Chapter 110: The Pig Cage and the Gold (6k Combined Chapter)

A few days later, deep in the night, by the banks of the Yongning River.

Rain had fallen all day, leaving the riverbank a stretch of mud.

The people of the Lin household trod through the mire, torches raised, arriving at this spot.

Concubine Li, clad in coarse hemp cloth, her hands and feet bound, was strung onto a pole with a man at each end carrying her—like a New Year's pig being hauled off.

The procession moved in silence. At the water's edge they produced a pig cage prepared in advance and began stuffing Concubine Li inside.

Perhaps knowing what being shoved into a pig cage meant, Concubine Li's eyes were wild with terror, her whole body writhing without cease, refusing to enter the cage.

Five or six servants around her strained with all their might, yet still could not force her in.

Lin Zhili frowned at the sight and urged: "Hurry it up!"

The servants gritted their teeth and shoved Concubine Li into the pig cage by brute force.

The pig cage was woven from bamboo strips, its edges bristling with barbs, and soon several wounds were slashed across Concubine Li's body.

Bright red blood welled from her wounds, stark against her snow-white skin and the black mud—a sight that pierced the heart.

Concubine Li hardened herself, swallowed the mud in her mouth whole, then let out a piercing cry: "Mother!"

The scene was too wretched. The servants around felt their scalps go numb, pity stirring in their hearts. As one, they stopped and looked toward Lin Zhili.

Lin Zhili snapped: "What are you looking at me for? Shove her in!"

"Ahh—" Soon wounds covered Concubine Li's legs, body, arms, and face—utterly miserable, tears streaming without end, weeping blood and crying aloud.

"Mother! Mother, save me! Mother!"

The servants truly could not bear it. They stopped again and looked at Lin Zhili.

Veins bulged on Lin Zhili's forehead, his face flushed red as he cursed: "A pack of useless trash—can't even handle one woman!"

Lin Zhishu had long since collapsed to the ground in fright, staring at Concubine Li as if seeing a ghost, trembling like a sieve, lips working soundlessly, unable to force out a single word.

Lin Zhili's face turned vicious, and he said coldly: "Break her arms and legs—won't she go in easy enough then?"

"This…?" The servants exchanged glances, their eyes full of evasion.

Lin Zhili flew into a rage, snatched up the bamboo pole that had carried Concubine Li, and swung it at her arm.

The pole struck Concubine Li's left hand as it gripped the pig cage, and her five fair, tender fingers were instantly drenched in blood.

Concubine Li screamed in agony and withdrew her hand.

Lin Zhishu's face twitched, his body jerking as if that blow had landed on him too.

Catching his elder brother's reaction from the corner of his eye, a look of satisfaction spread across Lin Zhili's face. He raised the pole high again and struck at her right hand.

"Stop."

Lin Jiren let out a long, weary sigh.

"Father!" Lin Zhili showed surprise and hurriedly turned to plead: "This woman had an affair with eldest brother—she lacks virtue, she defiles our family's name. Keeping her will only stain our household's honor. You cannot be soft-hearted!"

Lin Jiren said nothing.

Lin Zhili continued: "Eldest brother, don't you agree?"

Lin Zhishu snapped back to himself like waking from a dream, nodding frantically as he knelt before his father: "This woman does not keep to a woman's virtue. She deserves… deserves to be drowned and done with!"

"Hehehehe… kill you, kill you all…" Concubine Li suddenly began to giggle again.

The laughter echoed across the Yongning River's banks, utterly chilling. Seeing this, the servants around all retreated several steps.

Lin Jiren gazed at the Yongning River, refusing to look at Concubine Li's pitiful state, and sighed: "Our Lin family has passed down scholarship and farming for over four hundred years without cease, all by doing good deeds. Though this woman deserves death, she should not die so cruelly. Let us not submerge the pig cage."

His two sons were startled and cried out one after another.

"Tie stones to her feet and sink her straight into the river."

Lin Jiren finished the second half of the sentence, and both sons breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Zhili stared at Concubine Li and sneered: "A quick death—you got off easy."

"Hehe… kill you!" Concubine Li wore a foolish grin, her blood-soaked left hand trembling, fingers pressed together like a blade as she gestured across the necks of the Lin father and sons.

Watching the madwoman's deranged state, a sudden chill surged through Lin Zhili—as if a real steel blade truly rested against his throat.

Lin Zhili grew angrier still and bellowed at the servants: "Didn't you hear? Tie the stones, sink her in the river!"

