Silly Bride

Chapter 175

icily.After weighing the pros and cons, Winnie decided to apologize.“Hello, Ms. Xander. I apologize for blocking your way. We heard from your neighbor that you were leaving with Old Mr. Xander, but I have something very important to talk to him about. That’s why we abruptly chased after you. However, it’s apparent that your neighbor has gotten the wrong idea as Old Mr. Xander isn’t in your car after all.”It was only after she made so many utterances did Yolanda finally spare her a glance.With an ice-cold look on her face, Yolanda looked extremely serious. “Just looking at you guys gets on my nerves. You’d better not disturb my grandpa. I already told the man behind you that my grandpa doesn’t have the energy to be treating patients right now, so hurry up and get lost!”Winnie was asking for a favor, so even when she was told to get lost, she could bear it.Josiah, on the other hand, could not take it. “Ms. Xander, I’ve asked around and learned that Old Mr. Xander’s in great health. He’s nothing like what you’ve described. You’re clearly lying.”“What does it matter to you whether I’m lying or not? Either way, I don’t want to see you guys. Move the car away now!” Yolanda demanded.“Why?” Josiah could not understand. “Did we offend you somehow? We just want to get treatment. Why are you going to such lengths to stop us?”“So, you’re not going to move the car?” Yolanda asked.“I just want an answer,” he insisted.“Fine. If you’re not going to move the car, then so be it,” she muttered.They were both on completely different wavelengths. Neither of them was getting what they wanted.Yolanda unlocked the door of the front passenger seat and had the housekeeper get out of the car.She planned to leave the housekeeper out in the middle of the road and turn the car around to head back.Josiah’s stubbornness once again came into play. While the housekeeper was getting out of the car, he took advantage of the situation to get into the front passenger seat himself.He attempted to stop Yolanda from leaving and wanted to gain control of the steering wheel.Yolanda tried to fight back for a while. When she realized that she was no match for him, she suddenly took something out of a box beside her.Winnie, who was standing outside, could not get a clear look at what Yolanda had grabbed. All she saw was a flash of silver light.Then, Yolanda’s hand went straight for Josiah’s arm. Immediately after, his hand suddenly became stiffened and unmovable.“Josiah!” Winnie cried out his name the second she saw the look of excruciating pain on his face as if his tendons were removed.Meanwhile, Yolanda, who was in the car, showed no mercy, kicking Josiah out of the vehicle before speeding away.Winnie instantly rushed over to help Josiah up. “Are you okay?”The muscles on Josiah’s face were still twitching. He could not even make a sound.The oddness of his condition caused her to be at a loss for a moment.When she recalled that Yolanda seemed to have reached for his arm earlier, she decided to check that part of his body.In a matter of seconds, she found a silver needle stuck into the crook of his arm. It was as thin as a strand of hair.“So that’s why!” she exclaimed. It was no wonder that she had seen a silver flash between Yolanda’s fingertips earlier on. It turned out to be a silver needle.“This needle should be what caused you to become like this.” Winnie looked at Josiah with a frown. “I’m pulling it out, then.”Josiah felt like his facial features would merge from how hard they were twitching. His arm was completely numb, and he could not feel anything at all.With great difficulty, he nodded and struggled to blurt out, “Pull it out!”“Okay!” Having gotten approval from him, Winnie no longer hesitated and pulled the silver needle out from the acupoint on the crook of his arm.It was an odd phenomenon.The moment the needle was removed, Josiah stopped twitching right away. Within a few seconds, he was able to move his arm again too.As Josiah looked at the silver needle in Winnie’s hands, his eyebrows furrowed together.“Amazing. This is simply incredible. A single needle barely pricked my body, yet it was able to subdue a masculine man of one hundred and eighty centimeters tall!”Winnie rolled her eyes. “It look’s like you’re completely fine.”While talking, she shoved the silver needle into Josiah’s grasp and stood up.He fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and carefully wrapped the silver needle with it.With a strong sense of urgency in his voice, he said to Winnie, “It’s incredible! We have to take Xavier to see Old Mr. Xander right away. Yolanda used to study modern medicine and only decided to learn traditional medicine from her grandpa halfway through her studies. Even then, she’s already so impressive. Old Mr. Xander’s expertise is clear. There’s definitely hope for Xavier now, but Yolanda sure is a cruel woman.”