Sell oneself into bondage

  When entering Mengshan, the mountain wind is strong and the temperature drops sharply.

  Standing at the crossroads, Zhenming encountered difficulties. The mountain wind dispersed the scent on Zhang's body, and the electronic military dog lost Zhang's direction when it reached a fork in the road.

  Suddenly, he found a tiny clue that made him ecstatic. Under the light of his mobile phone screen, a dry blood footprint appeared before his eyes. Soon, he discovered that every other step would have such a footprint.

  Judging from this small footprint, it is obvious that a woman has passed by here.

  Because of the bloodstains, these footprints are slightly different in color from the surrounding soil.

  Zhen Ming did not hesitate for a moment and rushed down that fork in the road with footprints.

  ……

  When he found Zhang, Zhang was trembling and hiding in a wild grave between the chaotic tombs.

  At this time, she was disheveled and her clothes were torn to shreds by the thorny branches of trees on the roadside, with bloodstains all over her body.

  Her skin was originally delicate, and it only took a light scratch from a branch to tear open a mouthful.

  One of her shoes had also disappeared from her foot, and her small white delicate foot had developed blisters which burst and bled.

  She cowered behind a pile of ruins, her back against the earth mound, clutching a branch that was utterly useless as a defensive weapon, trembling uncontrollably as she stared at the several jackals not far away, their eyes fixed greedily on her, baring their white teeth, ready to pounce at any moment.

  "Don't come over! I'll hit you!" Her voice was more like negotiating with those jackals.

  Her tone was amusing, but inexplicably, he felt a pang in his heart. He took out a small crossbow from the backpack behind him and aimed at one of the wolves that were pouncing on Zhang's family.

  With a thud, the wolf's corpse fell from mid-air and landed at Zhang's feet. Zhang was so frightened that he forgot to shout for help, and the tree branch in his hand also fell to the ground. He stood there, stunned, his eyes fixed blankly on the wolf lying before him.

  The other wolves saw the wolf pack leader die on the spot and all scattered in a swarm.

  Zhen Ming painfully pulled out the crossbow bolt, walked to Zhang's side, removed the arrow from the wolf's head, wiped clean the bloodstains, and put it back into the quiver on his back.

  Then he dragged the wolf's body to a place where Zhang couldn't see it, turned around and returned to Zhang's side, sat down, didn't say a word, and quietly accompanied her.

  Zhang's eyes were unfocused, and he turned his head to stare blankly at him, clearly having been frightened silly.

  It wasn't until about a minute later that she gradually came back to her senses, saw clearly that it was him, and burst into tears.

  She burst into loud sobs, like a dam breaking, and couldn't stop.

  She cried for about half an hour, and her sobs gradually subsided into low, stifled gasps. Zhen Ming finally got up from the ground, gathered some firewood around him, and lit a bonfire in front of Zhang Shi.

  The flames illuminated her muddy face.

  At this time, she had completely lost her usual delicate and beautiful appearance. Her beautiful eyes were red and swollen as if they had been stung by a bee. Two lines of tears broke through the mud on her face, leaving two clear tear marks on her cheeks, which was quite a sight to behold.

  Her body was shaking constantly, whether from cold or fear.

  Zhen Ming painfully took off his clothes and put them on her.

  "You didn't even take me with you when you left, just leaving a note behind and running off on your own. That was really ungrateful. I hope you've learned your lesson this time."

  His tone had a hint of schadenfreude, sounding extremely punchable.

  He poked at the fire, making it burn vigorously. As the flames grew stronger, the surrounding area warmed up, and Zhang's body finally stopped trembling gradually.

  Zhen Ming's eyes glanced at her foot that was still bleeding, took off the backpack behind him, and took out a leather pouch from inside.

  He turned and walked to her side, knelt down on one knee, lifted Zhang's foot with his hand and placed it on his thigh. Zhang's body trembled slightly, just about to pull back, but was pressed down by him, saying lightly: "If you don't want to walk with a crutch for the rest of your life, then don't move."

  His voice was calm, but it scared Zhang's family stiff, and they didn't dare move.

  Zhen Ming was carefully helping her clean the dirt off her feet, saying: "I heard last time we let the old woman who came to stay with us say that she saw you, and you said that if you were staying at the old woman's house for a night, it wouldn't be possible for wolves to chase you to the point where you even lost your shoes?"

  Zhang heard this and seemed to remember something, raised his head and stared at him fiercely, with a face full of anger.

  Zhen Ming was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly understood and asked in shock: "You don't really think I stole that old woman's **?"

  Judging from Zhang's reaction, he guessed correctly.

  He burst out laughing: "You're too gullible, those two chickens were bought from the old lady with my own money. Do I look like a chicken thief to you?"

  He smiled as he unscrewed the stopper of the wineskin, and a fragrance of wine wafted out.

  Zhang's face was furious as she stared at him, completely bewildered by what he was doing. Next, without any warning, he suddenly poured the wine onto her feet.

  "Ah!"

  In the central area of Luojiang Village, a mournful and piercing cry suddenly echoed...

  ……

  Zhen Ming's face was filled with a look of grievance as he stared at the row of neat and tidy, blood-stained teeth marks on his arm.

  Zhang had already recovered from the severe pain, and she was calm again. She pursed her lips and didn't say a word, nor did she look at Zhen Mingxu, as if it wasn't her who had bitten him just now.

  "You're a little dog, I'm disinfecting you, good intentions but bad returns."

  Zhen Ming was complaining while taking out a handkerchief from her bosom and carefully bandaging her foot.

  As she watched him carefully bandage her injured foot, Zhang's eyes glazed over and a faint flush rose to her muddy face.

  Zhenming was suffering, but he didn't notice Zhang's expression at all, and instead focused on bandaging her wound. He lowered his head and said, "Didn't I tell you last time that I took on a job? I've been busy for the past few days and almost lost my life..."

  He didn't care whether Zhang was willing to listen or not, and he went on talking endlessly about some things that had happened in the past few days.

  By the time he finished speaking, he had carefully bandaged the wound on her foot and gently placed it on the ground, as if afraid of hurting her.

  She saw him looking over and avoided eye contact, lowering her head with a distracted expression.

  Zhenming bitterly gazed at her, silently sitting down beside her, poking at the fire pit, staring at the dancing flames, and suddenly asked: "What is a body-selling contract?"

  Zhang's body trembled slightly, and he lowered his head.

  Zhen Ming's bitter words suddenly changed, and he comforted him by saying: "Actually, you don't have to worry too much. As long as you pay off the debt your father-in-law owes, won't the contract in Pei Qian's hands become invalid?"

  Zhang looked back at him and asked half-believingly: "Really?"

  Zhen Ming sneered, "As long as it's a problem that can be solved with money, then it's not a problem. If all else fails, I'll just have Pei Qian castrated and let him serve in the palace. Let's see how he dares to bully you, a respectable married woman, again. Last time wasn't enough of a lesson, this time he must be taught a severe lesson."

  Zhang didn't care about his coarse words and asked anxiously: "How much is it? I'll pay you back when I have the money."

  Zhen Mingshu said, "It depends on whose contract it is. If Zhang's wife's contract falls into my hands, I may not sell it even for 100,000 taels of silver."

  Zhang felt embarrassed and looked away, no longer speaking.