Chapter 14
Suspicion
First Arrival in Another World 014 — Suspicion
Lianyi raised her eyes to look at the man, her face flushed and her ears red. Just last night she had sworn that the money she had spent would be earned back by herself, yet now she was about to make someone else go hungry because of her.
“Where’s the food?” the man asked again.
Lianyi felt awkward.
When she lifted her head, she saw the clothes in the courtyard that had not yet been brought in. An idea struck her. “Dahu, is there a pawnshop around here?” At this point she could no longer worry about whether the man would become suspicious of her. After all, as someone born and raised in Sujia Village, how could she not know whether there was a pawnshop?
Pawnshops were things found in towns—what village would have one?
The man glanced at her indifferently, giving no hint of what he was thinking, then turned and walked out.
Lianyi followed him out and saw his tall figure leave the courtyard. She did not call out to stop him, only shrugged her shoulders instead. He was probably going to find food on his own. That was fine—it temporarily solved her problem. Even though the man had married into the family, he couldn’t rely solely on a woman to support him, could he?
Another clear night arrived. As darkness fell, the full moon rose—nearly the fifteenth of the lunar month.
Su Lianyi took down the clothes from the courtyard, folded them one by one, neatly and carefully placed them into the wardrobe, then dampened a rag and began her habitual dusting. The room, once gray and filthy, was now tidy and clean. She wasn’t truly focused on tidying up; in reality, she was just finding something to keep herself busy. Her mind kept drifting back to the illness of the man from the Sun family.
After about an hour or more, Dahu returned, carrying a wild rabbit and two pheasants.
Looking at Su Lianyi, who was wiping away dust, he spat out a single word, stingy with speech: “Food.” He tossed the game he had caught into the kitchen, then turned and went into the courtyard to chop firewood.
Lianyi raised an eyebrow, greatly appreciating this taciturn “new colleague” of hers, and went into the kitchen to start processing the game.
Back when she was studying, Su Lianyi had ranked at the top of her anatomy classes—dissecting mice in her freshman year, rabbits in her junior year. Now, handling game in the kitchen was truly a waste of her talents. Although she had no scalpel and only an almost rusted kitchen knife, in her hands the blade seemed to come alive. Skinning and gutting were done in one smooth sequence.
When the man finished chopping wood and stepped inside, a rusted kitchen knife was handed to him. “Sharpen it.”
The man reached out and took the knife. “Mm.” He turned and went back out, and soon the steady, powerful sound of sharpening could be heard.
While the man sharpened the knife, Lianyi tossed the processed game into a basin and washed it clean. The two worked in silence, communicating as much as possible with just one or two words. It looked rather strange, yet there was another kind of harmony to it.
When the man entered the kitchen again, the knife he handed over was now bright and new, reflecting a cold gleam under the dim oil lamp. Lianyi secretly thought that even if it couldn’t quite cut iron like mud, it could probably slice hair blown against it.
Taking the gleaming knife, Su Lianyi suddenly thought of the Sun family. That man was weak from potassium deficiency and malnutrition, and not only him—the child also urgently needed nourishment. The chicken in her hands, though not a domesticated one, should still be quite nourishing. She hesitated again and again.
“Well, Dahu, there’s something I’d like to ask you,” she said awkwardly. She really wasn’t used to speaking so humbly to beg for help.
The man, who had been about to turn and leave, stopped. He tilted his head slightly to look at her, waiting for her to finish.
Lianyi clenched her teeth. The patient was more important—what did her pride matter? “Could we give one of these pheasants away? Just give away my share, is that okay? I won’t eat dinner tonight—consider this chicken as what I’ve already eaten.”
A trace of doubt appeared in the man’s cold eyes. “Give it to whom?”
Seeing hope, Lianyi’s mood lifted, and her tone became much lighter. “It’s like this—just now Sister-in-law Sun came to see me. You should have seen her. Brother Sun is ill and needs some nourishment, but given the Sun family’s situation, they probably can’t afford meat anymore. So… I want to give them one pheasant to help them through this urgent time.”
The man looked even more surprised. He turned his body slightly and stared at her with a scrutinizing gaze.
Lianyi froze. Did he not want to give it away?
The man reached out. His fingers were long, with calluses on his palms and fingertips. “Give it to me. I’ll take it over.”
“Mm, okay.” Lianyi hurriedly stood up, found a sheet of oiled paper, wrapped the cleaned pheasant in it, tied it with paper twine, and handed it to him. The man took it and turned to leave.
Su Lianyi suddenly felt extremely light-hearted, as if a heavy psychological burden had been lifted all at once. Looking again at Dahu’s cold, distant back, she found him much more approachable. “Wait, Dahu.”
The man, about to head out, stopped again. In the darkness, his brow furrowed impatiently.
A plump figure ran out from the kitchen. Her fair face carried a faint smile—one without any affectation, making people feel comfortable. “Since we don’t have any staple food, I plan to roast the rabbit and the chicken. Is that okay?”
“Mm.”
“You don’t like sweet flavors, right? Then I’ll make them spicy, okay?”
“Mm.”
Already in a good mood, Lianyi found Dahu even more endearing seeing him like this. “Got it. Go early and come back early.” This man—he looked cold as ice, but he was actually easy to deal with.
The man paused for a moment, then finally turned and left, disappearing into the night before long.
Lianyi returned to the kitchen. After processing the remaining rabbit and pheasant, she drained them, brushed them with oil, threaded them onto two new iron hooks, lit the fire, and began roasting them—turning them as she sprinkled spices over them.
Su Lianyi was not naïve enough to think that Dahu had volunteered to deliver the pheasant out of concern for her walking at night. That man was constantly on guard against her—she knew that well, just as she was also wary of him.
Both of them had secrets. If they were smart, they would maintain a tacit understanding. That was for the best.
And Dahu’s true purpose in delivering the pheasant, just as Su Lianyi had thought, was to probe the situation.
The sudden change in Su Lianyi’s temperament forced him to be on guard. After all, he had a mission to carry out and had to be cautious. The former Su Lianyi, though contemptible and despicable in his eyes, posed no danger and required no vigilance. The current Su Lianyi, however, made him deeply uneasy. How could a person change so quickly, so drastically? If her appearance and obese figure had not remained the same, he would have thought this person was not Su Lianyi at all.
When he returned from the Sun household and learned everything that had happened there, his unease only deepened, murderous intent rising in waves.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, he smelled a rich fragrance. Aside from the three overly sweet sweet-potato cakes in the morning, he had not eaten a single grain of rice. His stomach growled—he was hungry.
“You’re back? You’ve worked hard. Go in and eat,” Lianyi said with a slight smile. It wasn’t forced; it came from the heart. Thinking of the Sun family finally being able to eat meat after so long put her in a good mood.
In the man’s mind, images kept replaying of the Sun family kneeling on the ground in gratitude. A female demon of over ten years suddenly turning into a great benevolent person? Someone lazy by nature suddenly becoming diligent and capable? Someone clumsy and inept suddenly acquiring excellent cooking skills?
No—this was impossible. Who exactly was she!?
A friend warned this girl that leaving the author’s notes blank is shameful… uh… I don’t know what to say, so I’ll just ask: have you eaten?
