Chapter 426: Striking First

Chapter 426: Chapter 426: Striking First

"Ji Mu... Ji Mu’s been found!"

When Ji Xiu’e said this, though her face showed panic, it was overshadowed by a gnashing hatred.

She truly never imagined that Ji Mu was still alive.

In her mind, Ji Mu should have died long ago—tortured to death!

But not only had he survived, he had found his way back...

"Impossible!" Huang Juncai said without thinking. "Didn’t you sell him to the South? They’re worlds apart, how could he possibly find his way back? And besides, didn’t that Aunt Mei promise you she’d sell him to toil as a slave at a labor camp? How could he have survived that? Even if he was incredibly lucky, he was just a baby who couldn’t remember anything when he was sold. How would he know his birthplace..."

With every point Huang Juncai made, Ji Xiu’e’s expression grew a shade uglier.

In truth, the place she had sold Ji Mu to was neither a labor camp nor a life of slavery.

She hadn’t told her son the truth, fearing it would dirty his ears.

Back then, she had taken advantage of Mrs. Wei’s negligence, snatching Ji Mu and giving him to Aunt Mei, who was about to move south with her son.

She didn’t ask for a single cent. She had only one demand—sell him to a brothel.

She had heard such establishments were popular in the Southern lands. Some clandestine houses would buy young boys and train them from childhood. When they turned eleven or twelve, they would be put on display or sent to the mansions of high officials and nobles... Though male, their lives would be no different from that of a harlot.

What was death? What were beatings and suffering? A brothel was true hell.

The mere thought of Ji Lianbai and Mrs. Wei’s son growing up in that place, living a life of utter humiliation—a subhuman existence—filled her with a pleasure so intense she could wake up laughing from her dreams!

Aunt Mei had readily agreed, and that very night, she left Yeyang by boat.

So where had things gone wrong?

And how did Ji Mu find out about his origins? Could it be that Aunt Mei told him?

That old crone!

After a lifetime in the human trafficking business, Ji Xiu’e thought she was reliable. Don’t tell me she grew a Bodhisattva’s heart in her old age.

"Mother, where is Ji Mu? Where did you see him?"

"I didn’t see him in person... Do you remember? A few days ago, a group of people on horseback came to our village."

Huang Juncai had some recollection of it.

He’d heard the one in the lead was a young master from a rich family who threw a fit after stepping in dog droppings and left without staying a moment longer.

Ji Xiu’e hadn’t been there at the time, but she’d asked around afterward, so she knew more of the details.

"After that leading young master left, a servant-like boy rushed after him. Another man, who looked like an attendant, stayed behind for a moment. He asked the gossiping villagers at the entrance a question: had any family in our village sold or lost a baby boy eleven years ago?"

For ordinary folk, a baby boy was as precious as life itself. Unless it was a time of disaster and famine, when they simply couldn’t survive, who would be willing to sell their son?

Especially since eleven years ago was apparently a year of great harvest. There was food and drink; even families selling daughters were rare, let alone sons.

And no one had heard of any family losing a child, either.

The young man didn’t have time to ask for details and got on his horse to chase after the young master.

The villagers spread it around like a piece of gossip.

If one didn’t have a guilty conscience, they would have just listened and forgotten. But of all people, the story reached Ji Xiu’e’s ears.

"Maybe it’s a coincidence. It might not be Ji Mu... You said yourself, the one asking was a grown man, so the age doesn’t match. The only one who could match is that richly-dressed young master, but it couldn’t be him, could it? That’s just ridiculous."

"No!" Ji Xiu’e said rapidly. "I thought so too at first. But today, that man came back."

"He came back? Where is he? At the village entrance?" Huang Juncai shot to his feet.

"Not the entrance. This time, he went to Aunt Mei’s brother’s house..."

As it happened, Ji Xiu’e was there too. She wanted to know if Aunt Mei had sent any news back over the years, but unfortunately, after going South, Aunt Mei had completely cut ties with her family.

