Chapter 1 Brother Brick, Thanks for Saving My Life
"Xiao Xian, are the water caltrops and water celery cleaned and peeled yet? It's getting late! Uncle Hu's family has come to hurry us for the meal."
"All done, Mrs. Song, I'm coming!" Outside the kitchen, Ning Xiaoxian finished the task at hand and threw it into the basin, looked up at the sky, it was already close to noon, wiped her hands, and turned into the small kitchen; then, a flurry of frying and stir-frying noises ensued.
She quickly finished cooking several dishes, and Mrs. Song hurriedly carried them out, leaving her alone in the kitchen again. Ning Xiaoxian quickly gobbled a few bites of rice to fill her stomach and then moved aside the pile of firewood, uncovering a small earthen wall completely covered in long and short black lines.
She picked up a piece of charcoal and solemnly drew the longest black line on the wall, then casually wrote the Arabic numeral "1" next to it.
"365 marks! It turns out that today last year was when I traveled here. Now, it's already been a whole year." She looked at the wall, murmuring to herself, "Ning Xiaoxian oh Ning Xiaoxian, how much longer will you stay in this Shallow Water Village? This wall can't fit another 365 marks."
But this was not the time to be sad, as no one would sympathize with her. Xiao Xian shook her head at herself, picked up the bucket, and went to the river to wash clothes.
The days passed in confusion; only a year had passed, and her life in the alternative space seemed distant, like it belonged to her previous life.
Her real name was Ning Xiaoxian, a native Earthling and a Huaxia person.
It was the middle of summer, and she washed the clothes vigorously, oblivious to her own clothes being soaked with sweat, revealing her graceful curves. Although her diet had been more vegetarian since her travel, she had already passed her twenty-eighth year, like a bud ready to bloom, having its own enticing naive charm.
She didn't notice that a pair of small eyes were intently staring at her from behind.
Not until she was lifted by the waist with arms, and her mouth covered, did she, shocked, slap back with her hand. But the person behind her was impudent and even clicked his tongue in praise: "Good mistress, well smacked, well smacked, let's see how I repay you later."
She looked up only to see a mouthful of big yellow teeth, a pair of ill-intentioned rat eyes, and a face full of dark acne.
Hu Laoqi! A notorious ruffian and idler in Shallow Water Village, always loafing around and inclined to pilfer. Not a single decent girl in the village wanted to marry him, so at nearly forty this year, he was still unhappily single. After Ning Xiaoxian arrived in Shallow Water Village, he had set his sights on this delicate-featured but unsettled girl.
How could Ning Xiaoxian be interested in him? Hu Laoqi's several instances of verbal harassment only resulted in him being scolded and scurrying away head down, but the fire inside him grew hotter. Today, most of the village men had gone to Siping County, a good opportunity he thought, sneaking to the river to assault Ning Xiaoxian.
Maybe if raw rice gets cooked into a meal, this beauty will accept me! He thought happily while pinning the girl to the ground, wandering his hands around.
Poor Ning Xiaoxian, only seventeen years old this year, even though naively managing cooking and other chores after traveling here, how could her strength compare to Hu Laoqi, this robust middle-aged man? The more she pushed away, the more excited Hu Laoqi felt, repeatedly trying to kiss her red lips but she narrowly avoided each advance.
To be ruined in the hands of such a person, better to die! Ning Xiaoxian's face turned red with struggle, her anger burning fiercely, almost bursting forth from her chest.
"I can't bear it, I can't bear it! Which damned bastard threw me from my warm home on Earth to this place without a word for a whole year? Without even the standard equipment for time-travelers like the Golden Finger. Not only breaking my path to seeking Immortal but now wanting to take my purity for such a scoundrel!" A year's worth of suppressed sadness and anger suddenly erupted, unstoppable.
Hu Laoqi didn't notice her eyes slowly reddening; he was busy with his hands.
She was not as strong as him, and her laundry bat was kicked away by him; how could she fight barehanded?
She tried to gouge Hu Laoqi's eyes but was swiftly brushed off by him.
If this continued, she would soon have no strength to struggle. She absolutely refused to be a fish on the chopping board, especially not the dish of this sleazy man!
Hold on, hold on, what is this?
