Black Belly Wife

Continued from the previous chapter->

"It's still Brother Chu who is kind-hearted and willing to give me a ride." Li Shaoqing jumped onto the carriage with a leap.

Kind-hearted? You'll regret later that you weren't born a few years earlier. Murong Yunshu faintly glanced at Chu Changge and saw that he had indeed consented to Li Shaoqing's behaviour, so she let it go and only said, "You will drive the carriage."

Li Shaoqing froze and stated, "I don't know how to drive." He was here to get a ride, not to act as someone's coachman.

Murong Yunshu: "Those who can't drive are not qualified to ride in the carriage." The implication was, either you drive the carriage outside or walk on your own legs.

"Could it be that you know how to drive a carriage?" Li Shaoqing asked unhappily.

Murong Yunshu raised an eyebrow. "Do you need me to prove it?"

Li Shaoqing also raised his eyebrows and did not say anything. His expression clearly said, 'if you have the guts, you drive it for me'.

The corners of Murong Yunshu's mouth curled up as she rolled up her sleeves to get into battle, but Chu Changge stopped her. "Either drive the carriage or get lost." Chu Changge said coldly and threw the horsewhip to Li Shaoqing.

Li Shaoqing caught the horsewhip and said with a straight face, "I am willing to pay for a coachman."

Murong Yunshu said, "The horse is too thin to pull more than three people. It's enough to have you already. I can just make do with that."

Was the horse too thin? Didn't it pull more than four people before?

She wanted him to be her coachman and then considered him only to make do? Then who would make do to drive her horse in the future?

Li Shaoqing suddenly wanted to whip her to death, very much so, but he couldn't. Not to mention that he couldn't beat Chu Changge; even if he could, he wouldn't be able to explain himself to His Highness.

*

Even though he didn't like it, Li Shaoqing was still able to bear the humiliation of being a coachman.

Inside the carriage, Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge sat side by side. "Where are you planning to take me?"

Chu Changge: "You're finally interested? You never asked, and I thought you would be willing to follow wherever I went."

Murong Yunshu smiled faintly and said, "Naturally, I'll be willing to. I'm just not quite willing to do it in a threesome."

A threesome? Why did it sound so strange? Chu Changge frowned and said, "I've refused him, but he insisted on coming along with us. Besides, he did want to help us yesterday."

Murong Yunshu: "I don't think you're someone who knows how to repay others with kindness." Even though he lost his memory, it wouldn't go as far as transforming him from being a world-wrecking demon king to a saviour. For a person to be a good one also depended on one's innate intelligence. She did not believe he had agreed to give Li Shaoqing a ride out of gratitude.

Murong Yunshu was full of doubts, but Chu Changge did not intend to give her an explanation. "Believe it or not." After saying that, he closed his eyes and took a rest. He hadn't slept all night last night, so he was sleepy. Thinking about the bet she said last night before she went to sleep, Chu Changge's body was inexplicably hot again. He knew exactly how he felt about her and wouldn't be surprised if he fell in love with her one day. But the words 'you will fall in love with me' came out of her mouth with such certainty that he was suddenly at a loss for words.

He didn't remember anything from before, and everything about himself he had heard from Bai Yefeng. He heard that before his accident, he was the master of the Mojiao Sect and followed by four inseparable great guardians. But when Bai Yefeng found him at the mouth of the Wuhua Valley, he was surrounded by no one, but a tired horse⸺which was said to be his former favourite mount. Bai Yefeng had lived in seclusion in Wuhua Valley all his life, so he didn't know what had happened to him outside, except that he was dying of a severe poison. He nearly walked through a hell's gate and eventually saved his life, but he could not remember what had happened before and even forgot that he had excellent skills. Please read this chapter at xinshou blogspot com.

Bai Yefeng told him, "Go out and find a woman called Yunshu and bring her back to Wuhua Valley."

So he left Wuhua Valley and returned to the jianghu in search of a woman called Yunshu.