The servants acknowledged the order, went to find stones, and once bound, brought Concubine Li to a high spot where the water ran deep—deep enough to drown a person.

Concubine Li kept up her cold, mocking laughter, her gaze sweeping back and forth across the Lin father and sons, icy and venomous.

Lin Zhili, unnerved by her stare, cursed: "Keep looking and I'll gouge your eyes out!"

Lin Jiren stared at the river and said: "Enough. She is a dying woman—leave her some dignity."

"Sink her!" Lin Zhili gave the order upon hearing this.

The servants shoved Concubine Li into the river, then threw the stones in after her.

The weight of the stones dragged at Concubine Li's ankles, and she sank quickly.

Lin Zhili stood on the riverbank the whole time, watching with his own eyes as Concubine Li's eerily smiling face sank beneath the river's depths, a string of bubbles rising as her lungs flooded. From that moment, Concubine Li vanished from the world of men.

A faint unease stirred in Lin Zhili's heart—but the sight of his elder brother, scared out of his wits, instantly filled him with satisfaction.

Indeed, nothing in this world brings greater joy than revenge.

"Let's go." Lin Jiren sighed softly and said to Lin Zhishu: "You head back with the others."

Lin Jiren then said to his second son: "Walk a stretch with your father."

"Yes!" Lin Zhili's face was flushed, his body trembling with excitement. He cast a contemptuous glance at his elder brother.

Lin Zhishu's face was full of fear, shock, and unwillingness.

At this moment, on the opposite bank of the Yongning River, beside an unremarkable fishing boat.

A figure emerged from the water—it was none other than Concubine Li, the one who had died.

Then another figure surfaced and said in a low voice to those on the boat: "Help me get her aboard."

Several people came out from the boat and, with much effort, hauled Concubine Li's body up onto the deck.

Bailangzai complained in a low voice: "Elder Sister, the helmsman said we shouldn't go looking for trouble."

"This isn't looking for trouble—she's already a dead woman."

Bai Qing gripped the deck with both hands and leaped onto the boat like a finless porpoise, sending up a spray of water that clung close to her body.

"Lay her face-up and flat, get a towel. Bailangzai, bring Doctor Su's wound medicine. Aqi, you go keep an eye on those two Lins, see what they're up to! Everyone, put your masks on!"

On the fishing boat, everyone scrambled into action.

Bai Qing knelt beside Concubine Li, one hand on her lower abdomen, the other striking hard.

Concubine Li's body jolted violently from the blows, and some river water spilled from her mouth and nose.

Another heavy punch—Concubine Li curled up sharply, and more water flowed out.

After several such rounds, Concubine Li coughed violently, expelling large amounts of mud and river water from her mouth and nose.

"She's awake!" Bailangzai exclaimed in delight.

Bai Qing quickly helped her up and slapped her back forcefully. Concubine Li vomited up the water pooled in her belly, and her wits gradually cleared.

She raised her head and looked around, seeing many unfamiliar faces. Then she bared her teeth in a strange grin and was about to let out a cackling laugh when Bai Qing clamped a hand over her mouth, pressed her down onto the deck, and put a dagger to her throat.

"We're good people—we saved you. If you want to live, keep your mouth shut."

Whether Concubine Li understood or not, her two beautiful eyes curved into crescents, brimming with smiles.

Bai Qing cautiously loosened her grip a little. Concubine Li made no more terrifying sounds, only whispering: "Kill them, kill them all!"

Bailangzai frowned and asked: "She's really gone mad?"

"Kill them all... wuwuwu, it hurts..." Concubine Li whimpered again.

Bai Qing took a towel from one of the crew, dried her off, then took the medicine from Bailangzai's hands.

"This will sting a bit—bear with it." After saying this, Bai Qing applied the medicine.

Concubine Li was raving mad, but she was obedient enough—she endured without making a sound, only crying the whole time.

Seeing this, a crewman sighed: "Poor thing. A perfectly good person, ruined."

After applying the medicine, Bai Qing wrapped her wounds with cotton cloth. But her whole body was covered in wounds large and small, so she could only bind the critical spots.

Afterwards, she fetched some coarse cloth clothing, dressed Concubine Li in it, and helped her into the cabin, laying her down on the bed.

Concubine Li alternated between muttering curses about killing and pitifully crying out in pain for her mother.

Bai Qing finally managed to settle her down and stepped out of the cabin.

