Chapter 22

Xiao Yuanzhi stretched.

It was finally over. She could finally rest properly.

She kicked off her shoes, threw herself onto the bed, and buried her face in the quilt.

Only two words could express how she felt at that moment—

So comfortable.

Wei Zisu looked at Xiao Yuanzhi.

There was only one bed in the room.

She had always slept alone and had never shared a bed with anyone before.

Besides, who knew whether Xiao Yuanzhi slept peacefully or tossed around all night…

Xiao Yuanzhi turned her head and caught Wei Zisu staring at her.

That look instantly told her everything.

No way.

Was Wei Zisu planning to make her sleep on the floor?

Wasn’t that going too far?

Xiao Yuanzhi had made an enormous contribution toward getting them out of danger. Wei Zisu didn’t need to tear down the bridge immediately after crossing it, did she?

Besides, they were both women. What was wrong with sharing a bed?

It wasn’t as though Xiao Yuanzhi would do anything to Wei Zisu.

If she truly went blind enough to try anything, she would chop off her own hands and twist off her own head.

Xiao Yuanzhi rolled her eyes, climbed back up, and pulled the quilt into the middle of the bed.

“This is the dividing line. Do you want the inside or the outside?”

“The outside.”

Xiao Yuanzhi rolled toward the inner side.

“Fine. The inside is mine, and the outside is yours. Neither of us crosses the line tonight.”

Wei Zisu nodded.

That was something she could barely accept.

Wei Zisu rose and walked to the dressing table. Just as she prepared to remove her headdress, a series of urgent knocks sounded from the door.

Bang, bang, bang—!

Bang, bang, bang—!

Xiao Yuanzhi, who had just been about to close her eyes, suddenly opened them again.

Crying and voices attempting to stop someone came from outside.

“Boohoohoo—”

“Big Brother, Big Brother, today is the brides’ joyful wedding day. You mustn’t disturb them.”

“Boohoohoo! I just really want to cry! I also want to go inside and take another look. Let go! Stop holding me back!”

The bandit leader cried while shouting, “Let go of me! Stop pulling me!”

Several bandits desperately restrained him.

“Big Brother, you can’t!”

Xiao Yuanzhi sat up and exchanged a glance with Wei Zisu at the dressing table.

What exactly was wrong with this bandit leader?

First, he had forced them to marry.

Now they had already entered the bridal chamber, yet he still wanted to come inside.

Did he want to personally watch the two of them do… that?

Xiao Yuanzhi jumped down from the bed and opened the door, intending to get a proper look at exactly what variety of pervert he was.

The bandit leader’s eyes were hazy with drunkenness.

When he saw Xiao Yuanzhi open the door, he grinned foolishly.

“The door’s open. I’m going in. I’m going in.”

He immediately tried to charge inside.

How could Xiao Yuanzhi allow that?

She reached out and blocked him.

“I’m the one who got married. I’m the one spending the wedding night here. What are you going inside for?”

Her tone was firm.

Perhaps because he was drunk, all his emotions had been amplified.

The bandit leader’s eyes suddenly reddened, and tears rapidly gathered in them, looking ready to spill at any moment.

Xiao Yuanzhi’s scalp prickled.

But she could not abandon her principles.

Wei Zisu might constantly do inhuman things, but Xiao Yuanzhi could not learn from her.

Men and women still needed to observe proper boundaries.

What would it mean to let him inside?

“Why are you crying? I didn’t bully you. Let me tell you, even if you cry, I still won’t let you inside.”

Xiao Yuanzhi paused, then added, “She’s my wife. Don’t even think about it. I’m the only one allowed to look at her!”

That final sentence destroyed the bandit leader’s last remaining emotional defense.

That possessiveness was far too similar to what he remembered.

He threw his head back and began wailing loudly.

Xiao Yuanzhi was so frightened that she wanted to run far away.

Unfortunately, she reacted a step too late.

The bandit leader wrapped both arms tightly around her leg first.

No matter how Xiao Yuanzhi pulled or tugged, she could not free herself.

“Let go! Let go of me!”

Xiao Yuanzhi turned toward the bandits standing nearby.

“What are you staring at? Hurry and pull your leader away!”

Hearing this, the bandit leader hugged her leg even tighter.

“No! No, Elder Sister! Don’t push me away! Boohoohoo!”

His tears and snot smeared all over her trouser leg.

