Chapter 13: Forced Drowning
Translator: Flying Lines
Edited by Lord Immortal

The next day, as soon as Xie woke up, she heard the noise outside. She frowned, sat on the bed, and irritatedly yelled, “You are too noisy in the early morning. I can’t have a good rest. Even if you want me to die, please let me have a comfortable sleep.”

Her voice was loud enough, so the people ouside heard it clearly. Geng understood that she was unhappy for being awakened.

Aunt Cui stepped forward, craned her neck, clenched her sweating fists, and shouted, “Mrs. Geng, time waits for no man. We don’t mean to urge you, but you’d better accept the judgment of the River God as soon as possible so that all of us can stop worrying about it. We still have to do manual labor in the fields.”

Xie Mengxuan stared outside through the window and slowly calmed down. It seemed that Aunt Cui was concerned too much with her problems. From the beginning to the end, she was involved in this affair. “Why does she insist on deliberately making things difficult for me? She has gotten her money, but why now…” she thought.

Xie Mengxuan looked at her injured legs. If she was locked in the pig cage and thrown into the river, she would die because she couldn’t swim.

“Is Aunt Cui working for the enemy?” She contemplated, and her face turned gloomy. It seemed that the water game today was a matter of life and death for her. How could she be willing to lose her life here for she just had managed to survive from the cliff? So she took the only silver hairpin from her hair and unscrewed it. It was hollow inside, and a small dagger was hidden in it. She put the dagger in her sleeve and tried to cover it with her hands. It had not been used yet. The gamble today had her fate depended on it.

Xie Mengxuan was upset. She had underestimated the enemy since she wanted to test Geng Zhishan blindly. She had forgotten what end she would meet by doing so.

“Mrs. Geng, we know that you have agreed to accept the judgment of Rive God voluntarily. Stop dawdling, or we’ll come in and tie you up.” Mrs. Cui tried to urge her again.

Xie Mengxuan cautiously moved to the bedside after throwing back the quilt. She bellowed, “Geng Zhishan, can you please come in and help me?

Geng Zhishan responded and walked into the bedroom and piggybacked her while whispering, “Darling, don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

Xie Mengxuan was stupefied when she heard these words which were once promised by someone before. Her gloomy face looked better, and she replied, “All right. My fate depends on you today.”

Geng Zhishan nodded his head with a strong will and then walked out.

“Mrs. Geng is so special that she kept us waiting for the whole morning. We had to ask for you many times.” AuntCui jeered at them.

Xie Mengxuan fixed her hair without saying anything and just left her alone, ignoring Aunt Cui.

Aunt Cui’s face turned gloomy immediately. She cleared her throat and said, “Everything is ready at the riverside. Let’s go.”

All the people went to the riverside followed by Geng couple. The calm river had become a raging torrent at the moment, so both Xie Mengxuan’s and Geng Zhishan’s face looked pale. Geng Zhishan let out a cry and growled, “What happened? Why is the river current flowing so fast today?”

“The sluice gate upstream was opened because there was little water downstream. But the torrent has no influence on the judgment of the River God.” Aunt Cui held her head high and said.

Xie Mengxuan squinted for a while. “It seems that Mrs. Cui is trying her best to kill me. How torrential the river is. It is even tough to survive for a person who has excellent skills.”

However, she had promised to accept the judgment in the river. She knew that these people would not let her get away with that.

Xie Mengxuan lowered her eyelids and slowly rubbed the handle of the dagger in her sleeve.

“What’s going on? Mrs. Geng, are you scared? Calm down, and don’t be afraid. The God of the River is fair to everyone. Please enter the cage.”

Aunt Cui was a little nervous, but she pretended to cover it with a smile and she put her hands behind her back. Therefore, people couldn’t see anything strange.

“OK, all of you can see that Mrs. Geng was unwilling to come in by herself. We’d better help her for not dawdling time.” The Zhao Brothers shouted after glancing at Aunt Cui. They walked to Geng Zhishan and tried to pull Xie Mengxuan from his back.

Geng Zhishan twisted his body and stepped forward to dodge them. He squinted his eyes and menacingly said, “No one can touch my wife without my permission.

His expression was very solemn, which brought vexation to Aunt Cui. She also stepped forward and pointed at him, “Geng Zhishan, do you want to become an enemy of our whole village?”

Geng Zhishan also noticed something wrong the same as Xie Mengxuan. He carried her with his strong arms. As long as he wanted, he could run away with Xie Mengxuan, avoiding being hurt by these ignorant people.

Xie Mengxuan’s eyes never left Geng Zhishan. She sensed that his breathing was unstable as he was likely hesitating. The hope of escaping after seeing his dodging of the bowl died. Her bright eyes became obscure.

Geng Zhishan drooped his eyelids, covering his true feelings. He breathed heavily for he was worried about the possibility of saving Xie Mengxuan’s life.

He wondered if he could do it. But what if he couldn’t save her life in time due to being stopped. She would die because she wasn’t good at swimming. He couldn’t keep imagining what was going to happen later. So he took a deep breath and raised his head suddenly. These noisy villagers were so scared that they remained silent. But at that moment, all the people heard clear birds calls from the neighboring woods.

Geng Zhishan’s eyes flashed with struggle and disbelief. As soon as he was distracted and his authority disappeared, Aunt Cui waved her hands urgently to ask Zhao brothers and other robust men to press Geng Zhishan down to the ground. They pulled Xie Mengxuan from Geng’s back rudely.

Xie Mengxuan fell to the ground abruptly, so her injured feet were hurt again. She couldn’t help crying out at the pain.

As soon as she fell down, Aunt Cui came forward with several unruly women. Two of them took the pig cage to cover Xie Mengxuan. She fell down with the cage and found that someone had pinched her. She couldn’t help crying out again.

“Let go of my wife! Don’t touch her! Let go of me!

“Ah!”

Geng Zhishan was forced to the ground by several people. He struggled to raise his head and stretched out his hands. He roared loudly, and his eyes turned red, but he could do nothing to these people.

His resembled a helpless peasant at the moment.

Xie Mengxuan witnessed this scene and was surprised at her own thoughts before. But while she was thinking, the pig cage was closed and then it was directly rolled into the river.

Geng Zhishan looked at this and struggled with even more strength. He shouted, “Let go of her! Let go of her!”

Splash!

Xie Mengxuan was sunk into the water.