The Legend of Chu Qiao - V1C6

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Prologue 1- Major Chu Qiao Prologue 2- Time's up! Prologue 3- The red dot on the GPS vanished 1- Royal Hunting 2- Zhuge, Wei, Mu, Jue, Che, Yan. 3- Fifth Brother 4- Without a Tinge of Regret 5- Bloody Heart 6- Bastards 7- Snakes 8- We Should All Know Our Place 9- Do You Know Who I Am? 10- Thank You, Sisters! 11- My name is 'None' 12- The Lantern Festival 13- Liar! 14- Everything Happens for a Reason 15- To escape, or not to escape?

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Chapter 6

Bastards

"Urgh." A slight groan could be heard behind her. Xiao Qi barely made out Chu Qiao's features. Her voice was as soft as mosquitoes, and with paramount fear, she cried, "Sister Yue Er, Xiao Qi… is Xiao Qi dying?"

Chu Qiao crouched down and held the porcelain bottle in her hand. Her muscles tightened throughout her body, and she looked gloomily towards the main house of the Zhuge household. Slowly and firmly, she said, "Xiao Qi, I assure you, you will be okay."

Carrying Xiao Qi, she ran back to the slave's yard, rushed into the room, and cleaned the wound before bandaging it. The medicine Yan Xun had given her was very effective. It could not only stop the bleeding but also had a mild anesthetic effect. Xiao Qi let out several hums before falling into a deep sleep.

With a fever all this time, Xiao Ba woke up but could barely get out of bed. These children were traumatized by the recent incidents. No one spoke after waking up, as they watched Chu Qiao busily caring for Xiao Qi, who acted as if she did not see anyone.

It was getting late. Chu Qiao wiped the sweat off her forehead, feeling the burn of the wound on her shoulder. She leaned against the wall, listening to Xiao Qi's soft cries of pain in her sleep. It was as if someone had tightly gripped her heart, yanked it out, and thrown it onto the freezing, snowy ground. Closing her eyes, Lin Xi appeared in her mind—the handsome, innocent boy who promised to protect her, the one who was beaten so badly he was unrecognizable.

Tears streamed from her tightly closed eyes, down her chin, and onto her cloth shoes.

Suddenly, a frantic voice could be heard outside the door. In shock, Chu Qiao opened the door and stepped out. A girl, about twelve or thirteen, stood in the yard. When she saw Chu Qiao, it was like she saw her savior. She cried and rushed forward, saying, "Yue Er, Zhi Xiang, and the children from the Jing family were taken away by the men Housekeeper Zhu sent."

Chu Qiao frowned, and her voice grew quieter. "Taken away? When did this happen? They left early this morning.”

I only managed to find Lin Xi and asked him to plead for forgiveness from the Fourth Young Master. A day has passed, but there's still no news from him. What should we do?" said the girl.

Did they say what the children were doing?" Chu Qiao didn't bother to explain Lin Xi's death.

Wiping her tears, the girl cried and said, "They said… They said the children were being sent to the old Master's house outside the city."

"What?" Chu Qiao exclaimed. Alarm bells rang in her mind. The rumors Lin Xi had shared over the past few days about the beastly hobbies of the Old Master flooded her thoughts. Her face turned pale.

Xiao Ba stood at the door. Hearing their conversation, she moved forward as if in a daze. She tugged at Chu Qiao's sleeves. Her voice was gentle, like a small, hurt animal. She asked repeatedly, "Sister Yue Er, where are Sister Zhi Xiang and the rest of the children? Where did they go?"

Chu Qiao reacted, turned around, and ran out the door quickly.

"Yue Er!" the girl called from behind. Chu Qiao didn’t look back, with a bad feeling deep in her mind. She wasn’t sure if she could make it or if she had a real chance to save those children. All she could do was give her best, running ahead without daring to stop.

She passed the Qing Shan court, the stables, and the back gardens. Sprinting ahead, she would reach the five curved corridors of the front court. Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps was heard. Chu Qiao stopped cautiously.

