“What do you think you’re doing?!”
“Ow!”
The moment Wang Chuntao spoke, she was kicked straight off the bed.
A second scream followed immediately after.
Chen He was kicked down as well. The two of them sprawled on the floor, completely stunned, their minds blank with shock.
“!!”
Lin Qingbei, who had just entered the room, froze in disbelief.
When had his sister become this formidable?
She actually dared to hit the village chief!
She… she was supposed to be the Chen family’s…
Wait.
What if Scholar Chen found out and beat his sister again?
Seeing the little boy standing dumbfounded at the doorway, Lin Xiazhi reminded him, “Why are you still standing there? Come watch over Mother. I need to go out for a while.”
“O-Okay.”
Nervously swallowing, Lin Qingbei hurried over and sat beside the bed.
His eyes remained fixed on the two people on the floor. Though their faces were twisted with pain, neither dared make a sound.
Lin Xiazhi shot them a cold glance.
“And you two. Make sure they are properly taken care of. Otherwise…”
“Understood! Understood!”
Chen He instantly lost all of his earlier arrogance.
Like a completely different person, he bowed and scraped before Lin Xiazhi.
“I’ll go cook and boil water right away!”
“Wait.”
“W-What is it?”
“Kill two chickens and make something nourishing for them.”
“…Yes, yes. I’ll do it. I’ll kill the chickens.”
What was a couple of chickens compared to a human life?
Clutching his injured arm, Chen He scrambled to his feet and fled as fast as he could, practically flying out of the room.
Wang Chuntao didn’t dare stay either. She quickly got up and slipped away.
Lin Xiazhi tucked the blanket around Shen Ying.
“Mother, the broken bones in your body haven’t been set yet. You absolutely must not move around. Just lie still and wait for me to come back.”
Shen Ying didn’t know what her daughter intended to do, but she smiled and nodded.
After leaving the Chen residence, Lin Xiazhi found the outside world shrouded in darkness.
The night was pitch black, so dark that one could hardly see a hand in front of their face.
A fierce wind swept through the forest, rustling the trees. Dry leaves drifted down like snowflakes, carpeting the ground.
Reaching a secluded spot, Lin Xiazhi quickly changed into a black fitted outfit.
After putting on a face covering, she headed straight for the Lin family home.
As soon as she arrived outside the courtyard, she heard Lin Dagou’s weak pleading.
“Mother, your injuries aren’t serious. Please go get Doctor Wang for me. If we’re any later, I might not survive.”
Then came Zhang Cuiyu’s cold, merciless voice.
“Eldest Son, every bone in your body is broken. You’re already a cripple. Why not just let go? After you die, I’ll find you a good burial site with excellent feng shui. Next life, you can be born into a better family.”
“Mother!”
Lin Dagou stared at her in disbelief.
He tried desperately to sit up, but his broken body couldn’t support him.
Panic filled his face as he reached out and grabbed at her sleeve.
“I can still be saved! Really, Mother, I can still be saved!”
Zhang Cuiyu stepped away.
“No, you can’t.”
“I can! I really can!”
…
“None of you can be saved.”
A third voice suddenly echoed from the doorway.
The two people beneath the eaves froze simultaneously and turned toward the entrance.
The night was too dark to see anything.
Everything around them was eerily silent.
Only the wind whispered through the darkness.
Goosebumps instantly erupted across Zhang Cuiyu’s skin.
Her voice trembled.
“Eldest Son… did you hear that just now?”
“I did…”
Lin Dagou swallowed hard, terror written all over his face.
Suddenly, a black shadow flashed before his eyes.
An involuntary scream burst from his throat.
“A ghost…!”
A chilling cold touched his neck.
His scream stopped abruptly.
A wet gurgling sound came from his throat as blood surged out in torrents, splashing across Zhang Cuiyu’s face.
“Eldest Son, where would a ghost come from? Don’t scare your mother like that…”
At first, Zhang Cuiyu thought it was rain.
Instinctively, she licked her lips.
A metallic sweetness exploded in her mouth.
She froze.
The thick scent of blood invaded her nose, and her body began trembling uncontrollably.
