstairs!" Pei Ling said, standing up and walking towards the door.Although she couldn't see it, she knew the house like the back of her hand. "Don't let her sway you, just because she—" "Shut up!" Pei Ling said as she walked out of the door, followed by Xiao Qiu. They stopped behind the rose trellis in the yard, and Pei Ling knew they would not be seen there. "What did she write? Why is mother laughing?" "Wait a minute." Xiao Qiu said, and then ran into the house.After a while, a child came out of the kitchen and asked Aya to follow him to the kitchen. As soon as Aya left, Xiao Qiu picked up the paper that Aya put on the bench.As usual, the mother ignored them.She lived in her own world, and no one could enter it, and nothing could wake her mother out of her world—except today, just now.

"What's that?" Pei Ling asked anxiously. It took Xiao Qiu a long time to reply: "All of them are pictures with Jaymin as the main character." Her voice was full of surprise, because she had never seen such lifelike pictures. "Yes," Pei Ling said impatiently. "But why does mother laugh?" Xiao Qiu looked at them one by one, and couldn't help but smile. "These pictures paint the Jaymin we know," she began, describing them to her sister. "In this one, he draws his sword against the villagers, as if to free Aya from a greedy merchant, and in this one..."

"How? Tell me!" "Jammin looked at the carriage angrily. On the side of the carriage was a portrait of him, as if he was fighting a fierce lion, and this one was of Jemin watching two women arguing in confusion. One of them was Aya, The other woman is quite beautiful." "That must be the heir," Pei Ling said. "anything else?" "This one shows Jemin rubbing medicine on a man's misshapen leg. The man's leg is misshapen, but the rest of his body is fine. His face is turned away so I can only see half of his face. He Looks handsome. This—”

"How?" Pei Ling urged. Xiao Qiu lowered the volume. "This picture shows Jamin lying in a sea of ​​flowers all over the mountains and daydreaming. His expression... I have never seen him have such an expression." "Describe it to me!" Pei Ling ordered. "It's a silly face, it's actually quite ridiculous." Xiao Qiu said, but she didn't really mean that Jamin was ridiculous, because she knew that was the expression of a man in love. "Is peeping enough?" Aiya asked standing behind Xiao Qiu. "Have you finished laughing?"

"I'm not peeking, I'm just..." "Just what?" Aya asked with her hands on her hips.When Xiao Qiu didn't answer, she started packing her paintings. "You have made it very clear that you don't want me to stay here. I will leave soon. You don't have to worry about that. Excuse me, I have to—" She stopped because Jemin's mother covered her face with her hands and began to cry, and she immediately sat down on the bench and put her arms around her mother-in-law's shoulders. "Don't cry, I'll draw more pictures. Want to see Jamin slaying a dragon?" Xiao Qiu and Pei Ling were relatively silent, because their mother was quiet again.They hadn't seen her cry or have any emotional reactions in years. Aya draws and describes each stroke she makes.After a while, Xiao Qiu realized that Aiya's painting was for her mother, and the explanation was for Pei Ling.Looking at her sister's face full of interest, she suddenly felt jealous, Pei Ling belonged to her alone! "Pei Ling can smell dragons," said the mother, who hadn't heard her speak for a long time. Pei Ling smiled. "Yes, I can smell it, its green scales change color with the light. I can smell it, and I can smell Jemin's sweat, he's worried, scared, but his sense of honor compels him to do what he does. What he thinks is right. I can smell his bravery." Aya stopped painting and looked at Pei Ling, "Can you really smell it? Is your sense of smell different from ordinary people?" Xiao Qiu answered before her sister: "Pei Ling is just blind, her other organs are not damaged, she is not a freak." "Me neither!" Aya dismissed in the same tone of disgust. Their conversation made Pei Ling stand still like a stone.No one ever scolded Xiao Qiu!Although Xiaoqiu is very considerate to his family, he is scary to outsiders, except for this one named Aiya. Xiao Qiu will not be intimidated by this unusual counterattack. "Are you planning to trick my brother into marrying you?" "Yes!" Aya replied immediately. "I put on alluring clothes and used my deadly beauty to trap him. After all, he's such a rare find—even though he's broke and has three women to support. Of course, he So handsome, that would definitely put bread on the table. Tell me, how do you survive the winters here? I've never seen a kitchen run worse than yours! Look at the fruit trees, they It hasn't been pruned for at least ten years, which cuts your harvest in half! Also, look at those flowers, it is a waste of space, since you have so little land, you should make good use