“Damn it! This brat is really holding out on us! It’s been nearly a whole day without a drop of water or a grain of rice. How is there still no movement?”
Outside the room, the gruff, impatient grumbling of her uncle, Lin Dajun, drifted in. He had just returned from gambling, having lost money and being in a foul mood.
Immediately after, Li Guilan’s lowered voice hissed, “Keep it down! What if she hears you? I just took a peek—she’s still lying on the bed, probably delirious from the fever. This is actually better; saves us the trouble of dealing with her.”
“Hmph, she’s just a little brat. So what if she hears?” Lin Dajun snorted disdainfully. “The main thing is that two hundred yuan. The buyer said they’re coming to collect her tonight. If anything goes wrong with this girl and that money flies away, you watch how I handle you!”
Two hundred yuan!
Behind the door, Lin Xi pressed herself against the crack, hearing every word of their conversation with chilling clarity. Her heart sank instantly.
As expected!
In her past life, they had starved her for two days before selling her off. In this life, they had actually moved the timeline up to tonight!
This “dear uncle” of hers was usually a lazy, good-for-nothing loiterer who ignored all household affairs. Only when it came to money did he ever become this “diligent.”
“What are you shouting for!” Wang Cuihua’s voice rang out, carrying the authority of the head of the household. “You’ll get your share of the money! I’ve already settled things with Matchmaker Liu. The person will be taken away tonight—cash on delivery. That family is generous; two hundred yuan is enough to keep our Da Zhuang in meat for years! We can even buy your father a few bottles of good liquor!”
Matchmaker Liu!
Lin Xi remembered her—the village’s notorious black-hearted woman who specialized in human trafficking. In her past life, it was this woman who led the traffickers to her door.
“But what about her father’s side? If Lin Weiguo finds out and comes back from the army, won’t he tear this house down?” Lin Dajun still had some lingering fears. Scoundrel as he was, he was still afraid of his younger brother, who was an officer in the military.
“Pah! What the hell does he know!” Li Guilan retorted immediately. “He’s at the edge of the world and doesn’t come back once a year. Next time he writes to ask, we’ll just say the girl ran away and got lost, or that she fell sick and passed away. Is he going to fly back just to investigate? Besides, for the sake of a mere girl…”
“…Can he really bring himself to turn against his own mother and brother?”
“Guilan is right!” Wang Cuihua’s voice carried a streak of pure malice. “He wouldn’t dare! If he dares to turn against me over a little money-sink, I’ll go cause a scene at his military unit and claim he’s unfilial! Let’s see if he can keep his officer rank then! Besides, we’re doing this for his own good. What kind of man drags a daughter around with him? We’re ‘handling’ her for him—he should be thanking us!”
This family—their shameless faces were exactly the same as in her previous life!
They had calculated everything long ago, putting a clear price tag on Lin Xi’s life and treating her like a piece of cargo to be traded for their own wealth and comfort!
“Alright, Mom, you’ve thought of everything,” Lin Dajun’s voice oozed with greedy laughter. “Two hundred yuan… I’ll have to go to town later to get a few yards of fabric and maybe buy a bicycle…”
“In your dreams! That money goes first to buy malted milk extract for Da Zhuang! And we’re saving the rest for his future wedding!”
“Aiya, there’s enough for everything, everything…”
The voices outside drifted into a debate over how to divvy up the loot and fantasies of a better life. Every word was like a nail driven ruthlessly into Lin Xi’s heart.
She couldn’t wait any longer.
Once it got dark and Matchmaker Liu arrived with her people, she would truly have no chance left. She had to escape before they made their move!
But right now, she was only a three-year-old child, too weak to even truss a chicken. The door was barred from the outside, and the window was too high for her to climb out.
What should I do?
Lin Xi forced herself to stay calm, her mind racing.
Crying and screaming? Useless. It would only invite more brutal beatings. Begging for mercy? Even more impossible. It would only confirm she was an easy target and make them move faster.
She had to find another way! A way to make them open the door themselves and give her a chance to get out!
Lin Xi’s eyes scanned the dim room.
The broken bed, the rotten table, the chipped bowl… and a tattered basket for junk in the corner.
