Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty-Chapter 343 - 305: A Dou of Rice Nurtures Gratitude, A Load of Rice Breeds Enmity

When the proprietress heard the young man before her declare he would certainly succeed, she stepped forward, looked at the red elixir in Zhao Rong's hand, and laughed. "Still wet behind the ears, kid? Is this the elixir you've concocted?"

Sweat dripped down his back as Zhao Rong replied, "Yes. It took a tenth of my True Qi to refine this elixir…"

The proprietress took the red elixir, examined it closely for a moment, and then sniffed it. She burst into laughter. "Young man, this elixir you've made doesn't look like it's for treating a comatose patient. It looks more like a tonic for women's health issues…"

The surrounding crowd erupted in laughter, with some doubling over. A man on a road trip with his fiancée jeered, "I think that's not just a women's tonic, but a Vajra Pill! The proprietress's husband is in a vegetative state, and this kid refines a virility drug for him? Isn't that the joke of the century?" As he spoke, he looked at his fiancée and roared with laughter.

A photography enthusiast who was there for a photoshoot added his own mockery. "This guy can concoct medicine? If he can, then my dog can take photographs."

A young man who was livestreaming grinned and said, "If this guy's red elixir can really revive that man, I'll turn off my beauty filters right now and let my fans see my real face."

Though everyone was mocking him, Zhao Rong remained confident. His heart had grown strong enough to be unmoved by external praise or personal sorrow.

With a relaxed smile, Zhao Rong looked at the proprietress and said, "Madam, my Comatose Patient Awakening Pill is ready. Aren't you going to try it on your husband and see if it can save him?"

The proprietress pinched the red elixir, then placed it in her husband's mouth. "Husband, I've brought a skilled physician to save you, so be good and swallow this red elixir..."

But before she could finish, the man bit down hard on her hand and swallowed the elixir. It took the strength of nine bulls and two tigers for the proprietress to pull her fingers from his mouth. Clutching her right hand, she cursed in pain, "Damn it! The old brute is supposed to be vegetative! How can he still bite?"

When the onlookers saw the patient bite, they were all dumbfounded. A man who had been afraid of ghosts since childhood said nervously, "Madam, could it be that your husband has been dead for a long time and just... reanimated?"

Another man, who enjoyed seeing others suffer, sneered, "This kid's red elixir doesn't save lives, it takes them."

A man with a face like a toad chimed in, "You're right! He's definitely not a doctor, he's a con man!"

Just as the crowd's ridicule reached its peak, the man on the bed, who had been in a vegetative state for ten years, suddenly opened his eyes and began to weep.

When the proprietress saw her husband open his eyes and shed tears, she stumbled back three steps in fright, unable to believe what she was seeing. "Impossible... He can't possibly wake up..."

Just then, the young toy boy rushed to her side and whispered in her ear, "Jinlian, that poison you gave me... I put it in your husband's drink with my own hands."

The proprietress's eyes widened. "Yes," she whispered back nervously. "Once he drank it, he was supposed to sleep for the rest of his life..."

The toy boy said in disbelief, "And you told me there was no antidote! How did this brat manage to save him?"

As the two of them stared in stunned disbelief, the man sat up straight in bed.

Seeing him sit up, Zhao Rong immediately moved to support his arm. "Big Brother, you've been comatose for so many years. You've finally woken up."

Hearing Zhao Rong's words, the man wiped away his tears and struggled to his feet. "I was never comatose," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "I was poisoned by that wicked woman and her pretty boy."

With those words, leaning on Zhao Rong for support, he started walking toward his wife, his voice trembling with years of suppressed pain. "That vicious woman... I was so good to her. I loved her so much, I gave her everything I had. In return, I received only ingratitude and betrayal.

"Disregarding more than a decade of marriage, she conspired with her lover to poison my drink, forcing me into a deep sleep that has lasted for ten years. For all these years, I was trapped in a very long dream, and in that dream, I finally understood everything.

"I thought I would sleep forever, never to wake again. But I never imagined that this young hero here would concoct an elixir and bring me back."

When Zhao Rong and Xue Lianmei heard this, their eyes widened in astonishment. Zhao Rong looked at Xue Lianmei in disbelief. "No way... The proprietor didn't end up in a vegetative state because of a car accident... He was poisoned by his own wife?"

