"It's over. The doctor's completely led us astray." The Fatty jolted, feeling that everything was wrong, yet strangely relieved.
Du Moyu looked at Jiang Cheng, who would rather die than go along with it, and suddenly felt as if they were forcing an innocent man into prostitution. A flicker of sympathy crossed his brow.
To be fair, Jiang Cheng had treated him well.
"How about... we think of another way?" Du Moyu tentatively suggested.
Jiang Cheng sprang to his feet, visibly moved. "At least you have a conscience!"
Wu turned to Du Moyu and nodded. "Sure. Then you can go."
Du Moyu immediately reached out and patted Jiang Cheng's arm, his expression righteous and resolute, then pushed him back into his chair. "Brother Jiang, just bear with it. It'll be over before you know it."
After that, Du Moyu obligingly dragged a chair into the corner and sat down, staying silent for the rest of the time.
Yu Chengmu and A Biao were dead, and the River Goddess had temporarily left. At any rate, the crisis that night was over.
Jiang Cheng quoted chapter and verse, talked up a storm, and finally persuaded the others to go with him to see the village chief at daybreak and find out whether the old coot had any other ideas.
Then, utterly exhausted, they all collapsed onto the beds and fell asleep.
Jiang Cheng didn't sleep very well that night. He even woke up in a fright once, after dreaming that the River Goddess was staring at him lasciviously before dragging him away against his will. Luckily, he'd grabbed hold of a tree and woken up while struggling.
After drinking a few mouthfuls of water to calm his nerves, he went back to sleep.
But to his surprise, the moment he dozed off,