of it and plant some beans Or onions." It took Xiao Qiu a while to answer the words. "Those flowers were planted for Pei Ling! She likes flowers. There are not enough things in her life, so she should at least have flowers to smell." "Bullshit! Your sister's just blind, there's nothing wrong with that. She'll smell the porridge better this winter than all the roses in the world!" "How dare you—" Pei Ling's laughter interrupted Xiao Qiu. "I think you've met your match, Xiaoqiu, I think—" Pei Ling stopped talking and pricked up her ears because she heard footsteps. Xiao Qiu gave Aya a smug expression, letting Aya know that she knew what she wanted to say without waiting for Pei Ling to finish speaking, and then turned and ran out the door.Pei Ling knew the footsteps of everyone in the family; whenever a stranger appeared, she was always the first to know. "What a scary kid." Aya said as soon as Xiao Qiu walked out the door. Pei Ling couldn't help smiling. "terribly sorry--" Aiya interrupted her because she didn't want to hear what Pei Ling had to say.Part of her wanted to tell them who she really was, but she didn't want to be hated for not being rich, and loved for being rich—of course, she was only rich if she wasn't disinherited.At this point, her father definitely knew of her betrayal. Xiao Qiu didn't want her sister to be alone with the "usurper", so she returned the letter immediately. "It's from Jaymin. He says he needs to stay longer. O'Henry won't release the heir." "Didn't you say anything else?" Aya asked, hating her lack of self-esteem but dying to know if Jemin had mentioned her.It seemed years had passed since the last time we had sex. "No." Xiao Qiu said proudly, and handed the letter to her sister. Aiya looked at Pei Ling's hand stroking the letter back and forth. "He's lying," Pei Ling said. "Jermin is in danger and we need to seek help." "I'll write to my relatives right away, and they will come and help," Xiaoqiu said. "We can—" "Can you tell if a person is lying?" Aiya was amazed that Pei Ling could tell the writer's mood just by touching a piece of paper. "Do you know how much money you can make with that skill?" Xiao Qiu turned to her. "Pei Ling is not exploited!" The idea of ​​asking Pei Ling to sit in a pavilion and tell fortunes by grabbing someone else's hand is really disgusting! "You know fortune-telling?" Aya asked with wide-eyed eyes. For a long while, Pei Ling sat silently listening to Xiao Qiu explain to Aiya in a contemptuous tone that they were not businessmen and would never make money by selling themselves. When Pei Ling couldn't bear it anymore, she said, "But Xiao Qiu, we need money. We took advantage of Jieming's handsomeness, so what's the difference?" Xiao Qiu turned to her sister in disbelief, deeply feeling betrayed. "That's different!" Pei Ling sighed heavily, and didn't want to continue discussing this topic. She didn't want to be caught between Xiao Qiu and her new sister-in-law, but she had to admit that Aya's words made her think deeply.She wished she was useful, not a burden to her family. Aya looked at her two sisters-in-law.Since her arrival, twelve-year-old Qiu (she's the daughter of Satan!) has been trying to make her life as hellish as possible.No matter what she did, even cleaning the kitchen like a pig's nest, Xiao Qiu regarded it as an act of intrusion. How she wished that Jemin would return soon; he would definitely get his sister over with, but now she seemed to be here much longer.Jemin might be in danger, Aya thought, he might be attacked by twenty men, starved and beaten in a dungeon... She had to shake her head violently to get rid of these horrible thoughts. She immediately thought: what about Fu Lan?Who will take care of Fu Lan?What if she gets stuck in a daisy? Suddenly, Aiya and Pei Ling raised their heads at the same time—someone is coming, but this time Aya is very familiar with the footsteps of the coming person.She didn't even look at her new family and ran out with her skirt in hand. Before Todd reached the door, Aya saw him.She didn't care what other people thought, and ran towards him with open arms. "I miss you so much, I miss you every minute." She said with tears of joy. Todd smiled. "Miss me even with your handsome Jemin?" "Of course," she said with a smile. "How can a husband compare with his friends?" Todd raised his eyebrows and looked at her, and at that moment, she realized that Todd's attitude towards her was a little different. Was it because she was married?Why didn't he smile at her jokes? "You must be tired," Aya said. "Come in and let me take care of you." "Okay," he replied, and as he walked into the house on his arm, Aya felt something different about him again.After entering the room, she must ask what's going on. She told the servants to prepare food and wine for Todd, and then led him up the steep spiral staircase to the best room