Bailangzai said with a grave expression: "This woman can't be brought back to the island!"

Bai Qing: "I know. We need to find some way to settle her somewhere."

Just then, a commotion came from the water beside the boat. A man burst up from the water and climbed aboard—it was Aqi, the crewman Bai Qing had sent out earlier.

Bai Qing stepped forward, handed him a towel, and asked: "How did it go?"

Aqi wiped his hair haphazardly and said: "Just as the helmsman guessed—the two Lins went up the mountain."

Bai Qing asked: "Which direction?"

"East, to Nine Peaks Mountain."

"Set sail, follow them!"

Deep night.

Nine Peaks Mountain.

Lin Jiren and his son Lin Zhili walked along the mountain paths. There was not a trace of human habitation around, only the cry of an owl—like a baby wailing—echoing from afar.

Lin Zhili's mind was full of that eerie smile on Concubine Li's face as she was sunk into the river. Now, walking through this desolate mountain wilderness, he was even more terrified, his hands and feet going weak.

"Father, what are we doing up the mountain?" Lin Zhili asked in a trembling voice.

"Visiting the grave."

Lin Zhili felt a chill wind blow through him, cold seeping into the very marrow of his bones. He stared at his father's back, suspecting that his father had been possessed by Concubine Li, and began scanning the sides of the path for a handy rock.

Lin Jiren's voice came again: "How much silver is left in the household?"

Lin Zhili answered honestly: "Only some loose bits of silver. The big chests of silver were all taken by the bandits."

For a moment, the two said nothing, climbing the mountain in silence—which only made things more unsettling.

Lin Zhili steeled himself and broke the silence: "But don't worry, Father. The land is still ours. At worst we can raise the tenant rents a bit. Our rents have never been high, so I expect the tenants won't complain if we raise them somewhat."

"Autumn is nearly over. Once the northwest wind settles in, the fleet should head south to sea. Can you prepare the funds for the voyage?"

Lin Zhili thought for a moment, then said with difficulty: "We can only raise the tenant rents a bit more. The household was robbed this year, so I expect the tenants will understand."

Besides hiring crew and repairing the hulls, the biggest expense in maritime trade was the capital for purchasing goods.

Raw silk, porcelain, silk fabrics—all of these had to be bought from other merchants. Every year before setting sail, a large sum had to be set aside for purchasing goods.

Lin Jiren said: "The money for buying goods, the money for rebuilding the manor, the compensation for the guards—none of these are small sums. Raising tenant rents won't be enough to cover them."

Lin Zhili gritted his teeth: "Then perhaps we send fewer ships to sea this year."

"Then wouldn't our Lin family truly be in decline, just as others say?"

"Does Father have a plan?" Lin Zhili sensed something in his father's words.

"Let's go up the mountain first and pay respects to the ancestors." With that, Lin Jiren continued on his way in silence.

Only then did Lin Zhili recognize that this was the road to the Lin family ancestral graves. His mind stirred, and he understood his father's intent, quickening his pace to catch up.

The father and son walked for a long while before finally reaching the cemetery halfway up the mountain.

Lin Jiren walked slowly toward the depths of the cemetery, stopping before a massive grave mound. He pulled a brocade box from his bosom and opened it—inside were three sticks of incense and a tinder lighter.

Lin Jiren placed the brocade box on the ground, took out the tinder lighter and blew it alight, then lit the three sticks of incense one by one. Holding the incense, he bowed respectfully, inserted the sticks into the incense burner before the grave, and kowtowed in obeisance.

Lin Zhili followed suit.

What should have been a solemn and reverent rite of worship instead carried an eerie quality in the pitch-black dead of night.

After the worship was done, Lin Jiren rose and walked into the woods nearby. He fumbled around for a while and pulled out an iron shovel and a pickaxe from a pile of weeds.

Lin Jiren handed the shovel to his son.

Lin Zhili took it and saw that the shovel was already covered in rust—it had been sitting here for who knows how many years.

"Father, we should have brought a new shovel."

Lin Jiren gave a bitter smile: "Silly child, if we'd carried picks and shovels up the mountain, wouldn't everyone have known what we were up to?"

Lin Zhili's heart tightened.

"This iron shovel and pick—I placed them here five years ago when I paid respects at the graves during Qingming. I thought they'd never be used... Ah, forget it. Dig."

Lin Jiren led his son to a low, humble grave mound.

The tombstone was covered in moss, its engraved characters already blurred beyond recognition—who knew how many years had passed.

