"Now that Bazak is dead, you blame it all on me, but that’s just you venting your anger. Shifting the blame onto someone else might ease your burden, but poor Bazak, he really loved the wrong person,"
Tu Ya screamed, "No—stop, stop, stop talking!"
The young lady scoffed, "What, you don’t want to hear it? But you came here all fired up, weren’t you here to settle accounts with me? Now I’ve settled this account clearly and thoroughly, with clear and concrete reasons! I believe I have nothing to feel guilty about, but what about you? Have you questioned your conscience, do you blame me? What right do you have to blame me?"
Tu Ya painfully clutched her head.
Dong Huiying was quite calm, rational, and sober; her analysis was completely accurate. Tu Ya was indeed redirecting her anger, delivering pain with every word and tearing apart the false pretenses.
"Ah..." Among the crowd of onlookers, there were not only women but men as well. This included the husbands of the women from Tu Ya’s guard team. With their wives dead, these men had become widowers, and the life of a widower was quite challenging.
They had always thought that their wives’ deaths were accidents. They knew nothing more about the incident.
But now, they had just learned that it was due to Tu Ya’s wrong decision that had led to those guards’ sacrifice.
These men trembled, and a few with weaker constitutions almost fainted from anger; fortunately, they were supported by those next to them.
Tu Ya seemed to have lost her mind, muttering, "It was clearly you, if not for you, none of this would have happened..."
Dong Huiying let out a cold laugh, "Trouble finds a sitting man, whom have I provoked? And my biggest mistake was merely a moment of kindness back then. I should also thank you, at least you made me understand that one shouldn’t just save others carelessly, lest they bite back, which ends up not worth the risk."
Tu Ya hugged her arms, her heart a tumult of emotions, crying uncontrollably.
The young master’s wife was becoming impatient, "Okay, stop crying here, I can imagine what you’re crying for. Carrying the weight of a human life, guilt must be very heavy, right? If we really talk about feelings, I doubt you had much affection for Bazak, or else you wouldn’t have been so generous back then, treating them like animals, offering your husband in exchange."
Pitiful people do have their detestable side, and her crying now, so pitifully, what does it solve?
The young master’s wife laughed dryly, then proceeded back with Liang Haoming. She saw Hong Xiangjun, then said, "Sister Hong, let’s pack up. Since that carpenter artist’s identity has been clarified, relying on others is inferior to relying on oneself; we should also get going."
She turned back, looking at Tu Ya behind her, "When I first saved you, we made a deal. An egg for five taels of silver; you called me a swindler, constantly calling me Flay Dong, but I never asked for that money, and you never paid. Also, back then Hulan traded a silver bracelet with me for a camel and two water bags. Are you really foolish, or pretending to be clever, or did you think you were the smartest while everyone else existed merely for you to exploit?"
In the Desert beyond the Outside, gold and silver mattered far less than food and water, especially commonplace silver bracelets. In Zhongtu, after pawning it, it might fetch some grain, but a few taels of silver pieces to buy a camel? Perhaps just enough for a camel’s leg!