Chapter 151 -

Chapter 151: Chapter

At the edge of the village near the old border road, the dirt path smelled bad. A dark wooden cage cart sat near a broken stone wall. Three big men holding leather whips guarded the area.

Second Uncle Chengang, Madame Liu, Ruizhe, and Third Uncle Chenghao arrived out of breath. Their faces were covered in sweat and pale from running. Liu Feng walked right beside them, holding his sword with a serious look on his face.

The main slave trader a fat man with a dirty beard was leaning against a box, picking his yellow teeth. When he saw them running toward him, he laughed meanly.

"Look who came running back!" the fat trader mocked. "The stupid fools who don’t even know what their own daughter looks like!"

Chengang swallowed his shame and held out the heavy bag of silver with shaking hands. "Here is the sixty taels! Triple the money you gave us last night! Give my daughter back now!"

The fat trader snatched the bag, opened it, and poured the silver coins into his big hand. He counted every piece slowly and bit one coin to make sure it was real. Then he let out a loud laugh.

"Sixty taels! Exactly right!" the trader said, stuffing the silver into his belt. "How on earth did you grab and sell the wrong girl in the middle of the night? You sell your own daughter and then pay triple to buy her back! You are very lucky I am letting her go instead of taking her away forever!"

Chengang’s face turned bright red from embarrassment, but he was too scared to say anything back. Ruizhe squeezed his hands into fists, staring at the ground in shame.

Liu Feng took a step forward, his hand pressing down on his sword handle with a sharp sound. His cold eyes stared right at the trader. "You have the money. Hand the girl over now."

The fat trader felt how dangerous Liu Feng was, and his smile quickly vanished.

"Fine, fine!" the trader grunted, waving at his men. "Bring the girl out!"

One guard walked to the cart, unlocked a heavy chain, and pulled a weak, shaking girl out into the open.

It was Xuiying.

Her hair was messy, her nice dress was covered in dirt and straw, and her wrists were red from tight ropes. She looked paper-white, with dark circles under her eyes. Tears streamed down her dirty face. She was so weak that her legs gave out, and she almost fainted straight onto the dirt.

"Xuiying! My daughter!" Madame Liu screamed, running forward to catch her before she hit the ground.

"M-Mother..." Xuiying cried, her voice weak as she hugged Madame Liu tightly. "Mother... it was so cold... they locked me in the dark... they said they were going to take me far away..."

Chengang and Ruizhe hurried over to help Madame Liu lift the crying girl up. Xuiying looked at her father and uncle with terrified eyes, having no idea that these were the exact two men who had thrown a blanket over her head and sold her for twenty taels just hours ago.

"Let’s go back," Liu Feng said coldly, turning around to walk down the dirt path. "The Young Madame is waiting."

With slow, exhausted steps, the second branch held onto the sobbing Xuiying and began the long walk back to the compound.

As the heavy front gates creaked open, the exhausted footsteps of the Second Branch echoed into the courtyard.

Hearing the sound of their return, the family slowly stepped outside one after another. Zhengyu was already sitting in his wheelchair under the shade of the roof, his sharp eyes fixed entirely on Yimei, who sat at a nearby stone table jotting down notes and numbers in a small ledger book. Not far from them, Madame Bai was sitting on a low wooden stool, quietly separating dirt and small pebbles from a basket of grain.

Madame Liu was half-carrying Xuiying, holding her dirty, shaking daughter tightly by her waist. Ruizhe and Second Uncle Chengang walked right beside them with bowed heads, looking completely broken and drained.

Seeing them enter, Madame Zhang, Madame Chen, and An Yulan quickly hurried out into the yard. Master Bai walked out right behind them, his face dark and heavy as he looked at his disgraced family members.

"My daughter... you’re back!" Madame Liu sobbed, helping Xuiying sit down on a wooden bench near the porch.

Xuiying was still weeping, trembling violently as she buried her pale face in her mother’s chest. She looked up with tear-filled eyes, completely confused by the strange, suffocating silence in the courtyard. Every single person was staring at her family with pity, disgust, or cold indifference.

Madame Chen rushed forward, checking Xuiying’s arms and face. "Is she alright? Did those monsters hurt her?!"

"She is just terrified and weak," Madame Liu wiped her own tears, her voice raspy. "They locked her in a cold cage..."

