Chapter 15: Come, Kill the Chicken

Lady Sang swayed slightly.

Nanny Yao was quick to steady her, yet she offered no counsel.

She understood the logic behind the Mistress's words.

Disciplining people was never as simple as a stick for mistakes and candy for rewards, but one truth remained: one must never start a confrontation between the "red face" (the good cop) and the "white face" (the bad cop).

The Consort of the Heir could certainly use a few words to usher the Mistress and the Young Lady away, but if she were to manage the Eldest Young Master after that...

Looking at Lu Zhi, who was cowering over there, Nanny Yao thought privately: *It will be difficult.*

The Young Lady's methods were a bit intense, but there was a reason for them; it was for the Eldest Young Master's own good.

And Nanny Yao suspected the Consort understood this as well.

Lady Sang did indeed understand.

As the matriarch of the household, she had plenty of subordinates at her disposal. She was willing to play whatever role was necessary, whether stern or gentle.

It would be best if she could manage him well. If she truly couldn't, she could simply find a human trafficker to sell him off and be rid of the nuisance.

But if she couldn't discipline her own son, was she supposed to just wave her hand and sell him?

At twelve, he was fighting cockfights and gambling; what would he be at twenty?

He was her only son!

The more Lady Sang thought, the more sorrowful she became, and her heart hardened amidst Lu Zhi's alternating cries of "Mother, save me!" and "Crazy woman, go back to Shu!"

Her sister-in-law was right.

He hadn't admitted his faults from beginning to end; strict discipline was the only way.

Clenching her fists tightly, Lady Sang took a deep breath and said sternly, "Did you go to the cockfights and gamble? Answer me!"

Lu Zhi was stunned. "I..."

He never expected that his savior, his mother, would not only fail to rescue him but would actually join the outsider in scolding him.

Seeing that he had been stuck on "I..." for a long time without another word, A-Wei jerked her chin toward Nanny Wen. Taking the hint, Nanny Wen stepped forward, grabbed Lu Zhi by the back of his collar, and hoisted him up from the ground.

Lu Zhi's strength was no match for Nanny Wen; he was once again forced to face the chicken's head and the blade head-on.

"Is the Great General Black Feather majestic on the arena stage?"

A-Wei asked, though she knew the panicked Lu Zhi wouldn't be able to answer anything right now.

She held the knife to her mouth, gripping it between her lips and teeth. With her free hand, she suddenly exerted force, wrenching the chicken's head backward and pinning its wings down with her other hand. Ignoring the Black Feather chicken's struggles, she plucked the exposed neck feathers in a few quick motions and tossed them to the ground.

The knife was back in her hand.

A-Wei licked her lips and said, "Don't you love watching feathers fly? Come, kill the chicken."

Lu Zhi had originally intended to stop struggling, thinking there was no point since he couldn't win and there were no rescuers. But the moment he heard A-Wei wanted to kill the chicken, his eyes bulged. He tried desperately to shrink back, his mouth full of "Madwoman!"

He knew this madwoman wanted blood!

No, blood had already been drawn.

Whether by accident or design, A-Wei's lip had been nicked by the knife. A bead of blood seeped out, and as she licked it, half her lip was stained red.

Lu Zhi was suddenly reminded of the man-eating female demons from supernatural tales.

"Monster!" He began to struggle, his commotion momentarily even greater than that of the doomed chicken.

But with the immovable Nanny Wen behind him, how could his small frame possibly resist?

Lu Zhi could only watch helplessly as A-Wei shoved the knife into his hand. It was merely a shove; he could feel the handle against his palm, but his entire hand was still controlled by A-Wei. He had no control over how much force he used or how he moved.

And the Black Feather chicken, which had looked so powerful in the arena, could not escape A-Wei at all, nor could it crow loudly.

It could only expose its throat, feebly kicking its already tightly bound feet. That was all it could do.

A-Wei applied pressure with her fingers, forcing Lu Zhi to use the knife in his hand to press against the Black Feather chicken's throat.

