The two of them pretended to be strangers during the day, but at night they cuddled up warmly, eating and sleeping together.
Of course, they hadn’t yet progressed to measuring each other’s lengths or testing each other’s depths.
But after Lu Youling moved out, the plot returned to its proper course. He had some minor conflicts with the villagers of Fenshan Village, made a few friends, and often went foraging for wild vegetables and researching delicious foods.
It was starting to feel a bit like one of those time-travel-to-the-90s novels.
Last time Gong Ze visited, he even saw Lu Youling drying medicinal herbs in his room. Gong Ze understood then that Lu Youling had picked up his medical knowledge again and was starting to figure out how to make use of his golden finger.
Besides that, romance wasn’t the only thing in their lives.
While Lu Youling was grinding through his daily life instance, Gong Ze, on his end, had successfully sold off all the land deeds he had previously given to the village chief. Most of the plots were bought up by the villagers, and the remaining few were sold to the village chief himself at half price.
After all, the village chief had taken on the responsibility of acting as the intermediary and guarantor. Since both Gong Ze and Lu Youling were still living in Fenshan Village and would need his help in the future, Gong Ze intended to stay on good terms with him.
The village chief, having gained such a great bargain, was overjoyed. Both parties were very satisfied with the arrangement.
At this point, Gong Ze had over two thousand silver dollars in hand—a considerable fortune.
Meanwhile, during the day, Gong Ze’s revenge progress bar was steadily advancing.
Every day, he ate, slept, and pissed off Old Lady Gong.
He had practically turned her into a minor mob to farm.
As pitiful as the old woman might sound, Gong Ze had no intention of going soft on her.
Keep in mind that although she was old, she was also petty and vindictive.
As the saying goes: It’s not that the old have turned bad, but that the bad have grown old.
Back in the day, she had tormented and humiliated both the original owner and his mother in every way imaginable. The original owner’s mother was a tragic woman—her mother died young, her father was a gambler, and during the war-torn years, her father (the original owner’s grandfather) quickly sold her off to a brothel.
Later, the old master, attracted by her beauty, brought her home as a concubine.
She thought her troubles were over, but in reality, she had walked straight into another hell.
In the original story, every time the old master spent the night with the original owner’s mother, the next day, when the concubine knelt to pay her respects, the principal wife would insist that the concubine hold a teacup. Then, with malicious glee, she would pour newly boiled, scalding hot water into it.
The original owner’s mother could only clench her teeth and bear it.
Because if she dared to let go, an even more miserable fate awaited her.
By the time she put the teacup down, both of her palms would be covered in grape-sized blisters.
Seeing the concubine’s agony, the old woman would smile with satisfaction and immediately order her to go do the laundry.
She would specifically instruct her to scrub vigorously.
Just imagine: the concubine’s palms, already parboiled raw, covered with massive blisters.
And in the dead of winter, with bone-chillingly cold water, she had to clench her teeth and scrub the clothes with all her strength.
The blisters would burst. The stretched, bloated skin would shrivel and hang from her palms. As she scrubbed, the damaged flesh would accidentally catch in the fabric and be torn away.
In the end, what water was left in the basin?
Nothing but the concubine’s own blood…
So, Old Lady Gong could be counted among the most skilled tormentors of the feudal era.
And that was just one small example of the suffering that made up the original owner and his mother’s miserable lives.
Old Lady Gong was no good, and her son was both wicked and stupid. The original owner was often beaten and verbally abused by him as a child.
But when the old woman’s son beat the original owner, the original owner wasn’t allowed to fight back.
If he dared to, the old woman would have the servants pin him down and flog him ruthlessly.
Old Lady Gong would caress her biological son’s face, and mother and son would triumphantly watch the original owner lying face-down on the dirt, bleeding from his head.
Then, the battered original owner would return to the rundown little courtyard he shared with his mother. His mother, face streaming with tears, would touch him gently, then sigh as she went outside the old woman’s door to plead for mercy and apologize on her son’s behalf.
Because if she didn’t, the beating he had already received wouldn’t be the end of it.
After that, the old woman would use even more horrifying methods to torment the young original owner.
And the equally powerless mother could only kneel and beg the old woman for mercy in exchange for her son’s safety.
That day.
The original owner’s mother knelt for a very, very long time. Finally, the lady’s door opened—but out came a servant woman carrying a basin of foot-washing water, which she dumped over the original owner’s mother’s head.
Hiding in the corner of the wall, the original owner—who had disobeyed his mother and snuck out—witnessed all of this with his own eyes…
So Gong Ze could fully understand the original owner’s hatred.
His murderous vengeance.
His ruthless retaliation.
If Gong Ze had been the one to carry it out, he probably would have been even harsher.
After all, there is no one in this world who wouldn’t feel rage when someone they love is humiliated.
“In the original story, how did the original owner kill his aunt?”
[Uh, there were no detailed descriptions of that, Big Shot.]
The system answered.
Gong Ze thought for a moment, then said, “If it were me, I might make her walk on burning hot coals. With every step, she’d hear the sizzle of her own soles, searing pain corroding every nerve.”
“Forward is agony, backward is agony too.”
“That would suit a guilty person perfectly.”
The system: …
Holy crap, you’re so messed up!!!
Gong Ze raised an eyebrow nonchalantly. “A world where only the guilty are wailing in agony—that’s what I call peace.”
Who wasn’t a bit of an idealist back in the day?
Geniuses are all crazy.
Just as a villain’s idealism is to destroy this painful world.
When Gong Ze was young, his idealism was to create a button that, when pressed, would kill all criminals at once.
The system twitched its metaphorical mouth. [You’ve got some dreams, huh.]
