Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

Zhao Xiaoyu didn't dodge. She simply lowered her head and took a step forward, following his hand.

A space had already been cleared out in the middle of the courtyard.

Two broken tables were moved aside, one leg higher than the other, with broken bricks underneath.

Scattered red paper scraps and wood ash were on the ground, trampled into a mess.

In the very center was a dark iron basin, the charcoal inside burning red-hot. The flames were low, but the heat rose in bursts, making the surrounding frozen mud shine.

A small altar was temporarily set up next to it. On the table were two plates of frozen pastries, a bowl of wine, and two thin red candles stuck crookedly in a broken copper base, the wax dripping down the candles and making a mess of the table.

When the wind blew, the red papers on the lintel rustled and shook.

The people gathered in the courtyard all pushed forward.

At the front were Wang Magan and his group, who were pushing the most, craning their necks and their faces full of excitement to watch the spectacle.

The older women behind her shrank their hands, looked at Zhao Xiaoyu, sighed softly, and couldn't say anything coherent, just sighing one after another.

Standing beside the group of women, Wang Xiulan felt increasingly uneasy looking at Zhao Xiaoyu. Her heart felt heavy, as if a cold stone was pressing on it.

Further in, several teenagers were peering over the wall, their necks practically snapping off as they stretched.

Someone shouted with a laugh:

"Step over the fire pit first!"

"Yes! Only after the fire has burned can this marriage be considered truly settled!"

"Lai Zi, help her steady, don't let the bride trip!"

Amidst the commotion, Zhao Laizi was grinning from ear to ear. He pulled Zhao Xiaoyu forward, deliberately softening his voice and feigning a caring demeanor:

"Xiaoyu, don't be afraid. This is just a lucky break, it'll be over in a flash. From today onwards, we're living a proper life."

Zhao Xiaoyu didn't speak. Her red jacket hung down, covering her completely. The embers in the brazier reflected off her face, flickering and casting an inconspicuous glow on her excessively pale skin.

As Zhao Laizi approached the brazier, he paused. He glanced down at the glowing red embers, then turned to look at Zhao Xiaoyu, his eyes brimming with barely suppressed smugness, as if the moment she stepped across, she would be completely his.

The surroundings suddenly fell silent for a moment.

Li Cuihua stood to the side, her palms sweating, her eyes fixed on Zhao Xiaoyu, but she forced a smile, afraid that Zhao Xiaoyu would cause any more trouble at this point.

Zhao Shanlin leaned against the door, watching with a sinister look, a hint of barely suppressed pleasure lurking at the corner of his mouth.

Wang Magan, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, didn't even blink, as if he had even slowed his breathing, waiting to see this kick.

Zhao Xiaoyu glanced down at the brazier. Then, she lifted her foot and stepped steadily across it.

"It's over!"

A burst of cheers erupted from the crowd.

"It's done!"

"It's really done!"

"Brother Lai, you'll have to go on a couple more rounds of toasts at our wedding today!"

Zhao Laizi felt completely relaxed from the commotion, gripping Zhao Xiaoyu's wrist even tighter. He turned to the crowd, grinning broadly, the large red flower on his chest trembling with his breath, his face practically overflowing with joy.

"What's the rush? The fire pit ritual just ended; we still have to perform the other prayers!"

Immediately, someone moved the small altar table forward again.

The table legs were uneven, and it wobbled a couple of times when it hit the ground, causing some of the wine in the bowl to spill out and drip down the edge of the table.

Wang Magan was the most engrossed in watching. He exhaled a puff of smoke and, raising his voice, took on the role of the person in charge:

"Make way! Make way! First we bow to Heaven and Earth, then to our parents, and finally, husband and wife bow to each other! If we complete this ceremony perfectly, Brother Lai will truly be blessed tonight!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the courtyard erupted in another round of dirty laughter.

Zhao Laizi's face turned red with laughter, but he still tried to appear composed. He straightened his clothes and adjusted the red flower on his chest before leading Zhao Xiaoyu to stand in front of the offering table.

The two red candles on the offering table burned crookedly, their flames flickering, casting long, swaying shadows of two people on the wall.

Li Cuihua had already stood to the side, straightening her clothes, smoothing her hair, and smiling broadly. Zhao Shanlin also leaned against the door frame, trying his best to appear as the host.

Wang Magan drawled out his words and shouted loudly:

"First bow—to Heaven and Earth!"

Zhao Laizi quickly bent over, sticking his buttocks out high. Zhao Xiaoyu also lowered her head. A burst of cheers erupted from the crowd once more.

"Good! Well done! Now the ceremony is truly complete!"

The firelight flickered, and the wind swirled red paper scraps through the courtyard.

The lively atmosphere grew even stronger, but in the shadows under the eaves, Zhao Xiaoyu's hand, hidden in her sleeve, clenched even tighter.

Wang Magan wiped his mouth, and his voice rose another eight octaves:

"Second bow—to the parents!"

Zhao Laizi turned around and bowed even deeper than before, facing Li Cuihua and Zhao Shanlin.

Without hesitation, Zhao Xiaoyu turned around and slowly bowed to the two relatives who were about to sell her into the abyss.

As she bent over the bend, the last vestige of anxiety in Li Cuihua's heart finally settled. Her eyes instantly reddened, and her voice trembled.

"Okay, okay... I knew it. Xiaoyu isn't the kind of ignorant girl. That's more like my daughter."

The women behind them listened, their expressions becoming even more complicated.

Someone sighed softly, tucked their hands deeper into their sleeves, and ultimately said nothing.

Wang Magan, however, clapped his hands and grinned, his face crinkling with laughter.

"Alright, alright, the parents have bowed! One last bow! Husband and wife—bowing to each other!"

As soon as those words were spoken, the atmosphere in the courtyard immediately rose even higher.

