Chapter 8: Dead End (8)

Chapter 8: Dead End (Part 8)

Zhao Zhao did not wait for anyone else to act. She hugged her pipa, turned, and walked away. Her departure was fluid and decisive, charging headlong into the night as if the darkness were nothing more than a series of walls she could break through.

She burst out of the Zhao residence with her head down, running straight into Xiao Duo. Seeing that she had emerged unscathed, he hurried over to ask, "Did you manage to bluff that Zhao fellow?"

"No."

"…Did he lay a hand on you?"

"No, he didn't."

"Then…"

Zhao Zhao shook her head. "Nothing happened at all."

She had expected the man surnamed Zhao to be handsy, but he had merely crooked a finger and spouted some empty, worthless pleasantries. Seeing that she lacked the posture of a fawning, sycophantic woman, he simply couldn't be bothered to put in the effort.

Having dodged a bullet, Zhao Zhao should have felt relieved, but instead, she felt deeply unsettled.

Once she climbed into the donkey cart, she buried her face in her knees and muttered to herself, "No wonder they don't say 'visiting a prostitute' out there; they say 'playing with a prostitute.' To those masters, aren't we just toys? Played with lightly, played with carelessly, just like teasing a dog or a cat."

Xiao Duo pulled on the donkey's reins and said gloomily, "…That may be how it is, but there are those who are lucky enough to climb up and live a good life with a master."

Zhao Zhao was already in a foul mood, and hearing this only fueled her fire. She kicked him in the backside and snapped, "My mother believed that kind of nonsense, which is why she let a man bewitch her. If I had harbored any thoughts of climbing up while I was in the Zhao residence, I’d be tangled up in the sheets with that man right now!"

She explained the situation in a few short sentences. Xiao Duo was incensed upon hearing it, cursing the ancestors of Master Zhao to the eighteenth generation in every way he could think of. After he finished venting, he asked with concern, "Did that Zhao fellow say anything else?"

Zhao Zhao let out a silent, cold laugh. He had said that there was plenty of time, that he wasn't in a hurry.

It was clear that this wasn't out of kindness; he had her pegged. He intended to wear her down until she had no choice but to submit—it sounded like the persistence required to move mountains, but in reality, it was just a low-ball offer for a high-value prize.

Crouched in the coffin-sized donkey cart, she felt nothing but annoyance and helplessness. "I don't understand. That Zhao fellow has vast wealth; he doesn't lack the money to buy me. Why use empty words to trick me, wanting me to lower my own price to follow him?"

"You just said they treat us like dogs to be teased; what else is there to understand? When those masters are bored, they love to watch us make fools of ourselves."

Xiao Duo sighed. "I didn't understand it at first either—why a prostitute had to be carried by a pimp when visiting a client. But after seeing and experiencing enough, I realized that they want to play with a prostitute, yet they find her dirty. Having a pimp carry a creature that has been ridden by thousands and crossed by ten thousand—isn't that both dirty and base? Those masters know how to play; spending one portion of money to buy two portions of amusement is simply too cost-effective."

Through the night, Zhao Zhao couldn't see his expression. "Then why do you still give me the money you worked so hard to save?"

Ever since Yao Niang returned, Zhao Zhao had been paying for doctors and medicine; the silver she had couldn't keep up with the expenses. It was only because of Xiao Duo’s loyalty, giving her all his savings, that she and Yao Niang hadn't been left to starve.

They were both poor; no one could spend money without feeling the sting, but Xiao Duo dismissed it. "What kind of friendship do we have? We held hands learning to walk as children, grew up getting into trouble together, and later on…"

His voice trailed off. He knew what "later on" meant: it would be him carrying Zhao Zhao through the streets, delivering her to the beds of those masters.

He didn't continue, and Zhao Zhao didn't ask. There was silence—a silence as heavy as a secret burial.

The old donkey pulling the cart couldn't speak human language and couldn't comfort them, so it simply put its strength into running forward, filling the void with the clatter of wooden wheels.

Xiao Duo was just about to praise the beast for its intuition when he noticed it running faster and faster, more and more frantically, as if it were fleeing for its life. Finally, in a panic, it plunged into the woods.

There were no proper paths in the forest, only small slopes piled with dead branches and leaves, making the wooden cart creak and groan.

Xiao Duo and Zhao Zhao felt as if they were riding the crest of a wave, rising and falling against their will. They pulled on the reins together, trying to force the donkey back onto the main road, but the beast wouldn't listen, stubbornly burying its head and pushing deeper into the woods.

"This donkey has gone mad!" As soon as Xiao Duo spoke, a tree branch whipped him across the mouth.

Zhao Zhao gripped the reins tightly, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a pair of fireflies floating in the vast darkness behind them. She had seen fireflies when she arrived, but these were brighter, glowing with a ghastly green light, and they moved far too fast, maintaining a constant distance behind them.

She realized something was wrong. "Xiao Duo! Look, what is that?"

Xiao Duo looked back in a panic and shouted, "What time is it to be looking at fireflies—" He stared at the two green orbs, and suddenly his voice died. A chill ran down his spine, and his voice trembled. "That’s no firefly, damn it—that’s a wolf!"

No wonder the old donkey was running like a madman; it was trying to save their lives!

Now, they finally understood the old donkey's good intentions. There was no time for thanks; instead, they whipped the poor beast to make it run even faster, praying to every god and ancestor that the animal could lead them to safety.

But an old donkey is still an old donkey. Its hooves grew weaker, and its pace slowed.

The wolf was in hot pursuit, panting heavily. At a glance, it looked like a scrawny, large dog, but one only had to look at those bared, bone-white fangs to feel the terror.

It must have been starving, driven by a desperate, wicked hunger. It seized the moment and leaped onto the donkey cart.

A black shadow flashed by. Before Xiao Duo could even smell the foul, musky wind, he saw Zhao Zhao swing a wooden club. "Duck!"

Xiao Duo reacted instantly. The club whistled past his scalp and slammed into the wolf’s head with a loud thud. The wolf let out a whimper and slid off the cart like a sack of rags.

Before they could catch their breath, those two green lights flickered back to life in the darkness!

That blow seemed to have opened the wolf’s meridians; it ran even faster than before. It had also learned the principle of capturing the leader to win the battle, lunging forward to take the life of the old donkey!

The donkey couldn't dodge the wolf’s claws and was scratched across the face. Blood blinded it, making it even less able to distinguish between a good path and a bad one, dragging the cart as it jolted over the mounds of earth.

Zhao Zhao and Xiao Duo, huddled in the cart, were like soybeans in a wok, tossed and turned, their heads already covered in bumps.

Xiao Duo tried to speak, but before he could make a sound, the cart jolted again. His teeth slammed together, and he nearly bit his tongue off.

Zhao Zhao grabbed Xiao Duo’s wrist and shoved a wooden club into his hand, taking one for herself. She said, concise and clear: "Jump!"

Rather than being tossed around like a ragdoll while the donkey ran wild, it was better to jump and fight the wolf!

The two locked eyes, gripping their clubs tightly. Just as they were about to jump, the old donkey let out a loud, piercing neigh. Its four hooves left the ground as it leaped forward. It had the grace of a steed leaping through the clouds, but the cart plummeted, slamming down like a lid and pinning Zhao Zhao and Xiao Duo inside. They felt the world go black, a sharp pain shot through their heads, and then they were helpless, tumbled and rolled down the hillside by the cart.

Thud—

Thud—

Thud—

The world turned upside down. All Zhao Zhao could do was hold onto Xiao Duo’s hand.

(End of chapter)