Chapter 4
Chapter 4
That very day, the man rode hard and caught up with the carriage stopped for a rest along the official road.
Cao Wenyuan lifted the carriage curtain. Catching sight of him, he smiled at Shen Yanxue and said, “I’m going out for some air.”
He walked deep into the woods and took a blood-soaked handkerchief from the bounty killer named Cheng Du.
Wrapped inside the handkerchief was a tiny ear.
“You did well.”
He took a gold ingot from his robes and tossed it onto the ground.
Cheng Du stood there for a long while before finally bending down to pick it up.
When Cao Wenyuan returned to the carriage, Shen Yanxue noticed a trace of blood caught between his fingers.
It was as if she had already realized what had happened. Her heartbeat suddenly stuttered.
Cao Wenyuan made no attempt to hide it. He opened his clenched fist, unfolded the handkerchief, and clearly displayed her eldest daughter’s ear before her eyes.
Shen Yanxue jolted in fright.
She drew in a deep breath and lifted her head, refusing to look.
In her line of sight, the sachet hanging inside the carriage swayed gently.
Even the most insignificant decoration here had tassels woven from gold thread.
She lowered her head and looked at the little daughter in her arms, sleeping soundly, her face peaceful.
Then Shen Yanxue raised the corners of her mouth slightly. “Wenyuan, thank you.”
From now on, her life would return to its proper course.
Every stain left behind by the recklessness of her youth would be wiped clean.
Cao Wenyuan was very satisfied with her reaction. As the carriage began moving forward again, he casually tossed the ear out the window, where it was soon stained by countless clouds of flying dust.
By the time Cheng Du returned, the sky had gone completely dark.
He carried a lantern in one hand and a roast chicken in the other, making his way through the wind and snow that still had not let up.
When he saw me sitting on the threshold waiting for him, my hand pressed over the ear that throbbed with pain again and again, an expression crossed his face-one I could not understand, terribly complicated.
He curled his lip. “Why didn’t you run? Aren’t you afraid I’ll change my mind and kill you the moment I get back?”
As he said that, he sat down on the threshold too, right beside me.
I lowered my eyes. “Uncle, I’m only three.”
There wasn’t a single coin in the house.
Mother didn’t want me. Father was in prison.
As for my only relative, my eldest uncle, he had hated my father to death to begin with.
Where could I run to?
I truly didn’t know.
Cheng Du sighed. “How are you stupid? Aren’t you perfectly self-aware?”
He was always sighing.
My father said children had to learn to read the room and be considerate of adults.
But I didn’t know what I was supposed to do right now to count as considerate.
Smelling the roast chicken, I swallowed. “Uncle, are you thirsty? Should I pour you a cup of water?”
We still had water at home.
Cheng Du lifted the lantern.
Under the dim yellow glow, his already ghostly face looked even paler.
Like my father, he seemed to be someone who was unhappy most of the time.
After a moment, he sighed, tore off a chicken leg, and stuffed it into my mouth.
And so I discovered that he was also someone who loved to sigh.
In that way, he was unlike my father.
My father did not sigh, and he was better-looking than him too. That was why my mother had fallen in love with him at first sight and eloped all the way here.
Then they had me, despised me, and abandoned me.