Xiao Yuanzhi was deeply disgusted.

However, the two of them did not know each other.

Why was the bandit leader calling her Elder Sister?

Could she resemble the elder sister he mentioned?

Or perhaps they shared some other similarity?

If that were true, escaping the stronghold might become much easier.

Therefore, Xiao Yuanzhi decided to use a roundabout strategy and gently coax him.

“All right. I won’t push you away. Let go first.”

The bandit leader raised his head and looked at Xiao Yuanzhi.

“Really?”

Xiao Yuanzhi nodded.

“Mm.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“…”

“Then forget it. Entertain yourself.”

After saying that, Xiao Yuanzhi tried to pull her leg free.

Unfortunately, the man clung to her like sticky plaster and refused to move, no matter how hard she pulled.

Xiao Yuanzhi grabbed the doorframe and exerted force.

The bandit leader slid across the floor with her.

He cried out, “Elder Sister, no! Don’t leave! Don’t abandon me!”

The shout nearly blasted Xiao Yuanzhi’s soul from her body.

To protect her ears, she temporarily compromised.

“All right, all right. I won’t leave. But it isn’t appropriate for you to stay here. Whatever you want to say, we can go somewhere else and talk privately. Don’t disturb my wife’s rest.”

The bandit leader thought about it, finally released her, and stood.

Then he grabbed Xiao Yuanzhi and dragged her toward the main hall, afraid she might change her mind.

A light breeze carried a strong smell of alcohol into Xiao Yuanzhi’s nose.

The closer they got to the main hall, the heavier the stench became.

She frowned unhappily.

At the entrance, numerous bandits lay sprawled across the floor in every possible position. Others slept with their heads on the tables.

Empty wine jars stood everywhere beside them, showing just how delighted they had been and how freely they had drunk.

Xiao Yuanzhi covered her nose and carefully stepped around the bandits lying on the floor like corpses.

She finally reached an empty table.

The moment they sat down, it was as though someone had flipped a switch inside the bandit leader.

He threw back his head and began crying again.

“Waaah—boohoohoo—!”

Xiao Yuanzhi wanted to cover her ears.

With a voice like that, it was a waste that he had never become a tenor.

After he howled for a while, Xiao Yuanzhi could no longer tolerate it.

He was crying for no apparent reason, leaving her completely confused.

More importantly, his crying sounded terrible.

To her, it was nothing but noise.

“That’s enough! You’re a grown man. What are you crying for?”

Xiao Yuanzhi raised her voice and barked, “Stop crying! Swallow it back!”

Hearing this, the bandit leader immediately shut his mouth.

He stopped crying and merely looked at her through tear-filled eyes.

Too similar.

She was far too similar.

His elder sister had once said exactly the same words to him.

Even her tone was similar.

Remembering those painful memories, the bandit leader nearly began crying again.

However, he held it back so desperately that his entire body trembled.

“Go on. What happened? Who is this elder sister you keep mentioning?”

From the bandit leader’s account, Xiao Yuanzhi learned that he had once had an elder sister.

However, she had died ten years ago.

It had not been an accident or a natural death.

She had died for love.

The bandit leader had originally been born into a wealthy family in Jiangnan.

His elder sister had been a refined young lady from a prominent household. By the time she reached marriageable age, she had grown into a graceful beauty.

Their parents had intended to find her a suitable husband.

However, she repeatedly refused to marry.

As time passed, their suspicions naturally grew.

Later, they accidentally discovered that she and her personal maid had developed feelings for each other.

The two had already become inseparably intimate.

Naturally, the family refused to permit something they considered so immoral.

They forcibly separated the pair.

Unfortunately, even if it meant death, the maid refused to leave.

The bandit leader’s “Elder Sister” felt the same.

The two planned to escape together.

Sadly, they were far too powerless.

They had not gone far before they were caught, brought back, and confined.

That was simply the nature of the world.

Some people’s lives were worth less than grass.

What value did the life of a mere maid possess?

The family sold her to a brothel.

When “Elder Sister” learned about it, she disregarded everything and rushed to the brothel.

Only after great effort did she manage to seize her lover and bring her back.

Their parents’ condemnation, the oppressive customs from which they could not escape, and the prison surrounding them plunged the two women into deep despair.

What ultimately drove them to take their own lives was their parents’ decision to quickly arrange a marriage for “Elder Sister.”