An Yulan crossed her arms, scoffing under her breath as she looked at Chengang and Ruizhe. "Well, at least the girl is back. But look at the two of you, you look like beaten dogs."

Second Uncle Chengang didn’t even have the strength to yell back at her. He stood there silently, his dirty hands shaking at his sides.

Over by the stone table, Yimei didn’t even look up from her ledger at first. She calmly finished writing a line with her brush, set it down neatly on a stone rest, and closed the book with a soft thump.

Slowly, Yimei stood up and walked toward the center of the courtyard, her posture straight and her face chillingly calm. Qinqin followed right behind her, holding a clean cup of warm tea.

The moment Xuiying saw Yimei approaching, a wave of familiar anger flushed through her pale cheeks despite her weak state. She pointed a trembling, dirty finger at Yimei, her voice raspy and filled with bitterness.

"Yimei!" Xuiying cried out, weeping fresh tears. "You... you heartless monster! You stood by and let them drag me off! You knew I was in that room! Why didn’t you save me?!"

The entire yard went deathly quiet.

Yimei stopped two steps away from her, looking down at Xuiying like she was staring at an absolute fool. A subtle, sharp smirk touched the corner of Yimei’s lips.

"Save you?" Yimei asked softly, her clear voice cutting through the yard. "Xuiying... Why did you go into qinqin room in the first place?"

Xuiying froze, her mouth open, but no words came out. The angry look on her face quickly turned into total panic. Her eyes darted wildly around the crowded courtyard, looking at all the family members watching her.

"I... I..." Xuiying stuttered, her voice turning into a tiny whisper. She shrank back against her mother, completely unable to look anyone in the eye.

Yimei took one slow step closer, her sharp, dark eyes locking right onto the shaking girl.

"Answer me, Xuiying," Yimei said, her clear voice echoing across the quiet yard for everyone to hear. "What was a young lady of the Bai family doing sneaking into my maid’s small room in the middle of the dark night? What were you trying to take from under Qinqin’s bed?"

Xuiying swallowed hard, her heart pounding fast as sweat mixed with the dirt on her face. She couldn’t tell them the truth. She couldn’t admit to the whole family that she had crept in there to steal silver.

Seeing her daughter trapped and speechless, Madame Liu quickly pulled Xuiying behind her back. "Yimei! She was just confused! She is scared and weak! How can you stand there questioning a poor girl who just escaped slave traders?!"

"Confused?" Yimei let out a dry, cold laugh. She turned her eyes toward Second Uncle Chengang and Third Uncle Chenghao, who were trying to hide in the back near the porch. "Then ask your husband and your uncle. They were confused too when they threw a heavy blanket over her head and dragged her away like a bag of trash."

Xuiying’s eyes grew wide with pure horror. She snapped her head toward her father, her voice cracking in shock. "W-What? Father... what is she talking about?!"

Chengang dropped to his knees on the dirt floor, sweating heavily and staring down at his shoes, completely unable to look at his daughter. "Xuiying... we... we didn’t know it was you... the room was pitch black..."

"You?!" Xuiying shrieked, tears pouring down her face as the terrible truth hit her. "It was you?! My own father sold me?!"

"We thought you were Qinqin!" Third Uncle Chenghao blurted out in panic, trying to make excuses. "We went in there to kidnap Yimei’s maid for quick money! How were we supposed to know you were sleeping in her bed?!"

The whole courtyard gasped in disgust.

Master Bai slapped his hand against a wooden post, his face dark with anger. "Disgusting fools! Absolutely shameless!"

Yimei casually took a small sip of warm tea from the cup Qinqin held out for her. She looked down at the sobbing, broken Xuiying with a calm, unbothered smile.

"So you see, Xuiying," Yimei said softly, her words hitting hard and direct. "You went into that room to steal my silver. Your father went into that room to sell my maid. Your own bad actions brought you together in the dark. I didn’t throw you into that cage, your own family built it for you."

Yimei turned her back on them, glancing over at Second Uncle Chengang, Madame Liu, and Ruizhe.

"Get some rest today," Yimei commanded in a flat, cool voice. "Because tomorrow morning, the three of you start working at my shop. You have a sixty-tael debt to pay off, and I want you at the building before the sun comes up."