Chapter 25: Severing Ties
Zhang Zhu led his men to ransack the Feng family’s home. Mother Feng, her face withered, weakly confessed that there was not a single coin left. Zhang Zhu gritted his teeth in hatred. There was really nothing left to take, so he simply led away the two pigs the Feng family was raising.
Lying down in the deep of night, the nauseating stench from his head still potent, Zhang Zhu squeezed his eyes shut, his head aching from the smell.
He couldn’t swallow this insult. He thought of the Feng family’s third daughter, who had pretended to be obedient in the morning but had actually run off with a wild man, and the two liang of betrothal gift money that had disappeared without a trace. He was extremely unwilling.
Mr. Feng had shouted out Feng Yuzhen’s address when he was being beaten—in the west of Qianshan Village.
Tomorrow, he would tie her up in public and bring her back. Then she would be at his mercy to beat, scold, and torment… He seemed to foresee Feng Yuzhen’s cries and pleas in his hands tomorrow, and a lewd smile appeared on his face.
Before he could finish his beautiful dream, it was as if a thin, sharp icicle was prodding his face. He groggily opened his eyes and saw a figure standing by his bed against the light.
He was instantly alert, a chill running down his back. It wasn’t an icicle. What was pressed against his face was clearly a cold dagger.
“Hero, hero, let’s talk this out,” Zhang Zhu’s voice trembled. “The money is buried under the third brick from the west wall. Big Brother, just take it. I’m blind tonight.”
Seeing him open his eyes, the slender figure moved. The blood-stained, chipped tip of the dagger scraped past the groove of his nose and pressed under his eye. He asked coldly:
“Which hand touched her this morning?”
“Huh?”
Her? Who is she?
In this life-or-death situation, Zhang Zhu’s mind raced. Only then did he realize that this person was connected to Feng Yuzhen.
He understood everything at once. He deeply regretted how he had been so foolish as to step into the Feng family’s mess. He begged, “Big Brother, I was also deceived by the Feng family. I really didn’t know she was your woman! You and the young lady are a match made in heaven. I’m just a toad trying to eat swan meat. We didn’t even get to bow to the heavens and earth. How about I kowtow to you three times, alright?”
The dark figure didn’t move for a long time. He chewed on some words in his mind, thinking that this person’s words were quite pleasant to the ear. So he moved the dagger from his face. Before Zhang Zhu could catch his breath, a sharp pain shot through his fingers—
The dagger had moved to his hand. The dark figure’s voice was like a death sentence. “Left hand or right hand? If you don’t say, you’ll lose both.”
“R-right, right hand. Big Brother, please let me go. I just touched her hand. I was really wrong. Don’t chop it, don’t chop it, ahhh—”
He cried and wailed, his body suddenly jerking up. The dark figure was unmoved. He easily twisted his right hand, and the cold iron pierced his palm, cutting through the flesh and blood like a block of tofu. Accompanied by Zhang Zhu’s ghostly wails, his hand steadily drew a bloody cross.
Cui Jingkong stopped. Zhang Zhu’s blood had splattered onto his hand.
Other people’s blood is so dirty. He frowned in disgust and flung all the blood from the back of the blade onto the ground.
He skillfully washed the dagger clean in the stream. The bloodstains drifted away in the water. The prayer beads were showing their power, now stuck to the flesh and blood of his wrist. Because of his strong killing intent, the golden bell sound also rang in his mind.
He suddenly remembered when he was fifteen, when he had drowned a bandit who had tried to rob him in the water. The extreme pleasure that had welled up in his heart. This pleasure only existed in killing. He had once searched for it in vain, until that night with the intoxicating scent of bitter orange.
He walked back under the moonlight. There was a faint light in the house. Feng Yuzhen, who had been waiting anxiously, opened the door and saw the young man’s pale face, his clothes and sleeves stained with blood.
Feng Yuzhen’s heart tightened. She looked him up and down for any injuries and blamed herself, “Are you hurt? It’s all my fault for talking such nonsense to you today…”
Her words trailed off, because her shoulder suddenly felt a weight. Feng Yuzhen stood stiffly, stunned. The young man opposite her suddenly lowered his head and rested it on her thin shoulder, his voice muffled. “My head hurts.”
Cui Jingkong’s hair tickled her neck. Feng Yuzhen’s hands clutched the fabric at her sides, and she said dryly, “Shall I rub it for you?”
And so the door closed, and the two of them walked into the house, the faint lamplight quietly burning until midnight.
***
The Feng family had suffered a great disaster—
The village rumors reached Feng Yuzhen’s ears five days later.
