"I-I'll do it. I'll do anything you want me to do. Please let me go. I… Ah, ah…" Tears instantly welled up in Mrs. Qiao's eyes.
It made her ugly face look very comical.
Lin Luo pulled the pole out of the soil.
When she was about to stab Mrs. Qiao's eyes just now, Mrs. Qiao turned her head. She got lucky. Otherwise, Mrs. Qiao would be a one-eyed person by now.
"Go fetch water. Fill the two vats in the courtyard with water."
Lin Luo threw down the pole and walked into the courtyard.
When she crossed the entrance, she turned around and glanced at Mrs. Qiao. "Don't even think about running. You know the consequences."
Mrs. Qiao thought of Lin Luo's demeanor just now. She looked relaxed and nonchalant, just like when fishermen disemboweled fish. She seemed so used to it and so indifferent.
Mrs. Qiao's back was drenched in sweat.
Lin Luo was serious! If she hadn't tilted her head, this pole definitely would have pierced through her eyes and through her head!
She stood up in fear and looked in the direction she had come from. The thought of escaping appeared in her mind for a moment before it dissipated.
Lin Luo dragged a chair out and sat in the courtyard to bask in the sun.
Mrs. Qiao went back and forth over ten times before filling both large vats.
"It's time to tidy up this house." Lin Luo threw a rag beside Madam Qiao.
"Don't go overboard!"
Madam Qiao was furious.
After Lin Luo glanced at her, Mrs. Qiao coughed and shrank her neck timidly. "This house is indeed a little dirty. I'll clean it up now."
Madam Qiao worked until the afternoon.
The house was much cleaner and shinier, but Mrs. Qiao had changed drastically. She was radiant when she came in the morning, but now, she was dusty and dishevealed. After she wiped the dust off her nose and took off the old rag covering her head, she said in a pleading tone, "Lin Luo, I've cleaned the house for you already. Can I leave now?"
"Go."
As if she received an imperial edict, Madam Qiao became much more energetic.
As if there were two wheels under her feet, she fled quickly.
She was afraid that Lin Luo would ask her to stay for another task.
However, Lin Luo really stopped her.
"What's the matter now?" Mrs. Qiao cried, "You told me to fetch water, so I fetched water. You told me to clean the house, so I cleaned it inside and out. If I kneel down for you, can you let me go?"
With that, she knelt down straightforwardly.
Lin Luo was impressed with Mrs. Qiao's adaptability. It was said that a wise man submitted to circumstances. Mrs. Qiao's flexibility was quite impressive.
"Our families' previous marriage agreement doesn't count anymore. Return all the things your family obtained from me in the past."
After Lin Luo found a piece of hay, she sharpened its tail to use as a toothpick and slowly picked at the mud between her fingers.
"Well …"
As Madam Qiao looked at the bare walls, she was speechless.
Lin Luo's home was empty now because of the Qiao family. The Qiao family had emptied Lin Luo's house bit by bit. From Lin Luo's cabinets and beds to pots and pans, they were all in the Qiao family's house.
If she wanted everything to be returned, the Qiao family would be completely empty.
But if they didn't return it…
Then Lin Luo…
Thinking of Lin Luo's ruthlessness, Mrs. Qiao shivered.
She forced a smile and said, "Alright, I'll send the things over to you after I get back."
-
There was barely any food in the kitchen. If Lin Luo wanted to eat, she had to go out to look for food.
Seeing that it was almost time for the tide to ebb, Lin Luo carried a small basket as she headed to the beach.
During ancient times, beaches hadn't been polluted yet. Bright and fine sea sand covered the soles of Lin Luo's feet. Lin Luo didn't feel any pain when they stepped on them bare-footed. Instead, they felt soft.
Lin Luo walked along the coastline.
Along the way, other than a few children playing, she didn't see a single adult.
To the residents of Little Bay Village, the fish they caught at sea were enough to satisfy their daily needs and to sell.
Wave after wave splashed against the beach, pushing soft sand and some shellfish to shore.
After Lin Luo filled a small bag with clams and dug out a few palm-sized crabs from the sand, she climbed to the reef and caught three octopuses larger than her face in a deep swamp.
Just as she was about to return, she suddenly saw a few eye-catching sea creatures jumping above the sea surface along with the waves.
A dazzling silver sea creature leaped out of the sea. Its scales were dazzling and the arc it made was beautiful.
