After being wrongly married, I stabbed my husband to death and became famous throughout the world.

The mountain village is far from the county seat, and all the rules are actually set by the officers and soldiers responsible for supervising it.

If they were in a good mood and received some benefits, they would readily lend a hand and pin the blame for not being able to gather firewood on people they didn't like. Li Chutian was well aware of this.

He used to work at a post station and knew that those in power often acted as if they had nothing to do with anything.

He could give me two taels of silver.

But why indulge Zhou's bad habits?

They've only been in the mountains a short time and they've already spent so much money. What will happen when they leave? Their entire fortune will be gone!

"I am the main laborer responsible for chopping firewood. If I get injured or sick, it will be even harder to gather firewood in the future, so... my wife will cover for me. Sir, I promise that the firewood will be delivered to you on time next time..." Li Chutian said with a forced smile and flattery.

"..." Zhou's eyes widened.

Forty lashes, all on her?!

“Li Chutian, are you even human? I’ve been with you for over ten years, and now you’re unwilling to pay two taels of silver, and you even expect me to take the punishment for you? Have you lost your conscience?!” Zhou shouted.

"Do you want to fail again next time? With your little strength, how many pieces of firewood can you chop?! And if you hadn't failed to guard these firewood properly and wanted to see me get whipped, would we have failed the task?! I think you're just bored out of your mind to dare to burn firewood. After this, I want to see if you dare to do it again!" After Li Chutian finished speaking, he pushed Zhou Shi out.

How could the Zhou family be happy about this? They wanted to run away.

But she didn't dare, after all, it was in front of the officers and soldiers, and if she dared to resist, she would have no good days ahead.

She was so angry that she gritted her teeth, but the soldiers dragged her over and tied her to a tree.

Immediately afterwards, the whip lashed out. Zhou had never been beaten like this before. The whip sent a shiver down her spine, and her clothes were torn in one layer.

But this is just the beginning.

The sound of "slapping" kept ringing out. At first, Zhou was cursing and swearing, but by the end she was exhausted.

Li Man was terrified and hid in the house, too scared to come out.

Li Chutian coldly turned his head away.

"Don't forget the firewood next time." The soldiers left after they finished, knowing they wouldn't get anything out of it, so they didn't stay any longer.

Li Chutian then put the man down: "I know you have grievances in your heart, but those two just want to get money from me. If we give in to them this time, they will know that we are easy to bully and that there is money to be made, so they will definitely increase the amount of firewood we chop! There is nothing we can do about it."

It's just one less delivery of firewood, but twenty whips per person is obviously too much, so what the other party wants is money!

Perhaps they were too generous when they bought things last time, which made the other party feel that there was something to gain.

Zhou felt that even taking a breath was difficult.

Her back was covered in blood. After the rope was loosened, she collapsed to the ground and couldn't stand up. Li Chutian called Li Man and dragged her back to bed to rest.

The two had prepared some wound medicine before entering the mountain, and they used it now.

However, Zhou suffered from both internal and external torment, and that night, he developed a fever.

Li Chutian didn't have time to take care of her, so the task fell to Li Man.

The mother and daughter were too exhausted to argue anymore.

All the work that belonged to the Zhou family fell on Li Man's shoulders. Li Man suddenly began to wonder if he had made a mistake by not exposing Ali.

At the same time, she was also a little angry, angry that Ali had gone to burn firewood and made a mess of the house.

Therefore, after two or three days, she finally found some free time and immediately went to find Li Shu.

"Big sister, how could you do this to me?! My mother is sick, very sick! She hasn't been able to get out of bed lately. I have to do all the cooking, laundry, and chopping wood. I'm exhausted! Look at my hands, they're all calloused... No, you have to help me. When Dad isn't here, you'll be in charge of doing all the things my mother does..." Li Man started nagging as soon as she saw Li Shu.

Li Shu thought for a moment and then said, "Have you forgotten who insisted that your mother was the one who set the fire?"

“I never expected you to lie to your father and stab your mother in the back. Ah Man, as a child, to behave like this is truly unfilial,” Li Shu said with a smile.

“You’re the one who made me do it!” Li Man immediately retorted.

“I told you to listen to your father and take care of him, but did I tell you to lie?” Li Shu shamelessly denied it.

“But you’re the one who did the bad thing. I helped you because I was afraid Dad would find out. Big sister, why are you saying it’s all my fault now?!” Li Man couldn’t accept this.

She didn't understand what Ali meant by that.

“You’re selfish, only thinking of yourself. By revealing me, you’re telling your parents that you and I are in close contact. You’re afraid of being discovered, not for my sake.” Li Shu seemed to see right through her, and then added, “I never asked you to keep this a secret. In fact, you can go tell your father now that I live here.”

"..." Li Man stared at her in shock. "You...you're being unreasonable! Saying all this now just means you don't want to take care of my mother for me, right? All the help you gave me and how good you were to me before was just a lie?!"

“If you can feel the kindness I’m showing you, then you’re not being deceived. But I said from the beginning that in our deal, you’d make them run around in a mess, and I’d give you good food. I think you’ve probably forgotten that condition.” Li Shu sat there as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I must say, you’re quite good at lying… so I still won’t treat you unfairly.”

Li Man despised Li Shu's condescending attitude!

Unlike her previous gentleness, she now seemed to be instructing her on how to do things, which made her very uncomfortable!

Moreover, her main purpose in standing on Li Shu's side was to suffer less!

Now, things are getting even better, with more and more things being done!

“If you… if you don’t secretly help me with the work, I’ll tell Father that you’re alive…” Li Man said stiffly.

“Fine, tell him, so what?” Li Shu pointed outside. “Have you felt the weather lately? It’s getting colder and colder. The paths in these mountains will become increasingly difficult to traverse, and chopping firewood will become harder and harder. Does he have the time to deal with me?”

“He can’t control me, but you… can’t escape.” Li Shu sneered.

Li Man felt a chill run through his body.

"What exactly do you want from me?! I've already been very obedient to you, so why are you bullying me?" Li Man couldn't accept it.

"Do you know what the most thorough way to solve a problem is?" Li Shu suddenly asked her.

Li Man shook her head, crying.

How could she know any methods? All she knew was that she was truly no longer capable! Her father was as fierce as ever, and she was alone again, with no one to rely on!

“If your parents were dead, everything would be resolved,” Li Shu said casually.