Chapter 2: A wretch in the family Shi Qingluo raised the small black balls in her hand.

She put on a crazed expression on her face. “Since you want me to die, then come with me.”

Third Son Shi scoffed. “You want us to die with you with this black thing? Are you insane?”

The others were also very disdainful. They felt that this wretched girl was desperate.

Shi Qingluo sneered. “Then I’ll let you guys take a look.”

She took out a lighter from her bosom and lit a small fuse on the small black ball. Then, she threw it towards an empty space on the other side of the courtyard.

Shengyuan had to set the fire and cook every day, so she had a lighter with her.

She wanted to throw it at him, but if he was injured or killed from the explosion, she would have to go to jail. It was not worth it.

“Bang!” The small black ball exploded.

It directly blew up a tree planted in the open space of the courtyard and left a hole on the ground.

Everyone was terrified.

Seeing the power of the small black balls, the people of the Shi family recalled the old Taoist priest who had ascended to immortality.

Two months ago, a few similar loud noises suddenly appeared on the mountainside. Then, flames soared into the sky, killing the Taoist priest and leaving the main hall of the temple severely damaged.

Everyone, including the Shi Family, believed that the old Taoist priest ascended to immortality.

But now, they were a little uncertain.

Shi Qingluo played with the other small black balls in her hands, raised her eyebrows and looked at them.

“So, do you want to taste the damage of the fireballs? This is something that my master passed on to me for self-defence. If you don’t believe it, you can experience it yourself.”

She snorted coldly. “If I am marrying off to the Wu family and to be buried with Young Master Wu, then all of you can die together with him too. It will be lively with so many of us there.”

This was indeed an earthen explosive refined by the old Taoist.

He was practising alchemy and accidentally created this explosive.

After that, he gained an interest in developing explosives further, which also killed him.

After the old Taoist died, Shengyuan brought back the books, two boxes of items, and these small black balls from the remnants of the explosion.

Shi Qingluo came from the modern era. As soon as she saw these in her memory, she knew that it was an earthen bomb.

That was why she wanted to use it.

If Third Son Shi did not want to die, he would not dare to send her to accompany Young Master Wu’s burial.

The Shi family remained silent.

No, they did not want to experience it at all, and they did not want more audiences.

Old Master Shi, who had been silent the whole time, blurted, “What exactly do you want?”

Shi Qingluo said, “I want you guys to break off the engagement with the Wu Family on your own accord. I can choose who I want to marry in the future.

“Otherwise, I won’t have a good time. We’ll all die together then.

“Fourth uncle is a future scholar with a bright future in the palace. He might even be a top-tier scholar. I don’t think he wants to die young, right?”

Fourth Son Shi hesitated. He really didn’t want to.

This wretched girl had seized their lifeblood in an instant.

Thus, Old Master Shi gave Old Lady Shi a look.

She could only smile apologetically at the old granny again. “Look at this, there’s nothing we can do.”

They could only break off the engagement. Otherwise, this wretched girl would make them die with her.

Shi Qingluo looked at the old granny sinisterly and shook the little black balls in her hand. “It doesn’t matter if the Wu family wants to marry me. In any case, all of you feel sorry for Young Master Wu. We can actually go down together as companions.”

She curled her lips again and asked, “I believe that y’all also want to continue serving Young Master Wu in the afterworld, right?”

The old granny and the servants behind her were stunned. No, they didn’t want to at all.

She knew that as long as this wretched lass had such a life-threatening object in her hands, they couldn’t take her away at all. After all, no one wanted to die.

A rabbit would bite when it was anxious, let alone a human.

It was all the Shi family’s fault. They actually let this wretched lass know that she was going to die with him. They were useless trash that just ruined the plan.

Not sure if it was too late to find a new bride now.

“Since Miss Shi is not willing to marry into the Wu family, I will go back and report this to our old master and lady now.”

After she finished speaking to Shi Qingluo, she looked at Old Lady Shi and said, “You sent someone to follow me to the Wu family to break off the engagement.”

Old Lady Shi’s expression was unsightly as she looked at Lady Shi and her third son, “You guys go.”

The two of them could only grimace as they followed her to the Wu family.

The silver in their hands was gone. They were actually daring to eat that wretched lass.

After the few of them left, Shi Qingluo used a rope to tie up the remaining few earth bombs and wrapped them around her waist. However, she always kept the lighter in her hands.

After she was done, she looked at the Third Son Shi and raised her eyebrows. “If anyone wants to die, let me know in advance. I will definitely grant them their wish.”

Old Lady Shi couldn’t help but curse. “You heartless wretch, how dare you treat your elders like this? Aren’t you afraid of going to hell? You...”

“If all of you aren’t afraid of going to hell, then I’m even less afraid.” Shi Qingluo sneered.

“It looks like grandma wants to go down and explore the area first?”

Then, she untied one of the small black balls and looked as if she was going to light it up and throw it over.

Old Lady Shi, who continued to grumble, became so scared that she instantly went silent as if she had been strangled by someone.

The others were also so angry that their chests were burning, but they didn’t dare to scold her.

Shi Qingluo yawned. “I’m going to sleep for a while. Wake me up when it’s mealtime.”

“Otherwise!” she tossed the little black ball in her hand and smiled sinisterly at the people in the courtyard, “you know what I mean.”

The Shi family were speechless. How could there be such a wretch in the family?

Shi Qingluo opened the door and entered the firewood room. This was where Shengyuan had stayed after returning.

Shengyuan had used two wooden boards to make a bed, a cushion, and a quilt. She had brought them back from the Taoist temple herself.

She laid on the bed and thought about her next move.

From her memory, she learned that this was a dynasty that had never existed in history. During the Tang dynasty, there was a twist and this became the Daliang dynasty.

The Daliang dynasty was only the second generation of the emperor.

It was somewhat like the Tang dynasty, which was relatively liberal, and had less stringent rules for women, similar to the later dynasties.

However, the law stipulated that a woman could only live independently and go out on her own if she had no maternal family or if her husband died.

Therefore, it was impossible for her to separate from the Shi family herself.

It was even more unrealistic for her to run away alone.

This was because she needed an identity to travel to any faraway place.

Else, once she was caught after running away, she would become a blacklisted. Her identity was equivalent to a slave. She would be demoted into an official slave by the authorities and sent to be sold or exiled.

Especially since the establishment of the new dynasty, there were some regulations that each county had to abide with. All counties were afraid of losing manpower, so they were very strict in managing the household registration.

There was also a very fraudulent law that if any men and women who were still single at eighteen and seventeen respectively, the government would intervene with a forced marriage.

If they did not agree or resist, they would have to go to jail for violating the law.

Now that she was almost sixteen years old, there was only a little more than a year left before the forced marriage.

After thinking about it, Shi Qingluo realised that there was only one way to solve the current predicament, and that was to get married.

If the Shi family was making the decision, they would definitely make her jump from one fire pit to another.

Shi Qingluo would never ill-treat herself.

Instead of letting others control her marriage, she would rather find a suitable one herself.