Chapter 1747 - 1742: Mrs. Lin’s Miserable Life (First Update)

"Are you cold?"

When Mu Shuangshuang came out of the prison, the sky had already turned dark.

The night air was a bit chilly too.

While Lu Yuanfeng was waiting outside, he’d been worrying whether Shuangshuang would get cold, and whether she’d find the prison boring.

Unfortunately, Sun Erniu could only take one person inside at a time.

Otherwise, he would definitely have gone in with her and taken care of her by her side.

"I’m not cold! I’m actually all fired up! I talked Jinyin’er around! I also saw Second Uncle and Fifth Uncle." Mu Shuangshuang said to him.

Lu Yuanfeng narrowed his eyes and reached out to take her hand.

The two of them walked in the direction of home.

At this hour, the main street was quiet and still; there wasn’t even half a soul around.

If it weren’t for the red lanterns hanging over every door, they’d probably have to rely on the moonlight to find their way.

"Yuan Feng, I want to go to the dock again tomorrow! As for Mu Dade, we need to collect all that evidence again from scratch!"

"I’ll go with you!"

Lu Yuanfeng wrapped Mu Shuangshuang’s whole hand up in his.

Shuangshuang’s hand was small and soft, while his was big and rough.

Lu Yuanfeng was even afraid his hand might scratch Shuangshuang, but if he didn’t hold her, he was afraid she’d be cold.

For the first time in his life, the man was annoyed that his hands were so well looked after.

Mu Shuangshuang, on the other hand, was filled with happiness and deeply moved.

She tilted her head, glanced at Lu Yuanfeng, and a sweet smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

This kind of life was really comfortable—simple and easy; turn your head and you could see the person you liked.

At night, when it got cold, he’d hold her hand, better than any hand warmer!

In no time at all, the two of them were back home.

Among all these houses, their place had always been one of the more imposing ones, and it hadn’t even cost that much when they bought it.

Thinking back on it now, it was really a good deal.

Otherwise, she and Yuan Feng would only be able to rent a small inn room right now; how could it be this comfortable.

"I wonder if Xiao Nan’s asleep yet!" Mu Shuangshuang remarked.

Xing Beichen had gone to Yunzhou to look for Xiao Chu, and he’d only been gone a day; Fu Xiaonan didn’t have anyone to keep her company either.

Fortunately, Fu Xiaonan had gone to the Capital with Xing Beichen this time, otherwise, if the two of them had to be separated like that, Mu Shuangshuang would’ve really felt bad.

Fortunately!

"We’ll know once we go back and take a look! But it’d be best if she’s asleep; it’s already so late!" Lu Yuanfeng said.

"True, and once you’re done washing up, go to bed early too. Tomorrow morning, we’ll head to the dock!"

Lu Yuanfeng smiled and nodded.

...

...

Inside an abandoned little house somewhere in the county—

The place was a mess, with weeds grown up to half a man’s height; by rights, a place like this should have been completely deserted.

But someone was living here.

And it was someone who’d had her freedom taken away—Mrs. Lin.

Ever since she’d been sold off by Mu Dade’s servant that day, Mrs. Lin had been kept in this dump. For all these days, almost every day a man came by to check the "goods."

But when they saw Mrs. Lin’s pear-shaped, stumpy body, her already-wrinkled face, and that greasy skin...

Not a single one of the buyers took a liking to her.

Every one of them thought Mrs. Lin was too old and too ugly.

So here they were, after all these days, not only failing to sell her, but even wasting several days’ worth of food on her for nothing.

These traffickers had been in the county for many years.

They’d never done a losing deal in their trade, but this time, they’d actually tripped up over Mrs. Lin.

So tonight, under cover of darkness, a few of the traffickers gathered together to discuss what to do about Mrs. Lin.

"Brother Leopard, we can’t keep feeding that woman anymore! Sure, we didn’t pay a single coin to get her in the first place, but her appetite’s too damned big, and she’s ugly too... Other women eat one meal, she eats five. If this keeps up, she’ll eat us straight into bankruptcy!"

The man they called Brother Leopard was the boss of these traffickers.

He’d been in the human trafficking game for over ten years; there wasn’t any kind of person he hadn’t seen.

This was the first time he’d ever seen goods he couldn’t sell.

"Yeah, this old woman really is a walking disaster! And we can’t even beat her—she’s already ugly as sin; if we rough her up any more, I’m afraid even if we gave her away for free, nobody’d take her!" Brother Leopard sighed.

As for Mrs. Lin, who was already asleep, there really wasn’t much they could do.

"Brother Leopard, how about... we sell her out of town! If we can’t sell her in the county, we’ll sell her somewhere else! There’s always someone out there who won’t mind ugly and will buy her!" someone suggested.

"Brother Leopard, I think he’s got a point! Here in the county, men who buy wives definitely want pretty ones, but in those remote mountain gullies where there aren’t any women, as long as it squats to piss, it’s good enough. Who cares if she’s good-looking or not, young or not!" another lackey chimed in.

When Brother Leopard heard this, he finally made up his mind.

"Fine, we’ll ship this ugly thing out and sell her! Tomorrow you get in touch with Brother Luo’s people, arrange a boat, and find a lackey to haul this woman out!" Brother Leopard said.

This matter was finally settled.

As for Mrs. Lin, who was about to be sold off again, after all her cursing and tantrums at the beginning, she’d been quiet for many days now.

When it was mealtime, she ate.

Once she’d eaten, she slept!

No one hit or scolded her; it was much more comfortable than being a daughter-in-law in the Old Mu Family.

If it weren’t for the lack of freedom here, Mrs. Lin almost felt like she’d be happy to just stay among this bunch of traffickers, eating and drinking well every day.

After Brother Leopard and the boys finished discussing how to sell Mrs. Lin, they saw her still sleeping like a pig, and didn’t know where their anger came from.

He rushed over and shoved Mrs. Lin awake.

He barked at her, "Ugly hag, you’re getting sold tomorrow! You know that?"

Mrs. Lin looked like she couldn’t be bothered to pay Brother Leopard any attention.

How many times had she heard that line already?

And in the end, wasn’t she still fine?

Those men were blind; they just couldn’t see how good she was.

"Answer me, can’t you hear when I’m talking? Give your old man a reaction!"

What it came down to was that Brother Leopard felt unreconciled.

Someone he’d gone to the trouble of getting, and she wasn’t afraid of him at all, and on top of that she was a greedy coward.

Now his brothers were starting to doubt his judgment.

Mrs. Lin couldn’t stand Brother Leopard’s shouting anymore and snapped impatiently, "I know, I know! It’s not like I haven’t been sold before! Quit yelling, I’m going back to sleep!"

"You... you..." Brother Leopard had never swallowed this kind of humiliation before; he raised his fist, ready to beat her.

But his men stopped him.

"Brother Leopard, don’t lose your temper. This woman was born ugly! If we beat her again, she’ll be both injured and even uglier; we won’t even earn back the food money we’ve spent these days!"

"Yeah, Brother Leopard! This woman’s a freak; just looking at her burns my eyes. Chances are, even if some man buys her, she’s the kind that’ll get beaten all day. Why dirty your own hands?"

"Exactly, this woman’s not likeable at all; whoever takes her home will just beat her. Why should I bother!"

Thinking about it that way, Brother Leopard suddenly felt he’d figured it out!

"Fine, I won’t lay a hand on this woman! And neither will you. Tomorrow morning, just haul her down to the dock and get rid of her fast; just looking at her makes me sick!" Brother Leopard said.

His men all nodded.

Mrs. Lin, acting like nothing had happened, pulled the blanket over her head and went right back to sleep!