Chapter 3: Mitigation

"Stop crying, crying too much harms the body, I was wrong about things in the past..."

Su Yunjin was stunned, staring blankly at Chen Jie. She had never dreamed that Chen Jiusi would say such things to her.

For a moment, she actually stopped crying.

It was too shocking.

This beast admitting he was wrong?

In Su Yunjin's eyes, her original self was a complete mess—alcoholic, gambler, domestic abuser, while outside, a coward, vain, and a bully at home.

With the household pot already empty, he had foolishly lent the last bag of grain to the lazybones next door, Ma Liu.

And he was so cowardly that after an argument with the neighbor Lu Qinsi, when they came to her house to curse and hit her, he was right there in the room, yet didn't dare to step out and speak up for her.

When she got slapped twice by that shrew and came back, he even had the nerve to blame her for causing trouble.

If your own wife is chased home and slapped by someone else, and as a man, you don't dare to make a peep, can such a man be depended on?

But without him, who could she depend on? In this world, there was no such thing as divorce, not even any form of separation. For a village woman like her, the only result was divorce papers.

But her parents' house was gone already; if she were divorced, where would she go? Should she become like those whores?

Moreover, she had a younger sister; she really had no choice, truly no choice at all!

She could only blame her own misfortune for marrying a beast in human skin, a cowardly braggart, a bastard who was tough only at home.

Chen Jie looked at the confusion in Su Yunjin's face and slowly squatted down, gazing seriously at her, only then realizing how beautiful this woman actually was, especially with her tears like pear blossoms in the rain, stirring compassion.

Seeing the woman respond, Chen Jie knew his words had an effect.

The previous self had done so many beastly things, he owed it to him to say sorry.

At the very least, it might bring a slight comfort to the poor woman before him.

Watching her expression visibly relax, Chen Jie decided to say a few more words to stabilize her emotions.

When he reached out, she instinctively dodged, but Chen Jie still held her face with his hand, using his thumb to wipe away her tears. She was very surprised, even trembling a bit.

"Yunjin."

Chen Jie spoke, initially wanting to call her Jin'er, but thought better of it and decided to proceed gradually, not to scare her. She was very emotionally unstable now, and he definitely couldn't upset her further.

Su Yunjin looked at Chen Jie in surprise, as he usually called her 'Surname Su,' or even more offensively, 'whore.'

But he had never called her by her name, and she looked at him, unsure of what he was going to do next.

Chen Jie said to her, "I know I've wronged you in the past."

"You've also suffered a lot with me, and I didn't realize you'd be driven to such an extent. All of this was my fault."

Upon hearing this, Su Yunjin trembled all over, her eyes filled with disbelief. She thought she had misheard before, but now he was actually apologizing to her again. Was he seriously trying to make amends?

Su Yunjin wavered for a moment but then quickly shook her head. A leopard can't change its spots. Who knows what he's scheming now, is he afraid I will commit suicide with Yun Rui, and he won't be able to sell me?

Chen Jie saw the wariness and worry in her eyes.

At that moment, he held her hand. This should have been a soft and delicate hand, but when he touched it, it felt rough and even slightly cracked.

This was the result of long periods of farm work and washing clothes.

Such hands should not belong to such a beautiful woman.

Her hand was gripped, and Su Yunjin felt a surge of panic, wanting to withdraw it, but Chen Jie said, "Don't move. Listen to me, I really know I was wrong. I'm not trying to deceive you."

"I also know that no matter what I say now, you won't believe me, but I still hope you'll give me a chance. I truly have changed."

Chen Jie knew that words were weak, but some attitudes had to be shown.

Su Yunjin remained silent for a long time, her voice gradually turning cold as she said, "You're really not going to sell Ruirui any more?"

Chen Jie said, "Absolutely not!"

Hearing this, Su Yunjin fell silent. After a long while she said, "Chen Jiusi, my mother was kind to me. Therefore, no matter what you do to me, I can accept it. But Ruirui is still young. She absolutely must not lose hope. Do you understand?"

"Mhm."

Chen Jie nodded.

Su Yunjin continued, "If you say one thing and do another, and consider selling Ruirui again, we may not need poison to die, we'll make sure you don't get a cent."

Chen Jie said, "Mhm, I understand. Trust me."

After hearing this, Su Yunjin slowly climbed up from the ground and began to tidy up the things on the floor. Little Douding also started to help clean up. Seeing this, Chen Jie immediately took the pot of poisoned white rice porridge, took it outside, and buried it somewhere.

Having done this, Chen Jie returned to the house to find that both women were ignoring him. He knew that in their eyes, he was probably no different from a demon.

Gurgle gurgle...

In the awkward silence, Little Douding, Su Yunrui's, stomach started to rumble loudly.

Yun Rui looked at his own stomach, then tightened the cloth strip around his waist and muttered, "Ruirui is the best, Ruirui isn't hungry."

Gurgle gurgle...

Another guttural sound was heard, and Su Yunjin's face instantly turned red; it was her stomach, but she remained silent.

Chen Jie knew that the rice bin at home was empty. If they didn't find food soon, the whole family might starve to death. With this in mind, he suddenly remembered a piece of information that there seemed to be a rabbit that had hit a tree and died on the back mountain.

It seemed he had to make a trip to the mountain.

Thinking this, Chen Jie stood up and said to Su Yunjin, "Stay home, I'm going out for a bit and will be back soon."

No one paid him any attention. Chen Jie didn't care, he turned and left the dilapidated thatched cottage.

Watching Chen Jie head out the door, Su Yunjin crouched down and looked at Su Yunrui asking, "Is Ruirui hungry?"

"No, Ruirui isn't hungry."

Gurgle gurgle...

As he spoke, Little Douding's stomach began to rumble again.

Yet Little Douding held his head high as if to say, "I'm not hungry."

Su Yunjin smiled and patted Little Douding's head, then sighed, "Let's go dig up some wild vegetables with sister later. How about we have wild vegetable soup for lunch, okay?"

"Mhm, okay~"

The mention of food made Little Douding's eyes light up. Having something to eat was good enough, although it was a shame they missed out on what seemed like a tasty pot of white porridge.

Su Yunjin patted Little Douding's head again, then stood up, went back inside, and found a bamboo basket. She took a shovel and, after a moment's thought, also brought the scissors from the sewing box.

Leading Little Douding out the door, Chen Jiusi might say he had learned his lesson, but who knows if it was just a trick to make her lower her guard and sell Ruirui again?

So now she had to take Ruirui with her and bring scissors. If Chen Jiusi tricked her, even if she couldn't kill him, couldn't she kill herself?