Her gaze suddenly locked onto that chipped bowl.
A bold plan quickly took shape in her small head. She moved her weakened body, quietly crawling out of bed. The moment her feet touched the floor, a wave of dizziness washed over her. She gripped the edge of the bed, gritting her teeth to keep from collapsing.
She walked to the table, standing on her tiptoes and using every ounce of strength to reach for the chipped bowl.
The bowl was light, but to her at this moment, it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Cradling the bowl, she shuffled step by step toward the door and pressed her ear against it to listen.
The conversation outside continued. They were arguing over how to split the two hundred dollars; no one cared about what was happening inside the room.
Now!
A flash of resolve, unbefitting of her age, flickered in Lin Xi’s eyes.
She raised the chipped bowl and, with all the strength left in her body, slammed it hard against the solid floor!
“Clatter—!”
The crisp, ear-piercing sound of shattering porcelain rang out, sounding exceptionally abrupt amidst the noisy bickering.
The voices outside came to a dead stop.
“What’s going on? What was 그 noise?” Li Guilan’s voice rose, sharp with suspicion.
“It sounded like… like it came from that dead girl’s room!” Lin Dajun finally reacted.
Lin Xi didn’t hesitate. She quickly picked up the sharpest shard of porcelain and squeezed it tightly in her hand.
The jagged edge sliced into her tender palm, and blood immediately began to flow, but she seemed not to feel the pain at all.
She knew this was only the first step.
Next came the real test of her acting skills.
Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth and let out the most piercing, wretched cry since her rebirth.
“Ah—! Blood! So much blood! Grandma! Auntie! Help me!”
Her scream was sharp and loud, filled with the genuine terror and helplessness of a child facing danger—enough to make anyone’s heart tighten upon hearing it.
Outside the door, Li Guilan and Wang Cuihua were clearly stunned by this sudden turn of events.
“What… what is this little brat up to now?” Li Guilan’s voice carried a hint of panic.
“Blood? What happened to her?” Wang Cuihua was also anxious, but she wasn’t worried about Lin Xi’s safety—rather. It was all about those two hundred yuan they were about to get their hands on!
“Dammit, she didn’t try to kill herself, did she? If she’s dead, our money goes down the drain!” Lin Dajun was the first to panic. He lunged toward the door in three strides and yanked back the bolt.
The door was thrown open with a crash.
Lin Xi had timed it perfectly. The moment the door swung wide, she collapsed onto the floor, her small body trembling uncontrollably. With her uninjured hand, she pointed at the jagged porcelain shards on the ground and the blood pooling from her palm, sobbing until she was breathless.
“The… the bowl broke… hic… my hand… it’s bleeding…”
She deliberately brandished her bloodied palm before them. In the dim light, the bright crimson smear was a gruesome sight.
Wang Cuihua and Li Guilan’s expressions shifted instantly upon seeing this.
It wasn’t that they felt pity for Lin Xi—it was fear. They were terrified that their only “merchandise” would be damaged before the transaction!
“You jinx! Who told you to touch that bowl!” Li Guilan rushed forward, her hand instinctively reaching out to twist Lin Xi’s ear in punishment.
“Stop!” Wang Cuihua barked, cutting her off.
The old woman’s triangular eyes glinted with cold calculation. She stared intently at Lin Xi’s bleeding hand, then at her deathly pale face, and hissed urgently: “Quick! Get some cloth to wrap it up! We can’t let anything happen to her! Matchmaker Liu is coming tonight—if they see a wound and lower the price because of it, what then?!”
Realization dawned on Li Guilan, and she nodded frantically. “Yes, yes, Mom is right! We can’t let it leave a scar!”
With that, she scurried out to find some strips of cloth.
Lin Xi kept her head bowed, allowing them to poke and prod her, but her heart remained a block of ice.
As expected, in their eyes, she was worth less than a common object. If an object breaks, people might feel a twinge of regret, but when she was hurt, they only cared if it affected her “selling price.”
But this was exactly what she wanted.
The first half of her plan had succeeded.
To keep their “merchandise” intact, they were forced to unlock the door that had been her cage.
And she had finally secured the most important weapon for her escape tonight—that razor-sharp shard of broken porcelain.