Chapter 429: Acting Contest

Gu Xixi said with a smile, "What's more, the villagers don't even know you've come back."

"This time, do you want to appear before everyone, and how should you appear?"

"If someone asks about your return to your hometown, what should you say?"

"You'll need to spend some time thinking these over."

Mu Nan Zhao indeed didn't mention going to the field manor again.

After the donkey cart left the village, it got onto the official road.

Gu Xixi looked back, didn't see that person's shadow, and only then did she completely relax.

"Let's go to the city first to buy some cloth, then return to the field manor."

Lv Jing wondered, "Didn't you say you had enough clothes and weren't going to make any more lately?"

Gu Xixi said resentfully, "I want to make underwear!"

"Underwear?" Lv Jing thought, and since following Gu Xixi, her comprehension has leapt forward.

"Oh, you mean undergarments,"

"You already have several, didn't Aunt give you the little rabbit embroidered one?"

Mentioning the little rabbit, Gu Xixi's embarrassment surged, "I don't want a dudou."

"I want to make a few real, secure-feeling underwear!"

A slender girl like Lv Jing still finds wearing a dudou appropriate.

But Gu Xixi found that wearing a dudou was becoming somewhat unsuitable for her.

Possibly because this body is still young, over the past two years she's eaten well and increased her exercise.

Her height seems to have grown a bit, and her body has become sturdier.

But with that, feminine traits have also begun to develop.

Before summer, wearing thick clothes with a dudou underneath was still fine.

But now…

Especially since last night, Gu Xixi feels unsteady when walking.

Lv Jing really can't imagine what kind of underwear Gu Xixi wants.

So she laughed, "That's easy; just buy the fabric, tell me what you want, and I'll make it for you."

Gu Xixi said, "Not just for me alone. It's for both of us."

"When you grow to my size someday, you'll know how good wearing underwear is."

Lv Jing blushed, "What size growth? I'm not married, I don't have a baby."

Gu Xixi gave a wicked smile, "You understand more than I imagined."

"However, female development mainly depends on oneself; the factors you mentioned might be useful, but not necessarily."

Lv Jing had few close female friends before; hearing this topic for the first time, she couldn't help but blush all over.

The tea trees planted in the field manor are all superior strains selected by Gu Xixi herself.

After her cuttings, they have grown to nearly a hundred trees.

But this number planted in the five-hundred-mu tea garden is, of course, still far from enough.

Chen Dafu and the others were busy harvesting wheat, but Gu Xixi wouldn't let them help.

Anyway, there isn't much work today.

Gu Xixi checked the condition of all the tea trees, counted them, numbered them, and had Lv Jing register them in a ledger.

These native strains are important; they are the foundation for future hybridization research and tea tree breeding.

Until the sun slanted westward, Chen Dafu, Wu Niangzi, and others were still busy in the wheat field.

Gu Xixi called out from afar, "Once I finish my work I'll head back first; you just need to hear me, no need to come see me off."

Leaving the field manor, Gu Xixi had Lv Jing slow the cart a bit.

Lv Jing sighed long, "Others always dodge trouble at the first chance."

"But as the landlord, you deliberately go slow, afraid that evil-doers won't catch up to us."

Gu Xixi smiled faintly and scolded, "You're the clever one."

"Don't you find it annoying to be constantly on guard against nuisances?"

"Better to lure him out in one go, cook him thoroughly, so he can't twitch again."

Lv Jing laughed, "By the way, I'm also curious what trick he's going to pull."

The donkey cart trudged slowly along the official road, halfway through the journey, the sky growing dark.

Around them there were no passersby; only the calls of birds returning to their nests could be heard.

Gu Xixi leaned against the cart's rim, half-asleep, but her ears stayed alert to any sound.

Suddenly, a stone thrown from the bushes hit the cart's axle, lodging exactly between the wooden bars.

Lucky couldn't pull the cart, raised his forelegs, and neighed irritably.

Lv Jing panicked, "The cart seems to be stuck by something."

Gu Xixi broke out in a cold sweat; her acting was too unconvincing, yet a faint excitement could be heard.

Following her original plan, she said, "Hmm, I'll go down to see what's happening."

Gu Xixi got off the cart, pretended to inspect the wheel, and pried out the lodged stone.

As she straightened up, as expected,

someone grabbed her from behind with a knife, "Don't make a sound, don't move!"

"If you shout or struggle, I'll kill you!"

Although he tried to suppress his voice, Gu Xixi could still easily recognize Gu Tiezhu's tone.

A cold smile flickered in her eyes.

Her right hand touched the hollow silver bracelet on her left wrist.

She hesitated, then let go.

Since Lv Jing wants to make good use of her, let's play with her a bit longer.

Anyway, the outcome won't change anymore.

Gu Xixi feigned fear, letting Gu Tiezhu drag her toward the roadside thicket.

Lv Jing still wasn't at ease leaving Gu Xixi alone, so she followed.

Gu Tiezhu noticed, grew alarmed, and shouted angrily, "What are you doing! If you want to spare her life, don't play tricks!"

Since victory was in her grasp, Lv Jing still had a playful mind.

Her eyes shifted, and she cried, "The master has shown me lifesaving kindness!"

"You've kidnapped our master; of course I must share life and death with him!"

"If you have the ability, kill me; otherwise, you'll follow me wherever I go!"

Gu Tiezhu saw she was a silly girl, gave a wicked laugh, and said, "Fine, if you want to follow, just follow."

"I'll grant you that."

In the deep weeds, even the moonlight couldn't penetrate.

Gu Tiezhu thought he had reached his own turf, but the two women wouldn't let him have his way.

So he dropped the act and no longer held a knife to Gu Xixi.

He laughed to the heavens, "Gu Xixi, see clearly who I am! Could you ever have imagined falling into my hands?"

Gu Xixi and Lv Jing exchanged a glance.

Perhaps because it was too dark, or perhaps Gu Tiezhu thought he was the only hunter tonight.

He simply didn't notice whether the two kidnapped victims were acting too calmly.

Gu Xixi said, "Then please, for the sake of our former kinship, let us die with understanding."

Gu Tiezhu finished laughing and stared at Gu Xixi coldly, like a poisonous snake.

"Your family has no male heirs; only you, a little girl, remain."

"As long as you disappear, this family estate will naturally be mine."

"Of course, this was originally owed to me; you ruined me like this, yet you yourself have profited handsomely."

"Why? Heaven is unfair!"

"Then I have no choice but to take matters into my own hands and reclaim what's mine!"

Lv Jing, already disgusted by the laugh, said, "You deserve it?"

"If you really had that ability, you wouldn't keep losing to Xixi time and again."

"You surely know deep down that you can only be a good-for-nothing in this life; otherwise, why would you constantly think of taking others' belongings?"

Gu Tiezhu felt ashamed and flew into a rage, "You can only vent your anger with words now!"

"If you fall into my hands tonight, I'll slit your throats, break your limbs, and sell you to a low-class brothel!"

"Gu Xixi, don't you have a cousin who's like a celestial being, the county magistrate?"

"Once he sees you serving customers in that filthy place, you'll never again dream of becoming the county magistrate's wife!"