Chapter 117: Eavesdropping
Gu Fei glanced back and saw the bald man with one arm wrapped around the woman’s waist, heading in their direction. There was a door over there that led to a side hall.
’Food and warmth breed lechery!’
That was the only thought in Gu Fei’s mind.
Sure enough, the bald man turned and shot the scholar a provocative grin. "Hey, bookworm," he taunted, "this woman’s mine now. What do you think we’re gonna do? The obvious, of course!"
The scholar’s face flushed crimson. He hugged the little girl in his arms tighter, his teeth grinding audibly.
Gu Zhang frowned. He looked like he wanted to say something but held his tongue.
The bald man, arm still around the woman, entered the side hall.
A short while later, strange sounds began to emanate from the side hall.
A man’s coarse panting, mingled with a woman’s low moans.
Gu Fei’s face instantly flushed red.
’Damn it, we’ve got men and women, young and old, all listening to a live sex show together!’
’It reminds me of what people in my past life used to say—how awkward it is for both you and your parents when a romantic scene comes on while you’re watching TV together.’
’But here, the Gu Family has four generations present!’
’The awkwardness is multiplied by a thousand!’
’It’s the very definition of being on pins and needles, utterly and completely mortifying!’
Gu Fei didn’t know where to look. In her flustered state, her eyes inexplicably met Su Chen’s.
His face was also slightly flushed, his expression just as panicked.
The moment their eyes met, they both felt the guilty awkwardness of being caught in the act. They jerked their gazes away in a panic. Su Chen stared down at his robes, while Gu Fei lowered her head to look at the bowl in her hands.
Gu Fei wanted to plug her ears, but that would be too obvious. She had no idea if her parents were watching her expression.
’Please, don’t let them be watching!’
’Damn it all. Even though she’d been a virgin in two lifetimes, she wasn’t naive—she’d seen Japanese porn. She couldn’t stop her mind from conjuring images to match the sounds from the next room. This was going to be the death of her!’
’Every second felt like an eternity!’
Gu Fei didn’t dare reach for more food. She just kept her head down, shoveling rice into her mouth, terrified of accidentally making eye contact with anyone again.
But that damned bald man next door was surprisingly... durable.
The noise came in waves, drilling right into her ears.
Everyone was unbearably awkward. For young men like Gu Erlang and Gu Sanlang, it was even worse; they were so flustered they didn’t know what to do with themselves.
Gu Zhang wanted to charge over and throw that wretched pair out. He wanted to cover his daughter’s ears. But in the end, he felt powerless to do anything. Unable to bear it any longer, he slammed his fist against the floor. "Such moral decay! Utterly shameless!"
Just then, the scholar, who had been sitting there holding his child, suddenly let out a wild scream. With the two- or three-year-old girl in his left arm and the five- or six-year-old boy scooped up in his right, he bolted from the main hall.
Aunt Liu, who was sitting by the entrance to the hall, suddenly paled and shrieked, "Oh no, the scholar jumped into the well!"
The crowd was horrified.
One by one, they ran out, still holding their rice bowls, only to find the courtyard empty. There was no sign of the scholar or his two children.
Gu Zhang, whose neck was still injured, didn’t dare to move. Hearing the commotion, he shouted from inside the hall, "I have a rope here!"
Gu Sanlang ran back, grabbed the rope, and rushed out again. He hurriedly threw it down the well, shouting, "Whoever’s down there, grab the rope! I’ll pull you up!"
A few frantic splashes were his only reply.
Gu Sanlang jiggled the rope, but there was no weight on the end.
After a moment, Gu Qing also called out into the well a few times.
But the bottom of the well only grew quiet.
After a long silence, Aunt Liu said grimly, "Sanlang, come and eat. He was going to die sooner or later anyway."
Gu Sanlang’s face fell. He pulled the rope back up. The crowd returned to the hall with heavy hearts and resumed eating, heads bowed.
From the side hall, the sound of soft whimpering could be heard.
Ms. Qian suddenly cried out, "Oh no! We just drew a bucket of water from there!"