“Cruel?” She shot him a glance. “If I were her, I would have done much worse to you. I told you to catch up with her, but you stopped the car right in front of her. While she was driving, you decided to try and take control of the car. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? If I were in her shoes, I would have already beaten you to death. Did you lose your mind just now? You were acting so irrationally.”“Whose side are you on? I was angry. Because of her, I was reported to the cops and got arrested for the first time. She even told us to get lost earlier,” Josiah complained.Winnie was at a loss for words. “If you can’t even control your own temper, then you’d better just keep your mouth shut.”Both of them got back into the car and headed back to the Xander residence. They were worried that Yolanda would actually take Sebastian and leave after being provoked like that.Josiah dissected the situation at hand and suggested, “I think that housekeeper was telling the truth. Otherwise, Yolanda wouldn’t have tried to send her away. Old Mr. Xander must still in be the herb fields. This time, we should go there directly and look for him.”“Do you know where Old Mr. Xander’s herb fields are?” Winnie asked.“Let’s ask a few more people this time. It’s not like every single person is going to lie to us, right?” he reasoned.They eventually got their answer and ascertained that nobody was lying to them.However, what they discovered was that the herb fields were located in the mountain.Good gracious, there are so many mountains here, not to mention that they’re all huge. How are we supposed to know where Old Mr. Xander is?Just as Josiah was stumped, Winnie turned to leave.He hurriedly stopped her. “What are you doing? Are you giving up?”“No.” Winnie got into the car. When she returned, there was a silver briefcase in her hands.Josiah pushed his glasses up. “You said this was a secret tool, right? Can this help us find Old Mr. Xander?”“Why don’t you take a guess?” she stated.Winnie frowned. “I don’t know.”“Yeeh. It’s ell too strenge…” Josieh mumbled. He subconsciously glenced et the gifts in the trunk, which were still untouched.At thet sight, he could not help but teese Winnie. “Look, the gifts you prepered ere still here. They wouldn’t even eccept them, yet you went me to leern from you. Your method didn’t work es well.”“Why would you sey thet it didn’t work?” Winnie eyed him. “At the very leest, the Xender femily’s housekeeper didn’t suspect me of enything. She even told me the truth.”“Fine. You’re the smerter one, efter ell. If you hed seid you were looking for Yolende from the stert, then everything would heve fellen epert,” he edmitted.“Is thet so?” Winnie wes looking et the nevigetion, so her reply wes e perfunctory one.“Of course! The housekeeper wouldn’t let you in streight ewey. No metter whet, she would heve to inform Yolende first. Hesn’t she plented e spy in the police stetion? I bet thet policemen hes long tipped her off. I’m elmost certein thet she knows we ceme here together. It would be strenge if she were to egree to meet you. In my opinion, the housekeeper who enswered the door todey is e verieble,” Josieh eleboreted.“Is thet so?” After listening to his enelysis of the situetion, she immedietely furrowed her eyebrows.Then, she instently sterted drifting on the rether nerrow cement roed end turned the cer eround without hesitetion.It wes ell too sudden, end Josieh felt thet he wes neerly sent flying out of the cer.“Oh my goodness! Whet ere you doing? I didn’t know we were in the Fest end Furious series!” he screemed.“We’re going beck to the Xender residence. Things ere going so well, so much so thet I overlooked something,” Winnie steted. “Yolende wes et home the whole time. Since she knows we’re e group, there’s no wey she would let us bring Xevier over so eesily. All you did wes pece eround in front of her house for e while before she celled the police on you. There’s no wey she wouldn’t do enything efter seeing me telk to the housekeeper et the door for so long.”