The Ger's Contract Marriage [BL]
Chapter 465: Tongue Lashing

Chapter 465: Tongue Lashing

Surrounded by the prying eyes and accusing murmurs of the residents of Sun Village, Xu Zeng felt exposed, and vulnerable to the harsh judgments of those around him.

Now even in the silence, he felt bare to the world.

In that moment, he realized he wasn’t as detached from his surroundings as he had once believed. Initially, he had found solace in the belief that he was his dad’s child, but that illusion shattered when he learned the truth.

Yet, even without blood ties, the love he shared with his dad was enough, he also had a brother to look up to. One that loved him so much he sacrificed himself. From a young age, Xu Zeng held onto the hope that his brother still survived, somewhere out there.

Then came the loss of his dad. While he mourned, he found comfort in the assurance that he would one day understand the mysteries of his past. Those stories, once dismissed as mere tales, turned out to be more than just fiction.

For five long years, he endured the cruelty of his stepmother and the indifference of his supposed father. He continued on, caring for his younger "brothers" with the same love his own brother had shown him.

But just as he began to find his footing, life changed so quickly. From his poisoning and abduction to his crossing over into the chaotic realm where Dongmen resided, where nightmares became reality.

Still, even then, there were glimmers of hope. His brother, once thought lost, was alive. His life regained purpose. Yet, that hope was snatched away once more with his brother’s passing, leaving behind only certainty—he was too late.

Even to those he had poured his love into, he was little more than a beggar in their eyes. His body felt like a prison, trapping him with memories he longed to forget.

His only brother was gone, his dad was gone, his nephews were unable to hatch... what was going right?

...but he met Xu Hu Zhe in this body for the first time, and the other wasn’t disgusted with him. The man even wanted a mate that was a ger.

Xu Zeng could compromise for the half-breed. There was also the charming fox that knew it was him immediately, even with a different body Bai Mo recognized him immediately.

Their connection wasn’t the same attraction linking him and Xu Hu Zhe together, but the desire to protect and spend his time around the fox was just as strong. From a spark to a flame.

The most important treasures in Xu Zeng’s life were his nephews— Da Long and Xiao Long who were his only connection to his blood brother— and Bai Mo and Xu Hu Zhe, his chosen mates.

But...

But...

"How indecent."

"How indecent."

"HOW INDECENT"

The short, crisp sentence played back over and over in Xu Zeng’s head. The music in the background had stopped entirely. He never knew he was lost, or maybe he was actually always hiding from the world. Either way, it was unconscious therefore completely off his radar...

Now he knew. Xu Feng was his light. When the light was lost, his nephews and his mates took on that light. But wasn’t he being discarded again?

If Bai Mo, the sweet and caring fox could throw him out just like the villagers, couldn’t Xu Hu Zhe also throw him away? If everyone threw him away, was he really worthless, like a beggar?

No, he was a demon beast... that should mean something shouldn’t it?

Xu Zeng looked down at his palms staring at the years of labor etched in them. Years spent farming land here in Sun Village, holding up a home at a young age—raising children that weren’t his, farming land that wasn’t his, feeding a family that wasn’t his.

What type of demon beast was he? So shameless. He was so shameless. So shameful... indecent. He was indecent.

As Bai Mo’s warm energy enveloped him once again, more stable this time as the distance between them narrowed.

Xu Zeng felt as though he was being wrapped in the finest of furs, a sensation of luxury he had never experienced before. It was a gentle caress, pulling him from the depths of his pain and darkness, lifting him from a deep underwater place to solid ground.

The tightness in his chest loosened, and the weight of his burdens seemed to lighten. It was similar to the relief he felt whenever Bai Mo or Xu Hu Zhe were nearby— two separate but calming presences that both worked wonders on him.

The ceaseless chant of doubt and unworthiness in his mind was silenced in the presence of the fox.

In the middle of the renewed murmurs of the villagers, their calculating gazes darting between him and Bai Mo, Xu Zeng focused solely on the fox before him.

Bai Mo, the source of his newfound warmth and comfort, the new beacon of light in the center of the villagers’ plotting stares.

Bai Mo’s gaze turned icy, a chill that still seemed almost surreal to Xu Zeng. But he knew, deep down, that this was his Bai Mo, their Bai Mo—the mate of him and Xu Hu Zhe.

While the villagers may have perceived him as cold, it was they who were rude and unwelcoming. They openly disregarded Xu Zeng, but still wanted to utilize him to the best of their ability.

Now, they looked at Bai Mo with greedy eyes— this was a potential silver-filled bank to cushion their lives. If they could only get his favor for their daughter or ger relative, life would be much more moisturized than they could even dream of.

They turned from a desire to squeeze Xu Zeng for silver to a frenzy of desire to marry rich! Such fickle people— not all of them, but those with ulterior motives were easy to spot.

Xu Zeng was disgusted. They could try to abuse him, but not his mate. That was not allowable.

Before he could even begin to reprimand the greedy bystanders, Bai Mo’s words cut through the air and his words were lost in the clangs of drawn swords.

The fox’s words weren’t knives, they were swords, meant to cut deep and sever heads.

"This thing," he pointed directly at the woman in gaping clothes, shuffled during her struggle to stay attached to Xu Zeng. She had half the mud from the fields smeared against Xu Zeng’s clothing, and her body pressed against his.

"This indecent shrew dares to covet what is mine?" Bai Mo’s voice was cold and commanding, but the disgust couldn’t be hidden in the slightest. The disdain was clear for all to hear— even small children understand the woman was being looked down upon.

Almost instantly, the little boy clutching onto the woman released his hand from her clothing and stepped back. Da Niu moved back without a care for his mother or his brother— said brother was also quick-witted and retreated almost as quickly.

In only a heartbeat, there was a clear space between Xu Zeng with his leech (the stepmother) and Bai Mo. The adults had even unconsciously stepped back.

The feeling a demon beast gave off was frightening for humans. Even though Bai Mo was still a half-breed, only an immortal beast descendant—he was only a step away from a true, full-blooded demon beast.

To top it off, he was an immortal beast descendant who was dripping disdain and claiming his territory. It wasn’t at all strange when Xu Zeng felt the woman shiver against his legs. She finally felt something other than audacity.

"Not only is this thing," Bai Mo stressed the dehumanizing words harshly before continuing, "Behaving unbecomingly, she dares to hold an unmarried ger in public, even with her marital earring in her ear, and her hair in a unity knot."

Every time Bai Mo referred to the woman as a thing, less than a living person something in him reacted. He was always less than a person to this woman, to these people, it felt strange watching one of them receive the same disdain.

Other than Xu Zeng, who was now sporting a small smile on his face, the crowd seemed to be moving in slow motion. The scene in front of them seemed to be morphing into some sort of fever dream.

"You home wrecking shrew, if you don’t remove yourself from my mat— my wife, I’ll report you and your entire village to the magistrate of this pitiful prefecture!"

Bai Mo’s breathing was ragged at this point.

At first, Xu Zeng felt this was a show to get the woman off him without violence— he was clearly not a wife, he was a husband at the very least— but Bai Mo’s reaction was too exaggerated to ignore.

"Sh... shh... shh.. shrew?" The stepmother had never stopped shaking, even now, she shivered like a leaf as she stammered out a question.

It was always easy to bully the weak. Xu Zeng was "the weak," so they’d assumed this companion/money bag would also be considered weak.

The fox-eared young master’s mouth was not weak.