How to Stop the Villain from Going Crazy
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 11 - Can you sleep with me for a while? (1)
Erik had run away so fast that it seemed as if he vanished from the spot.
Bo Li recalled that last look in his eyes and thought she had probably succeeded in convincing him to work with her.
A huge weight had been lifted off her mind, and her appetite also improved. She no longer felt like vomiting when she smelled the odor of the meat pudding.
It was called meat pudding, but it looked more like a shriveled steamed bun. Underneath the crust, there was a filling of well-cooked diced rabbit and lamb kidneys. It was brushed with a layer of buttery sauce inside and out. All in all, it smelled too gamey. It might taste better if she could dip it in a mixture made of vinegar, soy sauce, and chili pepper.
Unfortunately, the only thing on the table was butter that had been scooped by countless people.
When the party was about to end, a man went up to Emily and wanted to lift up her skirt to see if she had two *.
The man held the word in his mouth and rolled it in his tongue. The other men laughed obscenely.
Emily sat in the wheelchair and remained silent. Her face was still as pale as wax.
The manager was drinking wine. Seeing that the situation was getting ugly, he reprimanded them.
Bo Li witnessed the process. She couldn't describe how she felt.
After transmigrating, she had been dressed as a boy with her hair cut short and her chest tightly bound. No one looked at her like she was a thing.
But at the party, many men looked at the women like they were looking at things.
Her body was young and malnourished, so she could conceal her true gender for now. But, what about in the future? Her body was still developing and could change drastically in a short period of time.
By then, how will these people look at her?
Bo Li shuddered and didn't dare to think further.
Even in modern-day, there weren't many men that genuinely respected women, let alone men from over a hundred years ago.
She had originally thought there was plenty of time, and that she could take her time to plan how to leave here.
Now, she realized that wouldn't work.
A gust of cold wind blew over her. Bo Li shivered and goosebumps popped up. She thought of something very important, her monthly period.
She didn't know how the original owner dealt with her period. Perhaps, her period hadn't come yet due to insufficient nutrition.
However, a human's hormone system was very complicated. What if her hormone levels subtly changed after her transmigration and her period came without warning one day?
The more Bo Li thought about it, the more scared she was. Her heart was beating so fast that she felt she could almost hear it pounding in her ears. She had to take action to leave here as soon as possible.
—
That night, Bo Li slept fitfully. She would jolt awake from the sound of her heartbeat one moment, and then the howling of the coyotes in the woods the next.
She woke up so many times that she even mistakenly thought she was lying in bed at home and could touch her charging phone by turning over.
However, after reaching out and trying to find her phone for a while, she only felt damp and smelly soil.
There was no point in being depressed.
Bo Li closed her eyes. She kept telling herself that she was a strong person. She could definitely leave here. The only thing she had to do right now was go back to sleep.
Sleep deprived people couldn't think well or escape.
Thinking of this, she finally forced herself to fall asleep.
—
Due to the party going until the wee hours, everyone woke up late the next day.
Bo Li felt a sharp pang in her abdomen when she woke up.
She froze for a moment. She kept praying that her period hadn't come, but her prayers didn't work. It had come.
Bo Li didn't show any expression. She didn't feel ashamed, just depressed.
In any case, it had come. It wasn't like she could do a handstand and force the blood to flow back.
She made do with the gauze in her first aid kit, put on her clothes, and walked out of the tent.
Bo Li endured the pain in her abdomen. She had wanted to seek out Erik to discuss how to escape, but he didn't appear all morning.
He was ever elusive. She could only put down the matter aside and wait for him to appear again after making up his mind.
There would be two performances in the evening, but that had nothing to do with her. She, John, and a bunch of other half-grown children weren't qualified to perform on the stage.
Their task was to steal things from the audience. Everything was up for stealing: wallets, binoculars, pocket watches, rings, thimbles, necklaces, coats, hats, etc. They would steal whatever was available, including food, but they couldn't get caught.
And so, before every performance, their trainer would summon them to practice on each other.
During the practice period, Erik still didn't appear.
Bo Li asked John, "Where's Erik?"
"He's injured," John absent-mindedly said, "The manager is giving him a month off."
He unhappily curled his lips. "Even if he's not injured, he wouldn't hang out with the likes of us… What takes us a month to learn, he can learn with a glance. The trainer made an exception for him. He doesn't have to attend class with us!"
The other children hissed in disgust when Erik's name was mentioned.
No wonder Erik, who was the most talented person in the circus, was isolated and rejected. Giving privileges to the best student wouldn't encourage others to try harder. It would only cause others to unite in isolating him.
Bo Li wanted to ask more questions, but John tugged the corner of her clothes. Their trainer was coming.
Their trainer was a middle-aged woman with sharp eyes. Her temples were gray, and her hair was tied up in a small bun. She was wearing a long gray dress with a Victorian padded bustle that created a slightly exaggerated curvature of the rear. She was holding a long rattan stick.
Her prestige was quite heavy. As she walked over here, people stopped whistling, talking, and humming. They even held their breath.
"Take out your tools," the trainer looked over the group and calmly said, "I'm here to check. Have you improved your skills?"
After saying that, she checked everyone's stealing skills, one by one.
Bo Li's heart sank. Even though she had never tried to steal anything, she knew that stealing was like performing a magic trick. It took a lot of practice to deceive other people's eyes. It was impossible for her to master this skill in a short period of time.
Sure enough, when it was her turn, her movements when trying to steal were full of flaws.
Bo Li gulped. Just as she was about to defend herself, the trainer raised the rattan stick and grimly ordered, "Show your hand."
"I'm sorry…" Before she could finish speaking, the trainer grabbed her hand and whipped her palm hard with the rattan stick.
Almost immediately, a red and swollen mark appeared on her palm.
Originally, the punishment for failing was only five whips, but because she had talked back, five more were added.
During this time, Bo Li kept telling herself to calm down. Calm down. She couldn't scream or curse. She couldn't avoid the rattan stick and hit the trainer. She had to keep calm.
After ten whips, she couldn't curse even if she wanted to. She was in too much pain. Her back was covered in cold sweat. Her red and swollen palm looked like it had been scalded. She could faintly see blood oozing out.
The trainer put the rattan stick down, threw a small jar of ointment at her, and punished her with being grounded in her tent and not having dinner. She told her "Don't come out at night and embarrass yourself."
Bo Li accepted the ointment, swallowed her anger, and said thank you. She turned around and walked towards her tent.
After returning to her tent, she took her first aid kit out from the pile of dirty clothes, swallowed an ibuprofen, and applied iodine to the wound.
She didn't have any ointment to reduce the swelling and didn't dare to use ointment from the trainer. She could only lie in bed in a daze and wait for the medicine to take effect.