"That's it, give it a horizontal slice," A-Wei didn't cut immediately, merely gesturing. "You have to use strength. If you're too weak and don't sever the windpipe, the chicken won't die peacefully. If you let go, it'll go thrashing all over the place with that bloody neck, flapping and bleeding at the same time.

You've watched it fight other chickens and know how tough it is. These fighting cocks have hard lives; they are quite capable right before they die. Even with all of us here, we might not be able to catch it.

By then, your study will be covered in chicken blood, inside and out.

So, you must use a heavy hand and cut it clean so it can't struggle.

Since you like this Black Feather chicken so much, you surely wouldn't want to see it in its death throes, would you? Then give it a quick end!"

Lu Zhi burst into loud wails.

It wasn't that he refused to give the chicken a quick end!

It was this mad monster who wouldn't give *him* a quick end!

When the knife finally applied enough pressure to slit the chicken's throat and blood began to gush out, Lu Zhi's limbs went limp, and he collapsed toward the ground.

Nanny Wen did not let go, keeping him upright.

Taking advantage of this moment, Lu Nian had circled through Lu Zhi's study and snatched a brush pot from his desk.

The brush pot was an old family heirloom, nothing precious—just a cheap piece of ordinary porcelain without any patterns. But Lu Jun had used it when he first started his studies, and it had presumably been passed down to his son.

Even that sense of inadequacy had been passed down along with it.

Feeling extreme disdain, Lu Nian emptied the pot, gave it a quick rinse, wiped it dry, and handed it to A-Wei.

"Don't let the fresh chicken blood go to waste. I remember Lu Jun loved eating blood," Lu Nian curled her lip. "Let him taste his precious son's filial piety."

A-Wei snatched the knife from Lu Zhi's hand and shoved the brush pot into it. "Hold it steady."

Lu Zhi's hands were weak, but he still gripped the pot. He watched as A-Wei positioned the chicken's neck, and the blood flowed into it.

The Black Feather chicken's life was nearing its end; even though the restraint on its wings had been released, it could no longer struggle, only twitching feebly. Its claws kicked the air once, as if trying to grasp something, but it had no strength left.

Lu Zhi watched with his own eyes as the Black Feather's breath grew weaker and the blood dripped more sparsely.

Involuntarily, the image of the divine Black Feather chicken descending from the heavens filled his mind once more, so majestic and grand.

Those flapping wings, those powerful claws—compared to the creature before him, it was only half a day's difference, yet it was the difference between life and death.

And that murderer...

The more Lu Zhi thought, the more panicked he became. He stopped wailing, but his tears flowed even more violently than the chicken blood, soaking his entire face.

A-Wei gripped the chicken's leg, holding the Black Feather chicken upside down to control the flow of blood.

Her gaze swept across the courtyard of people, and she said to Manager Liu, "Bring a bucket of hot water."

Manager Liu was already dazed.

They say one kills a chicken to warn the monkeys. Now the chicken was dead, and the monkey...

The "monkey head" should be the Eldest Young Master. Old Liu didn't know if he counted as one of the monkey's descendants, but regardless, his neck and teeth were aching.

Suddenly called upon, Manager Liu's thoughts drifted wildly. "Ho... hot water?"

"Are you killing a chicken without plucking its feathers?" A-Wei countered.

Manager Liu jolted, wiping cold sweat from his forehead. "Right, you're right."

Having answered, he didn't even wait to ask Lady Sang for permission; his legs trembling, he hurried off.

Hearing this, Lu Zhi let out a sobbed hiccup of rage. "You're killing a chicken in my place and... and now you want to pluck the feathers too?"

A-Wei clicked her tongue and remarked, "Try to be more accurate. Catch all those tears of yours in the chicken blood, so I don't have to dilute it with salt water later."

Lu Zhi only had a hobby for cockfighting and knew very little about anything else related to chickens. He had no idea how much salt water was needed to dilute chicken blood; hearing A-Wei say this, he suddenly found he couldn't even produce any more tears.