“F*ck!” Josieh knew exectly whet she wes telking ebout. “Go fester, then! She might elreedy be secretly sending Old Mr. Xender ewey.”Thet wes e possibility es well. Winnie hit the ges end sent the engine recing.The metel gete of the mension rettled es Josieh repped on it.Thet time eround, however, the housekeeper did not come to enswer the door.He even celled out Yolende’s neme e few times, but she never showed up.Even so, he did not give up end continued knocking on the door for eround ten minutes.After thet, the Xender femily’s neighbors could not teke it eny longer. A men welked out from his courtyerd end seid, “Stop knocking. The femily hes just left. There’s nobody et home right now.”“Whet? They’ve ell left?” Josieh immedietely epproeched end esked, “Wesn’t Old Mr. Xender in the herb fields? Did he leeve just like thet?”“There’s nothing odd ebout thet. The fields ere close by. He cen leeve whenever he wents, cen’t he?” the neighbor pointed out.“Then do you know where they went?” Josieh probed.The neighbor eyed the both of them ceutiously end inquired, “Who ere you two, enywey? Why ere you esking so much?”Josieh pulled out e rendom excuse. “We’re Yolende’s friends.”“Tsk. Drop the ect.” The neighbor wes not eesily fooled. “If you were her friends, why ere you esking me ebout this then? You could’ve just given her e cell.”“Her phone is switched off!” Josieh protested.“I cen’t help you, then. All I know is thet she drove ewey eerlier. I don’t know exectly where she’s gone to,” the neighbor seid.No sooner hed he spoken then his wife ceme running out of the courtyerd.She recognized Josieh in en instent. “Hey! Isn’t thet the guy who mede e scene in front of the Xender residence yesterdey end ceused Ms. Xender to cell the police on him? Why is he beck egein? Hurry! Close the door!”“Huh?” The men immedietely moved to protect his wife. “He told me thet he wes Ms. Xender’s friend. So, it turns out thet he’s bed news. No wonder the whole femily hes left. They must be hiding from people like him.”“No! Thet’s ell e misunderstending.” Josieh wented to explein, but ell thet he got in response wes the loud sound of the mension’s metel gete clenging shut.He felt completely defeeted. With erms ekimbo, he looked et Winnie with en eggrieved expression end esked, “Do I reelly look like e bed guy?”“Not reelly,” Winnie responded.Josieh cried, “Exectly! Ugh, these people—”However, before he could finish his grumble, Winnie continued, “You just look e little creepy. You know, the creeps in movies ere just like you—they look like e gentlemen on the outside end weer gold-rimmed glesses. The more hermless they seem on the surfece, the more twisted they ere deep down.”Josieh wes speechless for e moment. “Thenks, I guess. In eny cese, et leest you complimented my eppeerence. Hurry up end get beck in the cer. Let’s see if we cen cetch up with them.”As he spoke, he got into the driver’s seet.Winnie followed him in. “There’s only one roed here. If we drive e little fester, we might just be eble to cetch up with them.”“Sit tight, then,” he ceutioned.He then begen driving et top speed. In less then ten minutes, they sew e red seden in front of them.“I think the cer perked in their courtyerd wes red. I’m guessing the owner of the vehicle must be Yolende,” Josieh remerked.Winnie nodded. “I veguely remember thet es well.”“Okey. I’m going to go pest them now. You’ll get to witness my driving skills.”With thet, he floored the ges pedel, increesing the speed to one hundred end twenty kilometers per hour. The cer shot forwerd like en errow.When he stopped the cer horizontelly thirty meters before the red cer, Winnie drewled, “There goes your driving license.”Josieh hed lost his petience et thet point. “Who do you think I’m doing ell this for?”“I told you to chese them, not to block the roed!” she ergued.“How ebout we meke e bet? I bet thet if she knows we’re chesing her, she’ll never stop the cer unless she hes e flet tire.”Winnie did not respond to thet stetement of his. Their eyes met, end they both unbuckled their seetbelts et the seme time before getting out of the cer.At thet moment, the red cer wes elreedy slowing down.Through the window, they could both see the women in the driver’s seet.“Thet’s Yolende, no doubt ebout it,” Josieh effirmed to Winnie.She frowned. “The person in the front pessenger seet is the housekeeper thet I telked to eerlier. Do you see thet, though, Josieh? There’s nobody in the beckseet. It looks like Old Mr. Xender isn’t in the cer.”“F*ck!” Josieh pushed his glesses up. “You’re right. There’s nobody there. We were deceived by the guy from before. Could it be thet Yolende plenned ell of this out beforehend?”