Chapter 6: Getting a Beating

Ruan Tao used a clothes-drying pole to draw four characters on the ground, paused, and continued: "It's just that later on, Father changed. The year Mother gave birth to you, a Daoist came to our home. He said I had an affinity with the Dao and wanted to take me as a Daoist acolyte. Father didn't want that, so the Daoist said that Mother's pregnancy was the arrival of a baleful star that would bring disaster and unrest to the household, and that Father would never pass the scholar exam in his life, would have no descendants, and would face a desolate old age."

Ruan Xing had originally perked up when she heard the part about the Daoist, thinking it was a high-level cultivator wandering the world, but she felt deflated upon hearing the rest. She remembered that in one of her Simulations, her parents had given birth to a younger brother, but she didn't interrupt and just kept listening.

"Father had just failed the prefectural exam for three years in a row at that time. I don't know if he believed the Daoist's nonsense, but he sold all two chests of books our maternal grandfather had left behind. He stopped reading every day and drank himself into a stupor. Before Mother had even finished her postpartum recovery, he went out, made friends with some idlers, and started wasting his life away."

"Mother told me before that before she married Father, our maternal grandfather passed away suddenly. She had no brothers and was a weak woman living alone, feeling anxious all day long. Father was a student our maternal grandfather had once taught. It was Father who helped handle our maternal grandfather's funeral arrangements and took the initiative to propose marrying into our family as a live-in son-in-law to continue the Incense Fire for our maternal grandfather. Mother was very moved; not only did she not make Father a live-in son-in-law, but she also supported him with all her might so he could study for the imperial exams. Their relationship was excellent back then. If it weren't for that Daoist, our family should be very happy right now."

Seemingly because the past had been brought up, Ruan Tao looked somewhat dejected and sad.

Ruan Xing turned back to hug her sister, patting her back with her small hand as comfort.

It seemed that both Mother and sister had an emotional foundation with the scumbag father and cared a lot about him.

Ruan Xing looked up at the sky, but she didn't care. The scumbag father had likely believed the Daoist's nonsense and had never once given her, his youngest daughter, a kind look. Forget it, she wouldn't tell them about the scumbag father having his legs broken.

Yes, that was correct. The request Ruan Xing had made to Qiye was to break her father's legs so the scumbag father couldn't run around anymore. As a child whose body was only six years old and who couldn't do anything, this was the best and fastest method she could think of for now.

Out of consideration for her sister and mother's feelings, and because she didn't know how large the gang power Qiye controlled really was, and most importantly, because she didn't want Qiye to think she was heartless and unrighteous—otherwise, the request she made to Qiye wouldn't have been to break his legs, but to kill him directly.

She considered herself not a ruthless person, just a slightly indifferent egoist who had been impacted by the modern information flood.

In the evening, the dim yellow sky faded of color as the sun set. A small crescent moon gradually appeared on the horizon, and Ruan Mu pushed open the door and returned home, carrying the exhaustion of the day.

Hearing the sound, Ruan Tao, who had been sitting in the main room dozing off, was immediately startled awake. "Mother, you're back! I saved some flatbread for you."

Dinner was coarse flour flatbread steamed by Ruan Tao. This stuff was very choking to eat, so she scooped a bowl of water from the kitchen for Ruan Mu to have with it.

Ruan Xing also ran out from the inner room, climbing onto Ruan Mu's arm. "Mother, where is my flower hair tie?"

"Mother didn't forget, I brought it for you." Ruan Mu smiled happily and pulled several scraps of cloth from the cloth pouch hanging on her person. They were all bright colors that little girls liked, and it was clear they had been carefully chosen.

Ruan Mu gave the scraps to Ruan Xing, looked around the house, and frowned with some worry. "Has your father not returned yet?"

In the past, situations where Ruan Fu didn't return home at night occurred from time to time; either he was detained for owing money to the Gambling Den or wine shops, or he got drunk and slept by the roadside.

This was considered bad news for Ruan Mu. She was afraid she would have to spend more money again. She had originally planned to discuss the two daughters learning to weave with Ruan Fu when she got home, but now that would likely have to be postponed. She sighed inwardly and glanced at her daughters with some guilt.

"Xing'er, where did you find your father to deliver his meal at noon today?"

Ruan Xing opened her mouth, just about to answer, when she suddenly heard a rough pounding on the door and immediately fell silent.

Ruan Tao and Ruan Mu were startled. The mother and daughter looked at each other, their faces showing the same look of worry; it was likely the trouble the father had caused had come to their door. "I'll go open the door." Ruan Tao had just stood up when she was pressed down by Ruan Mu.

"I'll go."

Ruan Mu took a small cloth bag from her bosom, opened it, and counted. This month's wages hadn't been paid yet, and there was only a little over three taels of Silver left in the house. To avoid the predicament of Ruan Fu spending all the money and the family having no rice to cook, she always kept the money on her person.

If all this money had to be paid out today, she would have to find the Guan to plead for an advance on her wages.

"People of the Ruan family! Open the door quickly!" The people outside were impatient and began to shout loudly.

By this time, the sky was almost completely dark. The people living in Huaihua Alley were all poor commoner families who couldn't afford lamp oil and went to sleep early. Fearing they would disturb the neighbors, Ruan Mu hurried over to open the courtyard gate.

Outside the gate were two men, dragging a bloody, unrecognizable object on the ground. It was already at its last gasp, emitting a weak cry: "Wife... save... me..."

"Husband!?" Ruan Mu exclaimed. Her panicked, trembling hands didn't know what to do. "This, this..."

The man looked fierce and menacing, but he explained in a relatively polite tone: "Our master is kind-hearted, so we brought the person back to you. The debt owed doesn't need to be repaid either. You decide what to do, Mistress Ruan."

Having said that, he signaled the other man and left.

Ruan Mu had never encountered such a thing before and was momentarily flustered, standing there in a daze.

Her father was an old scholar who had given up hope after over a decade of failed imperial exams and opened a private school to teach, so he had saved up some family assets. He had no sons, and having a daughter in his old age, he had been very caring and doting toward Ruan Mu, which had fostered her somewhat naive and dependent personality. Even after the old scholar passed away suddenly and the family assets were squandered by Ruan Fu, it was just a matter of suffering some grievances and hardships; she had never seen such a bloody scene.

Seeing this, Ruan Xing reminded her: "Mother, let's move Father to the bed first."

"Right, right." Ruan Mu seemed to wake from a dream, and Ruan Tao also came over to help. The mother and daughters worked together to move Ruan Fu onto the bed in the inner room.

Before she could even catch her breath, Ruan Mu steadied herself and said: "Tao'er, you fetch some water to wipe your father's body. I'm going to invite a doctor to come and take a look!"

Ruan Tao agreed, and Ruan Mu hurried out.

Soon, the blood-stained clothes were cut off with scissors, and the dampened towel wiped clean the areas without wounds. Ruan Fu no longer let out groans of pain and fell into a semi-comatose state.

Seeing Ruan Tao busy taking care of the scumbag father so meticulously, Ruan Xing whispered: "Sister, Father has suffered this brutal beating, he will change for the better from now on, right?"

"I naturally hope so too... Forget it, I don't expect him to change for the better. I just hope that after he wakes up, he won't vent his anger on the family. Father's temper has become more and more irritable and violent in these past few years; he clearly wasn't like this before." Ruan Tao sighed.

"Then, what if Father can't be cured this time and becomes paralyzed?" Ruan Xing asked tentatively.

(End of chapter)