Mr. Feng had been beaten by those strong men until his face was crooked and his mouth was askew. He had lost his senses and was paralyzed in bed, drooling all day, completely dependent on Mother Feng to take care of his needs.
As for the younger son, Feng Zhao, it was said that he had encountered a wolf in the mountains at night, which had torn off his leg and arm, and even bitten off his tongue. Fortunately, he had survived and had been found by a villager who was gathering firewood early in the morning and sent back to the Feng family.
When her disfigured younger son was carried home after a night, Mother Feng had thrown herself on him and cried, then had fainted from lack of breath.
In addition, the house had been ransacked. The Feng family didn’t even have a single intact bowl. A few days ago, Mr. Feng had been boasting that his son would be holding a grand wedding banquet in two months and would be marrying the richest and most beautiful girl from the Li family. But overnight, things had changed, and it was truly lamentable.
Feng Yuzhen was silent for several days after hearing the news. She kept asking herself, was she going too far with her family?
Her soft personality was like that. It had been formed long ago and couldn’t be changed. With a little hesitation, the desire to compromise would take over.
Taking a step back, they were, after all, blood relatives. She clearly knew that Cui Jingkong would be ruthless and cruel if he acted, but she had tacitly allowed him to go. Now, no one in the Feng family had died, but the family was definitely broken. It would be better to stop here.
But when she thought of the dim cellar, her earnest pleas, and how the three of them, knowing full well, were going to sacrifice her life for a few measly liang of silver, hatred welled up in her.
Was it just because she was a money-losing daughter, a widow with no man to rely on, that she could be treated with such contempt over and over again?
That night, Feng Yuzhen brought a cup of tea to her brother-in-law, who was studying. He stayed up too late, often until midnight. She couldn’t help him. She had heard that tea was refreshing. The price was naturally not low, but she had gritted her teeth and bought two catties for him.
Cui Jingkong looked up from his book and said thank you. Feng Yuzhen subconsciously slapped away the hand he extended to take the tea, her tone a little reproachful. “It’s still hot.”
Hearing a light laugh, she realized what she had done. Not wanting to be so embarrassed, Feng Yuzhen quickly got to the point. “Kong’ge’er, I’m going back to my family’s home tomorrow. I… I want to completely sever ties with them.”
Since ancient times, for children to cut ties with their parents was undoubtedly an act of great impiety and unfilialness, and would surely be criticized and gossiped about behind their backs. It was clear that Feng Yuzhen hated the cannibalistic Feng family to be so resolute.
She was a little uneasy, waiting for Cui Jingkong’s reaction. But he only gave a light acknowledgment and added, “I’ll go with Sister-in-law.”
“Oh…” she was stunned for a moment and couldn’t help but ask, “Nothing else to say?”
Cui Jingkong turned his head to the side and looked at her. “Have you decided?”
Feng Yuzhen nodded, a hint of resilience in her expression. She had been thinking about it for the past five or six days. The thought that had faintly emerged had startled her, but it had solidified in these past few days.
Cui Jingkong said calmly, “Do whatever you want. You don’t have to worry about the consequences.”
His dark eyes were bright and brown in the candlelight. Feng Yuzhen returned to the side room in a bit of a panic. She closed the door and leaned against it, thinking, I knew it.
Cui Jingkong’s morals were weak, different from ordinary people. Naturally, he wouldn’t think her actions were excessive. The storybook had said that he couldn’t understand the so-called principles of human relations. To some extent, he was more like a monster in human skin, living among mortals.
But it was under the protection of this monster that she had been able to escape death. Feng Yuzhen knew she couldn’t think about it anymore, but she still hid under the covers and quietly curved her lips, the arc very slight—the feeling of being favored again was really new and precious to her.
***
The next morning, Feng Yuzhen and Cui Jingkong arrived at the Feng family’s home. Cui Jingkong had already seen it that night, but Feng Yuzhen was truly shocked for a moment.
The courtyard, which had been kept clean and tidy by Mother Feng, was now piled with scrap wood and broken porcelain. At the time, they had only had time to sweep these things out of the house. Now, there was only a narrow, empty space in the courtyard for people to walk through to the house.
Mother Feng was sitting at the entrance, her back to her. She had only had a few strands of white hair before, but now half her head was white.
She was sitting on two crossed wooden logs. There wasn’t even a stool. She was there, grinding a piece of wood with a file—she wanted to at least make a simple bowl to use.
Feng Yuzhen’s expression was complicated. She called out, “Mother.”
Mother Feng’s body paused. She supported herself on the doorframe and stood up shakily, as if she had aged ten years in these few days.
