CMWKSD -Chapter 9 Execute the Enchantress!

Before they even reached the village, they could already hear the noisy clamor ahead, interspersed with the sobbing cries of Ji Dahai and Su Ruo.

Jiu Yue and Ji Yiqing exchanged a glance and hurried forward.

One look was enough to rekindle Jiu Yue’s anger. Though she despised Ji Dahai and Su Ruo for their weakness and incompetence, they were still the people who had saved her.

Jiu Yue had never claimed to possess much conscience or moral virtue—but since these two had saved her, they were now under her protection.

At this moment, Ji Dahai and Su Ruo were kneeling outside the Ji family courtyard, their clothes in disarray, hair hanging loose.

Hu Chunhua was spewing filthy curses, shouting about how they had picked up an enchantress, a monster, and so on.

Jiu Yue didn’t even need to think to know who she was talking about.

It was probably because of what happened at noon. Jiu Yue didn’t feel she had done anything wrong—but failing to clean up afterward was indeed her mistake. She was really terrible at dealing with the aftermath.

Ji Yiqing rushed forward and helped Ji Dahai and Su Ruo up. “Father, Mother, what happened?”

Beside Hu Chunhua stood a middle-aged man, his expression grim as he glared at her. “Old Madam Ji, listen to yourself—what nonsense are you spewing? Ji Dahai and Su Ruo have been honest and upright their whole lives. What do you mean by saying they deliberately brought back an enchantress to harm you?”

Hu Chunhua’s face was smeared with tears and snot, making Jiu Yue feel utterly disgusted. Unfortunately, Jiu Yue was short and blocked by the crowd, so Hu Chunhua didn’t see her.

Hu Chunhua tore off the bandage on her hand. “Village head, you must seek justice for us! Look—those chopsticks, they went bang and pierced straight through my palm, pinning it to the table! That damn Ji Dahai! Being a stepmother is hard! And my Dahu—someone grabbed him by the neck, he almost died! That’s a murderer! A murderer!”

The village head helplessly tapped his smoking pipe. “Then what do you want to do?”

Hu Chunhua’s eyes darted around. Since they weren’t a match for Jiu Yue, and there were so many people here, as long as the village head backed her up, she could kill Jiu Yue on the spot—and conveniently send her off to the Wang family afterward.

Killing two birds with one stone.

“A murderer must be put to death!”

The moment the words fell, Ji Dahu and the others behind Hu Chunhua began shouting too.

“Kill the enchantress!”

“That’s right! Kill her!”

Ji Yiqing shot a nervous glance at Jiu Yue and, sure enough, saw her holding several stones tightly in her hand. Ji Yiqing was certain that if the villagers joined in, Jiu Yue wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest—she’d just kill everyone.

Ji Yiqing quickly handed the pheasant and rabbit to Ji Dahai and shook his head at his parents. Hu Chunhua spotted the game in his hands at once and greedily swallowed.

Perfect—kill the enchantress and eat meat.

But then Ji Yiqing hurried over to Jiu Yue, shaking his head urgently at her. Jiu Yue glared at him viciously—what was this tall man being so timid for?

Kill them all and be done with it!

Ji Yiqing patted Jiu Yue’s hand. “Leave it to me.”

Jiu Yue rolled her eyes. This man was tall and well-built, yet had no martial skills and couldn’t fight—such a waste of height and physique.

Seeing Ji Yiqing step forward, the villagers soon pulled a delicate, petite young girl out from the crowd. The moment several young village men got a clear look at Jiu Yue’s face, their faces flushed red, and they didn’t even dare look at her.

Just as the village head was about to speak, Ji Yiqing tugged Jiu Yue by the sleeve and led her to the Ji family gate. He clasped his hands toward the village head and villagers. Seeing the vicious scar on Ji Yiqing’s face—and recalling Ji Chaomian’s crippled leg—the village head could only sigh helplessly.

The Ji Village had been on the verge of producing two scholars. Who could have known such a calamity would strike and ruin both of them?

With a sigh, he called out, “Erwa.”

Jiu Yue lowered her head, desperately suppressing the twitching at the corner of her mouth.
Good. At least it wasn’t Dog Egg.

