After The Coquettish Fake Master Was Driven Away - Chapter 38

“No need.”

The courtyard was chillingly cold. The moment Xie Jinning stepped inside, goosebumps rose all over his arms. A sense of foreboding lingered in his chest, and the dull pain there made it hard to breathe.

His instincts told him to leave at once—but not only leave, he had to take the two girls with him.

“I’ll take Xiaohua and Xiaozhi to bandage their wounds first. When I come back, then we’ll—”

Before he could finish, someone cut him off.

“Take them away?” Tian Lao’er sneered. “And where do you plan on taking them?”

“You say you’ll leave and expect me to believe you’ll come back? And who knows what you’ll do with them once they’re gone. What if you’re raising them… as bed warmers?”

Xie Jinning froze, looking down at Tian Xiaohua in shock. “What nonsense are you spouting!”

“I’m saying, why does an outsider like you meddle in my family business? Turns out you’ve got your eye on this girl.”

Tian Lao’er’s gaze slid ambiguously between the two of them. “Even better. Give me five—no, fifteen taels. You can buy this girl off me, and I’ll even throw in the little one as a bonus. What a bargain.”

He smirked. “Don’t look down on her just ’cause she’s skinny. Feed her for a while and she’ll be usable. And when you’re tired of the older one, the younger one will be of age. Then you can have both together…”

His eyes flashed a lewd, knowing look.

“Shut your mouth!”

The moment Tian Lao’er began, Xie Jinning had already clamped his hands over Tian Xiaozhi’s ears, shielding her from the disgusting filth.

It was the first time he’d seen a father try to sell his daughter—worse, right in front of them!

Born into privilege, Xie Jinning’s servants had all been properly purchased from the tooth market—clean, orderly. After that one accident, he’d been carefully shielded from the filth of the world. How could he have known that in poor villages, parents selling their own children was common, everywhere?

His fists clenched tight at his sides, nails digging deep into his palms. “Do you even know that beating and selling your children is against the law!” he shouted.

Tian Lao’er snorted. “Against the law? It’s natural for a father to beat his son. Which law says otherwise, huh? Go report me! Let’s see if the magistrate dares to care.”

The wine had soured in his stomach, and now faced with all this mess, Tian Lao’er lost his mood for drinking altogether. He raised his arm, pointing at the door. “If you’re not here to buy, then get out! My family affairs are none of your business. Not even the county magistrate can control me, let alone a snot-nosed brat like you!”

Tian Lao’er was the infamous bully of Hetian Village—lazy, greedy, violent. He had gambled and drunk himself into ruin, driven away his elder brother, and even forced his parents to their graves.

The villagers resented him deeply, but no one dared cross him. He was tall, strong, and brutal. The village head, Li Dongsheng, had tried to intervene before, but every time he left, the sisters only suffered worse beatings afterward. Tian Lao’er even threatened publicly: anyone who meddled in his business, he’d take revenge on their household.

A barefoot thug fears nothing. And so, whenever cries came from Tian Lao’er’s house, people could only walk away, sighing at the sisters’ fate. They’d wait until he left the village before quietly offering what help they could.

Xie Jinning, new to this place, knew none of this.

“You!”

He couldn’t fight him. He couldn’t reason with him. For the first time, Xie Jinning felt powerless. His arms trembled with rage, yet he still lifted his chin stubbornly. “Even if I can’t stop you, a beast like you will face justice one day!”

At that, Tian Lao’er’s expression twisted. He thought of the beating he had suffered last month, fists like iron pummeling him until he fled in disgrace and hid for weeks before daring to return.

“Damn it, what rotten luck,” he spat, glaring viciously. “If you don’t get out now, I’ll beat you too. Then you and these two can die as a pair of star-crossed lovers!”

At his feet, Tian Xiaohua slowly sat up and shook her head at Xie Jinning.

She knew he wanted to protect her and her sister—but there was nothing to be done.

She was used to this. Even if Xie Jinning hadn’t come, today would just have been another beating. After a few days’ rest, she’d recover.

She wouldn’t be able to go to school anymore, though.

Her bloodied palm fell weakly to her lap, calluses soaked red. She forced a smile. “Brother Xie, go. I’ll be fine.”

Tian Xiaozhi wriggled free from his arms, wiping her tears. “Thank you, Brother Xie. You should go. We’ll find you again in a few days.”

A few days.

When the wounds healed.

Hearing that crushed him. A wave of helplessness drowned him, his eyes burning red. He bit down hard on his lip, leaving deep indents.

But how could he abandon them?

Right and wrong were clear as day to him. Beating and selling children was inexcusable. No matter the cost, today he would take the sisters out of this courtyard alive.

He stroked Tian Xiaozhi’s head gently, then pulled her behind him. His voice cracked, soft as melting snow mixed with grit: “We had an agreement. I still have to teach you and Xiaohua to read and write.”

He looked Tian Lao’er straight in the eye, jaw tight enough to crack. “Fine. Fifteen taels. I’ll fetch the money and bring it right back.”

A fat sheep indeed!

Tian Lao’er’s pupils dilated with greed. Fifteen taels! Selling them to a brothel wouldn’t fetch that much.

He crossed his arms, eyes gleaming. “Too late. The price is twenty now.”

“You have no honor!” Xie Jinning cried.

“That was the price a moment ago. Now it’s twenty. If you keep hesitating, it’ll be twenty-five…”

“Fine! Twenty!” Xie Jinning ground out. “But I’ll take Xiaozhi with me first. When I return with the silver, I’ll come back for Xiaohua.”

With Xiaozhi safe, he could run to the village head, to his father, to Yan Yi. He refused to believe Tian Lao’er couldn’t be dealt with.

