Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Madame Qin’s condition worsened three days later.

When I rushed to the south side of town, Xie Wujiu was on his knees picking up medicinal dregs from the floor.

The room was a mess; the medicine stove was shattered, the wooden box had been pried open, empty inside.

Madame Qin was delirious with fever, constantly murmuring, “Don’t let them take Ah Jiu away.”

I asked, “Who came?”

Xie Wujiu said nothing.

His hand had been cut by shards of pottery, blood dripping into the dregs.

I crouched down and grabbed his hand.

“Xie Wujiu, talk to me.”

He finally looked up.

“The Zhou Family.”

A chill ran through me.

“What did they take?”

“I don’t know.”

I looked at the empty wooden box.

“What was originally in it?”

Xie Wujiu remained silent.

I said, “If you don’t tell me, I can’t save your mother.”

Those words hit hard.

A ripple finally stirred in his eyes.

“Half of a bronze tablet.”

“What kind?”

“A tiger head on the front, and the character ‘Yan’ engraved on the back.”

As I thought.

I sat on the ground, my palms going cold.

In my previous life, after Xie Wujiu disappeared from Qingshi Town, no one knew where he went for three years. Later, he returned leading the Black Armor Army, with a loyal remnant force at his side who all called him “Young Lord.”

That remnant force was originally the broken army of Prince Yan’s Mansion.

Twenty years ago, Prince Yan was convicted of treason, his entire family executed, and his youngest son disappeared without a trace.

And Xie Wujiu was exactly that posthumous son of Prince Yan.

I had thought the Zhou Family was simply bullying him for his poverty.

But now it was clear: Magistrate Zhou had long known his true identity, only lacking the proof.

“Wanzhao.”

Xie Wujiu called my name for the first time.

I snapped back to attention.

He looked at me. “How do you know all this?”

My heart skipped a beat.

“I don’t know.”

“When you saw the wooden box, you weren’t surprised at all.”

He was too perceptive.

I lowered my head and bandaged his hand.

“I was just scared.”

“Afraid of what?”

“Afraid that you’d go where I couldn’t stop you.”

He fell silent.

Suddenly, Madame Qin coughed up a mouthful of blood.

We could no longer dwell on anything else.

I told Xie Wujiu to fetch Dr. Yuan from the west of town. He had no money, so I pressed my last silver hairpin into his hand.

He refused to take it.

“I already used your bracelet.”

“A life is more important than a hairpin.”

“I’ll pay you back someday.”

“Alright.”

He clutched the silver hairpin and dashed out into the rain.

That night, I watched over Madame Qin.

She briefly woke once and grabbed my hand.

“Miss Lin.”

“I’m here.”

“If one day Ah Jiu truly becomes a villain, don’t blame him.”

My throat tightened.

Madame Qin gazed at the leaking roof.

“When he was born, he was just a child too.”

After she said that, she fell back into a stupor.

I sat by the bed and suddenly thought of the Xie Wujiu from my previous life.

Everyone cursed him as a tyrant, an evil spirit, a bloodthirsty killer.

But no one ever asked how a demon was created.