12. Forbidden Bud

Powerful Crossbow?

To have such a thing in the village would be a dimensional strike, anyone would die, including him.

Song Cheng froze.

He then glanced towards Ding Sigu.

[Strength: 5~5]

[Favorability: 50]

The second and third Eldest Sons of the Ding Family hurriedly ran to stop their big brother's bleeding.

The second brother was panic-stricken.

The third brother, however, was quite calm. His eyes rolled and he whispered something to the second brother and then said, "Hurry up!"

Ding Siyan obeyed his younger brother's arrangement without any complaints and rushed out the door.

When Song Cheng saw this, he was heading in the direction of his own home.

He immediately became nervous.

Should he risk a confrontation?

No sooner had this thought emerged than he suppressed it.

How could he risk it?

At that moment, Song Cheng felt a chill overcome him; he swiftly returned and settled back into his body. Then he moved his hand to hold the mistress of the house beside him.

Tong Jia knew he had only been gone for half an incense stick's time, so she hadn't slept. Seeing him stir, she conscientiously snuggled closer, using her body warmth to warm him up.

Song Cheng quickly said, "The second Eldest Son of the Ding Family is coming over."

Tong Jia immediately tensed up and reached for the sickle by the bed.

Song Cheng said, "Crippled Chen went for revenge and stabbed the Eldest Son of the Ding Family. He was killed by the others. Now that the second Eldest Son is coming over, he's probably seeking your help with the injuries."

He did not mention the "colluding with bandits" part.

His fiery little mistress might not be able to keep it to herself just for this incident alone.

If he added "an uncommitted collusion with bandits," her reaction might give everything away to the third Eldest Son of the Ding Family.

Ding Siyan, only fourteen years old, possessed a ruthlessness that did not match his age.

Tong Jia said, "What should we do then?"

Song Cheng said, "If there's a crowd, we go. If not, we don't. I'll accompany you. If a fight breaks out, we take down the third Eldest Son of the Ding Family first."

Tong Jia was about to get up and dress but Song Cheng held her back.

"You don't know yet."

...

Sure enough, it wasn't long before knocking came from Rejuvenation Hall.

"Doctor Tong, Doctor Tong..."

The anxious voice of the second Eldest Son of the Ding Family, Ding Siyan, resounded.

"Doctor Tong!"

Knock, knock, knock.

He kept knocking on the door.

After a while, Tong Jia's voice came from inside the house.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Ding Siyan.

Doctor Tong, my big brother is dying. He was stabbed by a villain, right in the chest. Please... please come with me quickly."

"It's too late..." Tong Jia declined, her tone clearly showing skepticism.

Ding Siyan immediately thought of what his younger brother said and hurriedly spoke, "Doctor Tong, how about this, I'll go and call those on night watch, then gather the villagers too. That way... you can rest assured, right?"

As Tong Jia still hesitated, suddenly, from outside came the sound of someone falling to their knees, followed by a "bang, bang, bang" and Ding Siyan's pleading voice, "I'm kowtowing to you, I'm begging you."

In the dark, Tong Jia wearing embroidered shoes and wrapped in a cotton-padded jacket, looked sideways at the man beside her.

Song Cheng narrowed his eyes, looking at the distant information.

Ding Siyan's favorability was changing, from 50 it had become 60, and there was a trend indicating it would continue to rise.

Taking into account many factors, Song Cheng judged... he probably was not lying.

The three Ding brothers were the root of Tang River Village, and also nephews to the Village Chief. If Tong Jia refused to save him, it would bring big trouble.

So, he nodded.

Tong Jia said, "Alright, but call more people. If your big brother indeed was stabbed, you must also call the Village Chief over."

Ding Siyan responded with mounting excitement, "Thank you, Doctor Tong, thank you. I'll go call them now, you can rest easy."

At that moment, his favorability directly rose from 60 to 80.

...

A short while later.

A large group of people gathered around the Ding Family house in the depths of a midwinter night.

By the time Tong Jia and Song Cheng arrived, they could already hear various voices.

"Yune, how could you conspire with your lover to harm the three children of the Ding Family. We searched yesterday, and there was nothing, right? Could it be that you hid the money for yourself to keep, and didn't give any to Granny Shi?"

