She propped up her throbbing head and struggled to sit up, murmuring in confusion, “Where is this?”
She remembered that she had just completed a mission to surround and wipe out a gang leader, only to walk into an ambush and get blown up… She should have been dead.
The arguing beside her continued without pause.
When Li Cuihua saw that her daughter had woken up, she hurriedly pulled herself free and turned to support her arm, her voice choked with sobs. “Xiaoxi, does it hurt? Your mother is useless. I couldn’t protect you.”
Mother?
Wenxi’s mind shook. Memories that did not belong to her surged into her mind, rapidly intertwining and merging.
The mercenary Wenxi had died in an explosion during a mission and transmigrated into the body of a sixteen-year-old peasant girl named Wenxi.
The original owner’s family had suffered a bitter fate. Her mother, Li Cuihua, had been left with a chronic illness after a difficult childbirth and had been bedridden for years. Her younger brother, Wen’an, had suffered brain damage and possessed the mind of a small child.
Three years ago, the original owner’s father had heard that a divine physician in a distant place could cure both his wife and child. He had resolutely set out to search for the physician, but after leaving, he vanished without a trace. No one had seen him alive, nor found his corpse.
With no man in the household to support them, the three members of the eldest branch[1]the household of the eldest son jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3452522_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3452522_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });—Li Cuihua and her two children—struggled to get by in the Wen family.
The original owner and her younger brother handled every filthy and exhausting chore in the household. They did the most work and received the least food.
Grandma Liu favored Second Uncle’s family while treating Wenxi’s branch harshly, often withholding their food and beating or scolding them at the slightest excuse
The final scene in the memories was the original owner’s last lingering wish, weakly pleading: I’ll give you my body. Please, protect my mother and younger brother.
Wenxi slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, all the timidity and humility in their depths had vanished, leaving only the calm and fierce sharpness of someone who had walked between life and death.
She raised a hand and gently wiped away the sticky, warm blood from her forehead.
The crowd, which had been noisily arguing, suddenly fell silent.
Every gaze focused on Wenxi as she slowly rose to her feet.
The voices of the onlookers at the doorway abruptly stopped. Even Madam Liu, who had been standing with her hands on her hips and cursing, paused and instinctively turned to look.
Seeing that Wenxi had actually stood up on her own, Madam Liu was stunned for a moment. Then she immediately turned toward the spectators at the doorway and shouted:
“See that? She’s perfectly fine. She isn’t going to die! Are you all so idle that you have to gather at my doorway to watch a show? What does it have to do with you? Go on, go on, get out of here. Stop standing in front of my house and being an eyesore!”
As she spoke, she turned back, still carrying the mud-stained shoulder pole in her hand. She assumed Wenxi had merely fainted and woken up again, and was still the same soft persimmon[2]A ‘soft persimmon’ refers to someone easy to bully or push around. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3452522_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3452522_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); who would neither fight back when beaten nor answer back when cursed at. She did not take her seriously at all.
Wen’an, whose beaten mouth was still bleeding at the corners, saw his sister standing there, and his eyes immediately lit up.
Ignoring the pain in his body, he crawled up from the ground using both his hands and feet, unable even to speak clearly. “Sis… Sis…”
Wenxi supported his arm, her fingertips brushing over the blood at the corner of Wen’an’s mouth before gently wiping it away.
Before Wen’an could say anything else, she gave him a light push and sent him into Li Cuihua’s arms. “Mother, look after Xiao’an for now.”
“Xiaoxi, you…” Li Cuihua instinctively caught her son and looked up at her daughter. She had only spoken half the sentence when she froze.
Wenxi stood in front of them, her back ramrod straight. Though she was covered in blood and looked battered and disheveled, her eyes seemed completely different.
Madam Liu noticed nothing unusual. Carrying the shoulder pole, she came stomping over in several quick steps, cursing as she went:
“You wretched girl, I see your life is truly hard to take. Even beating you can’t kill you. Since you’re awake, then honestly explain yourself at once. Why did you push Jinbao into the river? Did you deliberately want to drown him and cut off the Wen family’s line?”
