Chapter 608
Chapter 608: Chapter 600: Willing but Unable Chapter 608: Chapter 600: Willing but Unable Tang Yuxin reached for the wooden stick that she always kept by her side.
The faint candlelight reflected in her eyes, dim and ghastly.
It flickered like a dying light, struggling to stay alive in the darkness.
The old man of the Song Family undid his trousers.
Despite trying to awaken the thing between his legs, it remained limp, showing no sign of response.
Despite his persistent efforts, it refused to react.
Stubborn as he was, the old man clenched his teeth and lunged forward.
Perhaps due to excessive drinking or the enveloping darkness, he forgot his surroundings – he was in the kitchen, littered with piles of firewood.
If it was the old lady of the Song Family, she could move around this kitchen without a candle, but not the old man.
What village man had ever set foot in the kitchen or cooked a meal?
The village held onto its old customs tightly.
Men lived like lords, and once married, they turned into great lords.
All chores were left to the women.
The village men could barely even pour water into their own mouths.
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With a thud, the old man of the Song Family fell to the ground and lay still for a while.
Tang Yuxin sat, wide-eyed, watching the weak and flickering candlelight.
By the time the candlelight was nearing its end, she finally stood up and walked over to the old man.
As she drew closer, she could smell the cheap alcohol on him.
He must have drunk a lot.
She nudged him with her foot, but he didn’t react, lying there like a corpse.
The sound of his heavy breathing filled the room.
Tang Yuxin gave him another kick, but he remained motionless.
She squatted down and grabbed his wrist.
Drinking too much and taking too much of that medicine for virility.
You’re gambling with your life now.
It was clear to Tang Yuxin, she could not let the old man stay here.
Or else, if the old lady of the Song Family found him here, she would be skinned alive.
Even though the old lady was hot-tempered, she wasn’t foolish.
She wasn’t the dim-witted Song, clueless of what was happening.
The old lady would surely deduce what the old man had been thinking.
When the time came, the old man wouldn’t be the one she’d have a problem with, or the one who’d get beaten up.
It would be Tang Yuxin who might get beaten to death.
The wind outside howled, rattling the dilapidated door…
The cold gusts of wind blew in through the door, biting into her bones…
Dopey Song stumbled about, pulling up his trousers and rubbing his eyes while cursing under his breath.
All this trouble to take a dump.
If he hadn’t forgotten to put the chamber pot in his room, he could have done his business there.
Humming a tune he’d picked up somewhere, though terribly off-key, he swayed back and forth.
It’s freezing cold.
Mumbling a curse, he staggered his way back toward the outhouse.
Suddenly, with a thump, he tripped over something and fell, mouth-first into the mud.
“Phaah, phaah…”
He spat onto the ground and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
As he rose to his feet, he gave a kick to the thing that had tripped him up.
A tree stump, left in such an inconvenient place.
He pulled his trousers back up and stumbled into the outhouse.
After squatting for a while in there to the point where his buttocks had gone numb from the cold, he stood up and continued his wobbly walk.
His foot bumped against the stump again.
He lifted a foot and stomped down hard on it, hearing a cracking sound.
It must have split.
“So fragile,” he muttered, pulling his trousers up, ready to go back to sleep.
The night wind brought frost and a morning that wasn’t so warm.
When the roosters were crowing, the village was bustling with activity.
Most people were preparing to go to their fields, aiming to plant some vegetables before the ground freezes.
But today, the Song Family seemed strange.
Usually, the old man was diligent and would get up early.
Even if he overslept, shouldn’t the old lady or the young mute wife they had bought be up?
Everyone knew the Song Family had bought a mute wife.
Although she was ugly and couldn’t speak, she was obedient.
If the old lady instructed her to go west, she wouldn’t dare go east.
If asked to climb the roof, she wouldn’t dare remove a tile.
She was that obedient.
Each day, the mute wife was always the first to wake.
She would fetch water from the neighbor’s well.
The whole village had only a few wells, and everyone drank water from these few sources.
The water the Song family used every day would be fetched by the mute wife early in the morning.
Today was strange though; it was already late, but the Song’s front door remained closed with no one coming out.
Of course, with so much happening in the village, no one would worry about whether the Song family had opened their door, gone out to the fields, or fetched water.
Everyone was busy minding their own business.
The door of the Song family creaked open half an hour later than usual.
Emerging from within was their frail and skinny mute wife.
Tang Yuxin carried a large bucket.
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The frostbite on her fingers was even more obvious now, in addition to cuts from the firewood.
Her hands were an unbearable sight.
Even the hardest working person in the village didn’t have hands like hers, but she did.
What did this prove?
It proved that she was worse off than even a beast.
She was nothing more than a dog kept by the Song Family.
She pulled the chain around her neck and carried the bucket to the well.
She pumped a large bucket of water and then brought it back to the Song Family.
Though it was less than a five-minute walk, every step was laborious, leaving her drenched in cold sweat.
A bead of sweat slid down her forehead.
When she got back to the Song house, she poured the water into the large water vat, preparing to fetch more.
Every day was the same.
She had to fetch at least five buckets of water before the water vat would be full.
As the chain dragged along the ground, the sound of metal rubbing against the ground could be heard clearly.
She looked in a particular direction, a cold glint in her dull eyes.
Enfeebled, Yuxin prepared to fetch more water.
Just as she was fetching the third bucket of water, piercing shrieks akin to the killing of a pig erupted from the Song house before she could reach the entrance.
Tang Yuxin entered the house with the bucket of water, the old lady’s screams were so loud that the entire village could hear them.
The old lady sat on the ground, constantly slapping her own legs.