The Tragic Heroine Fell in Love with Me - Chapter 76

Xiao San staggered slightly when she saw the household she had intended to ask for help. The family had shut their door too quickly, and as she tried to turn around, she lost her footing. That stumble allowed the two men behind her to catch up.

Xiao San turned her head and cursed under her breath, feeling unlucky.

She quickly forced a smile and began scanning her surroundings while fumbling inside her bag.

“Brothers, what’s this all about? I’m just a tourist.”

“A tourist? What kind of tourist comes to this remote mountain forest? A tourist who goes around asking who Zheng Qi is?”

Xiao San replied awkwardly, “Zheng Qi owes me money. I’m here to collect.”

She spoke with absolute certainty, not daring to let her guard down as she observed the two men. Her hand had already found the walkie-talkie inside her bag, but she didn’t dare press the button, afraid the noise might provoke them.

“You think I’m an idiot?”

Both men looked equally unkempt, dressed in tattered clothes, their hair as if it hadn’t been washed for months. They wore mismatched flip-flops on their feet.

The one on the left had a darker complexion, longer hair, and looked older. The one on the right seemed to have washed his face at some point; though his hair was still messy, it was pulled back, making him appear slightly “cleaner.”

The cleaner, older-looking one was the one who shouted angrily. He seemed more composed, his expression steadier.

Xiao San directed her words at him, “Of course not. I’m telling the truth Zheng Qi really owes me money. I’m here to collect a debt.”

“A debt? I heard you were Zheng Qi’s friend, here to stay in her hometown for a few days.”

Xiao San gritted her teeth. “That’s because I was afraid you were from the same village and would protect her!”

The older man asked, “And now? Aren’t you afraid we’ll still protect her?”

The cleaner-looking one yelled, “Just kill her already! Why waste time talking?”

Before Xiao San could respond, the older man shot the other a sharp look. “Keep your voice down! Do you think this is still like the old days? Killing someone means paying with your life now!”

Xiao San froze. She glanced at the older man, who happened to look back at her. She immediately averted her gaze.

Her heart raced with unease.

What do you mean by that tone? Have you killed someone before?

Xiao San trembled with fear.

The two men paid no attention to her emotional state.

The older one asked, “You say she owes you money, how much?”

Xiao San held up five fingers.

The cleaner one guessed, “Five hundred?”

Xiao San quickly shook her head. “Fifty thousand.”

Sure enough, as soon as she said it, their expressions changed dramatically. Both took a sharp breath and exclaimed in unison, “Fifty thousand?!”

Xiao San nodded. “Fifty thousand.”

The two men were stunned. They exchanged a look, hesitation creeping into their eyes.

If it was about fifty thousand yuan, chasing someone all the way to a mountain village suddenly seemed plausible.

Just then, the limping man finally caught up. Staggering as he walked, he saw that his fellow villagers had already surrounded Xiao San and couldn’t help but smirk triumphantly.

“Run now, go on, run! Let’s see if you can get away.”

Xiao San helplessly lowered her gaze. The crippled eldest brother really seemed like the kind of villain who only appears briefly in a novel before getting their face slapped.

Unfortunately, with her slender arms and legs, it seemed she couldn’t quite manage to slap the villain’s face.

“Big brother, I didn’t run,” Xiao San quickly said.

The three exchanged glances, leaving the youngest to keep an eye on Xiao San while the other two ran off to the side, muttering something unintelligible.

Xiao San stood in front of the young man and gave him an awkward smile. “Are you from this village?”

“Obviously.”

“What’s your name? I’m Shen Lin,” Xiao San offered a friendly gesture.

He looked Xiao San up and down. “That doesn’t sound like a girl’s name.”

“Shen Lin, doesn’t it?” Xiao San immediately corrected herself.

The young man rolled his eyes at Xiao San, clearly not interested in continuing the conversation.

“What’s your name?” Xiao San asked with a grin.

The young man ignored her. Xiao San asked a few more times, each time with a cheeky smile, until the young man finally relented and said, “My name is Gouzi.”

“Oh, Brother Gouzi,” Xiao San said immediately. “What’s your relationship with Zheng Qi? You’re not her relatives, are you? If you are, could you contact her and just have her pay back the money? I’m not a bad person, I just want her to return the money.”

Xiao San kept her identity in mind at all times, not daring to let her guard down for a moment.

“We’re enemies!” Gouzi said. Though he had a fiery temper, he was the youngest of the three and not particularly cunning. He looked at Xiao San and asked, “Are you really her creditor?”

“Of course,” Xiao San replied without hesitation.

Gouzi said, “If you’re her creditor, I’d advise you to stay away from her. She’ll get you killed.”

“Huh?” Xiao San looked genuinely puzzled this time, not pretending. “She doesn’t seem like the kind of person.” She stopped short of saying “bad person” and changed her tone. “Who would refuse to pay back money.”