With little effort to destroy, he found her place of residence⸺the Jiugua House in Shuzhong. At first, he was unsure if this famous 'Murong Yunshu' was the 'Yunshu' that Bai Yefeng wanted him to find, so he started asking around for a woman called 'Yunshu'. Everyone said it was Murong Yunshu, the young mistress of the Murong Mansion, without exception. Was there only one Yunshu in the world, or did he just happen to meet this one?

Unable to find the answer, since everyone said Yunshu was Murong Yunshu, he also thought the person he was looking for was Murong Yunshu.

He had seen her once at the Jiugua House. At that time, she sat in the courtyard like a dead person, staring into the distance with her listless eyes. His heart throbbed inexplicably, like a knife twisted into it. He wanted to ask her why she was looking in such despair, but then he suddenly felt a pain in the back of his head, as if someone had hit him with a stick, and then he was unconscious.

When he regained consciousness, he was sleeping by the side of the road, dressed in completely different clothes from that day, and in front of him stood a man in fancy clothes—Li Shaoqing, who was driving a carriage at the moment. Li Shaoqing told him that four men had kidnapped Murong Yunshu, and they had just left with her.

He went after them and indeed saw four men driving a carriage. Intuition told him that she was inside, so he stopped the carriage.

He thought he was her saviour but found that she didn't need one at all.

There was a smile on her face and stars in her eyes. Her whole being was like a pearl, shining brightly even in the daytime. She was different from the one he saw in Jiugua House that day. But that momentary smile of hers tumbled into his heart.

Suddenly, a voice with a hint of smile rang in his ears, "How long do you plan to play dead?"

Chu Changge jerked back to his senses and opened his eyes. Unexpectedly, he met a pair of beautiful clear eyes. "What are you looking at me for?"

"To see if you're pretending to be dead or truly dead." Murong Yunshu smilingly replied with a bit of teasing at the corner of her mouth.

Chu Changge frowned and stated insipidly, "You're very good at taunting people."

"Thank you for the compliment. But I'm just telling the truth. If it gives you a bad feeling, then I can't help it."

"......" Meaning that she would stick to 'telling the truth' to the end, whether he had an opinion or not? Chu Changge sighed feebly and asked, "What's wrong now?"

"Someone said that there are three paths before us and asked which one you want to take." Murong Yunshu said.

There was no need to think to know who that 'someone' was referring to. Chu Changge lifted the curtain of the carriage to look and said, "Just go straight."

"To the right leads to the capital, and the left leads to Shang Yang, near the Tianlong Mountain. Why would you want to go straight ahead? As far as I know, there is nothing ahead but a forest of scrub." Li Shaoqing said.

Murong Yunshu also agreed with Li Shaoqing. Their option was either going to the left or the right, and there was no point in going straight. But she did not comment on it because Chu Changge would always make a decision that contradicted her opinion no matter what she said. Going left was the last shortcut that would allow a detour to Tianlong Mountain, and if Chu Changge chose to go right, she no longer had any expectation of getting to Tianlong Mountain. And the silver warehouse, which was right at the foot of Tianlong Mountain.

"Which way do you think is better?" Chu Changge suddenly turned back and asked.

Murong Yunshu: "Whatever."

"I suggest to the right." Li Shaoqing said.

"What do you think?" Chu Changge asked Murong Yunshu again.

"Whatever." Murong Yunshu insisted on not expressing his opinion.

"That means it's fine to go straight?"

Murong Yunshu shook her head with an indifferent expression, "No opinion."

Chu Changge looked at the road ahead and pondered for a moment before saying, "Go to the left."

Murong Yunshu was overjoyed. She had finally gotten her way for once.

Li Shaoqing, on the other hand, gave Murong Yunshu a reluctant look, and then they immediately went on their way. In his mind, he began to think of a way to make Chu Changge change his path. No matter what, he could not let Chu Changge take Murong Yunshu to Tianlong Mountain.

*

After setting foot on the road towards Tianlong Mountain, Murong Yunshu was in a much better mood. This was the first thing that Chu Changge did to her satisfaction. As the saying went, where there was one, there would be two. She was sure that someone with his innate intelligence would soon realise that those who understood times were great men would put aside their defiance and readily follow good advice. "Do you know what Tianlong Mountain is?" Murong Yunshu started talking cheerfully.

"The place you want to go."