Xue Lianmei glared at the young man standing beside the proprietress. "That little lapdog must have colluded with the proprietress to poison her husband. Then they became a shameless, adulterous pair."

When the surrounding crowd heard the truth, they were so shocked they nearly fell over. The man who had been calling Zhao Rong a con man quickly changed his tune. "My God! This heroic young man concocted a Divine Medicine and saved the proprietor's life!"

Another young man, who had initially sided with the proprietress, now stood firmly with Zhao Rong. "Life is like a play, and a play is like life! I would have never guessed in a million years that the proprietor's condition wasn't from a car accident. He was drugged by his wife and her toy boy!"

Zhao Rong looked at the proprietress and the young man beside her, a question forming in his mind. The proprietor loved his wife so much and treated her so well. Why would she do this to him?

Just as Zhao Rong was puzzling over this, the proprietor let go of his arm. He stood tall and looked directly at his wife. "I considered that you might cheat on me behind my back. I thought you might go out and find another man. But I never, ever imagined you would bring a man into our own home. And that this man would be none other than my own half-brother!"

At these words, everything clicked into place for Zhao Rong. So that's how it is. A woman's malice can truly be terrifying.

The toy boy, Li Gang, began to tremble with fear. He dropped to his knees and begged for mercy. "Big Brother, please spare me! I was confused, my mind muddled by lust... That's the only reason I got involved with your wife."

In stark contrast to his cowardice, the proprietress stood her ground defiantly. "Once a woman's heart strays, her body is sure to follow," she said to her husband. "Once a woman loses her feelings for a man, living together is like being a walking corpse. Since you're awake and you know everything, then please, grant Li Gang and me your blessing."

With that, she sat on the floor and threw her arms around her husband's brother, Li Gang.

Seeing this, the proprietor grabbed a longsword from a nearby display. His hands shook as he held it. "Tell me," he stammered, his voice breaking. "I was so good to you. I gave you my heart and soul. I gave you all my money, and I even put all our properties in your name alone. Even if you couldn't be grateful, why did you have to harm me?"

Facing his anguished question, the proprietress, still embracing her lover, replied calmly, "Haven't you heard the saying? A cup of rice fosters kindness, but a bushel of rice fosters resentment."

Furious, the proprietor threw the longsword to the ground and roared, "So being too good to you was a mistake?!"

The proprietress sneered. "Right or wrong, you know the answer in your own heart. What you could give me, Li Gang couldn't. But what you couldn't give me, Li Gang did."

Her words hit the man like a physical blow. He collapsed to the floor and began slapping his own face. "Humans are primitive animals. Even love and marriage must be built on... on a physical basis. Without it... a marriage is fragile, unable to withstand a single blow..."

Hearing this, Zhao Rong turned to Xue Lianmei. "Xue Lianmei, is a man's... um... really that important to a woman?"

Xue Lianmei nodded grimly. "Of course it's important. It's like eating and drinking, an indispensable spice of life."

The proprietress closed her eyes and spoke to her husband. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I harmed you, and now you know the truth. I've also answered the questions in your heart. So, kill me or cut me to pieces. Do as you please."

She then stretched out her neck, as if expecting him to pick up the sword and end her life.

Seeing her determined to die, Li Gang burst into tears. "Big Brother, please spare me! I don't want to die! I haven't lived enough yet!"

The crowd murmured, sighing at the sight of the death-seeking woman and the cowardly man. An old man shook his head and recited, "A simple lad, you seemed to be, holding cloth to trade for silk. You came not for the silk, but with a scheme to woo me... A man's infatuation can be overcome, but a woman's cannot be undone."

An illiterate man nearby shoved him. "Old man, what are you talking about? Stop with the ancient poetry and speak plainly!"

The old man shook his head and slapped the man across the face. "Women are creatures born for love. They can live for it, and they can die for it. But not men. To a man, feelings are far less important than..."

The man who had been slapped rubbed his cheek, a look of contemplation on his face. "Hearing your words is more enlightening than ten years of study..."

Just then, the proprietor suddenly stooped and picked up the longsword. His eyes were bloodshot as he advanced on the proprietress and the toy boy...