"There's actually silverfish here…"
Lin Luo put down the basket on her back and jumped into the sea without hesitation. The seawater seemed to be overjoyed by her arrival and pushed her towards her destination.
Silverfish had white fins and silver bodies. Their dorsal fins were like feathers and could help them glide for a short period of time.
Silverfish could cure fevers and ward off coldness.
Lin Luo had only seen this fish in ancient medical books, but had never seen it in the modern era.
Its value was comparable to that of a thousand gold coins.
Lin Luo was quick-witted and caught five silverfish.
Under the cover of the retracted light, the school of fish quickly disappeared without a trace. Lin Luo returned to the shore with the seawater. As the sea breeze gently blew her black hair, her wet student uniform quickly dried.
Lin Luo didn't care.
She didn't notice that the wavy birthmark on the right side of her face was shining with a light blue glow.
After returning home with the harvest, Lin Luo filled a basin with water and let the clams spit sand. After she separated the fighting crabs from the octopuses, she brought the silverfish into the farmer's market.
It was the same familiar pharmacy.
It was the familiar shop assistant.
The clerk glanced at the basin in her hand. "You're here to pay off your debt? Did you bring money?"
"No, I'm here to sell fish."
"Sell fish? I don't like fish. You have to sell them outside."
"I'm afraid they can't afford fresh silverfish" After Lin Luo placed the basin on the counter, the shop assistant was stunned.
Apart from the medicinal value of the silverfish, the appearance of the silverfish was also pleasing to the eye.
"Silverfish! Live silverfish!" The shop assistant was so excited that he bit his tongue. "Ah, it hurts… I can't believe that I'm actually able to see live silverfish in my lifetime!"
"You've seen… other silverfish?"
The shop assistant nodded. "I've seen silverfish specimens in my mentor's research room. They're exactly the same as yours, but my mentor said that there are no surviving silverfish in the world. Where did you get this silverfish from?"
Lin Luo didn't speak.
"I understand. Through an exclusive channel, right?" The shop assistant smiled. "Wait a moment. This silverfish is too expensive, so I have to get my mentor to come over."
It would take time to call him over, so Lin Luo came out of the farmer's market first and planned to have a meal before returning.
However, there was no firewood at home, so Lin Luo went to the house next door to borrow firewood.
Before she could knock, Yan Su opened the door.
He was carrying his luggage on his back.
"Are you going out?" Talking to a handsome man made Lin Luo feel relaxed. Lin Luo, who was always quiet in front of the shop assistant, took the initiative to find a topic to talk about with Yan Su.
Yan Su didn't answer Lin Luo's question, but asked her instead, "What's the matter?"
"I want to borrow some firewood."
"Wait." After Yan Su turned around to carry firewood, Lin Luo followed her in and asked, "Where are you going?"
There was no response.
Lin Luo scratched her chin and said, "Are you in a hurry to leave? If you're not, why don't you come to my house for dinner?" Lin Luo was serious.
South Yue was near the sea, so the people here ate a lot of seafood. As for seafood, if it wasn't handled properly, a fishy smell was inevitable.
Even three years after coming to South Yue, Yan Su still wasn't used to the fishiness of the local food.
Yan Su was about to refuse when his stomach growled.
"No need. I have dry food."
Lin Luo said with a smile, "The food I make isn't fishy, so you should try it. You haven't been eating properly during the past three years, so your stomach can't take it anymore, right?"
The original host of this body didn't know why Yan Su ate fresh fish soup noodles every day for three years and put so much ginger in it. However, Lin Luo was very knowledgeable about food. She immediately guessed that Yan Su was from the north and wasn't used to the food culture of the south.
Yan Su was speechless.
Perhaps it was because he was hungry, or perhaps Lin Luo's words had aroused Yan Su's appetite.
In short, Yan Su agreed to stay for dinner.
He helped Lin Luo carry the firewood back to Lin Luo's courtyard. Before he left, he said, "I'm going to Black Wind Mountain tomorrow. Do you want me to bring anything along the way?"
It was impossible to walk to Black Wind Mountain, so Yan Su would go to the town to rent a donkey cart first.
From the looks of Lin Luo's barren house, Lin Luo probably had a lot of things she needed him to bring along.
Lin Luo remembered something and paused.
Black Wind Mountain—