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Ning Xiaoxian's hand reached for something on the river bank, not the round small pebbles used by children for playing, but a square, particularly heavy object—it felt like a brick in her hand.
Really, like someone gives a pillow when you need a nap, or hands you a brick when you need to fight! Overjoyed and without time to ponder why a frequently visited riverbank would suddenly yield a brick, she grabbed it and fiercely smashed it on Hu Laoqi's forehead.
This strike was with all her might, hitting right on the temples. The brat didn't make a sound, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground.
No wonder they say no matter how skilled in martial arts, one is still afraid of bricks, they are really handy! Ning Xiaoxian, holding the brick, flipped over and stood up, kissed it several times fervently: "Brother Brick, thank you for saving my life!"
She checked Hu Laoqi's breathing; his face was covered with blood, yet his breathing was still steady, only that he had passed out.
"If he recovers later, how could the Hu Family let me off easily?" Hu Laoqi was notorious in the village, mostly because the Hu Family was numerous and overbearing. Numerous thoughts flashed through Ning Xiaoxian's mind:
"I'm all alone here, if the Hu Family forces me to become Hu Laoqi's concubine, my fate will be a hundred times more miserable than today! If I don't kill him, it's like nurturing a tiger for trouble, but if I kill him, maybe there's a sliver of a chance for survival!"
But she was originally just an ordinary girl from a lawful society, never thinking that one day she would have to kill to silence someone, hesitating repeatedly with the brick in her hand. After all, he is a living person, not poultry or fish that one can just decide to kill.
Feeling a coldness on his face, Hu Laoqi slowly regained consciousness with a splitting headache. He tried to touch his head, only to find himself tightly bound by vines, while Ning Xiaoxian was dragging him towards the creek.
This season, the creek was almost turning into a river, at least ten feet deep at the center.
"Spare my life, help, murder!" Hu Laoqi screamed. His limbs were bound, rendering him immobile; Ning Xiaoxian could easily drown him by dragging him into waist-deep water.
This young lady seems fragile and helpless but has such a merciless heart!
The riverbank was desolately empty; he chose this time for misdeeds, but now no one could save him either. Ning Xiaoxian panted and said, "Don't blame me, if I don't kill you, you'll cause me trouble later."
"I dare not, never again. Grandma, I was wrong, please spare my life!" Hu Laoqi cried and howled, mere trash.
"If you dare harbor any intentions again..." She actually couldn't harden her heart to kill him, only dragging Hu Laoqi into the water to scare him.
"Never, never, if I see you again, I'll detour, anything you need doing, I'll help you do!"
"Good." Ning Xiaoxian dragged him back to the shore, tore a piece of cloth from him, dipped it in his blood, and wrote a few lines – essentially that Hu Laoqi intended to assault her, then grabbed his hand to press a handprint. "This confession I will submit to the village head, try causing me trouble if you dare."
Hu Laoqi nodded like a pecking chicken, Ning Xiaoxian released him and threw in a fierce word, "Scram!"
Hu Laoqi shivered and scurried away using his hands and feet, not daring to look back.
She comforted herself: Really killing him, it would also be hard to explain to the Hus. Seeing how cowardly Hu Laoqi was, he probably won't trouble her again.
She was also exhausted, sat on the sand to catch her breath, only to end up sitting on her lifesaver. Just as she picked it up, "crack", the brick that gloriously fulfilled its mission fell to the ground, breaking into two pieces.
"Sorry, sorry, you saved my life, yet I broke you."
She wanted to cry, felt a twinge in her nose, but tears wouldn't come; all she could do was sit on the riverbank, gasping for breath.
In another dimension, she was also a daughter of a respectable family. But what had she done, for God to throw her all alone here to suffer?
Although orphaned from a young age, she was raised by her uncle's family until she turned 16 and never lacked familial joy. Her academic performance was excellent; during evening self-study, she could sneak to a small shop a few streets away to work part-time. She had planned to save up, ace the college entrance exam, and attend a key university in Tianjing to lift her spirits and repay her uncle's kindness.
Everything was going well, her bankbook's balance grew, and her grades were exceptional, to the point that a key university in Tianjing even sent people to scout her, not wanting to miss such a promising student.
But then, a year ago, after she fell asleep in bed, everything changed.