Chapter 81
Chapter 81
Rao Lin waited outside the door for quite a while before finally going in. “Are you two done yet?”
He gave the silk ribbon around Ning Shuo’s neck a strange look. “I mean, you do need to hide your Adam’s apple… but do you really need to cover up that much?”
The tingling on his neck still hadn’t faded, and there was even a faint itch. Feeling guilty, Ning Shuo pinched a corner of the ribbon and pulled it up a little farther. “Let’s go.”
Although they were going together, according to their character settings, Rao Lin walked in front, while Ning Shuo had the lowest status and walked at the very back.
When they left, they saw a Guard standing by the courtyard gate with his head lowered the whole time. “Safe travels, Young Master.”
He only greeted Rao Lin and treated the other two like they were invisible. It fit the character settings in this Script perfectly-Ning Shuo and Ning Wang had almost no status here.
There was only this one Guard nearby. Ning Shuo glanced around, then suddenly said, “Can you raise your head and let me take a look?”
The Guard said, “No. You’re only a woman married in to ward off bad luck.”
Even while “looking down on him,” he refused to lift his head.
Confirming a Player’s identity required eye contact. If the Guard really looked down on him, there would be no need to keep his face hidden like this.
Rao Lin noticed it too. He turned to the Guard and said, “Raise your head. Let me see.”
After a brief standoff, the Guard gave up and lifted his head. “Hello. My codename is Fu Xing. Fu as in ‘vassal,’ Xing as in ‘pedestrian.'”
Fu Xing, the Zone C Arena Match Team member. Rao Lin raised an eyebrow. “What a coincidence.”
“Yeah. Picked a random Script to train for the match, and we still got matched together.”
After both sides introduced themselves, Fu Xing had to stay at the gate according to his character setting.
However, that also meant Fu Xing had a great deal of freedom as long as no one was around.
On the way to the front hall, Rao Lin said quietly, “About Zone C, do you still remember what I said before?”
“I remember.” Ning Wang tilted his head slightly to make sure Ning Shuo could hear too. “Among the Zone C Arena Match Teams, aside from Fu Xing, the most outstanding one is Ah Shu.”
“Since Fu Xing entered the Script, Ah Shu is most likely here too.”
Ning Shuo said, “Ah Shu isn’t just some rookie on this dark horse Team. More importantly, she’s a doctor, trained in both Chinese and Western medicine, and she’s also the Team’s strategist.”
Rao Lin said, “And because she’s a rookie, we don’t know what she looks like. Even if we see a portrait, we won’t recognize her unless we make eye contact and confirm her Player identity.”
As they neared the front hall, more NPCs appeared. The three of them fell silent. Every NPC looked at Rao Lin with fear, but when their gazes landed on Ning Wang and Ning Shuo, that fear turned into disgust and loathing.
Ning Shuo walked slowly at the back. Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind, trying to grab his hair. “Nephew, you’ve got good taste. This little woman turned out pretty delicate!”
According to his character setting, there was no way he should be able to dodge. Rao Lin made a gesture at him, so Ning Shuo stepped away, then placed his wrist in Rao Lin’s hand.
This way, it wouldn’t look like Ning Shuo had dodged on his own. It would look like Rao Lin had yanked him over.
Rao Lin tossed Ning Shuo toward Ning Wang. “Hold your sister-in-law steady. I overdid it last night. Be careful he doesn’t lose his footing and embarrass me. If he falls, I’ll break those useless hands of yours for not even being able to support someone!”
Ning Wang supported Ning Shuo timidly. “Yes, Big Brother.”
Rao Lin then looked back at that NPC. “Uncle, you know I only turned twenty yesterday. This girl is tied to my life now. Seven days from now, you can play with her however you want.”
The uncle’s gaze stayed fixed on Ning Shuo. Ning Shuo immediately shrank back behind Ning Wang, looking utterly weak and cowardly.
