The Miserable Family

The group exchanged glances of concern.

Su Chenyu asked: "Aunt, what happened?"

The woman explained: "The girl next door, Fen Tao, is fourteen years old this year. Because she is pretty, she has been targeted by a young master in the town. He wants to marry her to be his concubine. Fen Tao's parents don't want a girl this young to be someone's concubine. They refuse to agree no matter what. The young master even threatened that if she is not sent over tonight, he will send someone to take her away personally."

"How ridiculous! What kind of scum is this? He openly kidnaps a woman!" Su Chenyu said angrily.

Qibao and the others frowned at the news, clearly upset by the story.

The woman continued bitterly: "It's sickening! That young master is worse than a beast. Who knows how many girls he's ruined! I heard he even caused a girl's death once! That brute and his lackeys forced the girl until she didn't make it!"

"It's not fair!" Su Chenyu said: "Why are these people allowed to act with such confidence after causing the loss of a life?"

"Because he has connections." The woman said: "The girl's family tried to make a fuss about it, but how could they hope to compete with such power? In the end, they were handed some money and sent away. The girl's brother had his leg broken by those thugs—it's still not right even now! He can't even find a wife with a limp like that, and his mother's eyesight failed from crying so much."

"Aunt, who is this bastard?" Su Chenyu asked.

The woman hesitated: "Not many people know. He ruins girls from ordinary families. If anyone dared to tell anyone else, they'd get in big trouble. I wouldn't have known if it didn't happen in our village. To hide what he does, the creep only kidnaps girls at night when everyone's asleep. That way, fewer people find out. I don't dare say who he is. If he found out, my whole family would be in danger."

"Auntie, don't worry." Su Chenyu said: "We won't tell anyone. You and your family will be safe."

The woman looked them over: "From the way you look and dress, you must be rich. If you're stronger than he is, please avenge those innocent girls. I'll tell you who he is: Feng Zheng, the youngest son of the Xuanyang Town Magistrate. He has lackeys too, sons of rich merchants in town."

"Great! We were planning to find him, and now he's coming to us!" Su Chenyu smiled coldly.

The woman paused. "Are you saying...?"

"That's right." Su Chenyu confirmed.

"Great! I'm guessing this Feng Zheng has annoyed you too, right? If your background is stronger than his, please, young man, take charge and help those girls!" The woman urged.

"You can count on me, auntie!" Su Chenyu assured her.

The woman beamed: "Ah! The porridge is done. I'll serve it right away."

Instead of waiting for her, the group each grabbed a bowl of congee.

She then brought out some small dishes of pickles: "We don't have any other food. Please make do with these, everyone."

"Thank you so much, auntie." Wen Yuan said: "This is plenty."

They ate the porridge with the pickles, and it turned out to be a surprisingly satisfying meal.

When they were full, the woman emerged from the bedroom: "I've changed the bedding on the beds. Everything's fresh and clean from yesterday's laundry. You should get some rest too."

Su Chenyu nodded: "Thanks. Sorry for all the trouble, auntie."

The woman gathered up the bowls and chopsticks from the table, planning to wash them.

And then...

A shrill scream pierced the air.

The woman's hands slipped, nearly dropping the bowls she held.

"Oh no! Something happened next door for sure!" The woman put her bowl on the stove and hurriedly climbed to the top of the courtyard wall. She peeked over carefully and then quickly covered her mouth.

Qibao and the others couldn't hold back either. They also climbed onto the wall and looked over.

They saw a girl lying in the yard, bleeding from her forehead and unconscious.

A woman and a man stood beside the girl, both looking very sad.

"Tao, wake up! Don't scare your mom!" The woman holding the girl was the same one who had talked to Su Chenyu earlier.

Qibao found the scene hard to bear. She called out: "Auntie, can I come over and check on her? I have medicine that might help your daughter."

The woman looked up at Qibao. She didn't care about anything else right then. She leaned her daughter against the man, stood up, and bowed deeply to Qibao: "Miss, please save my daughter!"

Qibao said: "Auntie, stand up. First, open the gate so we can come in and talk."

The woman quickly got up and ran to open the gate.

Qibao and the others went into the neighboring yard.

Once inside, Qibao checked the girl's nose. She was breathing weakly, and her face was covered in blood. Her injuries looked serious. From the wound on her forehead, it seemed like the girl had tried to kill herself.

"Miss, what's wrong with your daughter?" The woman asked.

The woman said: "To stop the trouble from affecting us, she used the moment when both me and her father weren't looking to rush her head into the water barrel in the courtyard. My poor daughter! Oh, heavens above, please see this!" The woman broke down, crying bitterly.

Qibao tried to comfort her: "Aunt, your daughter can still be saved. Hurry and get her onto the bed."

The father, without another word, carried his daughter back inside.

Qibao handed the woman medicine: "Don't cry, Aunt. Give this medicine to your daughter. It will stop the bleeding."

 The woman wiped away her tears. She accepted the medicine, thanked Qibao several times, then gave it to her daughter to take.

"Auntie, what do you all plan to do? Why don't you take the chance to escape now, while there are still no other people here?"

"To escape where?" The woman said sadly: "If we escape, the others in the village will surely suffer because of us."

"Oh, what a sin!"

Su Chenyu said: "Aunt, don't worry, I'm here. I want to see what kind of monsters are coming here."

The woman said: "Thank you for standing up for us, but we can't let you get into trouble, so you should go back quickly!"

Su Chenyu said: "Don't worry, Auntie! We all know some Kung Fu, they can't hurt us."

She's hesitant.

"Auntie, these young masters and young ladies all have backgrounds. With their help, you may be able to resolve the current situation."

The woman then noticed that the clothes of several people were all extraordinary, so she gritted her teeth, knelt down and said: "Young masters and miss, if you can save my daughter, I'll serve you forever without complaint."

Seeing this, Fen Tao's father also knelt down.

Su Chenyu and Wen Yuan quickly helped the two people up and said: "Aunt, uncle, you don't need to do this. I am just getting rid of harm for the people!"

Qibao, just then she realized that Fentao's father couldn't speak. He opened his mouth several times but couldn't utter a single word.

Jing Chen said: "It seems that this Xuanyang Town needs to be thoroughly investigated."

Su Chenyu nodded and said: "I'm afraid that Magistrate Feng is not a good person either. He has allowed his son to harm the people. He is not worthy of being a city official."