"Sister Yue Er?" A small voice called from behind her. Chu Qiao was surprised. She turned around and saw Xiao Ba, dressed in a loose blouse, standing sadly behind her. She hadn't even put on her shoes. In a daze, she asked, "Where did Sister Zhi Xiang and the others go?"

Holding Xiao Ba, Chu Qiao turned and crouched beside a bush. It was already winter, and all its flowers had wilted. Luckily, it was in the middle of the night when the lights were sparse. It would be challenging to spot them.

The sound of footsteps grew louder as four people pushed a cart toward them. One of them was shoving, while the other three supported the sides of the cart. Chu Qiao's path was already very isolated, used only by cleaners. She pulled Xiao Ba close and crouched in the bushes, quietly waiting for the group to pass.

These people approached where they were hiding and stopped. Xiao Ba looked very scared, her body trembling. She tightly clutched Chu Qiao's clothes and didn't dare move an inch.

One of the men said gruffly, "Guys, let's rest. We walked quite a long way without a break. At least let me have a smoke."

The others laughed, "Old Liu's opium addiction is here." After this, they lit their pipes with glee and started smoking.

Chu Qiao grew anxious, her brows furrowing tightly. As the cold wind swept past, Xiao Ba, dressed lightly, began to shake vigorously from the cold. With the northern winds picking up, the straw mat on top of the cart was blown into the air with a swoosh, swirling around before landing with a crunch. The yellow straw mat was now stained red, soaked in dark crimson blood.

Chu Qiao and Xiao Ba looked into the cart. Quickly, Chu Qiao grabbed Xiao Ba's mouth with her hand, holding it shut tightly.

The moon shone through the clouds, casting a faint white light across the area. They only saw small bodies of children stacked on the medium pushcart, like a pile of lifeless objects, radishes. Zhi Xiang's skinny body lay naked, with bruises all over it. Her eyes were still wide in shock, with blood clots at the corners of her eyes. Her lower body was a mess, and her limbs were still being tied together. Her posture was strange, and she had been placed in the most humiliating manner at the top of the pile of bodies.

Chu Qiao covered Xiao Ba's mouth tightly, her other hand hugging her tightly. The child seemed like she had gone mad, desperately wanting to break free from her grip. Enormous drops of warm tears rolled down Chu Qiao's arms, her teeth sinking mercilessly into Chu Qiao's palm. Fresh blood seeped out, flowing down her fair wrist and eventually dripping onto the blackened soil. Moonlight shone through the sparse trees onto them, casting mottled shadows as dismal as frost.

No one knew how much time had passed. The cart gradually moved further away, surrounded by complete silence. Chu Qiao slowly let go of her hand, revealing flesh covered in blood. Xiao Ba seemed to have become mute, standing silently in a daze. Chu Qiao gently patted her cheek and called her name cautiously in a hoarse voice.

The wind was freezing, and withered branches spun in the air. On this night of complete silence, music played from the main hall of the front courtyard as if it came from another world.

"Kill them…" the seven-year-old child murmured. Her eyes widened suddenly, and she continued, "I want to go and kill… Kill them!"

The child, with bloodshot eyes, was rummaging around as if she were searching for something. Suddenly, she picked up a stone from the bush, stood up, and tried to run toward the cart. Luckily, Chu Qiao reacted quickly. She held the child back, keeping her tightly in her arms.

"Kill them!" Kill them!" The child could not hold it back anymore as she roared in fury, her face twisted with hatred and despair, tears streaking down her face. She could collapse at any moment.

Chu Qiao felt as if a knife had been driven through her heart. She held this frantic child in her arms and finally surrendered to her overwhelming tears.

These animals, these beasts, a thousand deaths wouldn't be enough to wash away the sins of those bastards. She had never felt such intense hatred, nor had she ever experienced such a desire to kill someone. An overwhelming amount of hatred consumed her. She hated them, despised the cruelty of those people, and loathed this barbaric world. But she hated her weakness and helplessness even more. She hated that she could only watch these events unfold and couldn't do anything about them.

