Chapter 3
Chapter 3
That night, we were thrown into the dungeon.
The Bawd brandished a whip, her voice sharp and piercing.
“Speak! Whose idea was it?”
Xizhu trembled violently, but she rushed to speak before I could, sobbing as she kowtowed.
“It was me! I was the one who lost my mind! I goaded this sister into running away with me!”
I froze.
We were mere strangers who had met by chance; why was she protecting me like this?
The Bawd used the tip of her shoe to tilt my chin up, her heavily made-up face leaning in close.
“Since this is your first offense and you were instigated by this wench, I’ll let you off this time. This face of yours is my future cash cow; it would break my heart to ruin it.”
She turned to Xizhu immediately, her expression twisting into something hideous.
“As for you, you ungrateful bitch, I’ll let you taste what ‘discipline’ really means!”
Soon, the sharp crack of a whip tearing through the air echoed from the neighboring cell.
It was punctuated by Xizhu’s uncontrollable screams.
One after another.
Each strike felt like a dull knife sawing at my heart.
She wailed for the entire night.
The next day, the Bawd dragged me to the front of the neighboring cell.
“Look closely. This is what happens when you don’t listen!”
Xizhu was curled up on the filthy straw, her body a bloody mess, her breathing faint.
The Bawd covered her nose in disgust.
“Beaten like this, she’ll be a money-loser even if she’s cured. Better to just roll her up in a straw mat and dump her in a mass grave to save the trouble!”
Xizhu struggled to beg for mercy, but only broken, raspy sounds escaped her throat.
In that moment, my mind went white.
Years ago, my younger sister had died at sixteen because she jumped in to save me from drowning.
Now, Xizhu’s face and my sister’s bruised, desperate face as she drowned overlapped before my eyes.
No, I couldn’t let her die in front of me again.
I absolutely couldn’t!
“No!” I collapsed to my knees, grabbing the Bawd’s skirt. “Mother… please, I beg you, save her!”
The Bawd looked down at me, her eyes appraising me like a piece of merchandise.
“Save her? Fine.” Her lips curled upward. “The cost of her medicine will be deducted from the silver you earn from guests-double… no, triple!”
“I agree!”
A living, breathing human life hung in the balance, and more than that, this was my chance to redeem a past regret.
I had no other choice.