He did not know that the instant he retracted his gaze, a woman walked out from the water. It was a silhouette he was familiar with. Unsurprisingly, she did not find any gold today. Bang! She received a blow to her shoulder. It did not really hurt; it just felt a little numb. She walked in as she rubbed her own shoulders. Perhaps she had received one too many beatings, but she barely felt anything.
“No hot soup today.” She walked over and sat down as she wiped her feet with a rag. Her feet were covered in frostbite, and all her toes were swollen. She was amazed that she could still walk with her feet looking like this. No matter life or death, nobody could have such an experience in their life.
“We haven’t had it in a few days.” Shen Wei came over and lay down to sleep.
Xia Ruoxin put her feet in her blanket and curled up into herself. This was probably the only time in the day that they could sort of relax.
“Bear with it for a little more. We should be able to get through these couple of months soon. Things will be less hard when the weather is better.” However, she did not know if there was any meaning in their persistence.
She was a little confused if she should keep persisting. However, her final answer to herself was—always—that she wanted to keep living, not out of the fear of death… but because there were a lot of things that they had not done.
She was not done raising her daughter, and she had not seen her daughter get married. She was indignant, and she did not want to give up.
She wanted some hot soup.
She wanted to have sweet dreams, dreams where she had hot soup.
The winds at night were freezing cold. At this time, almost everyone was asleep. They did not have the time to think or chat, not to mention think about running away. All they could do was to take things one day at a time.
At this time, Chu Lui was standing in a warm room. Even though it was not a bricked room, but it was much better and warmer than the other rooms that had cold drafts.
A stout and fat woman walked in. She posed before Chu Lui, but her figure only made her behavior seem comical. Chu Lui would never have any thoughts about her, not even if she was the last woman left.
As the woman posed, she winked at Chu Lui; but to him, it was nothing but disgust. He really wanted to kick her aside.
The woman removed her clothes one by one, leaving nothing to the imagination.
When she was done, she walked over and put her hand on Chu Lui’s shoulder as her hand trailed downwards towards his nether regions. The veins on the man’s arms were popping. He raised his leg.
Bang! The woman fell to the floor as she threw up the contents of her stomach.
The woman picked herself off the floor as she shouted. She grabbed a whip and flung it at Chu Lui. Once.
Chu Lui did not move. Twice. He still did not move. Whip after whip, he remained unmoved. The woman was tired and panting from all the whipping.
“Disgusting!” Chu Lui turned around. He wanted to teach the woman a lesson, but now was not the right time. If anything happened to her now, he would not live to see tomorrow. He was not that dumb.
Outside, the wind blew at him. He was aching all over, and his brows were knitted tightly together from their sharp pain.
He went back to the bunk, where it was filled with the sounds of snoring.
Rolling his sleeves up, his arms were full of blood. The blood even got on his clothes. He took a seat somewhere and turned the earpiece above his ear.
“Brother San, any news on your side?”
“Not yet,” Brother San’s voice sounded exhausted. “What about you?”
“Nothing here either.” Chu Lui moved his wrist. “I’ll get in touch with Mo Ming. I’ve checked out this place already. The two of them aren’t here. So I would like to borrow the help of the other side.” He would come up with something if they still could not be found. If he stayed here any longer, he might lose his innocence to that ugly woman. He might have nightmares for the rest of his life.
“I know.” Brother San paused. “I’ll keep looking. If they’re not on your side, then they have got to be on my side.”
Both Brother San and Chu Lui were unwilling to give up.
He had taken note of all the areas here so there was nothing within his ability that can be done. Despite that, he still wanted to try. He would figure things out if he really could not find them.
He did not sleep that night. His body was in pain, but his heart and mind were clear.
The sky was barely bright, and the winds were stronger than ever. This place had a great temperature difference between morning and night, and it felt like two different seasons entirely. He stood up and walked outside, leaving the wind to assault him. It hurt as the wind bypassed his clothes, but he bore with it.
A small distance across was the women’s quarters. At this time, a woman was using a small cup to draw water from the river. He found that this woman was actually brushing her teeth. This was the first time he had seen someone brushing their teeth in the two weeks that he was there. He was beginning to think that the people here had given up on life.
Xia Ruoxin felt someone watching her. It was a strange feeling. She suddenly looked up and locked eyes with the man.
Bang! She dropped her toothbrush and cup into the river.
Her eyes widened as she let her toothbrush and cup get washed away. She could not believe who she had just seen.
