A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 48.2

She put the noose around her neck, kicked her feet, and hung there.

Zhao Panzhi and Zhao Guzhi rushed out, shouting as they ran, “Dad, Mom, Ping’er doesn’t want to live anymore!”

Zhao Zhouqing put his hands behind his back. “Don’t mind her; let her hang herself. The little rascal, she’s learned to threaten her old man now.”

Who said this old trick works?

She couldn’t actually hang herself. Pu Ping’er stepped on a tree fork, removed the rope from her neck, and jumped down from the tree.

She knelt down with a thud.

“Whose idea was this?” Zhao Zhouqing glanced at the two sisters, Zhao Panzhi and Zhao Guzhi.

The two of them quickly knelt down too.

Just then, Zhao Mingqin returned from outside. He looked at the courtyard, what’s going on?

“Dad…”

Before the final syllable had dropped, a shoe flew through the air, and with a “slap,” it left another clear shoe print on his face.

That afternoon, Zhao Zhouqing and his wife took two treasured packets of brown sugar and went to the home of their friend, Steward Shao.

Registering civilians didn’t require too much scrutiny. The couple planned to have Ping’er join the Shao family, be recognized as the Shao family’s daughter, and then be married back into their own family by Zhao Mingqin. This way, everything would be logical and not violate ethical norms.

That year was Xuanyuan Sixteenth Year, and the New Year’s Eve was just one day away.

Right after the New Year, Zhao Zhouqing returned home with a somber face, packed her clothes and money, and sent her overnight to a remote county in Cangnan Prefecture, entrusting her to a farm family.

That year, Cangnan suffered a civilian disaster, and many officials were dismissed and executed.

Zhao Zhouqing was taken to Yongdu for trial.

She ran away from the farm family and rushed home. The gate of the Zhao Mansion had been sealed. White paper and black ink were stark and conspicuous. The huge mansion was empty, with only the scattered remnants left by the search.

She stripped a set of clothes from a person frozen to death by the roadside, who seemed to have been a porter.

She headed to Yongdu.

Without a travel permit, she hid beneath a merchant caravan’s carriage to avoid checkpoints.

It took her half a month to arrive. To prevent disturbances from refugees, Yongdu’s city gates were tightly closed. Outside the city, a notice to appease the refugees was posted: Yao Fucheng, Prefect of Cangnan Prefecture, and Zhao Zhouqing, Chief Clerk, and other officials were to be executed.

She saw the date of the execution written on the notice—it was today.

But dressed in rags, looking like a refugee, and without a travel permit, there was no way she could enter the city. She looked at the magnificent plaque on the Yongdu city gate, her hands twisted together, pacing back and forth on the spot.

In despair, a young man in fine clothes walked up to her, hooking her chin with his fan to look at her. With a wave of his hand, two servants came out from behind him and pushed her onto a carriage.

She struggled. The young man in fine clothes said, “Follow me, and you can enter the city. Once inside, you’ll have a chance to survive.”

To enter the city?

“I want to go to the execution grounds,” she pointed at the notice.

Qiu Shiyan mistook her for a refugee who wanted to watch the officials be executed to vent her anger. He smiled and said, “Fine, get on the carriage, and we can go anywhere.”

The carriage stopped outside a manor. She heard Qiu Shiyan instruct someone to take her to bathe. She grew wary, sensing his malicious intent, and prepared to escape.

Qiu Shiyan said, “Yongdu doesn’t allow refugees into the city. In your current state, if you don’t clean up, you’ll be arrested by soldiers and locked in a jail after just a few steps. Don’t you still want to go see the corrupt officials executed?”

Pu Ping’er gritted her teeth and followed him into the mansion. She asked the attendants preparing to serve her to leave, and with the fastest speed, she plunged herself into the water to wash clean.

The clothes Qiu Shiyan prepared for her were men’s attire.

He had mistaken her for a man.

She changed her clothes and was led to a room, where the door was locked.

She looked at the sky; it was almost noon. The time for the execution was rapidly approaching.

She desperately pounded on the door and windows, but no one paid her any mind.

Only when twilight had completely fallen did Qiu Shiyan return. The door opened a crack, Qiu Shiyan entered, and then closed it again.

She pleaded with Qiu Shiyan to take her to the execution ground.

Qiu Shiyan pressed close, pushing her onto the bed. The sound of tearing fabric was right next to her ear.

She stared at a candlestick.

The tip of the candlestick was incredibly sharp, seemingly a fine weapon.

She didn’t know how she managed to grip the candlestick, but the warm blood that spurted out when the sharp end plunged into Qiu Shiyan’s throat brought her back to her senses.