The child in her arms was about to collapse. Her cries felt like knives slicing through Chu Qiao's heart. If she could get a shotgun, she wouldn’t think twice about rushing into the Zhuge household and killing every single one of those bastards inside.

It was a shame she didn't have anything. She possessed nothing—no money, no power, no background, no skills, and no arms. She was simply a spirit from another world, confined within the small body of Jing Yue Er. Despite having the intelligence and knowledge that were thousands of years more advanced than her current time, she could only hide quietly in the bushes at that moment. She hadn't even summoned the courage to see them one last time.

Chu Qiao slowly lifted her head, letting the cold moonlight shine on her face. She secretly promised herself that this would only happen once. She never wanted it to happen again. She never wanted to live without anything, and she never wanted to live without the ability to protect herself. Never again!

The cold moon looked like it was liquid. In such a large household, two weak and humble slaves crouched in the bushes in the backyard like two shy puppies lying close together. Still, they harbored enough hate to destroy the world.

By the time they reached the slaves' yard, it was already midnight. Before going through the gate, she noticed the door was wide open. Chu Qiao's heart sank. She released Xiao Ba's hand before running into the house.

The room was a mess. The top of the bed-stove was covered with blood stains, and adult footprints were scattered across the floor. There was no sign of Xiao Qi.

"Yue Er, you’re back!" The girl she had met earlier crawled out from the pile of firewood in the corner of the room.

Chu Qiao hurried forward and pulled her back. She asked in a deep voice, "Where is Xiao Qi? Where did Xiao Qi go?"

The girl cried and replied, "Housekeeper Zhu brought his men over and took Xiao Qi with him. He said that she could no longer work without one hand. They carried her out and planned to throw her into Ting Lake to feed the crocodiles."

Chu Qiao blacked out as she lost consciousness. Her heart could not take it any longer. Clutching at the girl's robes, she said slowly with a hoarse tone, "How long were they gone for? How long were they gone for?"

It was nearly an hour ago. Yue Er, it's already too late to save her.

Chu Qiao turned to look at Xiao Ba, who was standing at the door. Her eyes were red from crying, and she lifted her head to look at Chu Qiao as well. When their eyes met, tears began to roll down their cheeks, but neither of them made a sound.

Yue Er, I have to go back. You two need to be careful. From what I heard from people in the laundry room, Housekeeper Zhu is intentionally targeting you. Did you do anything to offend him?

There was pin-drop silence inside the hut. The courtyard looked like a vast white space. Both children stood there silently for a long time.

When the clock struck 3 a.m., the drum sounded. The last two children of the Jing family silently snuck through the Qingshi forest and reached Ting Lake behind the Zhuge house. The cold wind rustled the bamboo trees, and the lake was silent. Its tranquil surface looked no different from any other day.

Chu Qiao kneeled on a hill and said to Xiao Ba beside her, "Xiao Ba, get on your knees. Give our brothers and sisters a kowtow."

Xiao Ba was barely six years old, but she had gone through a traumatic experience tonight. Her small face had lost the innocent look it should have had. She knelt quietly beside Chu Qiao, bowed deeply toward the lake, and knocked her head heavily three times on the ground.

"Xiao Ba, do you hate this place?"

The child nodded without uttering a word.

Sounding calm, Chu Qiao said softly, "Do you want to leave?"

The child said in a deep tone, "Yes."

Chu Qiao looked ahead, her voice calm and composed. She squinted her eyes and frowned, gently saying, "I promise you, I will bring you away as soon as possible. But before we leave, we still have some unfinished business. After all that is over, we will leave this place."

The child nodded quietly as she kowtowed again, muttering each word clearly, "Sister Zhi Xiang, you have always prayed for God's blessings, but I don't think you knew they were blind. Take our brothers and sisters with you and move on. Wait and see, as Sister Yue Er and I will avenge you all."

The cold wind whipped through the night. Two small bodies rested close together on the hill in Qing Shi Forest, holding hands tightly.