Murong Yunshu was startled. "You know?"

"Mhmm." Chu Changge nodded his head very calmly.

"Then you're still going?" Didn't he always have a penchant for singing a different tune with her? Had he suddenly changed his hobby?

Chu Changge looked up at her and asked deliberately slowly, "Who said I was going there?"

"You chose this path."

"It's just a matter of setting foot on this path. It doesn't mean we have to go all the way to the end." Chu Changge spoke in a very breezy manner.

Murong Yunshu's eyebrows knitted slightly, not quite understanding what exactly he wanted to do.

*

Soon, Murong Yunshu knew what Chu Changge's plan was. With a cold and stern 'pull up', the carriage came to a sudden stop. Murong Yunshu could imagine Li Shaoqing almost subconsciously pulling the reins and stopping in one fluid motion.

Chu Changge lifted the curtain and walked out while saying to Li Shaoqing, "Get off."

Li Shaoqing looked puzzled, "What are you going to do?"

"I will drive." Chu Changge said.

"Okay." Li Shaoqing was delighted. He handed him the whip and reins, then turned around and walked towards the carriage.

When Murong Yunshu saw Li Shaoqing lift the curtain, she couldn't help but frown and pointed out, "You've misunderstood. He told you to get off the carriage. He didn't tell you to get in."

"What's the point of getting off the carriage in the middle of nowhere?" Li Shaoqing turned back and asked Chu Changge.

Chu Changge said, "The horse is already unable to carry a heavy load of three people."

Murong Yunshu couldn't help but laugh. Why did this sound familiar?

Li Shaoqing exclaimed incredulously, "You're throwing me off?"

Chu Changge raised his eyebrows, "Do you want me to kick you off?"

The corners of Li Shaoqing's mouth twitched fiercely, and he jumped off the carriage resentfully. Then, he watched as Chu Changge turned the carriage around and drove back in the direction they had come from. Li Shaoqing was dumbfounded. Did he make such a big circle just to abandon him in the middle of nowhere? This was such a childish trick!

Inside the carriage, Murong Yunshu was also amused, but she couldn't help but sigh in her heart. Sometimes it was not always good for a man to be too devoted, especially when his love took a different position than hers.

"As it turned out, this journey has been an opportunity for you to find a good place to drop him off?" Murong Yunshu asked with a smile as she stepped out of the carriage and sat next to Chu Changge.

Chu Changge replied coldly, "He was asking for it."

"You could have refused him when we were at the inn. That way, he might have been able to take someone else's carriage."

"I've already refused, but he wouldn't listen. If it weren't for the fact that he gave me directions earlier, I would have slapped him to death at the entrance of the inn."

"......" Murong Yunshu was suddenly curious to know what had happened downstairs before she made her appearance.

As if he had guessed her thoughts, Chu Changge said, "He said that if I didn't agree to give him a ride, he would follow on his horse."

"......" Sure enough, that guy was indeed infuriating.

"And he also said that he would publicise the theft of Murong Mansion's silver warehouse."

"There are so many of such rumours that no one will believe them."

"Is it genuinely just a rumour?" Chu Changge suddenly stopped the carriage and looked at her seriously. His ink-black eyes shone with a refined light as if he had already gained insight into everything.

In an instant, Murong Yunshu's heart was shaken, and in a trance, he thought that the former Chu Changge had come back. She stared at him in silence for a long time before coming back to her senses. She frantically suppressed the waves from the bottom of her heart as she said unenthusiastically, "Of course, it's just a rumour. There are many mechanisms in the silver warehouse, and very few people can see the silver alive. Even if there is someone lucky enough to get in, how can a huge silver warehouse be emptied overnight?"

At those words, Chu Changge looked slightly gloomy and stared at her searingly for a long time again before raising his horse's whip and continuing on his way, with his mouth saying, "You are very defensive with your heart."

Murong Yunshu's heartstrings trembled, and the waves in her chest once again rose. She hung her head in silence for a long time before she could calm it down. "I am, but with you, I've set my mind not to defend my heart from you." Her tone was very calm as if she was merely recounting an event, not a confession.