If it had been before, Feng Yuzhen would have definitely gone to help her mother up from the two wooden logs. But this time, she just watched with a hint of pity and did not step forward.
Mother Feng turned and saw that it was her, accompanied by a tall, thin young man.
Anger first rose on her face, and it looked as if she were about to burst out cursing. But soon, as if she had thought of something, she immediately deflated, like a leaky cotton jacket, no longer able to muster her previous spirit.
She didn’t look at Feng Yuzhen and just supported herself on her knees and sat down. “You should go in and see your brother and your father first.”
Feng Yuzhen walked into the house. She went to see Mr. Feng first. He was in an even more wretched state than the rumors had said. His face was swollen and bruised, and he was making some vague, short sounds. A foul smell came from him. He had probably soiled the bed.
This thin, fierce father, who had once kicked her out of the house, causing her to vomit a mouthful of blood. In her eyes, he had been as insurmountable as a mountain. But now, he was just a muddle-headed cripple.
In the room next to Mr. and Mrs. Feng’s was Feng Zhao, who had become a cripple. Feng Yuzhen saw his terrifying stumps and took a step back in horror. Fortunately, Cui Jingkong had been following behind her and supported her.
When she got closer, Feng Zhao’s eyes were fixed on her, shooting out a venomous glare. He opened his mouth to curse, but his mouth was empty: he no longer had a tongue.
Cui Jingkong stood beside her at Feng Zhao’s bedside. Feng Zhao struggled to grab Feng Yuzhen with his only remaining right hand. She dodged back, and Feng Zhao comically reached out, unable to do anything to her anymore.
Feng Yuzhen despised her own viciousness. Her own father and brother were in a state worse than death, but she could only feel a faint sense of pleasure. It was as if she had gotten her revenge, but her heart was empty, not as satisfying as she had imagined.
Her spirits were low. A hand reached out from the side, its fingertips winding down her wrist, opening her palm, and their fingers interlaced. Cui Jingkong held her firmly, and a warm temperature was transmitted to her.
His tone was light. “Don’t be afraid.”
Feng Zhao’s gaze first moved to their clasped hands. As soon as Cui Jingkong spoke, it moved to him. Feng Zhao looked at him for two seconds, and suddenly, his hair stood on end. His eyes widened, and he cried out, “Uh, uh, uh,” desperately shrinking towards the head of the bed.
Feng Yuzhen naturally knew the reason for his abnormal behavior and only found it ironic. So this fifth brother also had a day to be afraid. After seeing these two people, she walked out.
Mother Feng heard her footsteps and finally looked up, her voice cold. “Finished looking? You know what they’re like now? You can leave after you’ve seen them.”
Feng Yuzhen’s heart soured. She didn’t want to cry, but her voice was still choked. “Mother means that because I didn’t obediently go to my death as you wished, but came back alive, so I shouldn’t have come, is that right?”
Mother Feng was silent for a moment, then let out a long sigh. “Third Daughter, why bother? If you had just married him and stayed there, nothing would have happened.”
“No,” Feng Yuzhen pierced through her unfinished meaning. “It’s not that nothing would have happened, it’s that only I would have had something happen. You would all be happy, but you never cared if I lived or died, if my life was good or bad.”
She took a deep breath, holding back the tears that were welling up in her eyes. She walked straight to her mother, fell to her knees with a thud, and kowtowed, her head low to the ground:
“As a child, I am grateful for my parents’ upbringing and should have been filial. But my parents were not kind and wanted to put me to death. Do not blame me for being unfilial. From this day on, I will sever all ties with the Feng family and have no further connection.”
She kowtowed three times heavily, her forehead covered in dust. Only then did she get up and stuff a pouch into her mother’s hand. “This is the money I’ve earned these past few days. There’s no more. We’re even.”
After speaking, she turned around, afraid that she would not be able to hold back her tears and would cry on the spot. She and Cui Jingkong left the Feng family without looking back, just striding back.
Mother Feng stared at the pouch that had been stuffed into her hand. She gently rubbed the embroidery on it, which was identical to her own. She suddenly remembered a long, long time ago, the little girl who sat on the edge of the bed, her legs not even reaching the ground, listening carefully to her teachings, being taught by her hand how to thread a needle.
She remembered the fine, soft down on her upturned little face. The girl had given a shy smile and had said naively, “When I learn to embroider, Mother won’t have to work so hard in the fields anymore.”
She had to think about it again. Finally, she stood up and went to chase after her. She ran to the door, but saw that her third daughter had long since grown up. Her figure was just a small dot in the distance. She had been thrown away by her own hand. For the rest of her life, it would be difficult to see her again.