There were too many Lin family graves, and among them were buried unimportant relatives whom even clan members sometimes couldn't distinguish.

And so, for all these years, no one had ever noticed this low, humble grave mound.

"Get to work—we need to finish before dawn." Lin Jiren spat into both palms and began digging at the grave.

Lin Zhili grabbed the iron shovel and drove it into the earth.

An hour passed.

The father and son collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, faces and bodies caked with mud, hands red and swollen.

And the grave mound wasn't even half dug open yet.

Lin Zhili panted heavily: "Father, why... why did the ancestors bury the silver so... so deep..."

Lin Jiren gave a bitter smile: "They hacked their way through brambles to open the mountain wilds. Our Lin ancestors built this family with such hardship—they probably never imagined their descendants would be so useless they can't even dig open a low grave mound."

Lin Zhili encouraged his father: "Father, don't say that. This kind of rough work was always meant for servants. Our family passes down farming and scholarship—our precious bodies are meant for study and commerce."

Lin Jiren sighed, said nothing more, and silently picked up the pickaxe.

After digging for a long while more, Lin Zhili said: "Father, is the silver down there really left by our ancestors? Wouldn't that make it over four hundred years old by now?"

Lin Jiren wiped sweat from his forehead with his forearm, pounding his lower back with the other hand, and said: "This place was told to me by your grandfather. The Lin clan patriarchs passed it down by word of mouth through the generations. Whether it was really left four hundred years ago—only heaven knows."

A dull thud sounded as Lin Zhili's shovel struck something. Overjoyed, he cried: "Father, I hit it!"

"Keep your voice down!"

Ignoring the pain in his hands and the dirt soiling his clothes, Lin Zhili dropped to his knees in the mud and clawed the earth away with both hands.

A wooden box was revealed. The wood had almost completely rotted away—a light touch made it crumble apart.

Inside the box sat two earthenware jars. The gaps in the box had been packed full of soil, and the jar mouths were carefully sealed—though so much time had passed that the sealing material was no longer identifiable.

The two jars didn't look large, but when Lin Zhili tried to lift them out, he found that even with all his strength he couldn't budge them.

"Father, these jars are so heavy!" Lin Zhili said.

Lin Jiren braced his old back and came to help his son, but even the two of them working together couldn't lift them an inch.

"Father, what's inside here... it couldn't be gold, could it?" Lin Zhili's voice was pitched extremely low.

Gold had high density—only if the jars were filled with gold would they be this heavy, and only then would it be worth generations of Lin clan patriarchs keeping the secret.

Lin Jiren's face was wreathed in smiles as he pounded his back: "Your father doesn't know either, but these two jars aren't all that big. If they only held silver, it would seem a bit little."

Lin Zhili suddenly remembered something and pressed urgently: "Father, did the ancestors only leave this one treasure?"

"What, you think it's not enough?"

"Our Lin family has passed down four hundred years after all, and we've risen to prominence several times—surely they left more than just this."

"Ever since our family took up maritime shipping, at our wealthiest we had over a hundred thousand taels of silver in the vault. Did you ever think about leaving some for your descendants?"

Lin Zhili had no reply.

The two rested in silence for a moment, then encouraged each other and tried to lift the jars again—still utterly unable to move them.

A thought flashed through Lin Zhili's mind: "Could it be that the ancestors don't intend for us father and son to take this treasure?"

Lin Zhili suddenly thought of Concubine Li who had died a horrible death. An inexplicable chill rose in his heart. His hand slipped, and he fell backward to sit hard on the ground.

"Ow!" Lin Zhili cried out in pain.

"Son, what's wrong?"

"I twisted my ankle!"

Lin Zhili had twisted it badly—his ankle was visibly swelling, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Son, bear with it. Once we've got the ancestors' treasure and returned to the manor, we'll hire the best physician to treat your injury!"

"One must endure the bitterest hardship to stand above others!" Gritting his teeth, Lin Zhili tore off a strip of his sleeve, bound it around his ankle, and struggled to stand on one foot—only to collapse heavily to the ground again.

Lin Jiren wiped the sweat from his face with his forearm and thought for a moment: "Son, wait here a while. I'll go find a tree branch for you to use as a crutch."

This was the Lin ancestral graveyard, frequently tended—there wasn't even a weed, let alone a tree branch. Lin Jiren had no choice but to go look in the distant woods.