The young man’s purpose was the same as hers: to ask about Aunt Mei.

At that moment, Ji Xiu’e’s suspicions were confirmed.

Eleven years ago, a lost baby boy, the handler Aunt Mei... Who could it be but Ji Mu?

Ji Xiu’e followed the young man out of Aunt Mei’s brother’s house and approached him, feigning a warm and helpful demeanor to strike up a conversation.

The young man hadn’t found any useful information and was in a foul mood. He couldn’t be bothered to talk to a mere village woman.

It was only when he heard that Ji Xiu’e’s family ran the mill and was very familiar with the nearby villages that he patiently chatted for a bit.

The young man didn’t seem guarded at all. He said frankly that after his young master learned he was adopted, he was determined to find his birth parents to repay them for the gift of life.

"So that means the richly-dressed young master from last time *is* Ji Mu?"

Huang Juncai couldn’t believe it.

"Even if he was taken in and raised as a young master, would his adoptive parents let him come back to reunite with his ancestors, and with such fanfare?"

"Who else could it be? Who else... It’s him. He’s back. That accursed child is back!"

Ji Xiu’e clenched her fists, her face contorted with savagery.

That damned Aunt Mei! Not only did she break her promise to sell Ji Mu into a brothel, she sent him to a rich family to become a young master!

"Your elder brother died so tragically! What right does Ji Mu have to be alive?! What right?! And as a young master, no less... Heavens! Why are you so blind!"

Compared to Ji Xiu’e’s frenzy, Huang Juncai was much calmer.

He let out a heavy breath, his tone vicious. "Let’s just say he was lucky to live these extra years. Since he’s delivered himself to our doorstep, we’ll just have to make him die a second time! The brother and sister can keep each other company in death."

"No." Ji Xiu’e came to her senses. "The urgent matter isn’t Ji Mu. It’s Ji Huan."

Ever since their first clash after Ji Huan separated from the Ji Family, Ji Xiu’e had suspected that Ji Huan knew something.

When the plan to abduct Dabao failed, she laid low for a long time, afraid of leaving any evidence.

Later, she schemed with a marriage proposal, trying to get that girl under her control, but who would have thought she’d throw it all away to marry a beggar.

Her intuition told her that Ji Huan truly did know something, and that she was watching her.

Was it Dabao’s attempted abduction that made her suspicious, or did that lead her to connect it to Ji Mu’s disappearance?

Or... did she know the inside story of the fortune teller’s prophecy and the plot to marry her off only to be buried with her husband?

All of this made Ji Xiu’e anxious, but it wasn’t what worried her most.

After all, it was all baseless. No one had died.

She was just afraid that if the brother and sister met, Ji Huan would continue investigating and soon find out...

Especially last month, when Ji Huan hired people from Huangban Village to help with work. Since then, Ji Xiu’e hadn’t had a single night of peaceful sleep.

Although she had indirectly questioned those three afterward and learned that Ji Huan hadn’t asked them anything about her, Ji Xiu’e still couldn’t rest easy.

The Ji Huan of today was someone she had no choice but to fear.

A cold glint in his eyes, Huang Juncai said, "Then we’ll strike first."

"Don’t be reckless!" Ji Xiu’e scolded. "Haven’t you learned your lesson from climbing over her wall in the middle of the night? You’ve seen the man she found. With him around, getting to Ji Huan won’t be so easy."

"She has to be alone sometime."

"Everyone in Dafeng Village knows that young couple is joined at the hip. They go everywhere together. Even when they go to Yeyang, they go and return together."

Huang Juncai said, frustrated, "So we can’t do anything to her?!"

Ji Xiu’e paced back and forth for a moment, then suddenly stopped.

"Pack a few sets of clothes. We’re going to your maternal grandfather’s house for a few days. They’re trying to find a livelihood for your fourth uncle recently. We’ll go help them come up with some ideas."