Chapter 141 — Terror
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Sitting in the jolting carriage, Dou Ming could not help but regret her decision.
She had never imagined the carriage would be this crude. Had she known, she would have brought Ji Hong along.
She lifted the curtain. "Yu Er, how much longer until we reach Dingzhou?"
"Soon, soon!" Yu Er, driving the carriage, turned his head and gave Dou Ming an ingratiating smile. "We're on the back roads. If we took the main road, their light cavalry would catch up with us in no time."
"Oh!" Dou Ming, her spirits somewhat dampened, drew back into the carriage.
That night, they took shelter in a farmhouse.
The filthy, dilapidated furniture, the dry, musty bedding, and the tea with soot floating on its surface made Dou Ming feel she had nowhere to set her feet.
She lay down on the kang, closed her eyes, and tried hard not to think about where she was. Gradually her thoughts drifted to her grandmother's house.
Her eldest aunt would surely scold her again the moment she saw her, and her second aunt would defend her. Grandmother... in the past, she had truly doted on her to the depths of her heart, but ever since Grandfather had been impeached, Grandmother had seemed not quite as fond of her as before. Was it because the Dou family had not helped? Now that she was going there, would Grandmother still pamper her as she once had?
Dou Ming's heart was in turmoil; she tossed and turned, and who knew how long it was before she drifted into a muddled sleep.
Perhaps because it was an unfamiliar place, she slept fitfully and suddenly woke with a start for no reason at all.
The window shutters were tightly closed. Cold, clear moonlight streamed in through the skylight in the roof, casting a patch of bright radiance.
It seemed someone was talking outside.
Dou Ming could not help but strain her ears to listen.
"...No, that won't do. Fifty taels of silver at the very least... Quite apart from anything else, that rose-red zhuanghua beizi with the passionflower pattern she's wearing is worth five taels... and those cat's-eye earrings in her ears..."
Dou Ming's hair stood on end.
Today she was wearing a rose-red zhuanghua beizi with a passionflower pattern, and a pair of cat's-eye earrings!
Instinct told Dou Ming that her situation was extremely perilous.
She crept up softly and noiselessly, her body limp and weak, and without bothering to put on her shoes, pulled on a pair of socks and tiptoed to the door.
The door was so broken and battered it could not close properly at all. Standing before it, one could easily see the scene outside through the cracks.
No lamp was lit in the main hall. The door stood open, and moonlight poured in from outside; Yu Er's silhouette was clearly visible.
He was standing in the main hall talking with two strangers, a man and a woman. Because of the light, their faces could not be made out; one could only just distinguish that the man was exceptionally burly, standing there as solid as an iron pagoda, while the woman was round and plump, the gold earrings on her ears glinting on and off in the darkness, like the eyes of a beast devouring its prey, sending a chill down one's spine.
"Since you fancy those things," the woman said, her voice somewhat hoarse yet carrying an indefinable sinister viciousness, "I'll take only the person! Fifteen taels of silver, and not a single coin more!"
"Second Aunt Mo," Yu Er haggled in a low, disgruntled voice, "you're giving a bit too little. That girl is a young lady of good family; it took me no end of trouble to trick her into my hands. Look, I've hired a carriage, greased palms, and you must at least let me recover my costs, no? Your price is really too low... at the very least, add a little..."
That Second Aunt Mo gave a cold laugh. "She's eleven years old this year. She already remembers things. I'm giving you fifteen taels of silver only out of consideration for my master's friendship with you. Anyone else, and I'd think three taels too much..."