Chapter 5

Yamasaki Kawakami had brought only a few men to the temple, since he had supposedly come to worship.

So Tang Xiaowan’s guards did not suffer when the two groups clashed. Every man under Fourth Master Wu had killed before. They beat the Japanese soldiers into a rout.

Tang Xiaowan stamped viciously between Yamasaki’s legs. He howled and fainted.

She ground her heel down twice more and spat.

“A little Japanese devil dares take liberties with this lady? Damn his ancestors!”

Years beside Fourth Master Wu had taught her his coarsest curses. They came naturally now, and every man behind her felt an answering chill in his own groin.

She fled at once without leaving her name.

At the Wu residence, she learned that the fighting at the front had worsened and Fourth Master Wu had gone back to war.

Tang Xiaowan stared at the ashen sky. A terrible premonition tightened her heart.

It soon came true.

The Japanese ambushed Fourth Master Wu. In exchange for his release, they demanded that Tang Xiaowan come alone to “negotiate.”

Any fool could guess what kind of negotiation they intended.

Fourth Master Wu’s closest lieutenant was Zhao Wu, who had followed him since he was an ordinary soldier. He knew Tang Xiaowan’s place in his commander’s heart. Though she was young and came from a despised background, he had never looked down on her.

He was the first to object.

“Miss Tang, you cannot go!”

Zhao Wu knew what the Japanese were. Could he stand aside and watch her walk into a tiger’s mouth? Worse, they were treacherous. What if they took her and still refused to release Fourth Master Wu?

Tang Xiaowan’s face was taut. Her trembling hands betrayed her fear, but her answer was absolute.

“If I don’t go, should I watch Fourth Master die in their hands?”

“We still have so many brothers! How can we let you go to your death?”

Zhao Wu gripped his gun, longing to storm the Japanese den and kill them all.

Tang Xiaowan neither cried nor retreated. She stood like a flower on a cliff—proud and unbending.

“Let me go. I have always lived beneath Fourth Master’s wings. Without him, I would have died in some forgotten corner long ago.”

She remembered all the women who had vanished from Spring Breeze House. Had Fourth Master Wu not seized her by chance, her beauty would probably have flared briefly, then disappeared. A straw mat would have wrapped her body, and stray dogs would have eaten the rest.

She carefully painted her brows and made up her face in brilliant colors.

Then she raised her eyes and smiled softly at the men.

The smile was like the opening of the brightest flower.

“If I cannot save Fourth Master, then let Tang Xiaowan’s life repay what I owe him. There is no need for the rest of you to die beside us. If I do not return, kill a few more Japanese devils for us. Call it vengeance for Fourth Master and me.”

“Miss Tang! We cannot be such cowards!”

“Don’t act rashly. My life is worth little. You must live and take revenge for me.”

She turned and walked resolutely into the endless snow.

Winter seemed to fall in an instant.

To Zhao Wu, that year’s snow was cold enough to pierce bone.

Tang Xiaowan had never understood why Fourth Master Wu was so fond of killing.

Anyone who offended him died.

Once he had prodded her nose with a finger and grinned his ugly grin.

“What do you know? If you kill, you pull the weeds up by the roots. Spare a man today and tomorrow he’ll turn around and bite you dead.”

Tang Xiaowan had been too young to understand.

Now she understood completely.

Looking at Yamasaki’s cold, sinister face, she regretted sparing him at the temple. She had refused to kill on sacred ground. Now that mercy had become a trap for her and Fourth Master Wu, one she had no choice but to enter.

Hot blood and no cunning: those were fatal weaknesses.

“Miss Tang, we meet again.”

Yamasaki spoke fluent Chinese and behaved with gentle courtesy, as though he had truly invited her as a guest.

That frightened her more.

She had allowed this snake to live. Now it had awakened and opened its jaws.

Suppressing her terror, she fenced with him in words.

“Release Fourth Master first. I will stay.”

That was her only bargaining piece.

Yamasaki wanted neither cash nor gold. After several rounds, Tang Xiaowan understood his meaning.

She forced herself to stand despite her weakening knees. Once Yamasaki saw that she had taken the bait, he waved a hand. Fourth Master Wu, beaten unconscious, was carried in.

Tang Xiaowan had no time to inspect his injuries. She only wanted him safely outside.

The Japanese were cruel and followed no code of honor. She could not sacrifice herself and still let Fourth Master Wu die, or this journey would mean nothing.

They carried him out. Through the doorway, she watched Zhao Wu and the others receive him.

Feigning ease, she called, “Take good care of Fourth Master. Tell him not to worry about me. This old lady is having a grand time in here!”

Then she turned away before they could see the tears spilling from her eyes.

Zhao Wu’s men tried to force their way back in, but the Japanese soldiers moved to fire.

Tang Xiaowan shouted through the door, “Are you going to make my sacrifice worthless?”

The commotion outside subsided.

Tang Xiaowan smiled through her tears.

She thought she would die.

After a night of degradation and torment, the Japanese tossed her outside like a torn rag, her body covered in wounds.

In such bitter snow, even if the abuse did not kill her, the cold should have.

Her life was stubborn. She survived.

Jufang and Zhao Mingyi found her and carried her home. Zhao Wu’s men had returned several times, but one of their brothers was shot dead. Afraid of provoking the Japanese into further cruelty, they had not dared keep watch at the gate.

Zhao Mingyi sobbed and insisted on avenging his daughter.

Tang Xiaowan’s first words upon waking were, “When you sold me, why didn’t you speak of revenge then?”

He fell silent. Bent beneath the weight of his years, he slunk away.

Jufang never asked what had happened. She cared for Tang Xiaowan in silence. When Tang Xiaowan flew into a rage and smashed everything in her room, Jufang lowered her head, cleared the wreckage, and quietly closed the door.

A thin sob came from behind it.

Jufang sighed. She had always believed Tang Xiaowan’s heart was exceptionally soft.

She merely wore heavy armor and showed the world its sharpest edges.

The Japanese had broken one of Fourth Master Wu’s legs, leaving him with a limp. When he learned what had happened to Tang Xiaowan, he crouched in his residence for three days and nights without food or water.

As soon as she recovered, he had her bound and brought over.

Tang Xiaowan seemed to have lost all life. Her brilliant face had withered into numbness.

She entered to find the estate drowned in wedding red.

“Are you insane?” she asked.

Fourth Master Wu leaned on a crutch, his leg still healing, and bared his teeth. “I’m taking a wife today. Don’t say unlucky things.”

She was about to ask what his marriage had to do with her when Zhao Wu and the others approached, grinning.

“Congratulations, Fourth Master. Congratulations, Madam.”

Tang Xiaowan stared at them, then at Fourth Master Wu’s ugly, aging, battered face.

“Damn it all. With a wife like this, what more could a husband ask?”

It was probably the most cultured sentence he had ever spoken. Roaring with laughter, he left to drink with his brothers.

Tang Xiaowan sat alone in the bridal chamber as moisture slowly filled her eyes.