TSWPF -Chapter 198 The Trap

When Li Laifu heard this, his face changed drastically. Had that man sent people after him?

Huang Meiniang’s eyes darted around. She nervously waved at Li Laifu, signaling for him to leave quickly while no one had noticed him yet.

As long as Li Laifu left, she would be safe.

Besides, her arm was still injured. If it wasn’t treated quickly, she feared she might bleed to death.

“Meiniang, then come with me,” Li Laifu said urgently. “Let’s go somewhere no one knows us and live our lives there, okay?”

The moment she heard this, Huang Meiniang’s expression changed. She stammered, “La… Laifu, are you trying to make me someone even worse off than a kept woman?” Eloping was the most self-degrading thing a woman could do.

She would never elope with Li Laifu. Never. She absolutely would not demean herself like that.

Li Laifu narrowed his eyes and looked at Huang Meiniang, asking expressionlessly whether she was unwilling to go with him.

Of course she was unwilling. How could she possibly agree? Was she stupid?

In the past, being with Li Laifu was simply a matter of mutual benefit. Now that Li Laifu had lost all value, there was no way she would continue to have any entanglement with him.

“Laifu, you suddenly asked me to leave with you. I have no mental preparation at all. I’m panicking inside…” Huang Meiniang spoke soothingly to Li Laifu, while inwardly she was anxiously wondering why those people still hadn’t arrived. “How about this—give me one night to think it over. Once I’ve decided, I’ll tell you tomorrow, okay?”

The sound of footsteps was growing louder. If Li Laifu didn’t leave soon, it would be too late.

“Fine. I’ll give you one night to think about it. I’ll come back tomorrow,” Li Laifu compromised. Still, feeling uneasy, he warned her, “Meiniang, don’t try any tricks. Otherwise, I don’t mind dragging us both down together.”

“I know. Hurry and go. If you stay any longer, you won’t be able to leave.”

Li Laifu took a deep look at Huang Meiniang, bent down to pick up the knife that had fallen to the ground, turned around, and ran off.

Not long after he fled, that man arrived with a group of villagers carrying wooden sticks and hoes.

When the villagers saw Huang Meiniang’s arm still bleeding, they all sucked in a sharp breath.

“This is terrible. How did it end up like this?”

“Meiniang, where’s that criminal? Why don’t we see him?”

Seeing the villagers, Huang Meiniang finally released the breath she’d been holding in her chest. She was safe at last.

“He heard the noise and ran off…” Before she could finish speaking, someone interrupted her.

“Girl, what happened here? How did you get hurt like this? Who did this to you? That bastard deserves to be crippled!” Huang Meiniang’s mother pushed through the crowd. When she saw the wound on her daughter’s arm, she cried out in anguish.

“Mother…” Huang Meiniang’s face was deathly pale as she swayed. Her mother hurried over to support her. “Mother, my arm hurts so much. Help me inside to tend to the wound.”

If they kept arguing here, she would really die.

“Alright, alright. Mother will help you inside right now.” Her mother nodded repeatedly, asked someone to go fetch the village doctor, and then carefully supported Huang Meiniang into the house.

Huang Meiniang subtly glanced at that man before weakly leaning against her mother’s shoulder and slowly walking inside.

At least that man still had a shred of conscience. If he had simply stood by and watched her die, she would never have let him go, even as a ghost.

Inside the room, Huang Meiniang was helped onto a chair. She dared not release the hand pressing against her wound, still holding it tightly.

She was afraid that if she let go, the bleeding would worsen.

Her mother looked at her nervously and asked what had happened.

She had been working in the fields when she heard that something had happened to her daughter. Without even asking what it was, she rushed back. The moment she saw the wound on her daughter’s arm, she was truly frightened.

Which heartless bastard dared to hurt her daughter like this?

Huang Meiniang took a gentle breath, slowly exhaled, and then replied, “It was Li Laifu who injured me. If I hadn’t cleverly soothed him, I’d probably be dead by now.” Li Laifu was truly insane—completely insane.

“What?” Her mother’s eyes widened in shock. “Girl, what did you say? You said Li Laifu injured you? Didn’t he commit a crime? How dare he come back to find you? And how could he suddenly cut you? Didn’t he always listen to you before? He wouldn’t even dare touch one of your fingers. How did he become like this…” She simply couldn’t understand how Li Laifu had changed so drastically.

If Li Laifu hadn’t committed a crime, he might have already become her son-in-law.

Her mother fired off question after question, making Huang Meiniang roll her eyes inwardly.

What did her mother mean by that? Was she implying that she had provoked Li Laifu?

Annoyed, Huang Meiniang said, “Mother, times are different now. He’s a wanted criminal—what wouldn’t he dare to do? He even dared to poison someone. Compared to that, cutting me is nothing.”

