Chapter 6: The Torrential Rain Ceases

He Shanyue gathered her courage to speak, but her voice was quickly drowned out by the clamorous, overwhelming sounds of the zither, pipa, and drums. No one responded.

Like an insignificant bubble, she melted into the water.

Life was extinguished, yet the wind passed without leaving a trace.

He Shanyue looked at the carriage. The hemp ropes binding the frame had been soaked in tung oil, thick and sturdy. She then looked at the large drum no more than ten paces away. A lotus flower was carved in relief on the drum’s rim; now, she could see it more clearly. The lotus was encircled by a ring of gold leaf, exuding an oppressive air of wealth.

He Shanyue took a bold step forward and slammed the drumstick hard against the drumhead—"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The music stopped abruptly. The people on the carriage were stunned for a moment, then, almost in unison, they raised their eyebrows in perfect synchronization, their eyes drooping to look down with cold, indifferent gazes.

To the place where the ants resided.

"We won, didn't we?" He Shanyue spoke loudly again.

On the carriage, someone finally laughed.

It was the burly man with sparse hair and eyebrows. His voice was as high-pitched and shrill as before: "Hahahaha! Won? Won what! There are four of you left! Only the very last person standing counts as the winner!"

The man’s gaze darted between the three of them. Once he realized their relationship, he suddenly raised his hand and grinned: "Number Fifteen, if you kill your old mother and your sister, you win! All this silver will be yours!"

Qiu Erniang could no longer hold it in. With a "thud," she knelt on the ground: "We don't want the silver! We don't want the silver! Please, noble ones, let us go back! I will die, I will die, just please let my two girls live!"

The woman surrounded by the others frowned slightly: "I said I’m tired of hearing the Songjiang dialect!"

Two men in black immediately stepped forward. One pinned Qiu Erniang’s back, while the other pried her mouth open. A cold glint flashed, the hand rose and the blade fell, and a piece of a bloody tongue dropped to the ground.

"Mother! Mother!" He Shuguang screamed in terror, crying helplessly as she threw herself forward.

Qiu Erniang’s eyes bulged, her mouth agape, blood dripping down in a steady stream.

Everything happened too fast!

He Shanyue’s eyes instantly welled up with hot tears: "Mother!"

This was a show of force.

If the mother and her two daughters didn't act, others would be there to collect their corpses for them.

He Shanyue’s vision blurred; her tears could neither be wiped away nor stopped. She finally took a deep breath, slowly raising her right hand to reveal a sharpened pair of scissors, the blade pointed toward the people on the carriage.

The music had ceased, and countless figures poised for action sprang out from behind the mountain.

He Shanyue’s scissors, facing the dark night, were like a mantis trying to stop a chariot—pitifully, ridiculously small.

"Do you keep your word?" He Shanyue asked, her face cold as she held the scissors with one hand. She turned the blade, but it was now aimed at her blood-covered mother and her sobbing sister.

No one responded, but everyone on the carriage watched her with fervent, excited eyes.

"Ding—" The highest note of a zither string was plucked.

He Shanyue moved in response. With a sidestep, she hid behind the silent, round-eyed boy. Her left arm clamped tightly around his neck, and the scissors in her right hand pressed against his throat. With strength born from nowhere, she dragged the boy backward several steps until her back hit a large tree, only then did she poke half her head out to breathe.

"If you let them go, I’ll let him go! My life is cheap; trading one-for-one with you wealthy aristocrats, I’m not losing out!" He Shanyue shouted.

The round-eyed boy held his hands above his head, his voice trembling with tears: "Number Fifteen, I’m a commoner too! What’s the point of kidnapping me!?"

He Shanyue didn't want to talk to him. She pressed her right hand harder, and a bloody line instantly appeared on the boy’s neck.

The woman surrounded by the others on the carriage stood up abruptly, shouting sharply: "You dare!"

He Shanyue finally curled her lips into a fleeting smile. With a sweep of her peripheral vision, she saw He Shuguang immediately grab Qiu Erniang and stumble toward the space behind her.

"You can try and see if I dare!" He Shanyue’s voice was loud: "You like watching people get killed, so I’ll kill for you to see! Who is this 'piglet' I’m killing?"

He Shanyue shouted: "A young master from the capital, right?! How stupid! Even though he’s wearing hemp clothes, they’re as new as if they were made today!"

"You young masters and misses haven't walked mountain paths, have you?! If you ran through brush this high, your hems would have been shredded long ago. How could they still be so neat!"

"What’s worse, you kidnapped thirty-four people, but only four were men. I memorized the faces of those four men at a glance, yet a strange face suddenly appeared halfway through—pfft! Our lives may be cheap, but our brains aren't stupid! You may have been born well, but heaven punishes the foolish!"

"The most ridiculous thing is, I’m holding a torch, yet no one else came forward—my theory is confirmed! This fair-skinned piglet has someone secretly protecting him, which is the only way to isolate all possible danger!"

He Shanyue’s tone was mocking: "As the old saying goes, if you’re full and have nothing to do, you either jump off a cliff or go looking for death. People watch cockfights, you watch human fights! And it’s not enough to watch, you have to join in! As you wished, now, it has finally fallen into the hands of us 'lowly' people!"