"I didn't, I... I didn't do anything."

"Look at the Eldest Son of the Ding Family, his chest pierced through, you have such a cruel heart.

To do harm to a child, even having your lover do it."

"Crippled Chen is not my lover, I have nothing to do with him."

"Not your lover? Then why was he helping you search the house yesterday, and came to kill at midnight? That's what lovers do."

"You sly vixen, born pretty, naturally meant to seduce men!"

"You vixen, why don't you just go die!"

"Go die!"

Yune was already dumbfounded by the insults.

She stared blankly at the corpse on the ground, then suddenly let out a scream, turned, and ran, only to be grabbed by someone who fiercely said, "Wait for the Village Chief to deal with it!"

It seemed that someone noticed Tong Jia, and hurriedly said, "Doctor Tong is here."

The crowd parted, and Tong Jia hurried forward, glancing at the unmoved youth on the ground.

Song Cheng, however, glanced at Yune.

Without a doubt, this adept inversion of right and wrong had the handprint of the third Eldest Son of the Ding Family all over it.

Meanwhile, the Village Chief came out. He held a leather pouch in one hand, and with the other, he was stuffing the confiscated Powerful Crossbow into it.

He had just asked, and apparently, the three kids had picked up the crossbow from outside, theorizing that it was left behind by bandits robbing a grain merchant, abandoned during a struggle. They found it interesting and kept it, just to have it happen to kill Crippled Chen who came knocking. However, leaving such a weapon behind would eventually cause trouble, so he confiscated it.

As for Yune's lover, he was dragged by the villagers, who were discussing giving him a hasty burial in a barren plot of land.

This "bias" was quite striking, Song Cheng thought that if it were up to him, the corpse might have ended up tossed out for the wild dogs...

At that moment, the Village Chief said, "Doctor Tong, we appreciate your help. You go ahead and tend to Siyu; for the rest, we'll see if the boy is fated to survive."

Without further ado, Tong Jia quickly examined the patient.

It seemed that Crippled Chen's stab was slightly askew and had missed the heart. So, although the injury was severe, it wasn't necessarily fatal.

After a long time, yet longer still...

Tong Jia treated the wound, then turned her attention to the blade.

The blade was very sharp, with no rust.

She tossed the blade aside and said to the three Ding brothers, "The injury is severe. You need to rest for at least two or three months before you can get out of bed. During this period, you will also need to take some medicine to speed up healing and remove the poison."

The Village Chief said, "Doctor Tong, just prepare the prescription, and I will cover the cost of the medicine."

His son had also been conscripted and hadn't returned. Now he really regarded these second branches of the Ding Family's third child as his own.

On the bed, Ding Siyu also weakly expressed his thanks, "Thank you, Doctor Tong."

Song Cheng looked over.

The goodwill of Eldest Son of the Ding Family actually rose from 50 to 80, while that of the second brother went from 80 to 90, but only the third brother... it only went up to 60.

The Village Chief clapped his hands and said, "Let's all go back to our homes."

Then he turned to Yune and said, "You go back first and take care of Granny Shi, behave yourself!"

As the crowd dispersed, many villagers pointed at Yune and whispered among themselves, cursing her as a "saucy vixen," "seducing others to kill their children," "embezzling silver," "deserving of being drowned in The Drowning Cage, submerged in Tang River."

Yune shuddered with fear.

...

...

The next day, early in the morning.

[You have spent a harmonious night with Tong Jia and gained 6 Remaining Points.]

[Added points: 13 points.]

After waking up, Song Cheng continued to sharpen his blade in silence.

His slender and delicate fingers brushed over the blade, the coarse rust causing his skin to ache.

Shi ka, shi ka, shi ka...

He sharpened it with focus.

The increased goodwill of the three Ding brothers didn't make him let his guard down because he noticed something: most of the villagers sided with those three Ding brothers... perhaps because of the Village Chief as well.

If one day, those three brothers did to him and Tong Jia what they had done to others, then... the young wife of the eastern family would also be called a "saucy vixen." How could she not with such a pretty face? In this village, any beautiful woman... was a saucy vixen and would seduce men, so they also deserved to be punished with The Drowning Cage.