upstairs.From the way he walked, Aya could tell that his legs were quite sore.After questioning, she found out that Todd had walked several miles today. As soon as she entered the upstairs room and saw the two sisters-in-law waiting for her, her joy gradually faded, because now she could not have Todd alone, but then she thought that Todd might like Pei Ling, because she couldn't see to his looks. "I want you to meet my sister-in-law, she can't see it!" Aya said, her voice full of pride. The beautiful Pei Ling and Xiao Qiu, who was dressed like a boy, looked at Todd blankly.Since Todd kept his distance from beautiful women, he thought Aya was referring to Xiaoqiu.He pushed back the hood and smiled at Xiao Qiu, but when he saw the disgusted look on Xiao Qiu's face, he immediately put on the hood and turned his face away. Aiya glared at Xiao Qiu angrily, and then brought Tao to Pei Ling. "No, that's Xiao Qiu. This is the one I want you to meet. This is Pei Ling." Aiya introduced Todd to Pei Ling. "Ah," said Todd, pulling down his hood again, staring at the perfect Pei Ling, as if he didn't care about Xiao Qiu's gaze. "It's hard to imagine that such beautiful eyes could be invisible, but that also allows us to bask in your beauty without being rude." He took Pei Ling's hand and stroked it for a while. "Can you?" He asked softly, and when Pei Ling nodded, he kissed the back of her hand lovingly. Both Aya and Xiao Qiu were shocked.Aya had never seen Todd behave like that towards women. Todd always stood aside and kept his distance from women, and he knew how to face others so that others would not see the scar on his face. .But now he's standing there with his hood pulled down, revealing the ruined half of his face. As for Xiao Qiu, she was more interested in Pei Ling's reaction to this deformed man.Pei Ling had always been very shy when facing strangers, and she never wanted to be alone with people she didn't know, but now she actually let this terrifying man kiss the back of her hand!In fact, he is still holding her hand now! Xiao Qiu recovered from the state of shock first, she walked between Todd and Pei Ling, and pulled their hands away, and Aya immediately stood beside her.At that moment, the two of them went from adversaries to allies. Todd turned, gave Aya a loving, fatherly look, and bent to kiss her on the cheek. "Ah, here comes the food. Come, ladies, sit down with me, I like your company." When he said those words, he naturally took Pei Ling's arm and led her to sit down at the table. Both Xiao Qiu and Aiya were speechless in shock, and they stood behind them blankly.Aya was shocked because Todd's actions were against his character, while Qiu couldn't believe that a man who looked like a tramp took over their home.Who is this man? Todd sat next to Pei Ling, leaving the long bench on the other side of the table for Xiao Qiu and Aiya. "Come here, girls, don't you want to hear the news from me?" girls?Aya thought as she walked to the bench. As soon as they sat down, Todd began to tell, but it took Aya a while to catch what he was talking about.He looked—like her Todd, but his body seemed to be possessed by another soul, and the most special thing was that he seemed to have Pei Ling as his own.There was only one plate on the table, but Todd - very naturally - moved the plate between him and Pei Ling.When he eats, he puts small pieces of food in her hand. Xiao Qiu's sudden yell made Aya hear what Todd was saying. "Jieming!" Xiao Qiu roared. "O'Henry locked his brother in the dungeon?" She pulled out the dagger at her side, and Huo Di stood up, but Todd grabbed her arm. "Sit down!" He ordered, Xiao Qiu could only obey. "Right now we can't take action, at least during the day," Todd said. "Let me rest for a few hours before stinging back." Xiao Qiu didn't like the way Todd treated this place as his own home, "What can you do?" she said contemptuously. "Xiao Qiu!" Pei Ling reprimanded sharply. From the moment Todd said that Jemin was in danger, Aya could barely breathe, and now she recovered a little. "Tell me everything, I must know." "This man named O'Henry is not as stupid as outsiders think. He is a bit cunning and single-minded—" Todd stopped, looking at Pei Ling's beautiful face, "I want to marry you." He said softly, making Pei Ling flushed cheeks. "Now I can understand why." "What about my brother?" Xiao Qiu yelled at him. Todd resumed eating undisturbed. "O'Henry said he would keep Jamin locked up until he agreed to marry Pei Ling to him; and he would keep Fu Lan locked up until her father paid the ransom." As he said this, Todd looked at Aya seriously, letting her know that her father had learned about the swap.Xiao Qiu looked down at the dagger still in her hand, because she knew that she caused Fulan and Jieming to be imprisoned. Todd continued: "Ou's house has several tunnels leading to the sea. Those tunnels are