After a long moment, the uncle snorted coldly. “Fine. For the sake of that rumor. …Nephew, you should know that women are the least valuable things in Aotianli.”
Rao Lin immediately stepped forward. “I know that. It’s just that his life is tied to mine for the next few days. No matter how worthless he is, I have to keep him alive for now. At the very least, we can’t let him be toyed with until he dies, right?”
The uncle flicked his sleeve and headed toward the front hall. That counted as muddling through this matter for now.
There were not many people seated in the front hall, and all of them were men.
The uncle was seated among them as well.
Just as he had said, women in Aotianli had no status whatsoever. There was not even a matriarch seated in a place of honor.
Ning Shuo frowned.
From the looks of it, he, whose life was temporarily tied to Rao Lin’s, ought to be the highest-ranking “woman” here. Even so, if the mission was not completed after seven days, Ning Shuo himself would not be in for an easy time.
He could fight his way out, but the NPCs in an ordinary Script probably could not be compared to those in an Arena Script at all.
With that thought, Ning Shuo tilted the hand that had been holding the tea high above his head.
In that case, he might as well not give these people any extra chances to make things difficult for him.
He would do it himself.
Sure enough, the instant the teacup hit the floor and shattered into pieces, the NPC seated at the head of the room, who was supposedly Rao Lin’s father, lifted his foot and kicked at him. “You can’t even serve tea properly. What was the point of marrying you?”
That kick looked like it used every ounce of strength he had. If it caused internal injuries, they might still be hard to treat even after they found Song Zhu. Ning Shuo immediately bowed his head in apparent panic, not hesitating to press his hand onto the broken porcelain shards. “I’m sorry, Father! It’s my fault!”
The NPC looked at Ning Shuo’s hand, now bleeding from being pressed into the shards, then looked in confusion at the kick he had missed.
Had he failed to aim properly, or was this woman’s luck just so bad that she could injure herself even without him kicking her?
While the NPC was still bewildered, Ning Shuo put on a pleading posture. “Father, please spare me. I’m willing to go to the ancestral hall and copy scriptures to pray for the young master’s blessings. I’ll do anything that benefits the young master!”
At the words “ancestral hall,” Father Sun narrowed his eyes, his meaning hard to read. “You are actually asking to go to the ancestral hall?”
Ning Shuo lifted his eyes, looking foolishly ignorant. “What is wrong with the ancestral hall?”
“Nothing.” Father Sun had originally intended to use the tea ceremony to put this newly married woman in her place. After all, for these seven days, they still had to use the wedding celebration to avoid that rumored…
At the thought of the rumor, Father Sun could not help shuddering.
Forget it. In any case, the way women were handled in Aotianli was to lock them in the ancestral hall on the first day and let them suffer a little. It just so happened that this wench had volunteered to go herself.
With that in mind, Father Sun summoned two strong members of the Guard and said meaningfully, “Drag her to the ancestral hall. Have her properly copy scriptures for the young master for a few days. Only let her out when the young master is willing to release her.”
Rao Lin, who already understood Ning Shuo’s intentions and had been trying to act invisible off to the side, only to be used as a target: ?
He did not think he had said anything, had he?
Meeting the NPC’s gaze, Rao Lin immediately flew into a temper. “Why haven’t you dragged this woman over there yet? Let her out only when my body has fully recovered!”
When Ning Shuo was dragged away, blood was still dripping from his hand, but he did not care much.
To be honest, he had suffered wounds far worse than this. Besides, this bit of superficial injury could be completely healed once they found Song Zhu.
It was just that when he passed by Ning Wang, he saw the man’s tightly pressed lips, and his fingers curled slightly.
In that instant, aside from the guilt of having Ning Wang witness him hurt himself, he suddenly thought: if their positions were reversed at this moment, and he was the one watching Ning Wang be forced to hurt himself while unable to do anything, what would that feel like?
It would be just like when he had followed his master into the palace, seeing the emperor day after day but unable to take revenge.
Powerlessness.