Chapter 116: Unchaste
Four or five burly men were gathered around a large iron pot. Something was cooking inside, sending steam straight up.
The village head went over and bowed with his hands clasped. "Gentlemen, we are just passing through and plan to rest here for the night. If we are a disturbance, please bear with us."
A bald man glanced outside. Seeing there were quite a few of them, he hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Do as you please, old man."
The hall was quite large. Aside from a headless Buddha statue in the middle, the rest was open space. The group wasted no time, leading the mule carts over the threshold. They parked the carts in a corner and unhitched the mules to feed on their fodder.
Then, they went into the courtyard to gather dry leaves and branches to start a fire for cooking.
There was a well in the courtyard, and surprisingly, they could still draw water from it. Everyone rushed to get some.
As everyone was busy preparing their meal, Gu Fei saw several more people walk through the entrance.
It was a young man carrying a large bundle on his back and holding a little girl of two or three in his arms. With him was a young, rather pretty woman, leading a four- or five-year-old boy by the hand.
As soon as they entered, they saw the large pot of food the men were cooking. The woman stared, her eyes glued to the pot.
The young man tugged at her, and the two of them found a place to sit down.
Mrs. Chen and the others hadn’t finished cooking yet, but on the other side, the contents of the burly men’s pot were ready.
Each of them grabbed a bowl, and one began to ladle out the food with a large bamboo spoon.
The woman could see clearly: they were ladling out chunks of meat, and the broth had a faint, milky-white color.
The woman suddenly rushed over, looking at the men with pleading eyes. "I haven’t eaten a single grain of rice in two days. Kind sirs, could you please be charitable and spare me a little something to eat?"
One of the men answered her with a cold snort. "We barely have enough for ourselves. There’s none for you."
Watching his wife go over to beg for food, the young man’s face flushed with a mixture of shame and anger, which was quickly overcome by helplessness.
The woman continued to plead, "Please, kind sirs, have mercy! I’m not asking for much. Just a single bone would be enough."
The bald man suddenly grinned. "Well, it’s not impossible."
"Why don’t you be my woman, little miss? I’ll ladle you a bowl. How about that?"
A conflicted expression crossed the woman’s face.
The young man snapped, "You shameless woman! Get back here right now!"
Gu Fei saw that the man was furious, but his voice wasn’t very loud. It lacked strength. ’He must be weak from hunger.’
The woman glanced back at her two children. After a moment’s hesitation, she walked quickly to the bald man’s side, knelt, and lowered her head. Submissively, she said, "I am willing to be with you. All I ask for is one full meal a day."
The young man’s eyes looked ready to pop from their sockets. He screamed, "Shameless! Utterly shameless! You... you are an unfaithful wife!"
The woman glanced at him apathetically. "Will being a faithful wife keep us alive? You’re a scholar. You can’t carry a load on your shoulders or do any real work with your hands. You can’t even find us food. If I stay with you, we’ll starve to death sooner or later. I have no other choice."
The bald man roared with laughter, grabbed a bowl, and ladled it full of meat for the woman.
The woman took the bowl and, ignoring the scalding heat, drained the broth in a few gulps. Then she started grabbing the meat with her bare hands and stuffing it into her mouth. The way she ate... it was hard to watch.
Gu Fei couldn’t bear to watch any longer. She turned her head away and sat there in gloomy silence.
Su Chen, who was sitting not far from her, glanced at the woman and let out a disdainful sneer.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Chen had been stewing a large pot of wolf meat. After simmering over a high flame for nearly half an hour, the meat was finally tender.
The rice was cooked as well. The Gu Family had just gotten themselves sorted and were about to eat when they heard the young man’s voice cry out, "You bitch! What... what are you doing?"