Perhaps sensing that the trafficker was taking Xiao Sanlang away forever, the man on the ground finally stirred. Xiao Erlang, who had been unconscious throughout the beating, slowly forced his eyes open.
He froze for a few seconds, his dazed eyes desperately tracking the trafficker’s retreating back.
Looking down at him, Shen Li suddenly noticed that despite the layers of filth and grime, the man had remarkably beautiful eyes. If he were healthy, she thought briefly, he’d probably be quite handsome.
As the ragged, hoarse cries of his little brother reached his ears, Erlang’s body jolted with sudden, frantic energy. He thrashed against the dirt, trying with every fiber of his being to flip himself over. The veins in his neck bulged from the sheer force of the effort, but with his limbs useless, he remained pinned to the earth, immobile.
He could only stare in despair as the trafficker carried Sanlang out of the courtyard. Tears carved clean tracks through the dirt on his face.
Shen Li watched him, feeling a rare surge of uncertainty. She didn’t know if she should help him turn over; she only knew she didn’t like seeing tears in those beautiful eyes.
She turned away. Outside the gate, Sanlang’s wailing was growing faint.
Shen Li stood up and followed the trafficker out of the yard with calm, measured strides.
Madam Cao, having just settled her debt by trading the boy away, saw Shen Li following them and began hopping mad.
“You wretched girl, where do you think you’re going?!” she shrieked, chasing after her. “I bought you to be that cripple’s wife! You aren’t going anywhere!”
Xiao Huai-ren trailed behind his mother. The girl was dangerous, sure, but they couldn’t just let her vanish right under their noses!
After a few paces, they saw Shen Li catch up to the trafficker. She reached into her sleeve and handed him something.
The trafficker’s eyes lit up. He scrambled to shove the item into his tunic and immediately handed Sanlang over to Shen Li.
Once again, Shen Li held the boy by his armpits, dangling him like a piece of luggage. Sanlang didn’t know that Shen Li had just paid for his freedom; he only knew that she was the one who had taken him back. For the first time, he didn’t try to scratch her.
However, the memory of her past cruelty ran deep. He remained tense, watching her with the wary, guarded eyes of a hunted animal.
Feeling uncomfortable under that piercing gaze, Shen Li simply set him down. The moment his feet touched the soil, Sanlang bolted—sliding back into the courtyard like a greased lightning bolt until he reached Erlang’s side.
Shen Li’s brow twitched. Do these two have magnets in them? How did he snap back to his brother that fast?
Sanlang gripped Erlang’s limp, sensationless hand with a death grip, terrified the trafficker might return to snatch him away again. Seeing his brother back by his side, Erlang finally slumped into the dirt, his frantic struggling ceasing.
But the exertion had taken its toll. His joints throbbed with a dull ache, cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and he didn’t have a shred of strength left in his body.
Madam Cao approached Shen Li, circling her with a look of deep suspicion.
“What did you give him?” she demanded. “Why did that man just hand the brat over to you?”
Looking at the bloated woman in front of her, Shen Li felt like her eyes were about to vomit.
“One and a half taels of silver,” Shen Li replied, too bored to waste words. She turned to head back into the yard.
“One and a half taels?!” Madam Cao’s jaw nearly hit the floor.
The neighbors peering over the wall were equally stunned. Shen Li had been bought by Madam Cao specifically to serve as a “good luck” bride to ward off Erlang’s impending death. The girl had always seemed to hate the brothers to her very core, finding every possible way to torment them.
And yet, she had just spent a small fortune to buy Xiao Sanlang back?
Actual silver!
In a village like this, the only people who could pull several taels of silver out of thin air were Madam Cao and the Village Head. Where had this girl gotten her hands on that kind of money?
Madam Cao suddenly realized that if the girl truly was carrying a fortune, she couldn’t let the neighbors get wind of it. She began waving her arms and hollering to disperse the crowd.
“Don’t you all have chores to do? What is this, a street performance?! Do I need to call the Village Head to set up a stage and serve you tea while you watch?”
The crowd began to drift away, but Shen Li remembered something. She raised her voice, calling them back.
“Uncles, Aunts, brothers and sisters—please stay. I have something to settle with my aunt-in-law, and I need you all to bear witness.”
She spared a glance at Xiao Erlang. Seeing him sprawled in the dirt, she briefly considered moving him back to the bed. But then she remembered the suffocating stench of that shack and changed her mind. Whatever. It’s a hot day; the ground is probably cooler anyway.
Sensing that the real drama was just beginning, the villagers huddled back together, whispering excitedly.
“Go on, girl! Say what you need to say, and we’ll stand by you!” the kind auntie called out. Having seen Shen Li use her own money to save Sanlang, she was convinced the girl had truly turned over a new leaf.
Xiao Huai-ren wasn’t about to let this happen. “Who do you think you are, sticking your noses in? This is family business! Everyone who doesn’t live here, get lost!” He swung his beefy arms, trying to intimidate them. The crowd flinched back but didn’t actually leave.
“I want a formal separation of the household,” Shen Li declared. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it cut through the noise with absolute clarity.
The onlookers were stunned. Her own deed of sale was in Madam Cao’s hands—how did she have the nerve to demand a legal separation?
“Child, listen to me!” the auntie cried out anxiously from behind the wall. Shen Li turned to look at her. “Setting aside the fact that Madam Cao owns you, let’s talk about the house. This place was built by Erlang’s father, but the year Erlang had his accident, Madam Cao went behind his back and put the whole property in her own name. If you separate now, where will you live?”
The auntie wrung her hands, terrified for the future of Shen Li and the two brothers.
Madam Cao’s grating voice rose again. “Separate? You’re a piece of property I bought! You think you’re moving out? You’re just waiting for that cripple to die so you can claim a room for yourself? Dream on!”
Shen Li narrowed her eyes, her gaze sharpening into a cold glare. Madam Cao’s voice immediately lost its volume.
“Unless… unless this entire courtyard stays mine…” Madam Cao added greedily.
The auntie behind the wall couldn’t stay quiet at that. “Now see here, Huai-ren’s mother! That’s enough. We’ve all seen how you’ve treated Erlang and Sanlang. Now that Erlang is married, it’s only right they separate. You won’t give them even a single room?”
With the auntie leading the charge, the other villagers found their courage.
“She’s right! You can’t do this!”
“If you don’t give them a room, where are they supposed to go?”
“It’s shameful!”
Xiao Huai-ren grew frantic, pointing his finger at the neighbors. “She’s the one who asked for the separation, isn’t she? My mother didn’t suggest it! If she doesn’t like it, we just won’t separate! Why are you all so worried about it?”
In truth, he was desperate to keep them in the yard. Xiao Erlang was a broken man, and though Shen Li was thin, her pale face was striking and her figure was graceful. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.
She might be fierce, but as long as they held her papers, she belonged to them. He was convinced that sooner or later, she would have to submit. If they moved out, how was he supposed to have his “fun” with her when the urge struck?