dark and wet, and there are several cells. Jemin is locked in one of them these days. I once managed to sneak in Looking for him, but the guards saw my torch, so I was—" He smiled. "Detained." Pei Ling gasped. "Then how did you escape?" "I clown," he replied simply. "I just have to do some idiotic moves and they laugh." To Xiao Qiu and Aiya, Todd's words were easy to understand, but Pei Ling was at a loss. "how did you do that?" What made Xiao Qiu and Aiya dumbfounded was that Todd took Pei Ling's hands, put them on his face, guided her fingers to stroke the scar on his face, and then moved down to his neck. "I have scars on my legs, too." He looked into her eyes, their noses inches apart. "If you dare to let my sister touch there, I will kill you!" Xiao Qiu growled. Pei Ling blushed again, and quickly withdrew her hand. Todd smiled—a smile Aya had never seen before—and returned to his food. "We can ask our relatives for help," Xiaoqiu said. "They'll tear up O'Henry's house and hang him—" "It's too late, I have to go back tonight to have a look." "Yes, I believe you will be very helpful." Xiao Qiu said contemptuously. Todd didn't answer, but just glanced at Xiao Qiu to shut her up.He lets her know that she's just a kid and if she wants to be with adults, she'd better play by the rules.That look was exactly the same as Jamin's when he taught his little sister a lesson. "I can come and go freely, no one pays attention to people who look like me, I just came here to explain to you the current situation." "What about Fulan?" Aya asked. "Is she being cared for?" For a moment, Aya felt that Todd blushed, but it must be her eyesight. "Fu Lan is fine. She was locked in the stone room in the tower. O. Henry took care of her personally and hardly let anyone in," Todd smiled. "Except for people who can make her happy." Aya reached out to shake Todd's hand. "Tell me, what I can do, as long as I can save Jieming, I am willing to give up my life." His eyes locked with Aya's.Aya loves Jemin so much that suddenly he feels jealous, but then he gets himself under control.He squeezed Aya's hand lightly. "You can't help, the guards are willing to let me into the tunnel, but it's hard to get Jamin out, because I can't take him out of the hall. Although your Jemin is a good soldier," he said to Aya smiled warmly. "But it's impossible to defeat all of O'Henry's men alone." "Is there any way to save him?" Aya asked. "I don't know how long the tunnels are. They seem to be miles. Some are old mines, some are basements. I don't think even O'Henry knows; if he does, he probably forgets. Whatever they are, only gophers know them." know how to go." "Or blind." Pei Ling said softly. "No!" Xiao Qiu shouted. "Jamin will—" "Quiet!" Todd ordered, then turned to Pei Ling, his eyes exploring her face. "That's right," he said thoughtfully. "Blind people have a great advantage in dark tunnels. The first time I went to see Jemin, I brought a torch and wanted to see where the tunnel led, but was stopped by the guards. Later, I found another day to go to the nearby Ou's house." I searched for tunnel exits in the woods, and still found nothing, as if they had no exit." "But if we can hide Jemin in a tunnel and wait for rescue, we might be able to get him out," Aya said, her eyes showing her mounting fear.When Todd averted her gaze, she said, "You didn't tell everything! What else are you hiding?" "Yes," Pei Ling said, reaching out to touch Todd's palm. "There are more dangers that you haven't told us about." "Yesterday morning, O'Henry's brother arrived." When Aiya heard Pei Ling and Xiao Qiu gasped at the same time, she knew the real danger was coming. Todd lowered his eyes and lowered his voice. "His elder brother Nott reprimanded O. Henry for being stupid, saying that he had an heir to the Mei family but wanted to marry the poor daughter of the Meng family. Since Nott was already married, he wanted to force Fulan to marry his younger brother, but Jay Ming said that Mayboken had made him Fleur's guardian, so Fleur could not marry without his permission. Of course, Jemin would never sign any papers to marry Fleur to Henry, so he was locked up in the dungeon Hungry, living only on some water." Todd raised his head and looked at Aya. "When he gets out, he's going to need to see a doctor." That sentence made Aya stand up and look out the window, she didn't want anyone to see her eyes. "What did they do to him?" Pei Ling asked in a low voice. "Constant whipping. I was the only one allowed in to see him because they didn't know we knew each other. No matter how much they abused Jemin, he convinced Knott that he had influence over Mayboken, and only he could agree to this." marriage." "He protected Fran that way," Aya said softly, turning to face everyone. "Fulan has no right to decide her own marriage. The only person who can make her marry is Jieming." "That's right."