On the dark mountain ridge, the cold wind blew, and from afar, wolf howls grew closer, sending shivers down one's spine.
Guo Yongzhang shivered and slowly opened his eyes.
Above him was the starry night sky, and beneath his feet were stones and gravel. The cold wind whistled, and the wolf howls echoed. Terrified, he curled into a ball and immediately said, "Am I dreaming?"
But could a dream feel this real? He felt cold and hungry, as if he hadn't eaten for ten days.
Besides, he had been in the temple earlier...
No, he was returning to the city with the Li family's carriage. How had he ended up in these desolate mountains?
He must be dreaming.
Guo Yongzhang reached out and patted his face. The sensation was real, but the cold wind made him dizzy. To avoid another illusion, he hardened his heart and pinched himself.
"Hiss..."
Guo Yongzhang gasped in pain, "Ouch, ouch, ouch. If this isn't a dream, then how did I end up in this ghost place?"
Guo Yongzhang scrambled to get up from the ground, but suddenly his back was kicked. He immediately fell forward, performing a perfect belly-flop. Not only were his limbs scraped raw by the rough stones and sand, but his chin also hit the ground, tearing off a large piece of skin.
A searing pain shot through him, causing Guo Yongzhang to cry out loudly and curse. Although the Guo family wasn't a top-tier household, Guo Yongzhang had been pampered since childhood. He had few skills but a host of bad habits, and his skin was tender. He was accustomed to being waited on, not to such hardship.
He lay there, refusing to get up, muttering, "That bastard kicked your grandpa."
Li Man'er stepped forward and kicked him again, right on the shin bone. He immediately clutched his agonizing leg and wailed, "It's broken, it's broken, my leg."
Then, he turned his head and saw a monster with a green face and fangs staring intently at him.
Guo Yongzhang screamed in terror and immediately rolled his eyes and fainted.
Beneath the mask, Li Man'er snorted disdainfully and then pressed hard on Guo Yongzhang's philtrum, jolting him awake.
"Ah!" Guo Yongzhang first shouted, then recoiled as if he had seen a ghost. The stones on the ground ground painfully against his legs, but he didn't dare to stop for a moment, fearing he would be eaten by the green-faced, fanged demon.
Li Man'er stepped forward, grabbed Guo Yongzhang by the collar, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Who am I?"
Guo Yongzhang shook his head frantically, "I don't know, I don't know." He then squeezed his eyes shut tightly, as if to say, "Go ahead and eat me."
"If I wanted to take your life, I wouldn't have waited until today. You've been held by me for over a month. Do you regret your actions?"
Over a month?
Guo Yongzhang was stunned. "How is that possible? Over a month? You... you are Li Man'er." Knowing he was dealing with a human, not a ghost, Guo Yongzhang seemed less afraid.
Li Man'er took off the mask she had used for the prank and said to Guo Yongzhang, "Take a look around and see where we are."
Guo Yongzhang surveyed his surroundings. "Mountains... mountains."
Li Man'er yanked Guo Yongzhang's collar and made him turn around to look behind him. Guo Yongzhang nearly wet himself in fear. Behind them was a deep gorge, and he and Li Man'er were now on a precipice. A slight misstep would send them plummeting to their deaths, shattering them into pieces.
"You... are you crazy?" Guo Yongzhang grabbed Li Man'er's wrist. "Hurry and let me crawl forward, forward."
Guo Yongzhang was terrified and didn't dare to open his eyes. "I beg you, don't make me stay here." If it weren't for the fact that he hadn't eaten or drunk for over a month, he might have truly wet himself.
"Guo, your aunt is dead. Do you know that?"
Guo Yongzhang froze upon hearing this and mumbled, "Dead?" He seemed genuinely frightened. "I, I really didn't mean to harm you. I, I never thought of it. It was all my aunt's idea. She deserved to die. You can't blame me for it! I beg you."
He wept tears of blood, his cries heart-wrenching. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was grieving for Madam Guo.
"That's enough. If you cry any more, your aunt might crawl out of her coffin and grab you by the neck." Li Man'er intended to scare Guo Yongzhang, but the young man actually trembled in fear. He flinched backward, lost his balance, and fell off the cliff.
"Ah..." Guo Yongzhang screamed, thinking he was doomed. But then he felt his wrist being grabbed. He hadn't fallen; he was dangling precariously at the edge of the cliff.
"You, quickly pull me up."
Li Man'er chuckled and asked, "Why should I? You tried to scheme against me before. And now you want me to pull you up? Am I that easy?"
"Please, my dear aunt, I beg you, isn't that enough?" Guo Yongzhang was so terrified he said, "I have money. I'll go home and have my family give you all my money, won't that do?"
Li Man'er delivered another piece of bad news. "Your aunt has returned all the shops. Not only that, but she's also returned all the money she'd been giving to her maternal family over the years. Your family isn't exactly empty now, but they're close. What will you give me?"
Li Man'er was strong. She dragged Guo Yongzhang without pulling him up, intending to scare him and hopefully make him learn something from this ordeal.
Of course, this wouldn't be accomplished overnight, but she had promised Madam Huang.
"Then... then what do you suggest? I beg you, pull me up." Guo Yongzhang dangled precariously, hating Li Man'er in his heart, but he dared not show it now, fearing she would drop him to his death.
Li Man'er acted as if nothing were wrong. "You must be cursing me in your heart right now, aren't you?"
"No, no." Guo Yongzhang was about to wet himself. "Really not, my dear aunt, my living bodhisattva, I beg you, spare my life."
"If I let go, your little life will be gone. In these desolate mountains, there are wolves. You might be gnawed beyond recognition, and no one would know who you are."
Guo Yongzhang was so scared that his palms were sweating. Once his palms became sweaty, his grip would slip, and Li Man'er would soon be unable to hold on.
"Ah, save me." Guo Yongzhang cried out. Just as he thought his end was near, Li Man'er finally exerted her strength and pulled him up.
Once he was lying on the ground, feeling safe, Guo Yongzhang cried and laughed, then fainted.
"Useless." Li Man'er shook her head. After confirming there were no other intelligent beings around, she put the waste on the ground, or rather, Guo Yongzhang, into her spatial dimension.
Li Man'er descended the mountain with ease, quickly traversed the forest, and returned to the grand manor on the estate.
This manor was Ning's dowry and now, naturally, belonged to her.