We must leave this place!

But the Village Chief would unlikely let them go.

Even if he and Tong Jia went to the county town, they wouldn't be able to settle down or find a home.

Tong Jia said, "Brother Cheng, I'll go look into the Cultivation Technique for you, and Yune is really quite pitiable."

Song Cheng nodded.

The rise in goodwill of the three Ding brothers and the fact that Eldest Son of the Ding Family was bedridden would certainly delay things that would have otherwise happened.

He still had time.

As for how to leave Tang River Village...

He began to ponder.

...

...

In the afternoon, Tong Jia hurried back from outside, accompanied by Yune, and Granny Shi, who was being carried on a wooden plank by several people.

Tong Jia leaned in close to him and quickly said, "Granny Shi is close to death. The villagers say it's Yune's fault. If Granny Shi dies, the villagers are going to make Yune go through The Drowning Cage, to be drowned in the Tang River."

Song Cheng softly said, "Both of us know that's not the case."

Tong Jia replied, "Who would believe us? Now if you speak out, they'll just think we're Yune's accomplices."

Song Cheng didn't turn his head but could hear Yune's pitiful cries and the continuous curses from the villagers, each more unpleasant than the last.

"They don't believe Yune at all?"

"Not even the Village Chief believes her. Who would?"

Tong Jia responded, and then added, "I need to go treat Granny Shi quickly."

Song Cheng turned his head and looked toward where Yune stood, subject to scorn and ridicule from all sides, and suddenly... his pupils constricted.

In a world where Ink had not completed the picture, a startling and horrifying streak of blood suddenly appeared, like a firefly, gently landing on Yune's location.

Song Cheng reminisced.

His heart began to pound fiercely.

Fuck, isn't what Yune is undergoing the same scenario that forms an "evil spirit" in certain horror movies? A beautiful woman from out of town, tormented by the narrow-minded villagers, ultimately unjustly killed, full of resentment, then transforming into a ghost...

Song Cheng watched as the bloody firefly perched on Yune's shoulder, hearing the continuing insults from the villagers, he realized... the villagers couldn't see this bloody color at all.

This was "Taboo Programming."

And Yune... was being scripted into this program...

His body began to tremble.

Compared to taboo, those three evildoers of the Ding Family were worth nothing.

At this point, he couldn't care less about staying out of trouble. He hastily stood up and flicked the Fine Blade.

He didn't want the taboo to take shape.

The rust on the blade was shaken off, revealing its gleaming sharpness.

Meanwhile, the data beside him changed from "2~2" to "3~3."

This meant in direct combat, he could defeat most people, but he was short on stamina, gasping for air after a few cuts. If faced with a Powerful Crossbow, he would be shot through the heart with a single arrow.

He sheathed the blade back into its oiled scabbard, using it as a walking stick, and quickly headed towards Yune.

"Sister-in-law Yune, it's been a tiring day. Go back inside and rest."

Song Cheng came to Yune's side with the blade used as a cane, stood in front of her, and said politely to the others, "Everyone, Granny Shi needs a quiet environment to recover. Please, leave her be."

The villagers then slowly dispersed.

Song Cheng led Yune into the room where he had once slept, and softly said, "Sister-in-law Yune, don't take these things to heart. Both the owner of the eastern house and I believe in your character."

Silence fell, almost chilling, before Yune suddenly looked up and stared straight at Song Cheng.

Song Cheng, suppressing the tension in his heart, tried to maintain a sunny smile, and said, "Sister-in-law Yune, you should rest well. I'll keep watch at the door, and no one will come in."

With that, he walked outside.

The door closed slowly and eerily.

Song Cheng sat on the threshold outside.

After a while, a voice came from inside the door.

"I saw you sharpening the blade, Doctor Tong must have sought the Cultivation Technique for you. I'll tell you the Cultivation Technique, and you kill Ding Siyu for me!"

Song Cheng was stunned.

Yune was indeed kind-hearted...

To this point, she hated only one of the three brothers of the Ding Family.

"Okay,"

He replied gravely.

Soon after, he felt Yune leaning against the door from inside, her voice beginning to recite the Cultivation Technique slowly.