Chu Changge, however, was shocked by these few short words from her. "You......like me?" One could hear his voice trembling from excitement.

"Mhmm. Like." She was afraid that saying love right now would only scare him, so it was better to be subtle.

Chu Changge did not expect that she would be so calm, and he was startled once more. His heart became even more excited, like beating a drum. After a few seconds, he stated, "We've only known each other for a day."

Murong Yunshu: "If you meet the right person, one day is no different from a lifetime."

"Is that......the case." Chu Changge murmured to himself and stopped talking. Her confession made his heart unable to calm down for a long time. It was because her words resonated in his heart. When he first met her, he felt familiar with her as if he had known her for a long, long time.

Was this just fate? Or, had he indeed known her for a long time? Why else would Bai Yefeng have asked him to look for her?

No. If she had known him for a long time, she should have questioned his memory loss when they first met, but she hadn't. And when he had just said that he had only known her for a day, she hadn't refuted it either.

The more chaotic Chu Changge's mind was, the more confused he became. Finally, he simply gave his horse a hard whip and sped up his journey. When he reached Wuhua Valley, everything would be clear. Hopefully, she had indeed been involved in the first half of his blank life.

He suddenly recalled that he was so angry with her yesterday that he could not wait to get rid of her. But now, he had developed a good feeling for her. Chu Changge could not help but laugh at himself unless he had a tendency to be abused. Hence, he developed a good feeling for her while he was in the process of being abused by her?

*

At noon, Chu Changge drove his carriage back to the same three-way intersection that they had passed before. This time he didn't consult Murong Yunshu and directly chose the road that made the slightest sense in Murong Yunshu and Li Shaoqing's eyes. At this, Murong Yunshu only frowned slightly and said nothing. Her reaction surprised Chu Changge; from his limited experience, she should have an opinion on his decision. Even if she knew perfectly well that there were some opinions she had to keep to herself, she would still have spoken a few words just to go against him. "Won't you ask me why I'm going this way?" He opened his mouth voluntarily.

"Nope."

"Why?"

"You won't change direction even if I ask you to, so why bother."

"......" He thought she would say, 'I'll go with you wherever you go, no need to ask why'. It seemed that he was the only one who thought he was favoured by her.

"But I want to know when I'll be able to get back to Tianlong Mountain."

Chu Changge froze and then understood, "The silver warehouse has indeed been stolen."

Murong Yunshu looked askance at him and said, "You're thinking too much. I'm just worried that the silver warehouse's mechanism has killed the trespasser."

"......you are very confident."

"Always have been."

"......also still thinking highly of yourself."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"......"

A moment later. "Are you sure the silver warehouse hasn't been stolen?" Chu Changge was still struggling with this question.

Murong Yunshu: "If you can't sleep until you figure it out, I can open the warehouse and let you in to find out what's going on."

"......no need."

Another moment passed. Chu Changge said, "If you're worried about the silver warehouse......"

"I'm not worried." Murong Yunshu interrupted him directly.

"......" Okay. He surrendered. Chu Changge turned the carriage around again. "Let's go to Tianlong Mountain." What she said was true. He couldn't sleep until he figured this out.

"Whatever." Murong Yunshu's face still looked indifferent, but she was as happy as blooming flowers in her heart. Very well, this child could still be taught. He had done another thing to make her happy by doing things according to her wishes.

*

At the same time. Li Shaoqing, on the other hand, was waiting for Huo Zhantang, who had been following them. Huo Zhantang followed them all the way according to the secret code Li Shaoqing had left behind. When he found Li Shaoqing standing alone by the roadside with a gloomy face, he couldn't help but ask, "Where are Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge?"

"Gone to the capital." Li Shaoqing answered sullenly.

Huo Zhantang: "What are they doing in the capital? Why didn't you go with them? His Highness told us to follow them closely."

"The problem is that they won't let me." Li Shaoqing gave a brief account of how Chu Changge deliberately sent him to the wilderness and dropped him off before turning around and leaving. Then he added, "Don't worry. Chu Changge hasn't recovered his memory yet and is bent on catching Murong Yunshu to bring her to the Wuhua Valley. The valley is more than a thousand miles away from Tianlong Mountain, and they can't reach Tianlong Mountain before the 15th of the eighth lunar month. As long as they don't show up at the Martial Arts Conference on the 15th, His Highness plan will go smoothly."