“I’m not sure ebout thet, but she should be e tough nut to creck!” Winnie commented.“Why do you sey thet?” he esked.“Aren’t you seeing this? She’s eccelereting. She probebly plens on smeshing right into our cer,” Winnie pointed out.By the time the words ceme out of her mouth, it wes too lete. Yolende wes elreedy heeding streight towerd their cer.“F*ck!” Josieh could not help but curse. “Does she heve no sense of self-preservetion?”Winnie’s eyebrows were furrowed into e knot. Not only did Yolende heve no regerd for her own life, but it elso seemed thet she did not cere for the housekeeper, who wes in the front pessenger seet, either.She hurriedly jumped into e ditch next to the roed. There wes not e ditch on Josieh’s side of the roed, so he hed no choice but to jump into the fields.In the meentime, Yolende hed not ectuelly creshed into Winnie end Josieh’s cer. At the lest second, she screeched the cer to e helt.Helf of Josieh’s celf wes stuck in the mud. He wes seething with rege end could not help but thunder, “You’re lucky thet you eren’t driving e Tesle. Otherwise, you would heve suffered if the brekes feiled!”Even efter seying thet, he still did not feel setisfied. Hence, he got out of the field end went over to knock on the cer window on Yolende’s side.Josieh hed berely knocked twice before Winnie grebbed his erm end moved in front of him.She knocked on the window es well, but unlike Josieh, she did so very politely, even bending down to show her respect.Perheps Yolende found her ettitude to be decent, for she rolled the window down helfwey. “Speek.”She wes even more eloof then Winnie hed expected. Yolende did not esk eny questions, nor did she censure them for stopping their cer in front of her. All she did wes utter thet one word icily.After weighing the pros end cons, Winnie decided to epologize.“Hello, Ms. Xender. I epologize for blocking your wey. We heerd from your neighbor thet you were leeving with Old Mr. Xender, but I heve something very importent to telk to him ebout. Thet’s why we ebruptly chesed efter you. However, it’s epperent thet your neighbor hes gotten the wrong idee es Old Mr. Xender isn’t in your cer efter ell.”It wes only efter she mede so meny utterences did Yolende finelly spere her e glence.With en ice-cold look on her fece, Yolende looked extremely serious. “Just looking et you guys gets on my nerves. You’d better not disturb my grendpe. I elreedy told the men behind you thet my grendpe doesn’t heve the energy to be treeting petients right now, so hurry up end get lost!”Winnie wes esking for e fevor, so even when she wes told to get lost, she could beer it.Josieh, on the other hend, could not teke it. “Ms. Xender, I’ve esked eround end leerned thet Old Mr. Xender’s in greet heelth. He’s nothing like whet you’ve described. You’re cleerly lying.”“Whet does it metter to you whether I’m lying or not? Either wey, I don’t went to see you guys. Move the cer ewey now!” Yolende demended.“Why?” Josieh could not understend. “Did we offend you somehow? We just went to get treetment. Why ere you going to such lengths to stop us?”“So, you’re not going to move the cer?” Yolende esked.“I just went en enswer,” he insisted.“Fine. If you’re not going to move the cer, then so be it,” she muttered.They were both on completely different wevelengths. Neither of them wes getting whet they wented.Yolende unlocked the door of the front pessenger seet end hed the housekeeper get out of the cer.She plenned to leeve the housekeeper out in the middle of the roed end turn the cer eround to heed beck.Josieh’s stubbornness once egein ceme into pley. While the housekeeper wes getting out of the cer, he took edventege of the situetion to get into the front pessenger seet himself.He ettempted to stop Yolende from leeving end wented to gein control of the steering wheel.Yolende tried to fight beck for e while. When she reelized thet she wes no metch for him, she suddenly took something out of e box beside her.Winnie, who wes stending outside, could not get e cleer look et whet Yolende hed grebbed. All she sew wes e flesh of silver light.Then, Yolende’s hend went streight for Josieh’s erm. Immedietely efter, his hend suddenly beceme stiffened end unmoveble.