Old He suddenly remembered why he had come. He turned directly to the red-faced man beside him and slapped him hard. "He Atu, are you only happy when you ruin this family, huh?"
She Atu’s face was red. She seemed not to have heard clearly. Zhu Yanyi looked around and said to Yi Yunfei, "Senior Brother Yunfei, go outside and get a bucket of snow water. This guy needs to cool down."
Zhu Yanyi hated men who beat their wives. To her, a man who hit her wife was never a good man.
Yi Yunfei also disliked He Atu. He agreed immediately and went out. Soon, he returned carrying a bucket of water with unmelted snow in it. It looked cold enough to make one shiver.
Zhu Yanyi said, "Pour all the water on her head. Let her wake up."
"Okay." Yi Yunfei also despised such people. A truly good man would never lay hands on his wife. Someone who did so was hardly human.
Splash! The entire bucket of water poured onto He Atu’s face. The water flowed down into his neck, making him shiver violently. He finally woke up. Seeing so many people in the room, he was slightly stunned. He saw Old He and asked, "Uncle, did I get drunk again?"
"You have never been sober." Old He said angrily.
"If you can’t drink, don’t drink. Why copy others drinking that horse urine? Getting drunk is fine. Just lie on the kang at home. But you hit your wife. Tell me, how many times is this? Your wife miscarried because you hit her when she was pregnant. She hasn’t recovered since. Now she is finally pregnant again, and you almost ruined it. Do you want the she family to have no heirs?"
Old He was furious. He looked at He Atu. Since they were relatives, Old He still bothered to scold him. If they were not related, Old He would not even care about such a scoundrel.
"Wife, you are pregnant?" He Atu looked surprised. He looked at Juxiu on the kang.
Juxiu turned her head away, refusing to look at her. she seemed to realize her foolish mistake. she said, "Wife, what do you want to eat? Tell me, and I will go buy it for you."
"She really needs nourishment," Zhu Yanyi said. "A body prone to miscarriage is weaker than that of an ordinary pregnant woman. If she is not well cared for, the baby might be born prematurely."
"Who are you?" He Atu remembered there were other people in the room.
"This is your wife’s savior. If they were not here, your wife would have miscarried again from your beating. This pregnancy would not have been saved," Old He said angrily to He Atu.
She Atu was stunned for a moment. Then, she immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Zhu Yanyi and the others. "Benefactors, I, She Atu, am useless. I can only kowtow to you. Thank you."
"If you are willing to kowtow to us for your wife, why can’t you change your bad habits?" Ouyang Tianyun asked curiously.
She Atu stood up and sighed. "Actually, I don’t know why. I used to be fine. But after being forced to get drunk on my wedding day, I always feel an irresistible urge to drink a few days later. I really didn’t drink before."
She Atu explained, her eyes full of sorrow. She did not want to destroy her small family, but many things happened beyond her control. "At first, I didn’t really need to drink. But after being invited to several wedding banquets, I couldn’t suppress the craving.
If I don’t drink, I feel too weak to work. But once I drink, I become dizzy and my strength increases greatly. Then I hit my wife. I have tried to quit drinking, but I found that the craving returns after a few days. If I don’t drink, my whole body feels weak, and I see stars."
"This alcohol craving shouldn’t be so terrifying," Zhu Yanyi said, slightly surprised. She walked over and took her pulse directly.
After checking her, Zhu Yanyi found that there were black thread-like things swimming back and forth in She Atu’s blood. There were not just one, but many. She used her wood ability to look closer and discovered it was an alcohol gu.
Zhu Yanyi looked at She Atu. "I want to ask, have you encountered any strange things or people?"
"Our village is so hidden. Except for going to the market to sell vegetables, I rarely go out. I haven’t met any strange things or people," He Atu thought for a moment and answered seriously.
"Ani, does he have any strange symptoms?" Yan Aohan asked.
Yan Aohan knew from Zhu Yanyi’s reaction that She Atu might have encountered something that turned him into the drunkard he was now.
Zhu Yanyi nodded. Then she said to Yu Qingyun and the others, "Senior Brothers, come and take a look."
The four of them looked at each other. Without refusing, they came forward to take He Atu’s pulse. After checking, Yu Qingyun said, "I feel like there is something extra in his pulse. And not just a little."
"Yes, I feel like there are some active life forms inside him," Sikong Xuran said.
Yi Yunfei also said, "And these life forms entered from the outside. They are not innate."
"Fortunately, he is a man. If he were a woman, I would think he was pregnant. And with multiple babies," Ouyang Tianyun said jokingly.
"This is an alcohol gu," Zhu Yanyi said without hiding it.
"An alcohol gu is a common type of gu poison. Under normal circumstances, it dies under sunlight. Its power in daily life is very weak. But once it enters the human body, it is different. It controls a person’s love for alcohol. This is mainly because if a person does not drink, their whole body feels uncomfortable, as if in pain, weak, and like countless ants are drilling into them. Only alcohol can suppress this feeling. But once they drink, they experience hallucinations. They believe everyone in the world is their enemy, and then they become extremely violent."
"What? How can such poison be considered ordinary?" The old lady looked incredulous. "Who did this? Such a bad heart."
"How does this gu poison enter the human body?" Old He asked.
"It’s simple. Put it in soup, wine, or water. Anything liquid. Just drink it," Zhu Yanyi said directly.
"Atu, think about it. Have you drunk anything strange?" the old lady asked.
"I really can’t remember." After a long while, He Atu seemed to think of something. He paused and pulled his hair.