Huo Zhantang thought about it and felt that Li Shaoqing had a point, so he did not pursue it further. "Then we will rush to Tianlong Mountain right away. Although Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge are absent, those people around them are also more difficult to deal with than the others. Let's go there early so that we can help Tianji and Tianfeng."

"Okay."

*

The sun was setting in the west, and it was getting late.

Even though Chu Changge had travelled fast, he was still unable to reach the post before it became dark. Driving the carriage to a stop deep in the woods beside the road, Chu Changge said, "Rest here for the night, and we'll continue our journey early tomorrow morning."

Murong Yunshu hesitated for a moment and said, "That's fine."

"Not happy?" Chu Changge was puzzled. She seemed to be easy-going; she shouldn't mind.

"No."

"But you don't seem very happy about it." Was he overthinking?

"Aren't you going hunting for a game?"

Chu Changge flinched slightly, and then it dawned on him that she was hungry. "Sorry, I didn't know you still needed to eat." Chu Changge said, half apologising and half teasing.

Murong Yunshu raised an eyebrow and said, "I don't blame you. It's my fault for thinking you were human too."

"......" He was always human, alright? Just not as easily hungry as her.

*

Chu Changge got off and tied the horse to a tree and found some dry branches to make a fire. "You wait here while I go hunt for game."

"Mhmm." Murong Yunshu obediently sat down not too far from the fire. The light from the fire shone, and since she wasn't too close to it, she didn't feel hot. The night was quite cool in early autumn. The evening breeze made the trees move, and the branches sway, creating a very pleasant atmosphere. The most important thing was that she had him with her. Murong Yunshu raised her eyes to look at Chu Changge's back, and her smile spilt out from the bottom of her heart and hung at the corners of her mouth, unable to be tucked away.

The current Chu Changge was no different from his usual self, except that he didn't remember her. When he spoke, he wouldn't let others butt in. When he did things, he would do them with the power of a thunderbolt and the speed of lightning. Sometimes he would be challenging to deal with, and other times, he would be considerate.

As she thought about it, the smile on Murong Yunshu's lips grew even more prominent, and she could not help but laugh out loud.

She didn't know how long after that, she suddenly saw Chu Changge come back anxiously and empty-handed. 

"What happened?" Murong Yunshu asked as she got up.

Chu Changge looked at her with a surprised look. "I finally found you. Where are the others?"

Finally found her? The others? A bad feeling came over her, and Murong Yunshu's heart tightened as she asked with uncertainty, "Are you the brainless Ah Chang?"

Chu Changge frowned. "Yes." Could she not add the word brainless?

Murong Yunshu held her forehead and murmured, "Why are you splitting up again?"

"What's splitting up?" Chu Changge had a strange look on his face.

As if she didn't hear his confusion, Murong Yunshu continued to mumble to herself, "Although you are also very lovable when you're brainless, you act the same every day, which affects my brewing feelings." She would probably be driven into schizophrenia by his split personality if she continued like this.

Chu Changge's eyebrows drew even tighter. "Brewing what feelings? What the hell are you talking about?"

Murong Yunshu still didn't answer his questions as she walked behind him, requesting, "Please lower your head a little."

Chu Changge no longer had any hope of her answering his questions, so he simply stopped asking and lowered his head with great cooperation.

Chu Changge was half a head taller than Murong Yunshu. Therefore, even though he had lowered his head, Murong Yunshu still had to stand on tiptoe to see the back of his head. After a moment of scrutiny, Murong Yunshu slapped him hard on the back of his head with all her strength. [+]

"Ah......" Chu Changge groaned in pain and turned around to shout, "What are you hitting me for?"

"Brainless Ah Chang?"

"What brainless Ah Chang? With this amount of strength you have, you can't even cripple me."

"Oh. It's you." The normal amnesiac Chu Changge.

