The Emperor’s Beloved Ugly Girl

56. A’Chou’s Pendant

Translator: Iris Guo

“Oh, I’ll leave now.” A’Chou stood up embarrassedly, put a clean sheet under Zhong Mingwei’s body as usual, and tucked him in. Then, she blew out the candle and disappeared with the tray in the dark.

Zhong Mingwei bit the pink pillow with all his strength. He dared not relax his bite and his eyes were full of tears. If he eased up, tears would run down his face and he would lose his dignity.

…

A’Chou was at the kitchen. The coat with a high collar was randomly thrown on the firewood. She, half-naked, squatted in front of a wooden basin and rubbed her neck hard and repeatedly with a handkerchief. It seemed that she wanted to stop the ache or dispel her fear. This afternoon, Lao Jiang exerted all his strength to strangle her, and she still felt great pain.

Suddenly, A’Chou buried her face in the handkerchief and began to sob. She was very skinny, and her bones protruded from her back. As she whimpered, her sphenoid trembled badly.

…

“Miss Duan, in NingGuTa, I, Jiang Jinwan, can have anything I want, sooner or later.  You think everything will be fine because you can depend on that paralytic? Haha!” Lao Jiang forced A’Chou into a quiet corner and seized the white jade pendant caved like the Buddhist Goddess on her neck. He stroked the smooth and shiny surface of the pendant and was satisfied when seeing A’Chou’s terrified face. “What? Don’t want me to take it?”

A’Chou nodded like a chicken pecking at the rice. She wanted to beg Lao Jiang for mercy, but she was too scared to say anything. He frightened her when they first met, and now she was even seized with terror.

“I understand. It’s a memento from your mother. Of course you want to keep it.” Lao Jiang smiled and rarely looked this gentle. He loosened his grip on the pendant, pushed A’Chou against the wall, and leaned towards her face before she realized it. She could smell alcohol in his breath. “I’ll take something else since you don’t want to give me the pendant.”

A’Chou desperately dodged backwards, and her head was already against the wall. She dared not look at Lao Jiang, and her eyes settled on the tea jar in the big bamboo basket near her feet.

Lao Jiang also saw the jar, and he grabbed A’Chou’s neck the next second. He forced A’Chou to look at him. “What’s your plan? Just a tea jar? Tut-tut, it’s nothing for me…” He jeered while leering at her face with a smirk, “Your life must be hard after you married a useless paralytic. Tut-tut, actually, I’ve never had fun with a noble girl from the capital. It’s just a pity that you are ugly and disgusting, but I think I can deal with that…”

A’Chou’s body was already shaking and her teeth chattered.

Lao Jiang didn’t want to see her frightened face anymore. Suddenly, he seized the pendant, ripped it off, and put it in his pocket directly.