Chapter 89 — A Beating

These men were highly skilled. Earlier, out of deference to the fact that they were the Pang family's attendants, Uncle Duan and the others had not dared to fight back with full force, and they had feared being cut down besides, so their hands had been somewhat tied. Now, with these words from Dou Zhiwei, Uncle Duan and the others suddenly felt light all over. They answered "Yes!" in loud voices and set to beating the men without the least courtesy.

The situation changed at once.

Pang Kunbai's men began to flounder, giving ground again and again.

Pang Kunbai glanced at Dou Yan, whose eyes held a cold gleam, and thought carefully about the strange behavior of Scarface and the others after he had entered. He realized at once that the game was up.

He turned and bolted for the door.

But Uncle Duan caught him by the collar.

Uncle Duan hesitated, unsure what to do.

Pang Kunbai shrieked like a stuck pig: "My father is Pang Yinlou. My aunt is the daughter-in-law of Lord Wang, the Shaanxi provincial governor. If you dare lay a finger on me, I'll kill your whole family..." And with that, he swung a backhanded fist into Uncle Duan's belly.

Of course, Pang Kunbai's flowery fists and embroidered kicks landed on Uncle Duan like so much tickling, yet Uncle Duan's scalp prickled with dread.

A county magistrate can ruin a household; a prefect can wipe out a clan. A petty villain like Pang Kunbai was exactly the sort to do such a thing.

"Uncle Duan, you need not listen to his blustering," Dou Yan's cool, clear voice carried over from afar. "If he truly is kin to Lord Wang, the Shaanxi provincial governor—all the better. Once we have him, we'll send him to the capital, to my fifth uncle, and let Lord Wang give our Dou family an accounting. We cannot let ourselves be deceived!"

Yes—how had he forgotten that?

Who knew better than the Dou family's young miss that no one would dare beat a man to a pulp without backing of her own? He was only a guard; he took a man's money and spared him his troubles. At worst, when the time came, he'd take his pay and run. With his skills, was he afraid he couldn't scrape together a living? Besides, he had long been sick of the sight of these rich young masters who treated them like dirt...

"Young miss, we heed your command," Uncle Duan said with a chuckle, and drove his fist into Pang Kunbai's belly.

Pang Kunbai gave a miserable scream, clutched his stomach, and curled up like a shrimp. He vomited up even his yellow bile.

Chen Lanxu, standing beside Dou Yan and charged with protecting Dou Zhiwei, glanced at her and said uneasily, "Young miss, you surely don't truly mean to beat Young Master Pang to death? Young Master Pang is Pang Yinlou's only son. I fear that when the time comes, the Pang family will never let the matter rest..."

Dou Yan said coolly, "Is there a Fifth Young Master of the Pang family here? I wasn't aware. All I know is that my carriage overturned, that I borrowed this farmstead to put up in, that I encountered robbers—vicious beyond measure—and that my guards struck one of them dead by mischance. If the Pang family wants to settle accounts with me, they must first explain clearly why Pang Kunbai would abduct me."

Chen Lanxu smiled bitterly. "I only fear that if this blows up, it will ruin the young miss's reputation..."

"Ruin my reputation?" The mere mention of it filled Dou Yan with fury. She cut Chen Lanxu off with a cold laugh. "Pang Kunbai had me carried off to this place—why must he wait until dark before pretending to come upon me by chance and rescue me? He meant only to use the lateness of the hour as an excuse to make me stay the night at the farmstead, to create the fact of a lone man and a lone woman under one roof; then he would come grandly to propose, and force the Dou family to marry me to him. If I had not had Suxin and Sulan at my side, I fear he would long since have had his way! Reputation? If I can put Pang Kunbai to death, what is reputation? It will serve nicely as a warning to all who covet me!"

Chen Lanxu fell silent.

Had Dou Yan truly been a sheltered girl of thirteen or fourteen, full of shyness and waiting to be married, she might, for the sake of her reputation and out of the utmost caution, have chosen to "let a gentleman wait ten years for his revenge"—to let Pang Kunbai go for the time being and bide her time to wash away the shame. But she had lived two lives, and she had resolved never to marry again. Sooner or later she would become, in the eyes of the world, an eccentric and withdrawn creature. Why then should she swallow her anger and let Pang Kunbai off?

Still, there was one thing Pang Kunbai had said that she rather liked.

My aunt is the wife of Wang Xingyi, the Shaanxi provincial governor...

Dou Yan bared her teeth in a smile.

In the distance, faint as a rumble of thunder, came the sound of hoofbeats.

Chen Lanxu's ears were keener than Dou Yan's; of course he heard it too.

His face changed drastically.

Horses were a commodity under military control. A few head, kept by an ordinary house of power and privilege—that was one thing. But for so many to appear so suddenly...

Could Pang Kunbai have called in men from the guard station?

※

Sisters, brothers, thank you all—1,189 pink votes, second place!

Please keep supporting me in March as always. I'll start paying off my debts as soon as I get home.

o(n_n)o~

※