At that moment, Zhang Xiaoshan truly felt an urge to rush up, snatch the woman away, and take her outside.
But that thought quickly extinguished.
He could take the woman away now, but what about the aftermath? His parents’ and brother’s graves were still here; the villagers really would desecrate them. And his sister-in-law, Yu Xiuxiu, would the villagers let her go?
Zhang Xiaoshan apologized feebly.
At once, the light in the woman’s eyes faded, as if her last shred of hope had been extinguished, and even resentment towards Zhang Xiaoshan began to emerge.
The ferry reached the entrance to the village.
Wei Bao was the first to carry the woman off the boat.
The noblewoman, looking at the ancient and dilapidated village, the coarse-faced villagers, and the old women chatting idly under the big tree at the entrance with their faces lined by time, could already imagine the miserable life that awaited her.
Desperate tears flowed incessantly from her already swollen and red eyes.
The crying was now silent, only large tears kept falling.
"Heh heh, why cry on such a joyous day? The men in the mountains are strong. Being with me, I’ll let you taste what happiness is, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied. Heh heh, let’s hurry home and have a good time."
The more violently the noblewoman cried, the more excited Wei Bao became. He carried the noblewoman off, high-spirited and eager to get home and attend to business.
Behind, Zhang Xiaoshan watched Wei Bao, who was like an animal, with a fierce look in his eyes.
The woman’s last look of despair, like a sharp sword, pierced deep into Zhang Xiaoshan’s soul.
"I can’t just stand by and do nothing."
"Just because things have always been this way in White Dragon Village, I can’t choose to go along with it. What’s wrong is wrong, and I have to live up to my conscience."
Before, when he met Tao Qian and Hu Qiaoling, Zhang Xiaoshan just wanted to help them escape from White Dragon Village.
But at this moment, deep inside, Zhang Xiaoshan harbored thoughts of changing the backward customs of White Dragon Village.
"I have to save her."
Zhang Xiaoshan watched the noblewoman being carried off, and a plan was already forming in his mind.
He hurried back home with his canvas bag.
At home, Yu Xiuxiu was waiting.
"You’re back, how did it go?"
Seeing Zhang Xiaoshan come home, Yu Xiuxiu immediately greeted him.
"Sister-in-law, take a look."
Zhang Xiaoshan opened the canvas bag to show Yu Xiuxiu.
The large pile of cash inside startled Yu Xiuxiu.
"Wow, that’s a lot, maybe two or three hundred thousand?"
"There are two hundred and fifty thousand."
Upon hearing this, Yu Xiuxiu said joyfully,
"That’s great, after paying back the money to Wei Bao, there’s still a lot left. Keep it for your own wedding."
"How come your face doesn’t look so good?" Yu Xiuxiu noticed something off about Zhang Xiaoshan’s expression.
Zhang Xiaoshan didn’t want his sister-in-law to know his plans, so he vaguely said,
"I’m just too exhausted from the journey. Sister-in-law, I’ll take thirty thousand to pay back Wei Bao; you keep the rest."
Zhang Xiaoshan took out thirty thousand from the canvas bag and handed it to Yu Xiuxiu.
"Ah, are you in such a hurry?"
"Why not eat and then go?"
"No thanks, it’s better to clear things up with Wei Bao as soon as possible. He’s a scoundrel, and if we drag this out, we might have unnecessary troubles."
Without waiting for Yu Xiuxiu to say anything more, Zhang Xiaoshan left with the thirty thousand.
Yu Xiuxiu noticed that Zhang Xiaoshan had grown more assertive, no longer the little child he once was.
"It seems that from now on, I have to see him as a man."
Thinking of something, Yu Xiuxiu’s cheeks reddened more and more.
Zhang Xiaoshan ran all the way.
Soon, he arrived at a courtyard.
He was in such a hurry because he feared that if he arrived late, the noblewoman would have already been defiled by Wei Bao.
By now, the sky had already darkened, and the lights in the room were on.
In the room, the noblewoman was thrown onto the earth bed.
Her limbs were still bound.
Wei Bao began his beastly actions.
"Don’t, don’t, let me go, you animal, don’t... "
"Heh heh, little lady, now that you’re here, you’d better just behave, to save yourself some pain."
Wei Bao picked up a whip that his father used to control the oxen and waved it in front of the noblewoman, scaring her into a shudder. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚑𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥
Just at that moment, the door was knocked on.