People standing behind pushed forward, and those in front craned their necks. Even the boys stood on tiptoe to peek inside, their faces full of excitement.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Once the wedding vows are finished, that's it! Brother Lai, we're all waiting for the wedding night festivities tonight!"

"Shut your stinking mouth!"

Wang Magan chuckled and cursed, but his own smile was also quite mischievous. "We'll talk about it after they've actually brought him inside!"

Amidst this filthy laughter, Zhao Laizi's smile was already impossible to suppress.

He turned around, his chest heaving, sweat beading on his nose, and looked at Zhao Xiaoyu with a flushed face, his eyes practically overflowing with lust.

He deliberately softened his voice, as if coaxing someone:

"Xiaoyu, come here. Let's finish this bow, and then the ceremony will be officially complete. From now on, you will be my lawfully wedded wife, and no one will be able to say a word against it."

As he spoke, he leaned forward a little more, lowered his voice, and revealed a hint of undisguised pride and excitement:

"You may have made a fuss before, but the fact that you're standing here today means you've figured things out. Don't worry, I, Zhao Laizi, am not the kind of person who mistreats women. As long as you treat me well from now on, I won't let you suffer."

Zhao Xiaoyu finally raised her eyes. She looked at Zhao Laizi.

The light from the brazier reflected in her eyes and flickered slightly.

His face was still white, as white as paper, but the corners of his mouth curved slightly, revealing a genuine smile.

"it is good."

This statement sounded perfectly normal. But for some reason, Wang Xiulan, standing at the back of the crowd, felt a sudden sinking feeling in her heart.

Zhao Laizi, however, did not understand the other meaning at all.

He felt that this brat had truly given in and truly accepted it. A surge of heat rushed to his head, and even his hands trembled with excitement.

He quickly straightened up, grinning from ear to ear, his face beaming with barely suppressed joy.

Everyone in the courtyard held their breath.

The wind swirled red paper scraps around their feet, causing the red candle flames on the offering table to flicker violently, casting long, straight shadows of the two people.

Wang Magan raised his voice to its highest point, drawing out the notes like he was singing in an opera:

"Husband and wife bow to each other!"

Zhao Laizi looked as if he was soaked in joy, his face glowing, and the wrinkled red flower on his chest trembled with his heavy breathing.

His mouth was practically stretched to his ears in a wide grin; he stood ramrod straight, unable to suppress his smugness.

In his view, once he bowed, even if the Heavenly King himself came, Zhao Xiaoyu would be a member of his Zhao family.

He even heard the ridiculous jokes the bachelors made during their wedding night, and his mind was filled with the image of Zhao Xiaoyu entering the room and closing the door.

Thinking of this, his heart suddenly warmed, and he swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down several times.

"Come here, Xiaoyu."

He spoke in an extremely soft voice, as if coaxing a lamb about to enter the pen, but the greed and smugness on his face were impossible to hide.

"After we finish this last bow, we'll be a proper married couple, and live a peaceful life in our warm bed."

Zhao Xiaoyu raised her eyes and glanced at him.

Her face was still white, as white as paper.

But a faint smile still lingered at the corner of his mouth, making him look as if he had truly resigned himself to his fate.

The embers in the brazier crackled softly.

The flames of the two red candles on the offering table flickered, casting long shadows of the two people.

The courtyard suddenly became eerily quiet.

Those behind who were preparing to throw out wedding candies and make a fuss, those in front who were waiting to watch the excitement, even the usually feisty Li Cuihua subconsciously held her breath.

Everyone was waiting, waiting for this bow to be made so that they could make sure that last bit of "joy" was truly secured.

Zhao Laizi bent down first.

He moved with such impatience, bending extremely deep, as if afraid that something might go wrong with the fat meat that was already in his mouth, wishing he could knock his head down and never lift it up again.

Zhao Xiaoyu also moved.

She slowly, little by little, lowered her head.

At that very moment, just as their foreheads were about to touch—

Zhao Xiaoyu suddenly pulled out her right hand, which had been tightly hidden in the cuff of her large red sleeve!

A dark, cold, metallic light shot out from under the red coat, as fast as a bolt of lightning that cleaved through the gloom, almost blinding the eye.

Zhao Laizi hadn't even had time to recover from the ecstasy of his marriage, and his lustful eyes hadn't even been able to see what the iron light actually was.

All I heard was—

"Bang!!!"

…………

…………

I was just typing away when Zhao Shanhe suddenly popped out of the document and slammed the bloodstained dagger onto the table.

He glanced at me sideways:

"Hey Mouse, I heard you've been showing off lately? Got a Level 5 Pomodoro Technique?"

I straightened my back and lit a cigarette:

"That's because of the support of tens of thousands of brothers who single-handedly pushed me to the top."

Zhao Shanhe sneered, the tip of his knife slicing across the table:

"A level 5 author just sits in his room all day doing nothing? I bet your level 5 is inflated, and the sincerity of our brothers has probably been fed to dogs."

I got really angry at that moment.

You can question my hairline, but you can't question your brothers' taste.

This medal doesn't belong to me alone; it's a testament to the hard work of tens of thousands of readers who follow the story.

I glanced at Zhao Shanhe:

"Don't try to provoke me. You just complain about the slow updates, don't you?"

Zhao Shanhe sheathed his knife, his eyes as cold as ice:

"It's not just about being slow. A level 5 author needs to have level 5 ruthlessness. If you write the next part too softly, I'll personally chop that medal into pieces and feed it to the dogs."

Fine, Zhao, you're ruthless.

To prove that my LV5 status wasn't achieved by chance, and to live up to the expectations of everyone watching.

Tonight's plot speeds up immediately, no fluff, just pure substance.

Let's see who's really behind this inflated figure!