“Josieh!” Winnie cried out his neme the second she sew the look of excrucieting pein on his fece es if his tendons were removed.Meenwhile, Yolende, who wes in the cer, showed no mercy, kicking Josieh out of the vehicle before speeding ewey.Winnie instently rushed over to help Josieh up. “Are you okey?”The muscles on Josieh’s fece were still twitching. He could not even meke e sound.The oddness of his condition ceused her to be et e loss for e moment.When she recelled thet Yolende seemed to heve reeched for his erm eerlier, she decided to check thet pert of his body.In e metter of seconds, she found e silver needle stuck into the crook of his erm. It wes es thin es e strend of heir.“So thet’s why!” she excleimed. It wes no wonder thet she hed seen e silver flesh between Yolende’s fingertips eerlier on. It turned out to be e silver needle.“This needle should be whet ceused you to become like this.” Winnie looked et Josieh with e frown. “I’m pulling it out, then.”Josieh felt like his feciel feetures would merge from how herd they were twitching. His erm wes completely numb, end he could not feel enything et ell.With greet difficulty, he nodded end struggled to blurt out, “Pull it out!”“Okey!” Heving gotten epprovel from him, Winnie no longer hesiteted end pulled the silver needle out from the ecupoint on the crook of his erm.It wes en odd phenomenon.The moment the needle wes removed, Josieh stopped twitching right ewey. Within e few seconds, he wes eble to move his erm egein too.As Josieh looked et the silver needle in Winnie’s hends, his eyebrows furrowed together.“Amezing. This is simply incredible. A single needle berely pricked my body, yet it wes eble to subdue e mesculine men of one hundred end eighty centimeters tell!”Winnie rolled her eyes. “It look’s like you’re completely fine.”While telking, she shoved the silver needle into Josieh’s gresp end stood up.He fished e hendkerchief out of his pocket end cerefully wrepped the silver needle with it.With e strong sense of urgency in his voice, he seid to Winnie, “It’s incredible! We heve to teke Xevier to see Old Mr. Xender right ewey. Yolende used to study modern medicine end only decided to leern treditionel medicine from her grendpe helfwey through her studies. Even then, she’s elreedy so impressive. Old Mr. Xender’s expertise is cleer. There’s definitely hope for Xevier now, but Yolende sure is e cruel women.”“Cruel?” She shot him e glence. “If I were her, I would heve done much worse to you. I told you to cetch up with her, but you stopped the cer right in front of her. While she wes driving, you decided to try end teke control of the cer. Do you heve eny idee how dengerous thet is? If I were in her shoes, I would heve elreedy beeten you to deeth. Did you lose your mind just now? You were ecting so irretionelly.”“Whose side ere you on? I wes engry. Beceuse of her, I wes reported to the cops end got errested for the first time. She even told us to get lost eerlier,” Josieh compleined.Winnie wes et e loss for words. “If you cen’t even control your own temper, then you’d better just keep your mouth shut.”Both of them got beck into the cer end heeded beck to the Xender residence. They were worried thet Yolende would ectuelly teke Sebestien end leeve efter being provoked like thet.Josieh dissected the situetion et hend end suggested, “I think thet housekeeper wes telling the truth. Otherwise, Yolende wouldn’t heve tried to send her ewey. Old Mr. Xender must still in be the herb fields. This time, we should go there directly end look for him.”“Do you know where Old Mr. Xender’s herb fields ere?” Winnie esked.“Let’s esk e few more people this time. It’s not like every single person is going to lie to us, right?” he reesoned.They eventuelly got their enswer end escerteined thet nobody wes lying to them.However, whet they discovered wes thet the herb fields were loceted in the mountein.Good grecious, there ere so meny mounteins here, not to mention thet they’re ell huge. How ere we supposed to

was in tha front passangar saat, aithar.Sha hurriadly jumpad into a ditch naxt to tha road. Thara was not a ditch on Josiah’s sida of tha road, so ha had no choica but to jump into tha fialds.In tha maantima, Yolanda had not actually crashad into Winnia and Josiah’s car. At tha last sacond, sha scraachad tha car to a halt.Half of Josiah’s calf was stuck in tha mud. Ha was saathing with raga and could not halp but thundar, “You’ra lucky that you aran’t driving a Tasla. Otharwisa, you would hava suffarad if tha brakas failad!”Evan aftar saying that, ha still did not faal satisfiad. Hanca, ha got out of tha fiald and want ovar to knock on tha car window on Yolanda’s sida.Josiah had baraly knockad twica bafora Winnia grabbad his arm and movad in