Gong Ze smiled slightly and gave it a standard, elegant bow. “Thank you for the compliment~”
The system: … I wasn’t complimenting you at all, you bastard!!
You’re a natural-born antisocial!
The system didn’t even want to imagine what kind of bastard Gong Ze would have become if, back in the day, he hadn’t been taken in as a disciple by his teacher—if that gentle man hadn’t influenced him.
He might have already destroyed the world.
The system: (／_＼)
Speaking of which—Gong Ze, feeling a bit down, said, “Ah, I’m in a bad mood. Time to go farm a minor mob to cheer myself up.”
So, just as Old Lady Gong was ranting to a servant woman about what an ungrateful little beast Gong Ze was, he suddenly appeared, smiling at the two of them as they panicked.
“Auntie, you were absolutely right last time. The household really does need to cut back on expenses. Why don’t we start by reducing the staff? For example… you.”
The old woman shivered all over.
“Wh-What are you going to do?!”
After all the conditioning Gong Ze had put Old Lady Gong through day after day, her scalp tingled just at the sight of him.
Gong Ze smiled. “Nothing much. I just think that since you’re in such great health, you hardly need two servant women waiting on you at the same time. So starting today, let’s send one away. And you can do a bit of work yourself—consider it exercise.”
The servant woman listened pale-faced, her head bowed, as the two spoke. When she heard that Gong Ze was going to send her away, she crumpled to the ground.
“Second Master! Please don’t!”
“I’ve worked for the Gong family for over thirty years! If you send me away, where am I supposed to go?”
Gong Ze looked at her pitiful, tragic expression, but instead of softening, his smile faded. He looked down at her coldly, with a meaningful gaze. “Yes, I’d forgotten. You really have worked here for a very long time.”
Just as a look of joy blossomed on the servant woman’s face, he added darkly:
“So long that from the day my mother entered this door to the day she died, you were there.”
The man walked over slowly, ignoring the old woman beside him staring at him as if he were a ghost. Piece by piece, he peeled away his polite, restrained, and gentle facade, revealing the bloody, ugly truth beneath.
Expressionless, he spoke in a soft, almost gentle tone:
“So long that every evil act my aunt committed had you as her accomplice. Every humiliation my mother and I suffered—your shadow was there.”
“Come to think of it, who was it that threw that basin of foot-washing water on my mother?”
“Oh~~~”
The man’s expression lit up with false realization. Suddenly, he turned his head and stared at her coldly, enunciating each word: “It was you.”
“!!!”
The servant woman’s joyful expression froze instantly.
Her aged face went deathly pale, and her body trembled like a sieve.
The old woman stiffened her neck and said rigidly, “That was all so long ago. You’re still holding a grudge over that? How can you—”
Before she could finish, Gong Ze suddenly turned his head. The look in his eyes was so terrifying that she jolted where she stood.
As cold sweat poured down the old woman’s face, the two stared at each other for a few seconds. Then the handsome man with pitch-black eyes suddenly smiled…
A sinister, eerie smile.
As if ghostly energy could seep through his stark white teeth and dark, hollow eyes.
He said, “Auntie, I will remember it for the rest of my life.”
“……………”
·
Not long after Gong Ze left the old woman’s courtyard, the sound of the servant woman’s loud wails came from inside.
The other servants craned their necks, peering in.
Could even cruel people cry in sorrow?
Inside the room, the old woman clenched her fists, slumping dejectedly against her soft pillow. Her eyes glared straight at the doorway where Gong Ze had disappeared.
In her heart surfaced the expression and gaze on Gong Ze’s face when he had said those words. It was as if a wave of cold air had drilled from the soles of her feet straight up to the crown of her head.
A chilling, lingering coldness that wouldn’t dissipate.
It filled her with fear. She felt that if this continued, Gong Er—this debt-collecting demon—would surely kill her.
“I can’t go on like this… I can’t go on like this…”
Amid the servant woman’s sobs, the old woman muttered over and over.
The way she stared at the gate gradually shifted from fear to ruthlessness.
“Alright, stop crying!”
The old woman angrily cursed the servant woman, who was sitting on the ground with tears and snot streaming down her face.
She lowered her voice and told the woman to crawl over. When the servant woman complied, she said, “Don’t worry. We’ve been mistress and servant for so many years—I won’t let you starve on the streets.”
Hearing this, the servant woman was moved and immediately kowtowed.
“Thank you, madam. Thank you, madam.”
But the old woman cut her off, her expression turning cold. “That’s enough. Don’t thank me just yet. After you go out today, I need you to buy something for me.”
The servant woman looked bewildered.
Then the old woman whispered a few words.
The servant woman’s face instantly filled with terror. “You’re not planning to—”
“That’s right. He has never treated me like his aunt. I kept him alive because I wanted to preserve a male heir for the Gong family. But this Gong Er goes against me at every turn! I’ve tolerated him for too long. I might as well just poison him to death!”
“…” The servant woman went pale, clamping her mouth shut. She didn’t dare look at her mistress’s twisted, ferocious face.
But the servant woman had served the old woman for many years—they were birds of a feather.
She was no good person either.
After only a moment’s hesitation, thinking of the severance pay that would secure her future, she nodded. “…Alright. I’ll go right away.”
·
On the other side.
That night, taking advantage of the darkness and Shuisheng’s cover, Gong Ze left the Gong residence and went to Lu Youling’s place for their secret rendezvous.
He knocked on Lu Youling’s back door and called out for Lu Youling to open the latch.
But as soon as Gong Ze stepped inside, Lu Youling threw his arms around him and said nervously, “Gong Ze, I found someone today!”
Leave a Reply