Volume 1, Chapter 42: How about I Be Your Second Wife?

Lin Manru was still haunted by lingering fear.

Refusing to leave her mind was the greedy gaze of Zhao Jian roaming all over her body, and the sickening scene of him hugging her tightly from behind while frantically taking videos of her with his cell phone.

"Xiaoxu, if it weren't for you, I might have..."

Even though Lin Manru was standing on the bustling street right now, with the scorching sun right above her head, she felt as if she were trapped in an ice cave. Chills were seeping out from every pore across her body. After shivering violently, she threw herself into Lin Xiaoxu's arms, wrapping her delicate arms tightly around his slender waist, looking very much like a wounded little rabbit.

Lin Xiaoxu's body radiated a comforting warmth, accompanied by a pleasant scent that made Lin Manru feel deeply relaxed and utterly secure.

People streamed back and forth along the street, casting curious, envious, mocking, or gossiping glances and expressions toward Lin Manru and Lin Xiaoxu.

This made Lin Xiaoxu so terribly embarrassed that his face turned completely red. He let his arms hang stiffly by his sides, not daring to make a single reckless move.

"Xiaoxu, can I marry you?" Lin Manru lifted her gaze to look at Lin Xiaoxu. The tip of her nose was faintly flushed, her eyes shimmered with watery light, and a crystal-clear tear hung precariously at the outer corner of her slightly drooping eye, trembling as if it might fall at any moment.

Seeing this, Lin Xiaoxu's heart ached profoundly.

"Sister Yulian can be your first wife, and I'll be your second wife. How does that sound?"

Lin Manru had been in a relationship with Cao Wangjin for over two years, yet she had always refused to let Cao Wangjin touch her even slightly before marriage. Extremely conservative as she was, she was now hugging Lin Xiaoxu for dear life right in the middle of the street, and had even uttered the bold declaration of wanting to be Lin Xiaoxu's second wife!

The reason was that Lin Xiaoxu had rescued her from the jaws of Zhao Jian. She was overwhelmingly grateful and deeply moved to her very core. From this moment on, her life and her body belonged entirely to him, so what could possibly be wrong with becoming his second wife?

"Well, about that..." Lin Xiaoxu offered a helpless, bitter smile. What good was having multiple wives anyway?

Assuming Lin Manru was simply talking nonsense due to excessive shock, Lin Xiaoxu gently deflected in order to soothe her emotions:

"Let me exact bloody vengeance for my parents and myself first."

*Pop.*

Lin Manru stood on tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Lin Xiaoxu's lips. "I will marry no one but you."

Blushing and feeling terribly shy, Lin Manru lowered her head while her heart hammered wildly against her ribs. That previous kiss had been her very first.

She gently licked her pink lips with the tip of her tongue, where the warmth of Xiaoxu still lingered. She felt somewhat addicted to the lingering sweetness...

Since it was getting late, Lin Manru and Lin Xiaoxu did not delay any longer. They hurried over to the Jishitang Pharmacy to purchase medicinal herbs for Lin Guohua.

Jishitang was a well-known pharmacy in Jinchang County. As soon as the two stepped inside, they happened to see an elderly man dressed like a store manager promoting an aged ginseng to a middle-aged male customer.

"Sir, this thirty-year-old wild ginseng is the ultimate treasure of our Jishitang. Just smell its rich fragrance, and look at its five-element structure and six-body formation. Merchandise of this caliber is extremely rare on the market nowadays."

"How much?"

"Five hundred and eighty-eight thousand!"

"Alright, wrap it up for me."

"You got it!"

Upon hearing that the gentleman had decided to purchase the ginseng without a moment's hesitation, the old manager's bean-like eyes nearly crinkled into a pair of fine slits with joy.

Expressions of shock flashed across the faces of several customers nearby.

While the quality of the ginseng produced by Jishitang was unquestionably top-tier, the price was, after all, five hundred and eighty-eight thousand. That gentleman hadn't even attempted to bargain and had bought it in one fell swoop?

Good heavens, why did rich people spending five hundred and eighty-eight thousand feel exactly the same as ordinary people spending fifty-eight yuan and eighty cents?

Just as the old manager finished packaging the ginseng, a deep, heavy voice suddenly rang out:

"For a prestigious establishment like Jishitang to resort to selling dog meat under a sheep's head sign—passing off forest-cultivated ginseng as wild ginseng to deceive customers!"

Instantly, every gaze in the room whipped around in unison to look toward the source of the voice.

"Xiaoxu..."

Facing the dozens of pairs of eyes suddenly fixed upon her, Lin Manru grew flustered and uneasy, instinctively shuffling her feet to hide the greater part of her body behind Lin Xiaoxu.

"Isn't the customer who is buying the wild ginseng..."

Lin Manru peered out from behind Lin Xiaoxu, her eyes darting around. When they landed on the face of the middle-aged man standing opposite the old manager, she was immediately struck with shock. A fine layer of sweat broke out across her smooth forehead as she thought to herself why on earth she would run into him here at Jishitang.

Lin Manru had once overheard gossip mentioning that this man suffered from some sort of hidden ailment.

Now that he had come to Jishitang to spend five hundred and eighty-eight thousand on a wild ginseng to regulate his health, it was completely understandable. It was just that Lin Xiaoxu had just declared the wild ginseng to be a fake, which instantly complicated matters.

The face of the gentleman who had been ready to buy the so-called wild ginseng without a second thought turned unsightly in a split second.

"Who do you think you are?! How dare you spout nonsense in Jishitang?"

When the old manager first heard someone point out that the wild ginseng in his hands was actually a counterfeit impersonated by forest-cultivated ginseng, his body had stiffened abruptly, breaking out in a cold sweat as if a thief had been caught red-handed.

The old manager had been wondering just what kind of expert was astute enough to see through the ruse at a single glance, but the next second, when he looked up, he discovered it was merely a greenhorn in his early twenties dressed like a country bumpkin.

The tension in the old manager's body, which had been as taut as a fully drawn bow, instantly dissipated. What weight could the words of a country bumpkin possibly carry?

Sure enough, the moment the gentleman and the other customers caught sight of the mud-legged rustic standing at the entrance looking as though he had just stepped out of a village, the look of shock on their faces vanished like magic, instantly replaced by disdain and contempt.

"You young fellow sure are brazen, daring to question the quality of Jishitang?"

"Exactly. A twenty-something peasant farming in the village, what kind of discernment could he possibly have?"

"There really are quite a lot of people nowadays who love to smear dirt and splash dirty water."

"According to the latest internet slang, people like him are called 'haters'!"

The customers chimed in one after another, buzzing with discussion, though every single one of their opinions pointed to accusations against Lin Xiaoxu.

The gentleman shook his head helplessly, reached into his trouser pocket to pull out his wallet, drew out a bank card, and handed it to the old manager.

The old manager respectfully accepted the gentleman's card with both hands while pulling out a POS machine. He cast a sideways glare at Lin Xiaoxu before finally beginning to swipe the card.