But Tian Lao’er saw through him. He smirked and shook his head. “No. Either both go, or neither. What do you think this is, letting dogs out of a gate one at a time?”

He waved his wooden club threateningly. Its surface was slick with use, stained dark at the tip.

Xie Jinning’s chest still ached, his strength nearly gone. From here to the Xie estate and back would take half an incense stick even at his fastest. And he could barely stand, let alone run.

He couldn’t gamble with their lives.

Some things, it seemed, could never be kept.

He closed his eyes, fingers trembling as they brushed the cool jade ornament hidden in his purse. His lashes shivered like wet wings in a storm.

“Damn, you can’t even hand something over like a man?”

Tian Lao’er strode forward, snatching the pouch and stuffing it into his robe. His gaze landed on the youth’s tear-streaked, delicate face—pure and unblemished like a newborn lamb—and desire stirred.

His hand reached for Xie Jinning’s belt, yanking it loose. Lust gleamed in his eyes. “Let’s see if you’re even a man. Wouldn’t want to waste silver on a useless pretty boy. And what if this little slut grows up to be like her whore mother, running off with another man—”

“Don’t you dare insult my mother!”

A sharp crack. Pain exploded at the back of his head. A bloodied shard of pottery clattered to the ground and was crushed underfoot as he staggered back.

Tian Xiaohua stood, her wounded hand still raised, chest heaving with fury. Her eyes burned with hate.

“If not for you, my mother wouldn’t have died! Without you, she, my sister, and I could have lived better lives! The one who deserves to die is you!”

“Well, well…”

Tian Lao’er turned, his face dark and twisted. His eyes glowed with murderous malice. “Then I’ll send you to join her!”

He charged, club raised high. The swing roared through the air like thunder.

“Jie!”

“No!”

The strike was too fast. Xie Jinning could only watch, helpless, as the club descended toward Tian Xiaohua’s skull.

She did not move. Her pale lips even curved faintly upward.

The world slowed.

She looked past the oncoming blow, past the terror on Xie Jinning’s face, past her weeping sister. She smiled at them one last time.

If she died here, Tian Lao’er would not escape punishment. Then her sister would be free.

Good.

Xiaozhi, farewell. Live well. When your time comes, we three will meet again in the afterlife.

The wind of the club lifted her hair. She closed her eyes and waited calmly for death.

I’m sorry…

Whoosh!

Suddenly, two arrows whistled through the air. One struck the club, knocking it aside. The other pierced Tian Lao’er’s arm, bl00d gushing.

“Argh!”

The shattered club fell uselessly at Tian Xiaohua’s feet, splitting with cracks like a spiderweb.

Tian Lao’er howled, clutching his bleeding arm. He ripped the arrow free, seeing it had nearly gone through him completely.

Fury drowned his pain. He snapped the arrow in half. “Who’s there? Come out!”

Heavy footsteps rushed in from outside. Li Dongsheng arrived with the villagers, surrounding them.

Seeing the wreckage of the yard, Li Dongsheng slammed his cane to the ground, his voice sharp as a blade. “Tian Lao’er, what are you doing!”

But Tian Lao’er only sneered. “What do you think you’re doing barging into my house?”

His face was bloody, twisted, a demon in the flesh. The villagers flinched under his glare, retreating even with hoes and sickles in hand.

He laughed coldly. “Blind old man. Can’t you see I’ve been injured? You’d better give me justice today—I’m a villager too!”

In the chaos, Xie Jinning hurried to Tian Xiaohua’s side, lifting her gently onto his lap. He pressed his handkerchief to her wound, ignoring the dirt.

“Xiaohua, Xiaohua.”

Tian Xiaozhi knelt beside her, clutching her sister’s hand. “It’s me, Xiaozhi! Please, answer me! Don’t scare me…”

But the girl lay limp, unresponsive. Her eyes dulled, fixed on the apricot tree in the yard.

Yan Yi leapt down from the wall, landing like a leopard, not stirring a speck of dust. He rushed to Xie Jinning’s side. Seeing his tear-stained face and disheveled clothes, the tiny mole beneath his eye exposed, his expression hardened. “Are you hurt?”

The moment he arrived, Xie Jinning finally let himself collapse. His rigid back curved, his breath hitched, his eyes reddened. He bit his lip to hold back tears, but his voice cracked: “I’m fine. It’s Xiaohua, she—”

He couldn’t go on. Tears spilled freely, trembling in his eyes like shattered pools of autumn water. His frail frame shook with each sob.

“Step aside, step aside! Where’s the patient? Let me through!”

An elderly man with white hair pushed through the crowd, shoving Yan Yi aside irritably. “Out of my way! No sense at all!”

The man was aged, white-browed, yet spry and sharp-eyed. He reeked of medicine. His robes were tattered, grass and leaves tangled in his hair as if he’d rolled through the woods.

One might mistake him for a beggar, not a doctor.

“Are you… a physician?” Xie Jinning hastily wiped his tears, his sleeve rubbing his face raw. He gently laid Tian Xiaohua flat. “Doctor, please, look at her.”

The wound had stopped bleeding somewhat, but tiny fragments still needed cleaning before treatment.

The old man took her pulse, pried open her eyelids, and nodded. “The wound isn’t bad. Not deep. If treated well, it won’t even scar. But the girl’s body is frail. That’s why she lost so much bl00d.”

Relief washed over Xie Jinning. “If that’s the case, why won’t she respond?”

“Because…”

The old man stroked his beard, eyes twinkling with mystery. “Her soul has been scattered.”

Xie Jinning’s eyes widened. Soul scattering—something he’d only heard of in ghost tales—was happening before his eyes.

“Then how do we wake her?” he whispered.

“That depends…” The old man tapped his fingers together, voice solemn. “On whether the spirit in this courtyard is willing to help her gather it back.”