“I just went to check. Xie Guang’s nose is completely mangled, and he’s lost most of his teeth. He’s still out of it,” Chen Laoliu said. “The county jail is a brutal place. Even a strong man would come out half-dead. Someone like him won’t last three days. If the village chief really cared for him, he’d give him a quick end now.”
“Hmph, he brought this on himself,” Zhang Liang said, setting down his firewood knife and spitting at Xie Guang.
Cough, cough.
Xie Guang, who had been semi-conscious, suddenly started coughing violently, struggling desperately.
“What’s going on?” the village chief asked, looking at his son standing nearby.
“I don’t know. He was fine just a moment ago, then he started thrashing,” Liu Tie replied, looking innocent.
“Old Tan, get over here,” the village chief shouted into the crowd.
Old Tan, who made a living gathering herbs and acted as the village’s barefoot doctor, could handle minor ailments, but he was helpless with Xie Guang’s injuries.
“Darling, what’s wrong with him?” Guan Xiaorou asked, staring at Xie Guang’s contorted limbs with fear. “He’s not possessed by a ghost, is he?”
“There are no ghosts in this world,” Jin Feng explained. “He’s just choking on his own blood.”
Xie Guang had taken a stool to the face, leaving his nose and mouth full of blood. When he was lying flat, the blood had drained onto the ground, but now, tied up, it was trickling down his throat. It was no surprise it had reached his windpipe.
If Jin Feng had spoken up at that moment, Xie Guang might have had a slim chance of survival.
But he stood still.
Educated by modern values for years, Jin Feng held human life in high regard. Even though Xie Guang had come to his house to extort and steal, Jin Feng had only found him irritating, never intending to kill him.
But tonight, Jin Feng’s heart had hardened.
He had overheard Xie Guang and the bald man’s conversation while hiding behind the door.
Before tonight, Jin Feng had treated this world like a game.
But Xie Guang showed him its cruelty.
This was an era where life was cheap.
For a few coppers, or even half a cornbread, people would risk everything.
If Tang Dongdong hadn’t been spinning late into the night, Jin Feng’s body might already be cold.
Realising this, Jin Feng’s mindset began to shift.
Suppressing his discomfort, he watched coldly as Xie Guang struggled.
Xie Guang didn’t last long before suffocating.
Watching Xie Guang alongside Jin Feng was Runniang, huddled in a corner.
Seeing her nominal husband die, she couldn’t help but cry.
There was a trace of sadness on her face, a hint of relief, but mostly confusion.
No matter how vile Xie Guang was, while he lived, she had a status. Now that he was dead, she was a widow.
In this era, a widow’s fate was grim.
Even proper young women struggled to marry, let alone widows.
She couldn’t return to her family either.
Alive, she had no one to rely on; dead, she’d be a lonely ghost.
Runniang felt as though she were adrift in a cold, dark ocean.
Surrounded by water, with nothing to cling to, no light in sight.
She was carried along by the dark current, sinking deeper into the abyss.
Initially, Runniang’s presence in the corner went unnoticed.
But her crying drew everyone’s attention.
“Why is she here?”
“She’s Xie Guang’s wife. Must be keeping watch for him.”
“Thieving wench, what’s she wailing for? Keep it up, and we’ll beat her dead.”
“She should’ve been killed last time, but Jin Feng went soft. Look what happened now.”
“Where’s the rope? Tie the thieving wench up. No way she’s escaping this time.”
The young men assumed Runniang was with Xie Guang and shouted about killing her.
Runniang seemed to accept her fate, neither begging nor explaining, just crying.
Perhaps she no longer wanted to live.
As someone approached with rope, Jin Feng stepped in front of Runniang. “She’s not with Xie Guang. If she hadn’t helped me tonight, my family might be dead.”
“Yes, Runniang saved me. She’s not a bad person,” Tang Dongdong added, rushing to her defence.
“If she’s not with Xie Guang, what’s she doing at your house in the middle of the night?” the hunter asked.
“Well…” Jin Feng didn’t know how to respond.
He was curious too. Why was Runniang here in the dead of night?
“Runniang, don’t be afraid. Tell me, why are you here?” Tang Dongdong asked softly, crouching down and hugging her.
Runniang, also from Guanjia Bay, knew Guan Xiaorou and Tang Dongdong. Perhaps seeing familiar faces calmed her. She sobbed, “After Brother Jin Feng let me go last time, I went back to my family. But my brother said I was married and sent me back. Xie Guang’s house is right by the old graves. I was scared, and scared he’d come back… Sister Dongdong spins every night… Only by leaning against your wall, hearing the spinning wheel, did I feel less afraid.”
“Why didn’t you come inside if you were scared?” Tang Dongdong asked, her eyes reddening at Runniang’s words.
“I didn’t dare…” Runniang replied.
“What have you been eating these past few days?” Jin Feng asked.
Xie Guang, that scum, had even sold her outer clothes for gambling money. It was obvious he wouldn’t have left her any food.
“Wild greens,” Runniang answered quietly.
Jin Feng felt genuine gratitude toward Runniang.
She was, without exaggeration, his saviour.
After a moment’s thought, he said, “If you’re willing, come help Xiaorou with spinning from now on. If you’re scared at night, you can sleep with Little E and Dongdong.”
“I’m willing, I’m willing,” Runniang agreed without hesitation.
Then she burst into tears again.
This time, they were tears of relief.
It was as if a drowning person had suddenly felt solid ground beneath their feet, finding a sense of security.
But the village chief frowned. “Jin Feng, that’s not appropriate.”
No one batted an eye at Tang Dongdong staying at Jin Feng’s house.
Everyone assumed she’d marry him eventually.
Women passing by often teased the two about it.
But Runniang was different.
Though Xie Guang, a compulsive gambler, had never consummated their marriage, leaving her untouched, she was undeniably a widow.
Keeping a widow in the house would invite scorn.
“There’s nothing inappropriate about it,” Jin Feng insisted. “Tomorrow, I’ll build a shed in the courtyard and make more spinning wheels. If any of the aunts or sisters have time, they can come help Xiaorou spin. I’ll pay wages.”
The women’s attention immediately shifted, chattering about how wages would be calculated and whether meals were included.
The village chief sighed and instructed the young men to carry the bodies away.
As Liu Tie lifted a corpse, Zhang Liang noticed a circular brand on the bald man’s wrist.
His heart skipped a beat, and sweat broke out on his face.