Lin Zhili nodded heavily: "Father, go quickly and come back quickly."

Lin Jiren's figure gradually disappeared into the trees.

Once his father was gone, the desolate mountain felt even more bleak and lonely.

"Hoo-hoo-hoo~"

An owl's call came from the woods—like a baby's cry, and like someone mocking laughter.

Lin Zhili suddenly recalled Concubine Li's mad, deranged laughter.

"Hehehe... hahaha... I'll kill you!"

Lin Zhili whipped his head around in panic—there was nothing around him. Only the owl's cry came from the woods. It was his imagination.

So he had misheard.

Lin Zhili clenched his jaw. Sweat on his forehead ran into his eyes, but he dared not wipe it. He opened his eyes wide and scanned in every direction.

"Who? You—mmph..."

Lin Zhili whirled around. In that instant just now, he thought he'd heard his father's voice—but it had been too brief, and he didn't know whether it was his imagination again.

He was so frightened that he froze on the spot, not daring to move a muscle, staring toward the direction of the sound without even daring to blink.

After who knows how long, he ventured a low call: "Father?"

His voice was as faint as a mosquito's hum.

He took a deep breath, mustering his courage: "Father?"

No one answered. The desolate mountain was silent.

"Father, where are you?" Lin Zhili's voice was already choked with tears.

"Pat-pat!" The sound of light footsteps came.

"Father, is that you?" Lin Zhili's voice was joyful.

No one answered.

Those footsteps were light and nimble—not Lin Jiren's heavy tread, but a woman's footsteps!

By the moonlight, he saw a gaunt figure emerge from the forest, dressed in coarse hemp cloth—it was precisely Concubine Li's silhouette.

Lin Zhili's eyes nearly split open with rage, his mind and spirit shaken, his heart pounding so hard it almost leapt out of his throat. Yet he was as if rooted to the spot, unable to move half a step, staring blankly as the figure approached step by step.

"Concubine Li." Lin Zhili's voice was already trembling beyond control, unable to form a single coherent sentence. "It was Eldest Brother who harmed you... Your parents were hounded to death by my father, the poison was administered by the steward... It wasn't me, not me..."

Lin Zhili's face was twisted in terror. By the moonlight, he could clearly see the newcomer's features—if it wasn't Concubine Li, who had been sunk into the river, then who else could it be?

A cold blade stabbed cleanly into his belly, then withdrew. The strength drained from every limb of Lin Zhili's body, and he died with his eyes open.

Bai Qing flicked the blood off the blade, then carefully wiped it clean with Lin Zhili's clothing before sheathing it.

In the forest, several crewmen dragged out Lin Jiren's corpse and laid it beside his son. Father and son wore the same look of shock on their faces.

A Qi asked: "What do we do with the bodies?"

Bai Qing pointed at the grave mound where the pottery jars had been buried: "Isn't there a ready-made pit right here? First move the jars out, then bury them in."

Two crewmen obeyed, steadying one of the jars.

"One, two, lift!"

With the work chant, the jar was smoothly lifted out and set aside. The other jar was likewise lifted out.

A crewman dusted off his hands: "It's got some weight to it, but one man could carry it alone. Those two Lins were useless."

Bai Qing said: "After all, they were fine gentlemen of a great household. Let's see what's in the jars—if it's two jars of copper coins, then we went through all this trouble for nothing."

Bailangzai bent down and pried open the jar's seal.

The pottery jar was sealed extremely tightly, with layer upon layer of cloth, twine, and yellow clay.

When he peeled off the final layer, Bailangzai said: "Careful now."

Then he lifted the cloth away. Everyone covered their noses and mouths, stepping back a little.

Though they couldn't see what was inside the jar, in the moonlight they could faintly discern a golden glow emanating from the jar's mouth.

Once they confirmed it was safe, everyone crowded closer, involuntarily wearing entranced expressions, golden light reflected in their eyes.

This was, astonishingly, an entire jar of gold!

By the bright moonlight, one could see that the jar was filled to the brim with gold bars as thick as a finger, stacked in a crisscross pattern, packed tightly full.

Gold itself doesn't shine, but under the moonlight, this jar of gold blazed with dazzling brightness!

Bai Qing replaced the seal, blocking out that tempting golden radiance.

"Time to get to work." Bai Qing gestured with her eyes toward the corpses of the Lin father and son.

The crewmen snapped back to their senses, picked up shovels and picks, and widened the pit. Before long, they had dug a large hole.

