The kitchen was a crude structure. Bai Qianqian had already moved all the grain inside the main room. The intruders, unable to find anything in the kitchen, muttered a few curses and quickly relocated.
Bai Qianqian watched them carefully this time. When she saw two men heading for her room, she gripped the wood-splitting cleaver tight, shut the window, and signaled for Zhao Anyao to hide under the bed. She then took her position behind the door, cleaver in hand.
“The fat woman’s definitely asleep by now,” a voice whispered outside. “Pry the door open. Quietly.”
“Shh! Lower your voice. Don’t you think I know that?”
The two men fumbled at the door for a long while, trying to use a knife to pry the latching board free through the crack.
Click.
The figures outside listened intently to the silence within. Only after they were sure they hadn’t woken anyone did they push the door open.
Bai Qianqian held her breath. As soon as the first man stepped inside, she lunged from behind the door and swung the cleaver.
“Ah!”
“Murder!”
The first man screamed as the blade bit into his shoulder. The agonizing pain was so sharp he forgot his surroundings. His companion, seeing the attack, caught a glimpse of a figure standing by the door holding a knife in the moonlight.
The smell of blood filled the air, and the man stumbled back, turning to flee in a frantic, crawling scramble.
Bai Qianqian didn’t give chase. Instead, she bound the man, who was still wailing on the floor, and dragged him into the courtyard.
“Help! Murder!”
When he was thrown into the yard, he saw her still clutching the cleaver. Terrified, he screamed for help at the top of his lungs.
The commotion sent the village dogs into a frenzy, and soon several neighbors were outside to see what was happening.
“Huh? What’s going on here?”
“So much blood! Madam Bai, what did you do?”
“Is it true? Did she really kill him?”
“Save me! This madwoman is trying to kill me!” the man shrieked, his survival instinct kicking in as he pleaded with the crowd. “Look at my arm! She hacked it with a knife!”
The village head was also summoned to the scene. “What’s all this commotion? Madam Bai, why are you acting mad in the middle of the night? Why did you slash this man?”
“Village Head, you’ve come at just the right time,” Bai Qianqian said, finally explaining herself. “Take a look and tell me who he is. He and another man crept into my room in the dead of night. If I hadn’t had my knife, my son and I probably wouldn’t have seen tomorrow’s sunrise!”
“What?! I want to see who dares to do such a thing… Zhou Laosan! How dare you! What did I tell you before? If you ever did this again, I’d banish you from the village!” The village head roared as he recognized the man on the ground.
“Zhou Laosan? No wonder! He got a good beating last time for harassing a girl,” a neighbor chimed in.
“That bastard even stole my eggs!” another added, and the crowd joined in the condemnation.
“There was an accomplice!” Bai Qianqian reminded them. “Village Head, you can’t let him get away with this. He only got caught because he broke into my house this time. Next time, he might target someone else. If this keeps happening, people will think our village has no morals!”
She was determined to see both thieves brought to justice.
“Zhou Laosan!” the village head demanded, his voice stern. “Tell me the truth. Who was your accomplice?”
Zhou Laosan’s eyes darted around before he burst into a wail. “My arm! It hurts! Oh, look at all this blood! I’m going to die! Mother! Your son is dying! The Zhou family line will end here! Mother, come save me!”
“Oh, no! If that old widow from the Zhou family shows up, Zhou Laosan will probably find a way to get off scot-free!”
“If she hadn’t spoiled him rotten, he wouldn’t have turned out this way!”
Bai Qianqian didn’t know the woman they were talking about, but she heard a voice cursing in the distance.
“Who dares hurt my son! I’ll kill them!” Mother Zhou had heard her son’s cries and was rushing over like a mother hen protecting her chick.
“Mother! Come save me!” Zhou Laosan’s voice gained strength at the sound of her voice.
“Oh, my poor son! Who did this to you? This is a death blow to me! Do they think the Zhou family is defenseless?” Mother Zhou nearly fainted when she saw the blood streaming from her son’s arm.
“Village Head! You must give me an explanation!” she demanded, her tone unyielding. “My husband died young, and my son lost his father when he was only five. I raised him all alone as a widow. We are just an orphan and a widow, yet we are still bullied! We can’t let this go!”
Mother Zhou’s relentless accusations and her portrayal of her son as the victim gave the Village Head a headache.
“Fine! I agree, we can’t let this go. Village Head, report this to the authorities. Someone who colludes with another to commit murder for profit—he’d get his head chopped off, or at the very least spend years in prison, right?”
Bai Qianqian showed no fear of the woman’s theatrics. She and Zhao Anyao were now widow and orphan as well. If she didn’t stand her ground now, who knew who else would try to bully them next?
“Report it? You’re the one who hurt my son! How dare you have the face to report this! Pay up! Give me twenty taels, or I’ll never let this go!”
The mention of the authorities had initially thrown Mother Zhou off, but she quickly recovered, shifting the blame to Bai Qianqian.
“Twenty taels? Fine. I’ll give your son another stab. Let’s see if he’s still alive enough to take the money!” Bai Qianqian’s eyes glinted coldly as she swung the blood-stained firewood knife toward Zhou Laosan.
“Ah!”
“You… You’re breaking the law… A life for a life…” Mother Zhou’s legs went weak at the sight of the bloody blade, her words stumbling.
Zhou Laosan was even more cowardly; he’d pissed his pants in terror. A pungent stench wafted from him, and the bystanders immediately recoiled in disgust.
“Enough,” the village head intervened. “Find someone to bandage his wound. If he won’t confess, let him take the fall alone at the county office. It’s only a few more years in prison.”
This time, the Village Head didn’t find Bai Qianqian’s actions excessive. This mother and son were a cancerous blight on the village. Locking them up would be an act of public merit.
“Why should my son take the blame alone? The Qian boy egged him into doing it! He can’t be the only one to pay!” Mother Zhou exploded. Since her son hadn’t acted alone, why should he be the one to serve a longer sentence?
Perfect, the village head thought. He’d just tricked her into naming the other accomplice.
So that was why she’d arrived so quickly: Qian Laosan had fled and informed her that Zhou Laosan was injured, which was why she’d rushed over.
“Go to the Qian family’s place and tie him up,” the village head ordered. “At first light, we’ll send him to the county office. Our village will no longer harbor such parasites!”
“The Village Head is finally showing some spine!”
“They deserve it! That mother and son should have been dealt with long ago!”
“Madam Bai did us a favor, getting rid of a menace like Zhou Laosan!”
“That slash was so satisfying! I’ve wanted to take a blade to him ever since he tried to mess with my family!”
Bai Qianqian hadn’t expected Zhou Laosan’s reputation to be even worse than hers. The villagers’ satisfaction with catching the thieves had unexpectedly boosted her own standing.