Everyone looked at Wenxi, waiting for her answer.
Wenxi did not look at Madam Liu. Instead, she first swept her gaze over the furious Madam Zhang, then shifted it to Wen Jinzhu, who stood nearby with her arms folded and a smug, gloating expression on her face.
Suddenly, Wenxi let out a cold laugh.
“Who was it that said just now she saw me push someone into the river?”
“It was me! I saw it with my own eyes!” Wen Jinzhu immediately took two steps forward, stuck out her chest, and raised her chin arrogantly.
Even though Wenxi’s face was covered in blood and looked frighteningly savage, she was not afraid.
With Grandma and her mother here, could Wenxi really dare to hit her?
Her words became even more self-righteous. “I saw you push Jinbao into the river with my own eyes! You were jealous that he was a grandson of the Wen family, so you wanted to drown him!”
Wenxi moved.
She raised her hand and slapped Wen Jinzhu hard across the face.
“Spreading lies and sowing discord. You deserve that.”
With that slap, Wen Jinzhu let out a shriek of “Ah!” and staggered two steps to the side. Half her face instantly swelled up.
Before she could steady herself, Wenxi struck her with a backhanded slap across the other side of her face.
“A mouth full of lies and malicious slander. You deserve this one too.”
“Smack!”
Wen Jinzhu was struck dizzy, her vision swimming and her ears ringing.
Before she could recover, Wenxi raised her foot and kicked her in the stomach.
“I’ll make you see it with your own eyes!”
Wen Jinzhu could not remain standing. She fell backward and landed on the muddy ground with a thud.
Clutching her face, with a trace of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, she stared blankly in confusion. The pain was so intense that it took her a long time to react—Wenxi had actually dared to hit her?
The courtyard fell silent for an instant. It seemed even the wind had stopped.
Madam Zhang was the first to recover. She let out a shriek and rushed over, helping Wen Jinzhu up and cradling her face, heartbroken. “Jinzhu! Jinzhu, are you all right? Let Mother take a look!”
“Mother… it hurts so much…” Only then did Wen Jinzhu come back to herself. She burst into loud sobs, her cheeks burning with pain.
Everyone watching from the doorway was completely dumbfounded.
They looked at one another, each seeing the same disbelief in the other’s eyes.
Who did not know that Wenxi was soft-tempered, that she never fought back when beaten or answered back when cursed at? On ordinary days, she did not even dare speak loudly.
What had happened to her today?
Had she been beaten too badly and changed personalities?
She had actually dared to hit even her own cousin—and had hit her so brutally.
Madam Liu stood with her mouth open for a long while before finally closing it. Once she reacted, she trembled with rage, her voice so shrill it could pierce someone’s ears.
“Very well! Wenxi! I see you really want to turn the world upside down! Was I not harsh enough when I disciplined you? You actually dare fight back now! Today, I’m going to break your legs!”
As she cursed, she lifted the shoulder pole in her hand high above her head and swung it toward Wenxi.
“You’d better not come any closer.” Wenxi retreated half a step, fixing Madam Liu with a cold, knife-sharp gaze.
She did not care about filial piety or any distinction between elders and juniors. If someone dared lay hands on her, she dared beat them back. If one came, she would beat one.
Madam Liu’s mind was full of teaching this disobedient girl a proper lesson, and she did not hear Wenxi’s words at all.
“You brought this on yourself.”
Just as the shoulder pole was about to strike her, Wenxi turned to the side and nimbly dodged it. Instead, she seized the other end of the pole.
Madam Liu felt a powerful force surge through her hands, so strong she could not maintain her grip.
Before she could react, Wenxi exerted force and directly wrested the shoulder pole from her hands.
Immediately afterward, Wenxi kicked her squarely in her plump stomach.
“Thud!”
A heavy, muffled impact rang out.
Madam Liu did not even have a chance to step back. Her entire body flew backward close to the ground for a short distance before crashing down.
Clutching her stomach, she grimaced in pain and could not catch her breath for a long while.
The entire courtyard fell into deathly silence.
References[+]