In early February, a crescent moon hung in the cold night sky, and the stars were hiding, as if afraid of the chilling atmosphere.
The villagers had all gone to bed early. The entire village was silent, with only one or two audible dog barks. Those weren't warning barks, but rather, the muttering of a dog in its sleep.
In the fenced courtyard of Old Wang's house at the end of the village, an old yellow dog was lying on the ground.
Xiao Xing, one of the children from the second branch, walked out from the East Wing and quietly went into the old cooking hut. The big yellow dog didn't make a sound. Instead, it wagged its tail and sat in front of the kitchen door, as if keeping a lookout for Xiao Xing.
After a series of rummaging around, Xiao Xing came out of the kitchen and looked at the dog waiting at the door. She hesitated for a moment but still broke off a small piece of biscuit and threw it to the dog. She said in a low voice, "I can only give you this much. If I were to hand you more, Mother and Xiao Tian will starve."
Earlier this morning, her mother was pushed down by her aunt and grandma. Due to this, her mother had been lying in bed for the whole day without eating anything.
Xiao Xing was worried for her injured mother and her younger brother who was less than three months old. She sighed as she rubbed the yellow dog's head apologetically.
The dog seemed to understand her words as it didn't ask for more. With soft whimpers, it lowered its head and ate the small piece of biscuit. Then, it rubbed its head against Xiao Xing's thigh.
Xiao Xing patted the dog and kept the rest of the biscuit in her arms. She was about to run back to the East Wing where her three mothers were staying when she heard the sound of the West Wing's door bursting open. Xiao Xing watched as her first aunt, Shao Darong, rushed out of the room and grabbed her arm.
"It hurts! Eldest Aunt, don't hit me!" Xiao Xing cried out in pain.
"Great!" Shao Darong said viciously, "I found out there wasn't enough dry food to eat. Now I know it was all stolen by you and your mother!" Her loud voice was filled with excitement, instantly alarming the dogs in the neighborhood.
Even the big yellow dog was shocked and started barking at Shao Darong angrily.
***
Ling Chengyan was fighting for her life on the battlefield moments before an arrow pierced through her back. When she woke up, she was in a dark room.
She heard a woman making a ruckus outside the house, dogs barking, and a child... crying?
The voices she heard were not ones from the enemy camp. If that was the case, had she been… saved by someone?
Ling Chengyan felt a burst of pain when she lifted the quilt and got up, but it was not from the heart.
Why was it coming from her head?
She raised her hand and touched her hair. There was some dried blood stuck onto her hair…
There was a crash as the door of the house burst open and a tall, muscular woman burst in. "Stop hiding and pretending to be deaf. Look at your 'well-raised' daughter, stealing dry food from the kitchen in the middle of the night..."
The woman's voice was ear-piercing like a broken gong, giving Ling Chengyan a headache. She didn't even pay attention to what the other party had said.
Ling Chengyan's eyes were focused on the child that the woman was dragging by the neck collar. Her collar was tugging tightly against her neck, and she couldn't breathe. She was about to be strangled to death—
Ling Chengyan instinctively snatched the child from the woman's hands.
She then got down from the bed and gripped the woman by her neck, then carried her outside with ease.
"...Uh!" The woman tried to shout, but she was being strangled at the throat. Her voice was stuck in her throat, and she could only make a few muffled sounds.
Ling Chengyan flung the woman out the door as if she was throwing out an old rag. After dusting off her hands, she began to size up the unfamiliar surroundings.
Now that she was outside the house, under the dim moonlight, she could make out the outlines of mud houses circled together, as well as the meter-tall earth walls and fence gates.
At this point, she was even more certain that she hadn't been captured, and this wasn't the enemy camp...
Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to ponder about it because just then, a shriveled old woman rushed out. "What have you done again, you jinx? It's the middle of the night! Are you trying to kill us..."
The old woman rushed up and scolded Ling Chengyan, her saliva almost spraying onto Chengyan's face.
Ling Chengyan frowned in disgust and raised her hand to block the spit. "If you have something to say, say it. Don't be unreasonable..."
Suddenly, the old woman ripped her collar open and pulled at her hair whilst wailing, "Aiya, this jinx is hitting me! She's going to kill this old woman..."
