Chapter 54: The Fierce and Rugged Man Who Was Loved and Left (6)

The next day, Shu Yao followed Zhao Qiming to the fields to pull weeds.

The sprawling rice paddies stretched out endlessly, with no end in sight.

After pulling weeds for half an hour, her palms felt as though they were pricked by countless needles, and her wrists were so weak she could barely lift them—she felt as if they were on the verge of breaking.

Throwing caution to the wind, Shu Yao flopped down onto the ridge of the field, looking at her reddened, bleeding palms and whimpering softly.

She wore the straw hat Zhao Qiming had given her, the wide brim completely shading her delicate face. Crouched down, she looked tiny and entirely inconspicuous.

"System, I quit!"

This was definitely not something a human being was meant to do!

She could accept a mission to seduce Pei Zhi, but she could not accept diligently weeding fields out here!

The skin on her palms was tender, stinging with a burning sensation as if licked by tongues of fire.

With tear-filled eyes, Shu Yao bit her lower lip to suppress a sob.

"Look at the blisters on my hands, just look at how huge they are."

Having overworked herself in the weeding, with the blazing sun causing her head to buzz, Shu Yao was completely incapable of maintaining her composure.

Damn system, good for nothing except assigning missions and offering zero help.

The original host was out of her mind too; of all the places to go for amusement, she had to choose to endure hardship by volunteering to teach in the countryside.

Miserable and depressed, she vented her grievances on both the original host and the system.

The system ignored her.

After resting for a while, Shu Yao felt that the more she rested, the heavier her limbs became. Deciding to muster up her courage once more, she put on her gloves and headed back into the paddy.

Just then, a team of farmworkers carrying hoes passed by, heading toward the cleared plots to turn the soil for planting.

Shu Yao's progress was the slowest by far; while the other groups had already finished clearing their sections, she had barely completed half of hers.

Stooped over with her trousers rolled up to her knees, her fair, slender calves were splattered with mud.

She couldn't help wondering: are there bugs in the water?

No sooner had she thought this than she felt a sharp pinch at her ankle.

"Hiss!"

Shu Yao immediately lifted her leg. Clinging to the right side of her calf was a grayish-brown bug the size of a pinky finger, frantically sucking her blood.

The mottled, soft-bodied parasite was embedded firmly in her flesh, its plump body swollen into a translucent sac. Shu Yao could actually see her own blood being drawn into it, the dark crimson fluid slowly churning along the folds of its skin.

She wanted to cry from the pain, but even more so from sheer disgust and fright.

"Ah! Help!"

Hearing the scream, the farming crew immediately looked over.

"A bug is biting me!"

A group of young lads instantly dropped their hoes and came running.

Who wouldn't want to play the hero saving a damsel in distress? Besides, she was a nice girl from the city; if she got hurt by a pest while helping them weed, their consciences wouldn't let it rest.

Shu Yao was helped up onto the ridge, though the parasite on her leg was still relentlessly sucking her blood.

Its oral sucker was deeply embedded in her skin and flesh, while its tail end trembled like a sponge soaked full of oil, every contraction causing more scarlet fluid to ooze from the wound.

"Such a big one."

The young man supporting her furrowed his brow, staring at the creature with concern. "You can't just pull it off, or it'll snap in half and burrow into your flesh."

Hearing this, Shu Yao's scalp went numb; she couldn't possibly stomach something so repulsive.

"No, no, no, absolutely not."

She shook her head vigorously like a rattle-drum, shrinking back with every twinge of pain.

Her porcelain-white skin dazzled brightly under the sunlight. These rural lads had never seen such a gorgeous, fair-skinned girl before, making them all the more eager to help.

Pei Wusheng, the clean-cut young man who had spoken earlier, picked up a twig to probe at it. "It might hurt a little, just bear with it."

With reddened eyes, too terrified to even look down at her leg, Shu Yao nodded timidly.

"Okay..."

Even her sweet, soft voice carried a quiver that set everyone's hearts aflutter.

Pei Wusheng's body stiffened, the tips of his ears gradually flushing with a faint pink.

The moment the twig touched the bug's body, it suddenly spat out mucus, clinging even tighter to the skin of her calf and gnawing viciously.

"Ah, it hurts! No, it hurts so much!"

Overwhelmed by the pain, Shu Yao's entire body instinctively leaned backward, and large tears welled up instantly, spilling over the corners of her eyes and dropping plop, plop into the soil.

Pei Wusheng panicked instantly. Before he could react, a shadow fell over them.

Pei Zhi crouched down, accurately pinched the bug's head, and forcefully ripped it off.

The parasite continued to wriggle even after hitting the ground, its fatty body twisting into a bizarre spiral. The blood oozing from it traced winding, spider-web-like dark red marks on the dirt.

It had drunk so much blood that when it was pulled away, the fluid splattered onto her calf, looking exceptionally gruesome.

With tear-filled eyes wide open, Shu Yao blankly stared at the man squatting in front of her.

The scorching sun cast beads of sweat across his face, and his prominent brow ridge was lowered as he stared fixedly at the wound on her leg.

From this angle, all she could see was the youth's high, straight bridge of a nose.

They say men with big noses usually...

A flood of R-rated thoughts rushed through Shu Yao's head, while her expression remained impossibly innocent.

With a slight flutter of her long eyelashes, she bit her lower lip and cautiously called out his name.

"Pei... Pei Zhi."

His spine tensed uncontrollably, and his Adam's apple bobbed three times before Pei Zhi finally raised his eyes to look at her.

In a deep voice, he asked, "Can you walk?"

Shu Yao shook her head, her voice thick with tears.

"I can't, it hurts too much."