"Stop touching me, what if someone comes in?"
"Who's going to come at noon? Hurry up and get undressed, I've been missing you so much that I can't even think about tea or rice."
"Cut it out. If you really missed me, why didn't you come to see me?"
"Go see you? Sleep with you right in front of your coward of a husband?"
"Nonsense."
"Is this nonsense? Your coward of a husband can't even last a minute. I'm telling you, you might as well divorce him and come to me."
"I can't divorce him. If I dared, his dad would kill me. You know, his dad is the village chief of Taoyuan Village, and his uncle is a notorious bastard in our village."
"Oh, so Liu Cuihua is actually afraid of someone?"
Initially, Wang Chen thought the woman's voice inside sounded familiar, but when he heard this, he was certain that the woman was Liu Cuihua, the daughter-in-law of their village chief.
From their conversation, it was not hard to tell that the man was not Liu Cuihua's husband, but her illicit lover, probably the owner of this Herbal Medicine Shop.
Wang Chen narrowed his eyes and thought to himself, he had heard rumors that Liu Cuihua was not decent. It turned out she was indeed having an affair behind her man's back.
As he pondered, voices came from inside again.
All he heard was Liu Cuihua saying, "I really am afraid of his dad and his uncle; they are not good people."
"Scared of what, just seduce and sleep with them a couple of times and you'll be fine."
"Hey, you might not believe it, but those two old guys are always ogling me."
"Damn, have you slept with them or not?"
"Last time, I was almost done by his uncle. Later, Zhang Hu from our village caught us. Heard his uncle say, he's planning to find an opportunity to blind Zhang Hu."
"Damn, that's thrilling. You've got me excited now. You don't even have to undress, let's just..."
Click!
When he heard the name Zhang Hu, Wang Chen, who was standing at the door, subconsciously wanted to leave.
But as he turned abruptly, he knocked over a broom by the door.
The sudden noise startled him and also made the two people inside hurry to put their clothes on.
"Who's there!"
The man called out as he chased out, just in time to see Wang Chen about to leave.
Wang Chen's eyelids twitched, and he forced himself to speak calmly, "I came to sell herbs. Seeing as there was no one behind the counter, I thought the room was empty."
The man glanced at Wang Chen and then at the bag in his hand, "You just came in?"
"Yeah, just came in. When I saw there was no one, I was about to leave." Wang Chen shook the bag, "Big brother, do you buy these? If not, I'll look elsewhere."
Seeing that Wang Chen didn't seem to be lying, the man said a bit irritably, "I'll take it, bring them here."
He was obviously unhappy about being interrupted from his intimate moment, but business was business, after all.
Wang Chen stepped forward, dumping out all the herbs.
"Wow, you've got quite a lot of mountain goods here."
The man flipped through them briefly, quickly sorting the scattered herbs into categories.
After a quick inspection, he offered, "I'll give you four hundred for these."
Wang Chen frowned, "That doesn't seem right. I did a rough calculation, and it should be at least six hundred. Take these Autumn Leaf Grass, for instance, the market price is seventy per pound. I've got at least four or five pounds here."
The man looked at Wang Chen sideways, "You sure know your stuff, huh?"
"Studied medicine. I've also worked in a pharmacy for some time," Wang Chen replied truthfully.
The man originally intended to swindle Wang Chen, considering his youth, but observing how well-versed he seemed, the man thought better of it.
Nevertheless, since Wang Chen did ruin his potential deal, he still wanted to trick him into paying a bit.
His eyes flickered momentarily, and he grinned, "Normally, all this would fetch over six hundred, but by the looks of it, these have just been picked, still heavy with moisture. Surely, they'll shrink considerably once dried."
Wang Chen shook his head, "The moisture content of these herbs isn't high, and they are all wild-grown, which means they should be more potent. If you can't offer six hundred, then I'll inquire elsewhere."
"You little..."
"Hai, just give him the six hundred."
At that moment, Liu Cuihua emerged from inside; she had been sneakily watching all along.
Initially, she did not plan to intervene, but upon recognizing it was Wang Chen, she worried he might have overheard her conversation with the man. She hurried out with a beaming smile.
"This young man is Wang Chen, the only college student from our Taoyuan Village."
The man frowned and took another look at Wang Chen, not saying anything in haste.
Liu Cuihua smiled at Wang Chen again, "This is Chang Hai, the owner of this shop, and a very good friend of yours truly. Let me have a word with him; I'll ask him to pay you a little more."
Observing Liu Cuihua's beaming expression, Wang Chen's face momentarily betrayed a flicker of discomfort. However, to prevent her from noticing anything amiss, he cooperated with a smile, "Well then, thank you, Sister Cuihua."
"What are you thanking me for? We're all from the same hometown. Besides, being the only college student from our village, it reflects well on me to help you."
Having said that, Liu Cuihua looked over at Chang Hai and gave him a suggestive wink, "Hai, do me this favor, will you? From now on, whenever Wang Chen gets his hands on good stuff, I'll have him bring it here to you first."
Chang Hai, lured by Li Cuihua's coquettish gaze, felt the fire that had just subsided within him flare up again. Intending to dispatch Wang Chen as soon as possible, he promptly agreed to the deal.
Pulling out six hundred from the cash register, he passed them directly to Wang Chen, "I'll give Cuihua face this time. Remember, sell any good stuff you find to me first."
"No problem," Wang Chen nodded vigorously, accepted the money, and then said to Liu Cuihua, "Sister, I'll be on my way then."
"Let me walk you out."
Following Wang Chen out of the Herbal Medicine Shop, once they reached the alley outside the store, Liu Cuihua pulled Wang Chen into the alley with her.
"Wang Chen, did you hear anything when you came into the store just now?"
"Not a thing," Wang Chen quickly shook his head. He couldn't admit to eavesdropping, for Liu Cuihua would surely find a way to deal with him. He had just returned to the village and didn't want to provoke the headman's family, let alone the tattoo-armed Chang Hai, who definitely didn't look like a good man.
Liu Cuihua scrutinized his eyes for a moment. Despite seeing nothing amiss, she couldn't shake the feeling that Wang Chen had overheard her conversation with Chang Hai.
After a spell of reverie, she asked, "Are you heading back to the village?"
"I need to buy a few things first, then I'll head back."
"I was planning to go back to the village myself in a bit. I've got a bicycle; I can give you a ride."
"This..."
"It's settled then. You wait for me; I'll go back into the Medicine Shop to grab my stuff. Then I'll accompany you to buy your things and we'll go back together." Saying that, Liu Cuihua dashed back into the Herbal Medicine Shop.
Meanwhile, Wang Chen stood still, pondering whether to leave now or to wait for Liu Cuihua.
...
Inside the Medicine Shop.
As Liu Cuihua entered, Chang Hai was about to close the door and embrace her. But she pushed him away, "Stop it. That kid might have overheard our conversation earlier."
Chang Hai frowned, "What should we do? Should I get some guys to beat him up a bit?"
"No, if you beat him and he harbors a grudge, he'll definitely go back to the village and spill everything. I'll end up being killed by the village chief or drown in people's spit. Don't worry about it; I can handle it on my own."
"How are you going to handle it?"
"First, I'll talk to him. If he doesn't listen, I might as well let him take some advantage of me. Aren't all you men the same? If he gets into my bed, he'll surely obey everything I say..."