He Shuguang helped Qiu Erniang hide behind the large tree.

It was too bright.

It took nearly four or five breaths before the two dared to move their position backward again.

The people on the carriage were provoked to extreme anger, especially the woman with the tear-shaped mole, but they were held back by fear, and no one dared to order a strike.

The man on the far left finally spoke. He stood up slowly, arms crossed, looking at He Shanyue with a calm expression: "At what point did you realize we had no intention of leaving anyone alive?"

He Shanyue’s gaze fell quickly onto the man in white: "From the beginning."

The man in white frowned: "Why?"

He Shanyue laughed mockingly: "Your rules said, 'The last person alive has a chance to take the silver and leave' and 'The winner can sleep soundly with the silver'—'A chance' is equivalent to impossible; 'sleep soundly together'—"

"Only dead people can sleep soundly with a mountain of dead things!"

He Shanyue laughed: "You never intended for us to live!"

As she spoke, the blade sliced through the round-eyed boy’s skin. Blood flowed down his neck into his collar, and in no time, it stained his neckline and chest red.

"Don't, don't, don't!" The round-eyed boy finally fell into true panic, looking up: "Sister! Save me! Sister!"

The woman with the tear-shaped mole smashed her wine cup onto the ground: "Lowly trash! The lowest of the low actually dared to scheme against us!"

Many arrows aimed at He Shanyue, and at He Shuguang and Qiu Erniang, who were retreating bit by bit.

Qiu Erniang gripped the tree trunk tightly, shaking her head, unable to speak, but blood-tears streamed from her eyes.

He Shuguang cried until she collapsed, reaching out to touch the hem of her sister’s clothes.

"Run!" He Shanyue tilted her head, lowering her voice. Under the bright oil-paper lanterns, her eyes were like two burning torches: "Run! Run to the west, and think carefully about what you have in your arms!"

He Shanyue said fiercely: "Use your brain! Live by curling up! Live by gritting your teeth! Just live, damn it!"

What was in her arms?

He Shuguang’s tear-filled eyes suddenly brightened. She pulled Qiu Erniang along and, while the people on the carriage were still in shock, ran quickly toward the west.

Qiu Erniang’s blood-tears dripped down as she shook her head, again and again, with great difficulty.

"Go!" He Shanyue roared, her grip tightening, the blade sinking deeper.

The round-eyed boy screamed: "Sister! Let them go first! Sister!"

The woman on the carriage paced back and forth. After an unknown amount of time in the standoff, they heard a shrill cry: "Fire! It’s on fire! Fire! Fire!"

In the nearby mountain forest, a towering fire had erupted!

Seven or eight days of high temperatures had long since dried out the moisture in the trees! It wasn't just one spot; several clusters of fire had gathered nearby and quickly merged into one. The haystacks placed on the platform caught all the stray sparks, and the fire spread rapidly, threatening to reach the tung-oil-soaked hemp ropes.

The heat behind He Shanyue was scorching.

The round-eyed boy screamed one after another.

The area in front of the carriage turned into chaos.

The man in white on the left had a cold expression. He spoke again: "Archers, fire."

"No! A-Yuan is there!" The woman weakly grabbed the man’s sleeve.

The man in white raised his hand slightly, letting the woman’s fingers slip away: "Either be burned to death or have your throat slit, A-Yuan has to choose one, right?"

The man in white’s tone hadn't changed much from start to finish, but now it held a hint of obvious mockery: "Only fools would enthusiastically volunteer to be prey."

After the mockery, he raised his hand and hooked his finger: "Shoot Number Fifteen. She has fire roasting her back; with the heat burning her, it’s impossible for her not to have a weakness. Killing her now might still save A-Yuan—" He paused: "Even if he is a fool, he is a fool of the Grand Princess’s estate, and he must be saved."

The man in white pulled his bowstring. The arrow pierced through the rising flames, its trajectory precise, striking straight at her.

He Shanyue let out a muffled groan as her shoulder was pinned to the tree trunk by the arrow.

The round-eyed boy took the opportunity to crawl forward, crying and scrambling in terror.

The fire grew larger, and tongues of flame finally kissed the tung-oil-soaked hemp ropes. The people on the carriage panicked and abandoned the vehicle to flee. Before leaving, they shouted angrily: "Add more fire! Burn this place clean! It’s a good thing we’re here, otherwise, it would have been such a disappointment!"

The fire was massive, the flames leaping toward the sky, with waves of rolling smoke and heat crashing over them.

He Shanyue knelt on the ground, hot dust filling her lungs. She was losing consciousness.

In her haze, perhaps it was a dream, she saw a blood-covered Qiu Erniang, wearing dripping wet clothes, rushing through the sea of fire. Her hunched body had never stood so tall. She pulled the arrow from He Shanyue’s shoulder and, with "squeaking" gestures, hid her in her withered bosom.

In the sea of fire, Qiu Erniang held her nearly unconscious eldest daughter tightly.

And He Shanyue curled up against her mother’s abdomen, like a newborn infant entering the world.

He Shanyue shed a tear unconsciously.

Now, she no longer had the strength to use a cry to repay her mother’s selfless gift of life.

Ah, ah, ah, I’m half an hour late, but it’s three thousand words, so let’s call it even.

(End of chapter)