The feeling of having dominion over someone’s life and death really is quite exhilarating.
The person who once held himself high and mighty before me, who treated my life as if it were as insignificant as an ant’s, and cornered me to despair, has also met his day.
And he knew, with just a little more force, this person, this person he had hated for so long, could die by his hands.
Liang Shujun heard some gossip when he was a child.
In the eight villages around, all had single births; twins were never seen. Coincidentally, he and Shu Yu were a pair of twins.
It was said that at birth, he was a chubby boy, weighing eight jin, while his second brother was thin and pitiful, only four jin and four liang.
The villagers said he was a demon born of evil spirits, that it was he who had stolen his second brother’s vitality, which nearly caused his brother’s death upon birth and also dragged the entire family into poverty, as they strained to keep the second brother alive and seek medical treatment for him.
Later on, with droughts, floods, and then epidemics striking the mountains, their father died, and their mother became paralyzed; their eldest brother had to play both the role of father and mother and raise them.
The eldest brother told him not to think too much about it—he wasn’t a demon, and the second brother’s frail health was fate, not his doing.
But no one knew the impact those rumors and idle talk during his tender years had on a child.
Nor did anyone know when he began to harbour this thought.
If it was true that he had harmed his second brother, then he had the responsibility, the duty, to support and cure his second brother.
So, while his similarly-aged fourth young brother Haoming was still playing with mud, he had already started working with his eldest brother.
Before the age of fifteen, he followed his brother on hunting trips in the mountains; after the age of fifteen, ignoring gossip and careless of his reputation, he worked in town as a man.
At first, it was indeed very exhausting. He would lift sandbags and carry sacks with women who were stronger and louder than he was, doing all sorts of back-breaking labor.
Latterly, after saving up some money, he rented a shop and started a small business, which turned out to be quite successful.
Once, in a hurry, he forgot to bring his bamboo hat and just so happened to run out of rice at home. Thus, he went to the grain store.
He regretted countless times that if he hadn’t been in such a rush that day, if he had worn his bamboo hat, or if he had gone to another grain store instead of taking the easy route to the nearest He Grain Store, perhaps none of the subsequent events would have happened.
That day, he met He Su, who took a fancy to him at first sight and followed him with relentless pursuit thereafter.
He Su was haughty by nature; back then, she was like an indifferent peacock—domineering. He had no interest in her. To him, his brothers were his first priority, providing for the family was second. He had never thought about getting married, especially not to someone he disliked. Even if he were to choose a wife, he would never choose someone like He Su.
But He Su did not see it that way.
Initially, she tried a softer approach, but when that didn’t affect him, she began to apply pressure. His business could no longer continue, so he had to look for other ways to make ends meet.
Right at that time, his second brother coughed up blood and fell unconscious, desperately needing a "thousand years ginseng" to save his life.
Ginseng was expensive, let alone thousand-year-old ginseng.
Upon learning of his brother’s critical condition, Liang Shujun immediately took stock of his savings, then after returning home, gathered some more, and managed to scrape together all of the savings of the six siblings, finally amassing the required sum of money.
But as he set out to buy the ginseng, he was knocked unconscious by a blow to the head midway. When he came to, all the silver he had was gone.