The other woman, who had been thrown onto the ground earlier by Chengyan and was pretending to be dead just a moment ago, scrambled up and shouted, "Mother, are you alright? Second Sister, how could you hit your mother-in-law?"
"Who's your second sister?" Ling Chengyan was stunned to hear how the woman addressed her. Just then, she heard a commotion behind her.
She turned around and saw a slender figure swiftly slip into the door behind her.
Then, the weak cry of a baby echoed. "Waa..."
Ling Chengyan was stunned.
She had just saved a five or six-year-old little girl. Why was there a baby crying now?
There was another person in the room. Even if it was just an infant, she shouldn't have missed it!
The person carrying the baby rushed out of the door just in time to meet Ling Chengyan's gaze, bringing his footsteps to a halt.
"Don't take Little Brother away, don't take Little Brother away... Mother, Aunt is going to take Little Brother away!" The little girl from earlier stumbled out and immediately pounced on her little brother's captor, who had subconsciously stopped in his tracks when he met Ling Chengyan's gaze. The little girl quickly hugged one of his legs. "Mother, don't let them take Little Brother away..."
The little girl's cries were heart-wrenching. Ling Chengyan could not bear it and frowned.
At that moment, the old woman, who had been lying on the ground, shouted, "Get her!"
Immediately, the two women who had been acting pitiful a while ago stood up and ran toward Ling Chengyan.
Ling Chengyan looked at the two of them and snorted. "You both think you stand a chance against me?"
With a step back and a swift turn, the two people that pounced on her missed and ended up crashing into each other.
Ling Chengyan didn't have time to pay attention to them. From the corner of her eye, she saw that the person who had snatched the baby was kicking the little girl!
One kick, two kicks… She landed her kicks ruthlessly on this little girl's head and body, ignoring the little girl's pitiful pleas for mercy.
Ling Chengyan couldn't stand by without doing anything, Before anyone could process her swift actions, the perpetrator was tossed over in a parabolic arc and hit the ground with a muffled sound. When the others turned to look behind, Ling Chengyan was already protecting the little girl by her side whilst holding the baby that had been snatched away in her arms.
Ling Chengyan took two steps forward and said condescendingly, "How can you be so vicious at such a young age?"
The woman was stunned for a long time when she heard this. She was about to look up and scold her when she heard this, but upon meeting Ling Chengyan's eyes, she couldn't help but shiver. Then, she spouted some unpleasant words meekly, "This little baby is a curse to the family. From the moment he was born, his biological father was suddenly imprisoned, and his biological grandfather broke his leg. If we don't send him away, aren't we just waiting for him to bring the curse upon the entire family?"
Ling Chengyan stared at the woman and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm his aunt!" Wang Lianxing replied.
"What about them?" Ling Chengyan pointed at the elderly woman and the tall woman.
"That's his grandmother and eldest aunt. Have you gone insane..." the woman replied again and was about to curse, but Ling Chengyan grabbed her collar and choked her before she could utter the rest of her words.
"Oh, just his grandmother and aunt? You're not worthy!" Ling Chengyan sneered.
With a wave of her hand, Wang Lianxiang was shoved toward the other two, causing them to all roll in a heap on the ground.
"You..." Wang Lianxiang wanted to curse, but her sister-in-law, Shao Daron,g covered her mouth.
"You can stay here if you want. I don't think I can handle this..." Shao Darong suppressed her voice and squeezed it out of her throat. It felt particularly strange in the dark night.
Old Lady Wang and her daughter, Wang Lianxing, felt their hair stand on end; they shakily stood up and ran into the main house with Shao Darong, closing the door with a bang.
"Mother, don't worry about us. You must run... They won't stop doing this." Xiao Xing tugged at Ling Chengyan's lapel and tried to drag her out.
Ling Chengyan's feet were rooted to the ground firmly; she wasn't someone the little girl could easily pull away.
She lowered her head in shock, her eyes scanning over the patched and coarse pants she was wearing. A bad premonition appeared in her heart, but she still looked at the little girl and pointed at herself. "You, what did you just call me?"
"Mother... I'm Xiao Xing. You don't recognize me and Xiao Tian?" the little girl shouted with a trembling voice and then burst into tears.