"Of course it's me. Who else could it be?" Chu Changge said while rubbing his head. Although he had internal strength to protect his body, it still hurt to receive a solid blow to the back of his head like this. His head was his soft spot. After rubbing for a while, Chu Changge suddenly asked, as if he thought of something, "I clearly remembered that I had been hit by a broken branch just now. How did it become of you hitting me instead?"

It turned out that he had been hit by a branch, and it was just as she had guessed. The shock to his head would change his personality. One slap would turn her into a brainless Ah Chang. She wondered if two slaps would turn her back into a normal Chu Changge. With this in mind, Murong Yunshu raised her hand and gave him another slap.

Chu Changge suddenly frowned as he looked at her extra calmly and asked, "You called me over just to hit me?"

"Are you brainless Ah Chang?" Murong Yunshu asked.

"You've already asked that question earlier."

"Oh, right." Murong Yunshu smiled faintly and surprised him by giving him another hard slap on the head.

"Still hitting? You're addicted to hitting me, aren't you?" Chu Changge thundered.

Oh, this was the normal amnesiac Chu Changge. Murong Yunshu ignored Chu Changge's anger and laughed heartily. Although it was a bit regrettable that she couldn't shoot him back to the normal Chu Changge with memory, it was still delightful to discover this secret. In the future, when this normal amnesiac Chu Changge didn't cooperate with her, she would just turn him into a brainless Ah Chang and then change him back after she had a good time scolding and venting her grievance on him.

The more Murong Yunshu thought about it, the more pleased she became, her eyebrows arched as she looked at Chu Changge, obviously in a very good mood. As long as he could always be by her side, it didn't matter which personality he was. For him to have the ability to change around was quite comical. She wondered if there would be a time when she would have a creepy feeling of being a woman serving two husbands as days go by.

"Never hit anyone in your eight lifetimes? Just a few little hits, and you're already laughing like this." The more Chu Changge thought about it, the more depressed he became. He looked at her strangely for a long time, but when he saw that the smile on her face had no intention of abating, he straightened up, raised his hand and slapped her not too hard but not too light either. While she didn't know the reason for his action, he laughed at her three times in an incredibly fake, malicious and exaggerated manner and then went away.

His sudden action dumbfounded Murong Yunshu that it took a few seconds before coming back to her senses, and then she was in tears. Men indeed were childish no matter what stage of life they were in, even when they had a split personality.

*

Not long after, Chu Changge returned with a pheasant.

"There are pheasants walking around in the forest at night too?" Murong Yunshu wondered.

Chu Changge: "I caught it in the pheasant nest."

"......pheasants have nests too?"

"Is that strange? Don't savage people have dens too?"

"How do you know that savage people have dens too? Did you ever become a savage man?"

"You know pigs can run. Have you been a pig too?"

"......" Why has he suddenly become so eloquent? Could it be that the slaps had opened up his mind?

As soon as Chu Changge saw Murong Yunshu with her squinting eyes expression as she examined him, he knew she must not have anything good to say. Thus he decisively gained the initiative by striking her first before she could say anything by throwing the pheasant to her, "You roast it."

"Alright. You pluck the feathers first, then cut two willow branches to set it up." Murong Yunshu said.

"......do you roast chickens with your mouth?" He asked her to roast it, not for her to command him to roast it.

Murong Yunshu didn't say anything as she just smiled.

Being silent was the best form of resistance. And he had no better way to counter resist it. As a result, Chu Changge obediently plucked the chicken clean and set it up with willow branches as she had ordered. Then he stood aside, leaned against the trunk of the tree, with his hands crossed at his chest while looking at her indifferently, with the look of 'I can't hear you no matter what you order'.

Murong Yunshu gave him a funny look and then concentrated on roasting the pheasant. Only when she almost cooked it did she look up and seriously ask him, "Are you going to eat the head or the tail of the peasant?"

Suddenly a fragment flashed in his mind of a woman asking him over and over again⸺

Do you eat the pheasant head or the pheasant tail?

Do you eat the pheasant head or the pheasant tail?

Do you eat the pheasant head or the pheasant tail?

"Oh......" Chu Changge groaned out in pain and fell to the ground holding his head.

In response, Murong Yunshu was horrified and ran over to hug him, "What happened to you?"