“You shouldn’t have… bullied a person who has nothing left to lose.”

There was a dagger on the table, its scabbard brand new, covered with a layer of dust. It looked like its owner had forgotten its existence.

The dagger was unsheathed, circled Qiu Shiyan’s neck once, and his head separated from his body.

A window opened from the other side, and a pair of eyes peeked through the gap—a woman’s eyes. The window opened wider, and the owner of the eyes saw Qiu Shiyan on the ground, severed into two pieces. She was startled, but didn’t seem too surprised.

“Go, hurry up and leave.”

Pu Ping’er was still tightly gripping the dagger.

The woman slipped some clothes through the window, the same rags she had arrived in. “Quickly change, or you won’t be able to leave if someone discovers you.”

She moved like a walking dead, letting the woman pull her, avoiding the patrolling servants, and taking her to a room. It must have been the mansion’s back kitchen for preparing communal meals, complete with a stove and a chimney large enough to hide a person.

The woman pointed at a spot and said, “You can climb out through the chimney.”

Pu Ping’er held back tears and said, “Thank you. What is your name?”

As soon as she spoke, she regretted it. Asking for a name now was inappropriate, as if she might expose the person later, betraying her.

The woman realized this too and did not answer.

Pu Ping’er said, “I hope we meet again,” and turned to crawl into the chimney.

During the Lantern Festival in Yongdu, Kongming lanterns filled the night sky, and the lights were brilliant.

All of this was out of place for her. She ultimately couldn’t collect the body of Zhao Zhouqing. She didn’t know the way and dared not ask.

What was harder was that she was now penniless.

She stole a fake beard from a vendor’s stall at the lantern fair, stuck it around her mouth, and started working as a porter at a small dock in Shangyong City.

Being a woman, with a slender build, and disguised as a man, she looked even shorter. She was often unable to find work, as merchants who needed heavy lifting were unwilling to hire her.

She lived from hand to mouth, often starving. When she was too weak from hunger, she didn’t bother to rush for work when cargo ships docked, sitting aside in a daze.

Until she met Chen Liangyu.

She was dressed in silk brocade, holding a precious sword—how spirited and proud.

But why her?

The thought of murder arose in her heart.

Kill her! She is the one who deserves to die the most.

Suddenly, a few copper coins dropped at her feet, given by a merchant as a reward. She shamefully bent down to pick up the coins scattered in the dirt.

Humiliation and the will to survive fought for dominance within the same soul. She felt as though she heard the sound of her dignity shattering. In front of her enemy, her self-respect was crushed into scattered debris.

A delicate coin pouch dangled before her eyes. It was handed to her by Chen Liangyu.

This money was enough for her to return to Cangnan, perhaps even travel further. If she was lucky, she might be able to find her mother, her eldest sister, her second sister, and Zhao Mingqin.

Fearing that Chen Liangyu might change her mind, she snatched the coin pouch and, like a gust of wind, ran through the streets and alleys in the blink of an eye.

After trekking thousands of miles, she learned that her mother had died in prison, and Zhao Mingqin had been exiled to the southern stable. There was still no news of her two sisters, Zhao Panzhi and Zhao Guzhi.

She finally settled in Liangxi City.

From the front of the Mountain God Temple in Liangxi City, one could see the southern stable in the distance.

She knew Zhao Mingqin was there.

The Mountain God Temple was a den for a group of beggars. They spontaneously cleaned the temple and offered incense to the Mountain Goddess when no one else was worshipping. The people of Liangxi City considered the Mountain Goddess tolerant of her followers, and they all tacitly allowed the beggars to reside there.

Pu Ping’er carried firewood for restaurants to earn copper coins, giving the beggar leader ten coins every day in exchange for a corner to sleep in the temple.

Those beggars were not good people; they were involved in the business of crippling people for begging.

When the young beggars earned money, the adults would use it for drinking, gambling, and visiting brothels.

She was busy surviving and coldly observed the beatings of the young beggars who hadn’t earned enough money, but she never intervened.

Just surviving had exhausted her. She no longer had the passion or righteous heart to care about the filth of the world.

She thought that by simply enduring, she would gradually get used to it.

But troubles came in pairs, and fate seemed unwilling to even grant her the chance to merely survive. While carrying firewood, a dead branch tore her clothes, revealing the cloth binding her chest underneath.

The beggars’ eyes turned covetous and excited.

A pack of hungry wolves, their eyes gleaming green, slowly closed in on her.

She snapped a dead branch, used the wood as a blade, and killed again.