At this time, there was no electricity, and the villagers were reluctant to light lamps. Once it got dark, the small village quieted down.
Only Jin Feng’s house still echoed with the creaking sound of the spinning wheel.
Under the dim light of a tung oil lamp, Tang Dongdong focused intently on spinning thread.
On the small bed, Xiao’e slept soundly, drooling onto her pillow, lost in some dream.
“Dongdong, stop spinning and go to bed early,” Guan Xiaorou said with concern, draping a coat over her shoulders. “You haven’t slept well these past few days, and you’ve lost weight.”
“Your family eats three meals a day, all with rice and white flour. How could I lose weight?” Tang Dongdong replied. “Sister Xiaorou, you go sleep. I’ll spin a bit more.”
“Don’t stay up too late.”
Guan Xiaorou wiped Xiao’e’s mouth and returned to the west room.
“Looks like tonight’s a bust again…” Jin Feng thought, hearing the creaking sound, filled with frustration.
He and Guan Xiaorou were in their honeymoon phase, full of passion, but the east and west rooms were separated only by a hall without a door. Xiao’e’s sleep-talking was audible, so they could only do anything intimate after Tang Dongdong fell asleep.
But Tang Dongdong was like she was on fire, spinning thread until the middle of the night every evening.
By the time she went to bed, Jin Feng and Guan Xiaorou were already asleep.
“Tomorrow, I must build a shed in the yard and move this third wheel out there to spin,” Jin Feng thought with deep resentment, gradually falling asleep.
In the back hills, Xie Guang led the bald man, stumbling through a grove, moving quietly into the village under faint moonlight.
Both carried freshly sharpened woodcutting knives, their blades glinting coldly in the moonlight.
They were prepared to silence anyone.
“Does your village have dogs?” the bald man whispered.
“Third Boss, don’t worry. Our village is dirt-poor. People can’t even feed themselves, let alone dogs.”
“Good.”
No dogs meant no barking to wake others.
“Eh, why is that kid’s house still lit?” Xie Guang pointed at the faintly glowing window. “Third Boss, should we act?”
“Act on what? A lit lamp means they’re still awake. One shout, and the whole village hears. Wait.”
The bald man slapped Xie Guang’s head.
“Yes, yes!” Xie Guang shrank back, leading the bald man to crouch in the bushes outside the yard, waiting patiently.
Half an hour passed.
An hour…
Two hours later, deep into the night, the window was still lit.
“Is this kid sleeping without blowing out the lamp?” the bald man grumbled, growing impatient.
His legs were numb from crouching.
“Could be. This guy never knew how to live frugally. He squandered his father’s savings in less than a year,” Xie Guang said. “Now that he’s made some money, his reckless spending must be back.”
“That’s my money! He can’t waste it like that!” the bald man growled, a glint of malice in his eyes. “Let’s move.”
Xie Guang, already impatient, eagerly followed.
But as they stood, the hall door opened.
Startled, Xie Guang and the bald man crouched back down.
At the doorway, Tang Dongdong glanced at the moon, stretching lazily, her graceful figure fully revealed.
“This kid’s wife is pretty!” the bald man muttered, swallowing hard.
“That’s not his wife. That’s Tang Dongdong from Guanjia Bay,” Xie Guang said. As a seasoned rogue, he knew all the pretty girls in nearby villages and recognized her instantly.
“Nonsense. If she’s not his wife, why is she at his house?”
“Must be that Jin Feng got rich and took her as a concubine,” Xie Guang said. “I heard Tang Dongdong is from a wealthy city family that fell on hard times. Lots of men proposed, but none succeeded. Didn’t expect this kid to snag her.”
“Taking a concubine like that must cost a fortune!” the bald man said, slapping his thigh as if Jin Feng had spent his money.
“Don’t kill this woman. I want to take her back!”
To bandits, a beautiful woman was merchandise. After having their fun, they could sell her to the shady brothels in the gully.
A beauty like Tang Dongdong would fetch a good price.
“Third Boss, his actual wife, Guan Xiaorou, is also pretty,” Xie Guang added quickly.
He’d been eyeing Guan Xiaorou for a long time.
“Take her too.”
Seeing Tang Dongdong enter the kitchen, they crept into the yard under the cover of the trees’ shadows.
Tang Dongdong drank water in the kitchen, preparing to sleep, when she felt a cold sensation on her neck.
Looking down, she saw a sharp woodcutting knife.
Instinctively, she tried to scream, but her mouth was covered the next second.
“Quiet, or I’ll slit your throat!”
“Mm, mm!” Having survived her family’s downfall, Tang Dongdong was tougher than most women. Though trembling with fear, she nodded slightly.
The bald man pulled out a rope, tied her to the kitchen doorframe, and stuffed Xiao’e’s clothes, hanging in the yard, into her mouth.
Then, holding his knife, he said to Xie Guang, “We go in together. I hold the woman, you kill the man. Got it?”
“Got it!” Xie Guang gripped his knife, a ruthless glint in his eyes.
He could never return to Xihewan, leaving banditry as his only path.
But with so many desperate people, banditry was competitive. Without proving himself, he’d starve in the mountains.
The Third Boss had told him before coming: to avoid being looked down on by other bandits, he needed a head as his initiation.
Jin Feng was Xie Guang’s target.
Hearing they planned to kill Jin Feng, Tang Dongdong panicked.
As Xie Guang and the bald man approached the hall door, she bit down and slammed her head against the doorframe.
Thud! Thud!
The dull sound was piercing in the quiet night.
“You want to die?” Xie Guang turned to deal with her, but the bald man yanked him back.
“Forget her. Deal with the people inside first!”
The bald man shoved Xie Guang into the hall.
Not his first time, he knew Tang Dongdong’s noise wouldn’t carry far, but if those inside woke and shouted, it was over.
Xie Guang understood, rushing in with his knife.
But as he entered, a stool came crashing toward him!
Unable to dodge, Xie Guang was hit square on.
Thud!
The solid wooden stool broke on impact.
Xie Guang collapsed without a sound, unconscious.
Jin Feng stepped out from the door’s shadow, grabbing Xie Guang’s dropped knife.
“Damn it!”
The bald man, an old hand, didn’t rush to fight but bolted to the kitchen, pressing his knife to Tang Dongdong’s neck.
“Make a sound, and I kill her!”
