Becoming the Cannon Fodder Wife of Crazy and Powerful Official - Chapter 42

The lame Ma was taken aback, blinking his eyes. “It’s not Meng Ruxin.” As he spoke, he lifted the white cloth, revealing a man’s face.

Xin Yueying and Shen Qingqi leaned in synchronously to get a better look.

The lame Ma asked Xin Yueying, “Do you know him?”

Shen Qingqi looked at Xin Yueying, puzzled. “You know him?”

Xin Yueying shook her head and turned to the lame Ma. “Who is this man?”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The lame Ma suddenly burst into a triumphant and maniacal laugh, startling the unprepared Xin Yueying.

His voice was shrill with excitement as he pointed dramatically at the unconscious man lying there, wide-eyed, staring at Xin Yueying:

“I knew he was a fraud! Daring to deceive me? Over my dead body!”

“Keep your voice down!” Xin Yueying quickly tried to curb his outburst. “Just tell us what happened!?”

It turned out that a man had come by early this morning.

The lame Ma slept little and usually woke very early. Just as dawn was breaking, he had opened his door and was hanging out his practice sign.

A hand landed lightly on his shoulder.

The lame Ma turned to look and saw a man he didn’t recognize, probably not from the village.

The lame Ma observed that this man had a darkening between his eyebrows, a reddish nose tip, and deep, dark circles under his eyes – classic signs of kidney deficiency.

“Here for a consultation?” He ushered the man inside. “You’re here early!”

The man followed the lame Ma into the house but didn’t sit at the consultation table. Instead, he curled his lips into a faint smile. “I heard you’ve taken on a god-daughter?”

The lame Ma rubbed his eyes, sat in his chair, yawned, and said yes.

The man smiled and asked, “Where is your god-daughter, Xin Siniang?”

The lame Ma was startled and scrutinized the man. “What business do you have with her?”

The man, “She’s my younger sister. Do I need a reason to see her?”

The lame Ma looked full of doubt. “Younger sister? If she’s your sister, wouldn’t you know where she lives?”

The man sneered, a cold glint in his eyes. “You old coot, you’d better stay out of matters that don’t concern you.”

The “old coot” stood up, smiling. “It’s still too early. Wait a while; she’ll come to see me soon. Sit here and wait. Let me get you some water.”

The lame Ma went to the kitchen to fetch water for the man. He still had some of the poison left from last time. In a fit of pique, he dumped all of it into the man’s water.

The man, probably tired from his journey, gulped the water down in a few swallows and soon lost consciousness.

Xin Yueying listened to the lame Ma’s account in shock, suddenly realizing this man was Xin Siniang’s brother from her maternal family, Xin Dabao.

What to do?

She had already told the lame Ma and Shen Qingqi that she didn’t know this man.

If she continued pretending not to know him, she might fool the lame Ma, but she probably couldn’t fool Shen Qingqi.

Because Shen Qingqi would surely have Huo Qi investigate, and they would eventually find out this man was Xin Dabao.

So, Xin Yueying had no choice but to admit, “Well, to tell you the truth, he actually is my brother.”

“What?!” The lame Ma was astonished. “He really is your brother? Then why did he have to ask me how to find you? And why did you just say you didn’t know him?”

Xin Yueying grinned awkwardly. “This brother of mine only ever looks me up for money; he’s got no other reasons. He’s a rotten gambler, owes debts all over the place. How was I to know what grudge he had with you or if he’d borrowed money from you? But anyway, since you’ve already poisoned him to death, you and I can just bury him tonight. I know a spot, there’s an empty space on the back mountain…”

“I didn’t poison him to death,” the lame Ma said, staring blankly at Xin Yueying. “Who said I poisoned him to death? I’m a proper physician, skilled and benevolent. How could I possibly poison someone to death so casually just because of a disagreement?”

If you didn’t poison him to death, then what was the meaning of that sinister, triumphant laugh earlier?! And what was the point of covering him with a white cloth?!