“That’s true. He used to seem like a decent person. Who would’ve thought he’d turn into this? Luckily you didn’t marry him, or you’d have been dragged down with him.”

“Exactly.” Huang Meiniang nodded in agreement. “Go see when the doctor will arrive. If he doesn’t come soon, this arm of mine will be ruined.”

The pain was growing worse. She felt like she couldn’t endure it much longer.

Her mother responded with a couple of acknowledgments, told Huang Meiniang to sit properly, and hurried out.

She had barely taken two steps when the village doctor arrived. She quickly went to greet him and asked him to examine her daughter.

The doctor gave a brief response and quickly walked up to Huang Meiniang. Seeing her sleeve soaked in blood, he frowned and told her to release her hand.

Huang Meiniang followed his instructions and slowly let go. Blood immediately surged from the wound. She cried out softly in pain and anxiously asked the doctor whether her arm would be alright.

The doctor took scissors and cut away the cloth around the wound, revealing a gruesome gash. Seeing how deep it was, even he was startled.

To ease her pain, he quickly sprinkled hemostatic powder over it—using up an entire bottle—before the bleeding finally stopped. Then he swiftly wrapped the wound with gauze and instructed Huang Meiniang not to let it touch water until it healed.

She nodded and asked again whether her arm would be alright.

The doctor said it would be fine as long as it didn’t get wet, but the wound was very deep and would leave a scar after healing.

Hearing this, Huang Meiniang panicked. “Th-then is there any way to remove the scar?” As a girl who loved beauty, she didn’t want an ugly scar on her body.

The doctor sighed faintly and said there was nothing he could do.

Given the limited conditions, how could he have any scar-removal medicine?

After giving a few more instructions to the pale-faced Huang Meiniang, leaving behind the hemostatic powder, and taking some consultation fees, he left.

Once the doctor was gone, Huang Meiniang told her mother to close the door and not let anyone else in. She had something important to discuss with her.

Seeing her serious expression, her mother agreed, quickly shut the door, and returned to her side. “What is it?”

Huang Meiniang gently touched the gauze wrapped around her arm. A vicious glint flashed in her eyes as she said softly, “Just now, Li Laifu wanted to take me with him. To avoid provoking him and getting hurt again, I pretended to consider it and told him to come back tomorrow…”

Before she could finish, her mother jumped up in anger, hands on her hips, cursing loudly.

“To hell with him! He’s a wanted criminal—how dare he ask you to go with him? If you followed him, you’d never see the light of day for the rest of your life!” Her mother glanced anxiously at Huang Meiniang, afraid she might actually go with Li Laifu. “Meiniang, don’t be foolish. If you follow him, your life will be ruined, understand?”

Li Laifu was a wanted criminal, doomed to live in hiding. She absolutely did not want her daughter to live such a wandering, miserable life.

And if people found out her daughter ran off with a wanted criminal, who knew how they’d gossip about their family?

Just for that reason alone, she couldn’t allow Huang Meiniang to go with him.

“Mother, do I look that stupid?” Huang Meiniang said, feeling speechless. “If I were that kind of person, I’d have gone with him already. Why would I ask for a night to think it over? To stop Li Laifu from taking me away, Mother, you secretly go to the yamen and report him. Tell the county magistrate that you saw Li Laifu, the wanted criminal, and ask him to send constables to arrest him.”

Unless Li Laifu was thrown into prison, she would never feel at ease. She feared he might come back someday to kill her.

At the mention of the yamen, her mother immediately felt intimidated. Like most ordinary people, she was afraid of going there—it felt like a terrifying place.

“Girl, we don’t even know if Li Laifu will really come back. How about this—let your father go tell the village head. The village head can alert everyone in the village to be prepared. If Li Laifu shows up, they’ll capture him and send him to the southern yamen. What do you think?”

Huang Meiniang thought it over and felt this plan would also work. As long as Li Laifu was caught, it didn’t matter how.

“Mother, when you tell Father to speak to the village head, make the situation sound more serious. That way, the village head will take it more seriously, understand?”

“Then… how should he say it?”

Huang Meiniang leaned over and whispered her plan into her mother’s ear.

Her mother nodded repeatedly. As soon as she finished listening, she hurried out to find her husband.

Huang Meiniang curled her lips and murmured softly, “Li Laifu, if you dare come tomorrow, I’ll make sure you never leave.”

He dared to slash her—if she didn’t take revenge, she wouldn’t be Huang Meiniang.

She had always been someone who repaid grudges. Whoever dared provoke her would have to wait for her retaliation.

Li Laifu never would have imagined that Huang Meiniang not only ignored his threats, but was also setting a trap to have him arrested and thrown into prison.

If he had known, he would never have let Huang Meiniang off so easily.