Chapter 414 Counterattack

Chapter 414 Counterattack

The change happened so suddenly, but Ji Yuntang had been prepared all along, on guard against him.

As if by magic, an iron umbrella materialized at her thought, blocking most of the liquid Wu Chaoyang had splashed at her.

The iron umbrella was corroded by the molten liquid, and a few drops landed on Wu Chaoyang's arm, instantly eating holes through his clothes.

As the corrosive liquid seeped in, the child's delicate skin was corroded, leaving a bloody wound.

Blood oozed out, and Wu Chaoyang screamed in pain.

"Ahhh, my arm is bleeding! What did you do to me, you ugly hag?"

His attempt to harm her had backfired, but his first reaction wasn't self-blame—it was blaming Ji Yuntang.

"It hurts so much! It hurts so much! Go get me a physician!"

"Father! Mother! Where are you? This ugly witch is trying to kill me! Come save me!"

As Wu Chaoyang watched the wound on his arm grow larger, his screams grew louder, and he even swung his arm, trying to hit Ji Yuntang.

Her gaze turned icy. She hadn't intended to be cruel, but this little wretch had tried to kill her again and again.

First, poison in a teacup; now, splashing corrosive liquid at her face.

She had given him one chance, but he didn't appreciate it.

Did he really think she was still the same pushover he used to bully?

Ji Yuntang's gaze fell on the syringe in her hand. This wasn't a potion to help someone grow taller, but one that could make a person prone to violent mood swings.

Wu Chaoyang was born bad, but this child was a master of disguise.

To serve his own interests, he would often act obedient and well-behaved to let others' guard down.

But only Ji Yuntang knew how dark the heart of this little wretch truly was.

Once, she had seen with her own eyes how four-year-old Wu Chaoyang stole three rabbits from a villager's house and smashed them to death on the spot.

He skinned the rabbits, chopped off their heads, and threw them on Ji Yuntang's bed to scare her, while the rest of the meat was given to Chen Huaxiu to cook for him.

Chen Huaxiu even praised him for being resourceful, saying he knew how to provide for the family's meals at such a young age!

Since then, his behavior had grown more and more vicious.

He had once "accidentally" knocked down a pregnant woman, causing her to miscarry and suffer permanent damage, leaving her unable to conceive for life.

When others confronted him, he would claim it wasn't intentional and put on a pitiful act.

The village chief, seeing that Wu Chaoyang was still so young, couldn't punish him too harshly, so he only had Chen Huaxiu apologize to the family in person and pay some compensation, and the matter was settled!

Chen Huaxiu never scolded Wu Chaoyang afterward either, only telling him to be more careful in the future and not get caught again.

Soon after, Wu Chaoyang stole silver from another neighbor's house. To avoid suspicion, he also stole a hairpin the neighbor's wife usually wore and hid it under the pillow of his best friend, setting up his good friend for the theft.

Then, like a self-righteous little saint, he stepped forward to report his friend's theft to the village chief.

Watching his friend get scolded and beaten by his parents and shunned by the whole village, Wu Chaoyang hid behind a tree and cackled with glee.

Such incidents happened more times than Ji Yuntang could count.

At seven years old, Wu Chaoyang had done almost every bad thing imaginable, short of murder.

This was also why Wu Shijie couldn't find anyone willing to marry him—because the Wu family had a terrible reputation in the small mountain village, and with the unreasonable Chen Huaxiu stirring up trouble, almost no one dared to marry their daughter to Wu Shijie.

Ji Yuntang smirked coldly. She wasn't that generous.

From the very beginning, when she had him test the potion, she had her own agenda.

The potion's effect was episodes of rage—sometimes raging, sometimes normal—with occasional side effects causing memory lapses at certain moments.

But it only magnified Wu Chaoyang's most primitive desires, revealing his truest self.

This was the capital, teeming with high-ranking officials, not some remote mountain village. If Wu Chaoyang did something truly terrible again, he wouldn't get off so easy!

With that thought, Ji Yuntang decided to see it through. She jabbed the syringe into Wu Chaoyang's leg and injected the entire dose into his body.

At that moment, Wu Chaoyang was already delirious from the corrosive liquid's torment. All he could do was cry out in pain and weep.

He had no clue what Ji Yuntang had done to him.

Once the corrosive liquid had eaten through most of the back of his hand, Ji Yuntang finally took out medicine to treat him.

However, she only applied it to the surface, slowing the corrosion and making his arm temporarily appear healed.

She didn't actually heal the wound on his hand.

Ji Yuntang knew that within a day, the wound would reappear, and the corrosion would speed up.

That was the terror of the corrosive liquid.

"You little wretch, you've brought this on yourself!"

Ji Yuntang took out silver needles and inserted them into two points on the back of Wu Chaoyang's neck, wiping his memory of the last fifteen minutes.

By evening, when Wu Jinxi's family dragged their weary bodies back to their room to rest—

They pushed open the door, and they were instantly wide awake!

The room was run-down and dilapidated, with a plank bed, a broken window that let the wind in, and looking up at the roof, they could even see the moon.

Not only that, but the room was covered in dust and cobwebs, and on closer inspection, one could see cockroaches and rats scurrying on the ground.

Chen Huaxiu was furious. "We worked for her all day, we can barely straighten our backs, and she lets us sleep in a place like this? Is she even human?"

Wu Jinxi's eyes were bloodshot with rage as he lifted his foot and kicked the wooden door.

"Bang!"

The already fragile wooden door came crashing down under his kick.

"This little brat has gone too far!"

Just then, a voice rang out behind them.

"You've got enough energy to kick doors, so I guess you're not that hungry."

Chen Huaxiu turned around and saw Tao Zhi carrying a tray. Knowing she was Ji Yuntang's personal handmaiden, her face immediately soured.

"Our whole family has done all the work, what else do you want?"

Tao Zhi smiled at her and said, slow and easy, "You've done the work, but you're not done yet."

"I just went to check—your clothes weren't washed clean, Master Wu's firewood wasn't fully chopped, and even the eldest young master Wu only managed to hoe a small part of the back mountain field."

"According to the rules our princess has set for you, since the three of you haven't completed your tasks, there will be no dinner tonight."

She then turned to look at Wu Chaoyang and added, "But young master Wu is different. Our princess praised him for testing the medicine so well—obedient, sensible, and very cooperative. Our princess is quite pleased with him."

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