Xin Yueying gritted her teeth, staring at him. “So what do we do now?”

The lame Ma tilted his head and smiled, glancing down at Xin Dabao with drooping eyelids. He stroked his beard, a sly grin spreading across his face,

“Well, it’s not really something to say outright. Since I’ve already knocked him out, you two can naturally take him away. I’ll just pretend no one came looking for me. If this person goes missing later, and if the constables come asking, I’ll certainly play dumb.”

He paused, then added, “You live deep in the mountains; it’s convenient for… whatever. If I were to handle it from here, it could lead to endless trouble. Besides, you probably don’t mind one more life on your hands, right?”

He chuckled, looking at Shen Qingqi’s legs. “But my record is still relatively clean, so it’s best if I don’t start dabbling in killing just yet.”

The evil lame Ma’s hint was clear enough: You deal with him however you want; I won’t interfere.

Perhaps this was the only benefit of being friends with the evil lame Ma—he didn’t see being friends with fugitives as a big problem, and he certainly didn’t think murder and arson were particularly wrong.

The lame Ma told them that he had given the man a sufficient dose of drugs; he probably wouldn’t wake up until late at night.

He turned around, pulled a large burlap sack from under the medicine cabinet, and shook off the dust. “I originally prepared this to use on Meng Ruxin. I’ll help you stuff him in. You can just dump him in a pit in the dead of night, even bury him alive if you want.”

Xin Yueying, “…”

The lame Ma quickly bundled Xin Dabao into the sack. He covered him again with the white cloth, pushed the screen back into place, and began changing the dressing on Shen Qingqi’s legs.

He sat calmly at the table, discussing the condition with Shen Qingqi.

The two conversed effortlessly, not treating the imminent killing of a person as any major event.

The lame Ma went to the medicine cabinet to gather some herbs for Shen Qingqi’s foot bath. He turned his head and saw Xin Yueying looking distraught, her face almost as pale as paper. He figured that even if he told her the precautions for Shen Qingqi’s foot bath now, she probably wouldn’t remember.

So, the lame Ma swiftly wrote out a full page of medical instructions, stuffed it into the herb packet, and handed it to Xin Yueying. “Seven qian.”

Xin Yueying snapped back to reality, her cool little hand taking the money from her pouch to pay him.

The lame Ma limped over to the screen. “I’ll help you carry your brother onto the cart.”

“Wait!” Xin Yueying stopped him, looking nervously at Shen Qingqi. “What should we do? Should we really finish off Xin Dabao?”

Shen Qingqi bent down to adjust his trouser legs. “Whatever.”

“…”

His indifferent tone made it sound like they were discussing whether to swat a fly.

Xin Yueying’s eyes darted around as she thought. “My brother is the notorious gambling addict of Xinzhuang Village; no one would marry their daughter to him, so he’s not married.” She glanced toward the screen. “But just killing him like this…”

The lame Ma probably thought Xin Yueyin was hesitant due to sibling bonds from growing up together, so he said, “If you don’t want to kill him, just give him some silver to send him away.”

“What are you thinking? The silver in my house was earned by our Erlang making Hu beds one by one. How could we let this scoundrel benefit from it?” Xin Yueying said sternly.

Shen Qingqi’s hands paused briefly, but he didn’t look up at her, continuing to adjust his trouser legs. “If you haven’t decided whether to kill him or not, why not take him away first? We’re short on hands building the house anyway.”

That wasn’t a bad idea.

With Huo Qi around, Xin Dabao certainly wouldn’t be able to escape.

So, the lame Ma and Xin Yueying worked together to load the sack containing Xin Dabao onto the donkey cart outside. They covered it with some straw and placed the vegetables and meat on top of the straw, making it impossible to tell there was a person hidden underneath.

Xin Yueying and Shen Qingqi drove the donkey cart home.

That night, as everyone was sitting in the yard enjoying the cool air, the sack began to squirm.