Ji Yiqing noticed Jiu Yue’s trembling shoulders, unsure what she was thinking about this time, but still made sure the village head could see her clearly.

“Village head, this is Jiu Yue—my newly wedded wife, and the ‘enchantress’ my grandmother keeps talking about.”

Everyone stared at Jiu Yue, then glanced at Ji Dahu hiding behind Hu Chunhua. This girl—barely reaching Ji Dahu’s chin—had supposedly grabbed him by the throat with one hand and nearly killed him?

What a joke.

With arms and legs that thin, she’d be impressive just to lift a bucket of water.

Jiu Yue stood there with her head lowered, obedient and silent.

Hu Chunhua kept cursing. Jiu Yue lowered her head and silently counted: one “wild brat,” one “bitch,” one “bastard,” two “wild brats,” two “bitches,” two “bastards”…

Ji Yiqing sighed, touching his own face with sorrow in his eyes. “Village head, you must know what my elder brother and I encountered a few days ago?”

The villagers all sighed; no one spoke up.

Ji Yiqing cast a deep look at Hu Chunhua, making goosebumps rise all over her.

“Two days ago, I was unconscious the entire time. My parents found Jiu Yue collapsed in the fields, completely senseless. They are kindhearted people and wanted to accumulate virtue for my brother and me, so they brought her home.”

The village head nodded. “Your father already said as much.”

Ji Yiqing continued, “Then my grandmother saw that Jiu Yue was an orphan, her life hanging by a thread, and suggested she be used to bring me good fortune through marriage.”

“My parents are filial and couldn’t disobey her, so my second uncle arranged the marriage between Jiu Yue and me.”

“I also thought my grandmother wanted me to wake up. And indeed, I did wake up. That alone proves Jiu Yue is not an enchantress—she is the Ji family’s lucky star. Otherwise, I’d still be unconscious.”

Some villagers chimed in agreement. After all, fortune-bringing marriages were extremely common in the countryside. Ji Yiqing’s prolonged coma was also a fact. Some even praised Hu Chunhua for finally doing one good deed.

How could Hu Chunhua let others call Jiu Yue a lucky star? “No! She’s an enchantress! An enchantress, villagers! She pinned my Dahu to the wall with one hand, nearly strangled him to death! And look at my hand—look at it! What young girl has that kind of strength? She kills without blinking! She’s an enchantress and must be executed! Must be executed!”

Ji Yiqing looked at Hu Chunhua. “After execution, then what, Grandmother? What will you do with Jiu Yue’s body?”

Hu Chunhua glanced guiltily at the village head.

The village head barked, “What do you mean by that?”

Ji Yiqing’s face was filled with grief and indignation. “What else could it mean? My grandmother and second uncle’s clever scheme. The eldest son of the city’s richest merchant, Boss Wang, is on the verge of death and unmarried—he needs a woman for a ghost marriage.”

Boom!

Everyone was stunned. So that was the real reason?

The village head was so furious he could barely speak, pointing at Hu Chunhua. “You filthy-mouthed old hag! You twisted a perfectly good child into an enchantress just to send her off for a ghost marriage—that’s a human life! Aren’t you afraid of being struck dead by lightning?!”

“Cousin Uncle, are you really going to let this old hag ruin the reputation of Ji Village?”

“If word gets out that everyone in Ji Village treats human lives like grass, who would ever dare marry into or associate with Ji Village again?!”

“Dahai saved her—and you want to send her to her death! You’ll be repaid for this!”

Ji Shan, after all, was the village head’s distant cousin. Being scolded like this made him lose face, and he pointed at Jiu Yue. “She is an enchantress!”

The village head waved his hand. Everyone in the village knew what Ji Shan’s family was like. Aside from Ji Dahai’s family—who were genuinely good people—the rest were all crooked, especially Ji Shan’s third son, Ji Dajiang, who was off who knew where causing trouble again.

In the end, the village head angrily berated Hu Chunhua, along with Ji Dahu and the others. The entire village pointed fingers at them behind their backs.

Then the village head left with the crowd, sternly ordering Hu Chunhua to stop spreading lies—and absolutely forbidding her from sending anyone off for a ghost marriage. That kind of thing destroyed one’s virtue and would bring divine retribution.