It was said that wealthy families in Jiangnan planted a camphor tree in their courtyard whenever a daughter was born.

As the daughter grew, the camphor tree would grow with her, its branches eventually stretching beyond the courtyard walls.

When matchmakers passed by and saw the branches, they would know that the household had a daughter old enough to marry and would visit to propose potential matches.

When the daughter finally married, her family would cut down the camphor tree, use the wood to build two chests, and fill them with silk as a blessing for the marriage.

While looking at the camphor tree that had already grown tall, “Elder Sister” secretly ordered someone to turn the two intended chests into two coffins instead.

Thus, the “two chests” became “two corpses.”

On the day of the wedding, the two women dressed in bridal robes and drank poisoned wine together.

When their parents learned what had happened, they wept until heaven and earth seemed to darken, overwhelmed with regret.

But what use was regret?

The dead could not return to life.

After “Elder Sister” and the maid were buried, the bandit leader left his family.

He wandered from place to place, eventually arriving here and founding the stronghold with a group of people.

Xiao Yuanzhi slammed her fist against the table in fury.

What kind of parents were they?

Did they truly need to drive their own child to death?

Using moral coercion and forcing her into submission—

What was more important, their child’s life or their so-called reputation?

“Fuck! They were really goddamn bastards!”

Xiao Yuanzhi could not restrain herself and cursed aloud.

She even wanted to smash the parents’ worthless heads.

But this was ancient times.

Ancient people were famously stubborn and conservative, so she could barely understand it.

After all, plenty of modern people were still narrow-minded.

They treated same-sex love with discrimination and incomprehension.

Some were so extreme that they acted as though gay people had not only slaughtered their entire family but dug up their ancestral graves as well.

Still, a young lady falling in love with her maid—

Wasn’t that supposed to be something found only in novels?

Xiao Yuanzhi suddenly understood.

She did not resemble “Elder Sister” at all.

Everything had happened through sheer coincidence.

Xiao Yuanzhi had randomly claimed to love her senior sister, which immediately reminded the bandit leader of “Elder Sister.”

“Elder Sister” had loved a woman.

They had been unable to remain together while alive and had only been buried side by side after death.

Therefore, when the bandit leader saw that Xiao Yuanzhi had fallen in love with Wei Zisu and was willing to exchange her own life for Wei Zisu’s survival, he had disregarded everything and urgently tried to unite the two of them.

Even though his methods had been simple and brutally direct.

The bandit leader continued crying and offered many blessings.

Most of them urged Xiao Yuanzhi and Wei Zisu to remain together, cherish what they had, ignore the gazes of others, and never release each other’s hands no matter how difficult things became.

They needed to remain steadfast and hold on to hope.

As long as they crossed every hardship and obstacle, they would surely remain together for a long time.

They must continue loving each other properly.

Xiao Yuanzhi nodded and agreed.

Still, had this man become muddled from drinking, or had he forgotten?

In the story Xiao Yuanzhi invented, her feelings were entirely one-sided.

Wei Zisu had no interest in her at all.

What did he mean by cherishing what she had?

Seeing that allowing the bandit leader to cry endlessly was not a solution, Xiao Yuanzhi spoke a few words of comfort.

During the process, she inevitably drank several cups of wine.

Fortunately, this wine tasted much better than the nuptial wine.

It was not as harsh.

Although she still did not like it, she could barely tolerate it.

After several cups, drunkenness entered Xiao Yuanzhi’s eyes.

She felt she had reached her limit and hurriedly moved her cup away to prevent the bandit leader from pouring more.

“No, no. I can’t drink anymore. You drink.”

The bandit leader found this disappointing.

He sighed, set down the wine jug, picked up a nearby jar, and began gulping directly from it.

Back in the bridal room, Xiao Yuanzhi had already been so exhausted that she could not even be bothered to remove her makeup.

She had wanted only to lie down and sleep.

Then the bandit leader appeared and caused another commotion, leaving her even more exhausted.

Now she wanted nothing more than to return and rest.

“Burp—”

Xiao Yuanzhi let out an alcoholic belch and waved her hand before her face in disgust, trying to drive away the unpleasant smell.

“I’m going back to the room.”

The bandit leader did not stop her.

He continued drinking while muttering something incomprehensible under his breath.

Only after Xiao Yuanzhi had walked far away did his gaze settle on the wine jug.

A smile appeared on his lips…