Every nerve in her body tightened.
Hugging herself, she looked frantically in every direction.
There really was a ghost.
Had Old Man Lin come back to claim her life?
Pressing her palms together in prayer, she muttered anxiously,
“Old Man, I had no choice back then. Tell me, what difference was there between you lying paralyzed in bed and being dead? I was helping you along out of kindness. How can you repay kindness with hatred and come seeking my life now…?”
“Heh. So it was you who killed Old Man Lin.”
“Who’s there?! Who’s pretending to be a ghost?!”
The ghostly voice drifted near and far.
Terrified beyond reason, Zhang Cuiyu nearly went mad.
“Come out! Get out here right now!”
Hidden in the darkness, Lin Xiazhi quietly watched her lose control.
The original owner’s miserable childhood had largely been caused by this vicious old woman.
She deserved to die.
Her figure flashed forward.
The knife rose and fell.
Zhang Cuiyu’s eyes widened.
Then she stopped breathing.
After storing the body inside her spatial storage, Lin Xiazhi quickly departed.
Instead of returning to the Chen family, she headed toward the homes of Second Uncle Lin and Third Uncle Lin.
Deep into the night, every household’s candlelight had long since gone out.
Lin Xiazhi silently infiltrated both homes.
Using her ability, she accurately located every bit of money and every valuable possession.
She swept everything away without leaving a single thing behind.
Even the furniture and kitchen utensils were taken.
By the end, only two empty houses remained.
Afterward, she made another trip into the mountains.
There, she tossed the two bodies deep into the wilderness.
Once finished, she changed back into her usual clothes and quietly returned to the Chen residence.
“Sis, you’re finally back! You must be hungry. Come inside and drink some chicken soup. I drank five whole bowls myself! I’ve never tasted chicken soup this delicious!”
The moment she arrived at the door, the eagerly waiting Lin Qingbei rushed over and pulled her inside.
Though the boy was already seven years old, he looked no bigger than a five-year-old.
Just like her, he was thin and malnourished, his small frame as fragile as paper.
Perhaps because she cared for Shen Ying, Lin Xiazhi couldn’t help feeling protective toward him as well.
She gently rubbed his head.
“How’s Mother?”
The boy’s expression dimmed.
“Mother hasn’t eaten anything, but her spirits seem pretty good.”
“There’s no rush. Once I set her bones properly, we can gradually help her recover.”
“You know how to set bones?”
Lin Qingbei looked astonished.
Without changing expression, Lin Xiazhi lied smoothly.
“I used to get injured a lot. I secretly learned a few things from a traveling doctor.”
The statement was only half a lie.
The original owner really had been injured frequently.
Lin Qingbei didn’t doubt her for a second.
Instead, he looked delighted.
“That’s wonderful! We’ll save a lot of silver this way!”
“…”
When she entered the room, neither Chen He nor Wang Chuntao was anywhere to be seen.
After all, they were already running for their lives.
How could they possibly wait around for Lin Xiazhi to come back and torment them again?
“Qingbei, the chicken soup has gone cold. Go heat it up for me.”
“Okay, I’ll go right away.”
Having intentionally sent Lin Qingbei away, Lin Xiazhi locked the door before walking to the bedside.
She met Shen Ying’s gentle, loving gaze.
Taking out a handkerchief, she gently covered her mother’s nose and mouth.
“Mother, I’m going to set your bones now. Go to sleep. When you wake up, everything will be better.”
Before Shen Ying could ask what she meant, consciousness faded from her eyes.
She passed out instantly.
Activating her ability, Lin Xiazhi quickly located the dislocated section of the shoulder blade.
Grasping it firmly with both hands, she applied force.
A crisp movement later, the bone was back in place.
She then examined the two fractured ribs.
One wasn’t particularly serious and only needed time to heal.
The other was more troublesome.
It required surgery and metal fixation to stabilize the break.
Fortunately, the procedure wouldn’t take too long.
She swiftly prepared everything necessary for the operation.
The bed and surrounding area were carefully disinfected with alcohol.
After putting on a mask, gloves, and surgical gown, Lin Xiazhi began the surgery.