Time Travel: A Fisherwoman Goes to the Sea to Raise a Baby

Chapter 253: Lively Under the Osmanthus Tree

Zhan Jilan was not a good-tempered person either. He raised the wooden stick in his hand and was ready to hit him.

Suddenly he stopped.

Then he reluctantly pulled the man up.

Seeing this, Xu Guining thought, this is right!

"Bring me something to eat."

As soon as Xu Guining entered the room, he sat in the armchair and started to give orders like a big boss.

"There needs to be some meat! Your man has been hungry all day..."

Xu Guining reached out and took the bowl on the table and was about to drink water.

Maybe because he moved too hard, the bowl started shaking in his palm. He tried to steady it, but his fingers were limp and powerless as if he had lost control.

With a "clang", the bowl fell heavily to the ground, and broken porcelain pieces flew everywhere.

The man's face suddenly became terribly gloomy, veins popped out on his forehead, he turned around and glared at Zhan Jilan beside him, his eyes almost spewing fire, and he shouted at the top of his voice.

"Don't you have eyes? I'm starving to the point of being skin and bones! What are you doing standing there? Go get something to eat!"

Zhan Jilan curled her lips, her eyes filled with disgust.

Give her man back, is Xu Guining worthy of him?

Although they have similar faces, Xu Guining is inferior to Xu Yinli in every way.

If she wasn't really desperate, how could she have fallen for such a ruffian?

"There's no food at home. I need to go buy some."

Zhan Jilan said dissatisfiedly.

"Why don't you go then?"

Xu Guining said this in a harsh voice. He wanted to pick up the broken porcelain pieces on the ground and throw them over, but he found that he had no strength and became even angrier.

Zhan Jilan snorted lightly, turned around slowly, and deliberately made his footsteps heavy and loud.

The sun was at its brightest at noon, and under the sunlight, Zhan Jilan looked even whiter.

After thinking for a moment, she took a cloth and covered her head.

Then he walked through the winding alleys and headed straight towards the gambling house.

As soon as I arrived at the door of the gambling house, I felt scared when I saw the ferocious thugs.

But thinking about the small reward, he mustered up the courage to go forward.

"I know where the person you are looking for is..."

Zhan Jilan spoke in a muffled voice, lowered his head and did not dare to look directly at the person in front of him.

"Where did this auntie come from? There are so many people we are looking for. Do you know who we are looking for?"

The thug in front of him said impatiently.

"That's right, if you want to come in and play, you're always welcome. If you're here to cause trouble, get out now."

Another thug echoed this, squinting his eyes and speaking in a bad tone.

Zhan Jilan shrank her neck, her eyes evasive. “Xu Guining! The Xu Guining you’re looking for is… at my house.”

The thugs at the door exchanged glances.

"What's going on? That bastard owes a lot of money, why don't you go and have some fun?"

One of the thugs quipped.

"Walk around..."

The thugs smiled at each other and signaled Zhan Jilan to lead the way.

She lowered her eyes, her fingers unconsciously fiddling with the corner of her clothes, the patch on her cuff faintly visible in the sunlight.

The thugs in front of her immediately noticed her actions and had only one thought in their minds.

It’s so white, so bright.

Amid the stalemate, the gambling house owner Ma Sanda came out in a swagger.

Seeing the situation here, he curiously sent the manager to inquire.

After a brief silence, she slowly raised her head, her eyes lingering on the purse on Ma San's waist for a moment, and spoke loudly.

"Master Ma, as I said before, there's a reward for providing clues related to Xu Guining. Now I'm not only providing clues, I can also lead you to find him. So what's the reward?"

Zhan Jilan said this tentatively, his heart suddenly rising to his throat.

Ma San raised his eyebrows slightly and gestured to the manager.

One of them pulled out a bulging purse from his pocket and threw it into Zhan Jilan's hand: "This is your reward. If you dare to cheat us, you will suffer!"

After receiving the money, Zhan Jilan's tone was full of joy. He tightly grasped the purse, and cold sweat broke out on his palms.

"Let's go, I'll take you there."

She returns home with the goons and hides in a corner, watching the goons rushing into the house.

After a commotion, Xu Guining was dragged out of the house. He was still sleepy and had not yet reacted when he was beaten up.

"Ah! Spare me! Spare me!" Xu Guining's screams were particularly harsh.

Zhan Jilan leaned against the wall, watching Xu Guining being beaten black and blue, with a barely perceptible sneer on his lips.

After a lot of trouble, the man was beaten so badly that he couldn't get up, and he finally got his revenge.

But I still didn’t get the money.

"Damn it! This kid went out for a while and came back without a penny."

A thug searched the house for a long time, cursing.

Zhan Jilan, who was standing aside, was a little proud. She had hidden all the things in the house before she left.

It would be strange if you could find anything.

Thinking that the thugs wouldn't be able to find anything to do with their evil intentions, Zhan Jilan quietly slipped out while no one was paying attention.

After the noise in the house subsided for a long time, she slowly walked towards home.

The gate to the courtyard was half-open, and the gap that was violently kicked open was glaring in the sunlight.

When Zhan Jilan pushed open the door, a strong smell of blood hit him in the face.

The room was in a mess, with tables and chairs toppled over and broken porcelain bowls scattered all over the floor. Sunlight shone through the broken paper-covered window frames and onto the mess on the floor.

She looked around and finally her eyes fell on Xu Guining.

At this moment, he was lying in the corner like a puddle of mud, his face was covered with bruises, blood foam hung from the corners of his mouth, his chest was rising and falling weakly, and he was groaning faintly.

His legs were bent at a strange angle, and he no longer looked as arrogant as before.

Zhan Jilan stepped over the debris on the floor and glanced around the house. There was no sign of life.

She walked straight to the bed, dragged out a tattered bundle from under the bed, and began to pack her clothes in an orderly manner.

Hearing the noise, Xu Guining raised his head with great effort and pleaded in an unclear voice: "Save me... Save me..."

She turned a deaf ear to him and did not pause in her movements.

She stuffed a few old clothes, a bronze mirror with a chipped corner, and the bulging bag of reward silver into her bag one by one.

After finishing packing, Zhan Jilan tied up the bag, stood there, and took a last look at the man on the ground.

The sunlight shone on her face, outlining her cold features.

His eyes were filled with disdain, without a trace of affection.

"How do you think they found you so easily? Of course I was the one leading the way!"

Zhan Jilan said this proudly, walked out of the house without looking back, and closed the rickety door behind him.

Xu Guining looked at the closed door, his eyes gradually dimmed, and the yard fell into dead silence.

……

The air was filled with the smoke from the kitchen in the backyard, and Xu Yiyi was staring at the silver-gray shark meat on the chopping board in a daze.

Suddenly a gust of wind blew in from outside the window.

The tip of her nose felt itchy, and she sneezed, "A-choo—" The crisp sound of the sneeze startled the dust on the beam and made it fall down.

Xu Yiyi rubbed the red tip of his nose and subconsciously looked out the window.

"Grandpa Lao Lu, you should give him a good beating and teach him a lesson, so that he won't come to trouble Sister Yi Yi all the time."

Xu Anyang listened to Lao Lu talking about what happened in the backyard last night.

He was so angry that his teeth were itching and he wanted to bite off a piece of Xu Guining's flesh.

The aunts were talking to each other, becoming more and more excited, and the chatter under the osmanthus tree was so lively.