"Sell you? What do you mean?"
Before Gu Xiaohua could struggle free, she was already being carried into the dark woods and thrown to the ground.
At this moment, she could still faintly hear voices from the camp and see the flickering firelight through the gaps in the trees.
Old Ding pounced...
Gu Xiaohua finally understood what it meant to be sold. She cried out loudly, which annoyed Old Ding. He slapped her face and roared,
"Stop pretending to be pure. If I hadn't sold you, would we have eaten mixed-grain steamed buns today?"
Gu Xiaohua's body stiffened. Only then did she understand why her family could eat mixed-grain steamed buns today.
At this moment, she suddenly remembered that night when the whole family discussed selling Gu Qingcheng to be a Lotus Boy.
How similar!
They sold Gu Qingcheng, and now they were coming to sell her!
Gu Xiaohua cried.
She realized that no matter how much she pleased them, no matter how much effort she put in, in the eyes of the Gu family, she was the same as Gu Qingcheng:
Unimportant, insignificant. Someone they could sell anytime they needed.
The difference was that Gu Qingcheng fetched twenty taels of silver, while she only fetched some mixed-grain steamed buns.
Gu Xiaohua hated them!
But at this moment, she hated herself even more for not having parents like Gu Zhaobei to save her.
Old Ding, addicted and impatient, finished before Gu Xiaohua could finish crying.
He pulled up his pants, carried Gu Xiaohua again, and threw her back into the camp.
Gu Xiaohua lay on the ground like a used rag.
Lying in the darkness, she felt that her grandmother and the others actually knew everything, but no one asked her about it, covering their conscience with silence.
The next morning, Gu Xiaohua's body ached so much that she didn't want to move.
But under the driver of the yamen runners' whips, she had to get up and walk forward.
Her treatment that day was the same as yesterday; she was given mixed-grain steamed buns twice.
Gu Xiaohua's heart trembled: there were no free lunches, and she was probably in for another ordeal!
What angered Gu Xiaohua was that her uncle's wife looked at her as if she were a pile of trash, something dirty that she wanted to keep far away from.
Once, when Gu Xiaohua accidentally walked too close to her, Liu Cui even spat at her, as if her mere presence would contaminate her.
Gu Xiaohua suddenly understood. Besides herself and her parents, who didn't know beforehand, everyone else probably knew and even participated in planning her sale.
But they ate the steamed buns made from her innocence and still despised her?
Gu Xiaohua's heart turned cold, and her hatred surged!
She didn't tell her parents because she knew that if she did, after a big argument with her grandmother, they would still vent their anger on her.
That night, as everyone went to sleep, or pretended to sleep, Gu Xiaohua was carried into the woods by Old Ding again.
Gu Xiaohua knew what awaited her.
Thinking of their joyous faces as they ate the steamed buns, and their disdainful gazes, Gu Xiaohua became impulsive.
Just as Old Ding was in ecstasy, Gu Xiaohua, with a surge of courage she didn't know she had, picked up the short knife he had unbuckled and, while he was vigorously moving, stabbed him hard in the stomach.
"Bitch, you dare to hurt me?"
Old Ding, who never expected Gu Xiaohua to have such ferocity, clutched his stomach in shock.
A stream of hot blood spurted out, splashing onto Gu Xiaohua.
"Die, die!"
Gu Xiaohua's ferocity took over. Since she was going to die anyway, she twisted the knife as she stabbed it in.
Old Ding lay on the ground, clutching his stomach and writhing.
Gu Xiaohua watched him die, and then she became scared.
It was over. She would be arrested and beheaded.
She was so resentful!
Why was her fate like this?
Gu Qingcheng's smug little look flashed before her eyes again. Why couldn't she be like Gu Qingcheng, escape the Gu family, and have enough to eat and wear?
No matter what, she was finished. She had killed someone, and an official at that. She was going to be beheaded.
Gu Xiaohua sat on the ground in a daze, not knowing what to do next!
The fear of being captured by the yamen runners and subjected to excruciating torture crushed her, and despair surged into her heart.
At this moment, she suddenly felt something unusual.
It felt like a bone-chilling wind swept over her head. She thought it was her imagination, and in her shock, she looked out through the small trees.
She saw that in the bright moonlight, the distant mountains suddenly turned white.
And that white line was advancing, moving very fast.
What was that?
Gu Xiaohua was filled with doubt.
But soon, she realized it was a deadly harbinger of death.
She suddenly heard some soldiers shouting,
"It's getting colder, it's getting colder! Everyone, get up and build fires, make them bigger!"
Things happened quickly. Death stepped on ice. All the soil with moisture on the ground froze.
Gu Xiaohua watched in stunned silence as everything unfolded before her. She suddenly felt that her chance of survival had arrived...
It was truly a terrifying and harrowing night.
Gu Qingcheng's family took turns on watch, constantly monitoring the thermometer. They found that until dawn, the outdoor temperature remained stable at minus 55 degrees Celsius. Indoors, thanks to their good insulation, it stayed around 8 degrees Celsius, which finally put them at ease.
"Judging by the situation, the temperature shouldn't drop any further. If it drops any lower, everyone will freeze to death," Hu Lanfang said as soon as she woke up.
Gu Zhaobei checked Mi Guo's temperature; it was normal.
Mi Guo, having slept through the night, had recovered his spirits. He opened his eyes and saw everyone looking at him with concern. Mi Guo couldn't help but smile and say,
"Dad, Mom, Sis, I made you worry."
"It's okay, as long as you're better."
Gu Zhaobei gave him a gentle smile.
Hu Lanfang said,
"Mi Guo, you just had a fever and don't have much appetite. How about some seafood congee?"
"Okay."
Mi Guo nodded happily.
Previously, at his uncle's house, if he fell ill, he had to endure it alone. At most, he would get a bowl of cold water. How could he have hot seafood congee?
At this moment, Gu Qingcheng took out a round, flat appliance from the storage cabinet and placed it on the dining table. She plugged it in, and when she pressed the switch, it made a "beep" sound and started working.
"Qingcheng, what is this?"
Hu Lanfang hadn't seen it clearly.
"This is a food warmer. Otherwise, with this cold weather, food would get cold quickly after being taken out."
"Oh, they sell things like this?" Hu Lanfang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "My daughter is so thoughtful. I was just worried that with such cold weather, we wouldn't be able to eat hot meals anymore."
Gu Qingcheng chuckled and took out four bowls of seafood congee. Mi Guo couldn't eat other greasy foods, so she only took out three fried dough sticks for herself and her parents to eat. Mi Guo could only watch wistfully.
After the meal, a basin of freshly cut fruit was served.
The worse the weather, the better they had to eat to have the strength to fight the severe cold.
After eating their fill, Mi Guo's complexion improved significantly, and he was able to get out of bed and walk around.
Only then did Gu Qingcheng bundle herself up and go outside to check the situation.