Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Xie Lanting studied with great focus, practicing until very late before finally going to bed, still wishing he could continue.

I went out and told the steward to choose someone skilled in hand-to-hand combat from among the guards. Starting tomorrow, that person would teach Xie Lanting martial arts.

The steward sighed. “You truly are good to the young master.”

“A mother being good to her child is only right and proper.”

The steward looked as if he wanted to say something, then stopped himself, then seemed about to speak again. In the end, he said nothing. He merely smiled in relief, then turned and went about his duties.

The original owner had been extremely impatient when she first heard Xie Lanting was to be brought back. So the steward probably thought I was acting rather contradictory now.

That night, I drove Xie Er and his whole family to sleep in the woodshed.

For no other reason than that I had only just learned Xie Lanting used to sleep in the woodshed. He had slept there for four or five years.

In the middle of the night, I heard Xie Er and his wife beating their child.

“Get the hell over there! You’re just a useless girl, and you dare squeeze over here? Move to that side!”

“Your brother knows to protect his parents. You ungrateful little wretch only know how to hide inside and sleep. Get away!”

A little girl’s cries rose faintly, then were swallowed back down into muffled sobs.

Xie Lanting was startled awake too.

He said that was Er Ya, the youngest daughter of Xie Er and his wife.

He looked at me and opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing.

I did not ask either. I waited for him to speak on his own.

I could not be the roundworm in his stomach, guessing at every thought he had. If he wanted something from me, he had to learn to tell me, to communicate with me.

The next morning, Xie Er and his wife got up to make breakfast.

A little girl was helping them.

Her face was dark and sunburned, and her eyes were bright, but her gaze was like stagnant water. There was none of a child’s innocence in them, only sorrow and numbness.

Xie Er’s Wife ordered her to bring the food over.

The steward said in a low voice, “Madam, I saw them spit into the food.”

Xie Er and his wife looked terrified and hurriedly denied it.

I smiled, took out a packet of laxative I had prepared in advance, poured it into the food, stirred it around, and had someone bring the food to Xie Er and his wife so they could finish it.

Xie Er and his wife were stunned and struggled desperately.

“What is this? I’m not eating it!”

“Just a bit of laxative. It’ll cure that rotten gut of yours.”

I had people force it down their throats. Once the two of them finished eating, they immediately started clawing at their own throats. Then they clutched their stomachs and rushed outside.

That day, the two of them were nearly drained dry. Later, they lay in the woodshed, groaning and wailing, unable to move at all.

Xie Lanting and I went next door.

I had brought many people with me this time, and quite a few were staying with the nearby villagers. We gave them some silver as well, so the villagers were very happy and served us food and drink with great care.

From the very beginning, I had never planned to eat food from Xie Er’s home. I had only wanted to see what disgusting thing they would do next, so I could disgust them right back.

After the meal, I had Xie Lanting fight Tiedan again.

Seeing his parents in that state, Tiedan had been holding in his anger for a long time.

To be fair, the boy did have some spirit. He had decent potential. Unfortunately, he did not have a good pair of parents, and all his strength had been used to bully the weak.

In this fight, Xie Lanting lost as usual.

Xie Er and his wife were smug. It was as if the wounds on their bodies had healed and their stomachs no longer hurt. They hummed little tunes, praising their son for doing them proud while scolding Er Ya for being slow and clumsy.

When the physician applied medicine to Xie Lanting’s injuries, he did not look discouraged at all.

I teased him on purpose.

“Huh? Why aren’t you sad at all today?”

Xie Lanting’s eyes shone brightly, and his tone carried a kind of certainty.

“I hit him seven times today. He only knocked me down because he’s stronger. As long as I eat more, I’ll definitely be able to beat him.”

That was true. For Xie Lanting’s malnourished little body to last that long, he had relied entirely on his own quick wits.