“Refusing to pay back money is nothing. Did you see my third uncle’s leg? She had someone break it.”

Xiao San’s eyes widened in shock.

“Don’t think I’m lying. Everyone in this village has been hurt by her in some way. If it weren’t for her, why would almost everyone have left? There are hardly any people left here now.”

Xiao San said, “Isn’t it because most young people from the village have gone to work in the cities? After all, you can earn more money outside than in the mountains.”

“You’re defending her so much. Are you sure this story about her owing you money isn’t just a lie?” Gouzi grew suspicious again.

Xiao San quickly covered her mouth, gave an awkward laugh, and then lowered her hand. “How could it be? There are news reports saying that fewer and fewer people are staying in the villages because they’re all going to the cities to work.”

“The news talks about that?” Gouzi asked curiously.

“Of course. It’s all over the TV and news. Don’t you have news here?”

Gouzi said dejectedly, “Only the village chief has a TV, and he won’t let us touch it.”

Xiao San quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket. Since the journey had been long, she had downloaded several TV dramas onto her phone.

She took out her phone, opened the video player, and started playing a few of the dramas. Handing the phone to Gouzi, she said, “Brother Gouzi, take a look. The shows on my phone are really good.”

Gouzi eyed Xiao San warily, then glanced at the phone again.

In the end, he couldn’t resist picking it up. The tiny figures on the screen began to perform vividly.

Aside from being a bit small, it had no flaws.

It even seemed more impressive than the village chief’s television.

“What kind of television is this?”

Xiao San replied, “This is a mobile phone, one you can make calls with.”

Gouzi shot Xiao San a disdainful look. “Don’t think I’ve never seen a phone before. Phones have buttons. This is just a big screen, where are the buttons?”

Xiao San reached out to take the phone, but Gouzi quickly pulled it back.

Xiao San said, “Let me show you where the buttons are.”

Only then did Gouzi reluctantly hand the phone over.

Xiao San swiped the screen and brought up the dialing interface to show Gouzi. “See, I wasn’t lying.”

Gouzi beamed with delight as he took the phone back, handling it with extreme care, afraid it might fall to the ground.

He still didn’t know how to swipe properly, so he clumsily imitated Xiao San’s gestures to switch between apps.

After switching a few times, he gradually got the hang of it.

“Brother Gouzi, I’ll give you the phone. Will you let me go?” Xiao San asked cautiously.

Gouzi replied dismissively, “Don’t go. Stay and be my wife.”

Xiao San let out an awkward “Uh!” and said, “That doesn’t seem right.”

“What’s wrong with that? All the women in our village are bought from outside. I’m doing you a favor by making you my wife. Otherwise, Third Uncle will sell you to Old Man Wang at the village entrance, and you’ll really hate it then.”

Xiao San let out another “Uh!” She found it hard to act normal.

From Gouzi’s tone, it seemed like buying and selling people was a common practice in this village. She recalled how people in the town had tried to warn her when she first arrived.

Had Zheng Qi grown up in a village like this?

The reality was so different from what Zheng Qi had described.

Gouzi happily played with the phone. He had never touched one before, never seen such a fascinating device. Even though the phone had no signal and couldn’t connect to the internet, the few games and videos on it were enough to amaze him.

“Brother Gouzi, I don’t think we’re a good match. I can tell you don’t really like me. I’ve given you the phone, so we’re friends now, right?”

“What does ‘good match’ matter? As long as you can bear children,” Gouzi muttered while playing with the phone. “Just so you know, our family needs sons. I don’t want daughters.”

Xiao San sighed inwardly. This Gouzi wasn’t listening to her at all. He was too absorbed in the phone and kept saying things that genuinely frightened her.

Her hand slipped into her bag, tense. Since Third Uncle and Gouzi’s elderly father hadn’t arrived yet, it seemed like she might have a chance to escape.

Just as Xiao San was about to make a move, Third Uncle and Gouzi’s father walked over.

Their movements were slow and deliberate. As soon as they arrived, they noticed Gouzi playing with the phone.

Gouzi’s father slapped him on the head. “What are you playing with? Where did you get that?”

Gouzi rubbed his head, aggrieved. “She gave it to me. She even said she’d be my wife.”

Gouzi’s father and Third Uncle both turned their attention to Xiao San, who immediately shook her head and waved her hands in panic.

“No, I didn’t say that, I absolutely never said that.”

“If you don’t want to marry Gouzi, then why did you give him a phone?” Gouzi’s father voiced a reasonable suspicion.

Xiao San was on the verge of tears, unable to explain that she gave Gouzi the phone because she wanted to escape. Saying that would surely anger the person in front of her.

Crippled Third Uncle was relatively understanding. “How could she possibly be interested in Gouzi? Look at him.”

Gouzi immediately became upset. “What’s wrong with me, Third Uncle? Are you looking down on me?”

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