“Why?” Shi Wenjun asked, visibly enraged, shocked, and confused.
Wu Chenwei gave an icy laugh. “Why? Don’t you know the reason? Shi Wenjun, with your family’s immense wealth and indomitable authority, you force my parents to make me marry into your family so don’t tell me you don’t know why.”
No doubt, Wu Chenwei was going all out by practically shouting this.
“But we have been treating you nicely, have we not!?” Shi Wenjun looked hurt. “Back then, even your parents agreed to it.”
“Shut up!”
As if his tail had been stepped on, Wu Chenwei roared, “You don’t have the right to even mention my parents! All these years, after entering your Shi family, have you lot ever treated me like a human being with dignity? Whenever I want to return home to visit my parents, I’d have to seek your approval. For this reason, my parents weren’t able to live with dignity among our relatives, who thoroughly ridiculed them. As their son, I felt nothing but shame. At their deathbeds, everyone said they didn’t have a son, but they did! I am their son!”
Wu Chenwei looked as if he had gone mad with eyes glaring wide like the mentally deranged.
“About your parents, we’ve already tried our best but humans do eventually grow old and pass away. This fact can’t be changed by willpower alone.” Shi Wenjun sighed. Wu Chenwei calmed down slightly as well but he still seemed agitated.
“Shi Wenjun, when have you ever considered my feelings? Everyone out there is calling me a live-in son-in-law, a kept man. Some of the servants in this house don’t even respect me. I’m like a pet dog that only managed to survive till this day thanks to your family’s kindness. I can see this written clearly in your eyes so I hate you. I hate your Shi family!”
Wu Chenwei continued venting his frustrations, “Also, I’ve long since despised this dumb deer you forced me to form a blood contract with. That’s why I found an opportunity to take it into the wild to stab it with a knife and slash it with an ax. In that instant, I, Wu Chenwei, finally felt like a man. A man who didn’t have to obey every command you bark at me all day. Also, by doing this, I feel like I’ve finally taken revenge against you.”
Shi Wenjun looked ominous. She went over and slapped Wu Chenwei hard across the face.
Slap!
That was a powerful sound.
Wu Chenwei didn’t avoid it.
Instead, his expression became increasingly savage and twisted.
Seeing the look on his face, even Lin Jin was tempted to go over and smack the b*stard, much less Shi Wenjun.
The man was exasperating.
“So you’re hitting me now, Shi Wenjun. Alright, why don’t you just beat me to death? You’ve never seen me as a fellow human anyway. Right, and that father of yours is also a piece of garbage. Back then, I humbled myself and requested that he taught me pelletization, but did you know what that old fart said to me? He said my surname was Wu, not Shi, so I’m not worthy of learning it. At that exact moment, I realized that your Shi family never thought of me as anything. You’ve always been wary of me like I’m some kind of thief!”
“That’s enough!”
With her fists clenched tight, Shi Wenjun said icily, “Wu Chenwei, you and I are husband and wife. My father thought of you as his own son, but it is our ancestor’s rule that our pelletization method mustn’t be taught to anyone outside the family. Not only you, but even my mother and aunt couldn’t learn it as well. You know that. And I, Shi Wenjun, have been more than respectful to my parents-in-law. I’ve never disregarded them nor said anything rude at all. But now, you’re being insolent to my father. Even if I’m unfilial as a daughter, I can’t tolerate this act of yours. Leave. Leave the Shi family. I, Shi Wenjun, am divorcing you right now. Since you’re unwilling to be the Shi family’s son-in-law, then don’t be.”
Wu Chenwei smirked and left immediately.
However, once at the door, he seemed to have recalled something and looked back. “Your Shi family has been looking down on me, Wu Chenwei, but I’ll be the one who eventually sends you to your graves. Don’t believe me? Just wait and see.”
Having said that, he left roaring in laughter.
Trying to escape?
Dream on!
Lin Jin patted Xiao Huo and the little guy dashed over, pressing Wu Chenwei onto the ground. The man fell flat on his face with blood all over it. Being a coward, Wu Chenwei was too frightened to move a single muscle.
Shi Wenjun paid him no more mind.
Frankly speaking, Lin Jin’s jaw had been gaping as he watched the two tear each other apart. Since that was the case, what had their wedding vows been for? They seemed more like mortal enemies than anything.
Particularly Wu Chenwei. Did he abuse the deer just for the sake of taking revenge on Shi Wenjun?
If so, that guy’s train of thought was too weird.
If he hated bring a live-in son-in-law and found Shi Wenjun to be too domineering, he could have divorced her and left. However, he stayed to indulge in what the Shi family could offer him while being a Casanova elsewhere.
Shi Wenjun calmed herself down. There were obviously tears in her eyes but she held them back and approached Lin Jin “We’ve shown you an embarrassing sight, Appraiser Lin. This Wu Chenwei no longer has anything to do with my Shi family from now on. Duo’er’s injuries are quite heavy so I’d like to continue troubling Appraiser Lin to care for it. Right, please take this as well, Appraiser Lin.”
Having said that, Shi Wenjun removed a jade pendant from around her waist and handed it to Lin Jin.
“You’re my benefactor and treating Duo’er would require medicinal ingredients as well. You can take this pendant to any of the Shi family’s medicine halls and retrieve any pills or herbs you need without paying.”