The two corpses were tossed in, and everyone worked together to fill in the earth.

In less than an hour, the grave mound was restored to its original state.

The crewmen used shovels and their feet to tamp down the grave mound, then fetched loose soil and rotting leaves from the forest to cover the traces of fresh earth. Finally, they sprinkled some water over it, making it look as if it had been rained on all day.

After all that concealment, at least a casual glance wouldn't reveal any flaw.

Finally, the crewmen tossed their shovels and picks down the cliff, covered the bloodstains on the ground with loose soil, and cleaned up all the footprints.

The crewmen carried the two jars of gold and withdrew from the graveyard together.

Once aboard the ship, Bai Qing had Bailangzai place the jars in the hold, then said coldly to the crew: "Don't forget the helmsman's rules. Whoever dares to reach for those jars—don't blame me for showing no mercy!"

All the crewmen knew of the prowess of the Bai siblings, and none dared to voice any objection.

The next morning, upstream of the Ling River, at a fisherman's cottage.

The homeowner had just risen when he discovered a masked woman sitting in the room.

"Awake?" Bai Qing picked up the teapot and poured cups of water for the homeowner and his wife, her demeanor perfectly natural, as if this were her own home.

The homeowner and his wife's hearts skipped a beat. They thought to themselves that if the river bandits wanted their boat, they should have just given it to them—they truly shouldn't have been greedy and accepted that silver. Now the river bandit had come to claim their lives.

The poor couple had toiled half their lives without leaving behind a son or daughter. But that was fine too—dying like this meant no descendants would have to grieve for them.

"Drink some water." Bai Qing smiled.

The couple tremblingly raised their cups, spilling most of the plain water before it even reached their lips.

Bai Qing said leisurely: "I've come today because I have a matter to entrust to you."

The homeowner said: "Please speak, Great King. This... this old man will not refuse."

With that, he shot his wife a look. She understood and hastily pulled out the loose silver they'd gotten from selling their boat from under the bed, placing it on the table.

Bai Qing slowly shook her head: "I'd like to ask you two to help me look after my younger sister."

"Younger sister?" Only then did the couple notice there was another woman sitting by the table. This woman had a stool available but chose to sit on the ground instead, wearing men's clothing, her face and hands covered in freshly scabbed wounds, as if she had just been brutally tortured and beaten.

Looking more carefully, the woman was only about sixteen years old, with fair, tender skin, delicate features, charming eyes and brows, and a figure with just the right proportions—truly a beauty. She bore not the slightest resemblance to the river bandit king before them.

But since the Great King said she was her sister, the old couple naturally dared not question it.

"Hahaha... dead, they're all dead! Hahaha..."

The woman on the ground kept muttering mad words about death and killing, sending chills down the couple's spines.

Bai Qing explained, "She has lost her mind and cannot walk well on land, so I can only entrust her to the two of you. Please treat her as your own daughter—do not lock her up or abuse her, and do not let others bully her."

With that, Bai Qing took Concubine Li by the hand and placed her in the care of the husband and wife.

"From now on, they are your father and mother, understand?" Bai Qing said softly.

"Hahahaha... Mother... Mother, it hurts." Concubine Li giggled for a moment, then began to sob again.

The woman gently patted her back to comfort her.

Bai Qing then picked up a heavy bundle from the ground. Opening it, she revealed fifty taels of loose silver—this was what she had obtained by trading a fine southern pearl to the crew members.

"Take this silver and hide it well. Consider it payment for looking after my sister."

"How could we possibly accept this?"

Hearing this, Bai Qing hurled the cup to the ground.

A crossbow bolt shot in from outside the door, striking the wall of the hall dead center.

Bai Qing said, "I operate along the Ling River. Every few months, I will come secretly to check on my sister. If you treat her poorly, the next bolt will be aimed at the two of your heads!"

The couple was so frightened they dared not make a sound.

With that, Bai Qing rose and returned to the boat by the riverbank.

Bailangzai put away the crossbow and said, "Elder Sister, it's useless. In this world, good people and madwomen can't survive. Giving them so much silver might actually bring them harm instead."

Bai Qing said slowly, "Fate is earned by one's own hands. This family will find their own way to live. I am no saint—in this world, no one can truly help anyone else. I'm only seeking peace of mind."

"Lady Bai, shouldn't we set sail and head out to sea?"

"No rush. The helmsman said we should catch a boatload of fish before we leave!"

"Right away!"

(End of chapter)

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