This was a great item and it’d be a waste not to take it.
Lin Jin casually reached out to take it, showing no signs of being reserved.
According to Shi Wenjun, she’d like Lin Jin to foster and take care of Duo’er for the time being. After Lin Jin took the deer in, he never thought of chasing it away so this request wasn’t a problem.
As for Wu Chenwei who had been pounced on by Xiao Huo, he was later delivered to the authorities by Lin Jin.
Since he lost the Shi family as support, charging him for instructing an arson shouldn’t be any trouble.
The evildoer got his just deserts and Lin Jin received a benefit. All’s well that ends well.
However, things had turned out much different from what Lin Jin expected. In the afternoon, the Shi family’s old steward showed up at the Beast Appraisal Association to pay Lin Jin a visit in his consultation hall.
“Appraiser Lin!” the old steward bowed. Lin Jin recognized him to be the Shi Manor’s main caretaker. Just as he was curious about the older man’s arrival, the latter informed him about something.
Wu Chenwei had been released.
Lin Jin immediately sensed something was off. When he sent Wu Chenwei to the local authorities this morning, the man should at least be charged with arson since the ruffians could testify to it.
In Maple City, arson was no petty offence so how could the man be released immediately?
“Appraiser Lin, those ruffians denied the arson case, but since the authorities had evidence of their act, they couldn’t lie their way out. However, all of them said they didn’t recognize Wu Chenwei. Someone had obviously bribed them and they even bailed Wu Chenwei out. Without sufficient evidence and someone meddling in the dark, the authorities released Wu Chenwei on the spot.”
Once he heard the old steward’s information, Lin Jin found it odd.
Wu Chenwei was now all alone. Without the Shi family to support him, who would be foolish enough to bail him out?
“It’s the Chen family!” the old steward revealed.
The Chen family?
Lin Jin hadn’t processed it yet, but when the old steward clarified, he came to realize it was Chen Medical Hall, meaning Chen Yuanyuan’s family.
Now, this was a huge coincidence.
Why was the Chen family helping Wu Chenwei?
The old steward didn’t say why and he probably didn’t know either. He came to inform Lin Jin because Shi Wenjun knew that despite Wu Chenwei’s cowardice, he was a ruthless man. Seeing how he abused the deer and attempted to burn down Lin Jin’s house just to make sure it was dead, one could easily tell how this man worked.
He would never act openly but instead resorted to underhanded tactics.
Shi Wenjun feared Wu Chenwei might target Lin Jin and do something dirty. Hence, she sent the old steward here to inform him out of goodwill so Lin Jin could be prepared in case Wu Chenwei snuck an attack on him.
“Old Mister, please convey my thanks to Lord Shi. I’ll be careful,” Lin Jin said. The old steward bowed before leaving.
This matter was nothing but odd. But if Lin Jin had to be honest, he thought nothing of the Chen family or Wu Chenwei. Both parties were equally awful and despicable. Wu Chenwei was obviously so while the Chen family’s Chen Wenlin was a hypocrite. The both of them joining forces only proved one saying to be true.
Birds of a feather flock together.
However, if these people were insensible enough to provoke Lin Jin, they would just be asking for it. Lin Jin welcomed them with open arms.
And for now, he would carry on as usual.
However, precautions must still be taken. Since ancient times, it was always easy to dodge an open attack but difficult to guard against hidden conspiracies. Lin Jin planned on helping the shadow wolf evolve once he got back. He would use a perfect evolution method on it too.
For the shadow wolf to achieve perfect evolution, Lin Jin obviously needed herbs and to pelletize one ‘six shadow beast soul pill’.
The Museum of Deadly Beasts had all the pelletization information required. Meanwhile, most of the pellet’s ingredients could be found in medicine halls so Lin Jin planned on making a trip to the Shi family’s medicine hall.
The Shi family had many medicine halls across Maple City. Lin Jin entered the biggest one. Upon flashing the jade pendant Shi Wenjun gave him, the shopkeeper was visibly shocked before treating Lin Jin like a valuable guest.
“Appraiser Lin, our owner has informed us that you’re a treasured patron. Everything you ask for would be provided free of charge,” the shopkeeper explained with a smile as he brought some tea over.
Lin Jin replied courteously, “You should charge me wherever applicable. I’m here because the Shi family’s medicine hall is much larger and I’m looking for two ingredients for pelletization. I wonder if you have them.”
The shopkeeper had Lin Jin voice out his request and Lin Jin said, “One is a darkflower and the other is a level one prime beast soul.”
Both these items were indeed difficult to locate. Under regular circumstances, they couldn’t even be bought with money. Even the beast soul Lin Jin had used for Xiao Huo’s perfect evolution was ‘won’ off Lu Xiaoyun.
The latter’s beast soul was given to her by her older brother, Lu Yunhe, and it was said to be difficult to obtain.
As for the darkflower, none of the medicine hall’s staff had heard of it before. But since it was written in the museum, this item must exist.
The shopkeeper went into deep thought without providing an immediate answer. Then, he had Lin Jin wait for a moment.
As Lin Jin wasn’t in a hurry, he sat there enjoying his tea.
After a brief moment, he heard footsteps and the drapes were pushed aside as someone entered. To his surprise, the person who showed up wasn’t the shopkeeper but Shi Wenjun.
She actually showed up personally.