Zanxing (Retranslated)

Chapter 145 - Xu Douniang (1)

Xu Douniang heard this and laughed. She walked to Tian Fangfang’s side and said softly, “It’s okay, Brother Tian, I’ll help you.”

“Xiao Douzi,” Tian Fangfang hesitated, “The guards are so fierce. How can you help?”

Xu Douniang blinked her eyes. “I have my ways. But, Brother Tian, do you have anything valuable on you?”

Everyone’s Qiankun Bags couldn’t be opened here, and they couldn’t take out any spirit stones, so they felt a bit awkward. Meng Ying, seeing this, took off the white jade hairpin from her hair and handed it over. “Will this do?”

“Sister Meng,” Mu Cengxiao was slightly taken aback, “This is a birthday gift from Martial Aunt Yue Qin to you. It’s no ordinary jewelry…”

“It’s just a worldly possession.” Meng Ying looked at Xu Douniang and asked again, “Will this do?”

“It’s enough, it’s enough!” Xu Douniang carefully took the jade hairpin and walked to the guard. Pointing to them, she smiled and said, “Big brothers, they are my relatives, and they’ve come to visit me. Please, let them into the city.” As she said this, she secretly slipped the precious jade hairpin into the guard’s hand.

The guard on the left squeezed the jade hairpin in his palm without changing his expression, still looking stern and unsympathetic. “Relatives? Do you have any proof?”

“Of course,” Xu Douniang said, trying to please him. “And they are just staying for one night. They will leave early tomorrow morning. My home is on the west side of the city. If there’s any trouble, I will take full responsibility.”

The guard, hearing this, sized up Tian Fangfang and the others, squinted his eyes, sheathed his knife, and waved his hand. “Go quickly!”

This was their pass.

Zanxing and the others successfully passed through the city gate. Tian Fangfang looked at Xu Douniang in surprise. “Well, Xiao Douzi, you’ve improved a lot. You’ve even learned how to make connections.”

Xu Douniang blushed slightly, her eyes shining brightly. She couldn’t help but feel a bit proud. “Of course, it’s been a few years since Brother Tian last saw me.”

“Indeed.” Tian Fangfang measured her with his hand. “The little girl has grown into a big lady and is still so clever.”

Zanxing walked beside Gu Baiying and quietly asked him, “Senior Uncle, is there anything unusual about Wufan City?”

Gu Baiying glanced around as they walked. “So far, nothing seems amiss.”

It was indeed excessively ordinary here.

Mimi led the way. This was the only city in the desert. There were many street vendors and small shops, but no large taverns. The roads were made of red clay and weren’t wide. Fine sand covered everything, making it different from the bustling Li’er Country. Though called a city, it felt more like a small rural village.

If there was anything special, it was the snake-like totems painted everywhere on the taverns and vendors’ stalls, perhaps a characteristic of the Snake Shaman Clan.

Zanxing overheard Mu Cengxiao asking Tian Fangfang, “Senior Brother, is Xu Douniang someone from your hometown?”

“Yes!” Xu Douniang said excitedly. “Brother Tian and I used to work for the master of the Qian family!”

“Work?” Zanxing asked Tian Fangfang, “You worked?”

Tian Fangfang scratched his head awkwardly. “Ah, it’s all old stuff. My family was poor, so I had to work for others.”

Tian Fangfang’s family was also a cultivation family, but he was from a branch family, which meant he didn’t get good resources. His parents were ordinary farmers, and with a large family to feed, they couldn’t afford to eat. To avoid starving, his father sent Tian Fangfang to work as a long-term laborer at Master Qian’s house.

“You wouldn’t believe it, that Master Qian was so arrogant. He bullied everyone with his wealth, and the servants lived worse than dogs. Even now, thinking about it makes me angry. He didn’t give us enough food, often deprived us of sleep, and was stingy and cruel. Six laborers before me were tortured to death. I was the seventh.” He snorted twice. “But I was lucky enough to survive and live to this day!”

It was clear that Master Qian was not a good person.

“And Xu Douniang…”

“Xu Douniang was a maid at the Qian house. She was kidnapped when she was young and sold to the Qian family after being passed around a few times. Master Qian planned to make her his son’s concubine when she grew up. His son was born an idiot, always drooling when he saw people. Just think about it, is there any justice in that?”

Zanxing looked at Xu Douniang. She was only about eleven or twelve years old now. Considering the timeline, she was just a child when she worked at the Qian house. To mistreat even a child like that was indeed inhumane.

Xu Douniang smiled. “Brother Tian often took care of me at the Qian house, secretly helping me with many tasks.”

It wasn’t just the work. Master Qian’s son was an idiot but had a violent streak. He often threw things at the servants, and his blows were heavy. The maid before Xu Douniang was killed by him with a rock. Every time he threw a rock at Xu Douniang, Tian Fangfang would step in and shield her.

Of course, when Master Qian saw this, he would beat and scold Tian Fangfang again.

“If I didn’t help with some of the work, you would have been worked to death at the Qian house long ago,” Tian Fangfang said nonchalantly. “But you were loyal too. If you hadn’t often stolen buns for me, I would have starved to death.”

Xu Douniang served Master Qian’s son, who had a big yellow dog in his yard. The dog ate ten buns every day, and Xu Douniang would secretly take two to find Tian Fangfang at night. The two poor kids would hide in the Qian family’s woodshed, sharing their thoughts in secret.

At that time, Tian Fangfang would always be wolfing down the bun, gritting his teeth and swearing, “One day, I’ll make a fortune, eat meat three times a day, sleep on the softest bed, have white flour buns every meal, and live a good life! What about you, Xiao Douzi?”

Xu Douniang would sigh and look out the window, “I just want to find my family as soon as possible.”

But for the two of them, one was a long-term laborer sold off because his family was too poor, and the other was a maid kidnapped and sold far away to be a future concubine. Their future seemed so dark that there was no light in sight, and their dreams were like the moon outside the window—visible but unattainable.

“But I’m naturally lucky,” Tian Fangfang laughed heartily. “In my sixth year working for the Qian family, trouble came to them. Master Qian, relying on his wealth, abused a good woman, but he picked the wrong target. That woman’s husband was a powerful cultivator. He beheaded Qian Youde with a single sword strike and threw his son into the river.”

After the deaths of Master Qian and his son, the servants scattered. The family fortune was divided among the servants, and Tian Fangfang got a share. He gave all the gold and silver he received to his parents and decided to leave.

The appearance of that cultivator filled him with endless fantasies. In this world, having money wasn’t enough. Only by being strong could one avoid being bullied. Qian Youde, who had been so arrogant, was no different from a fish on a chopping board in front of a cultivator. Tian Fangfang was only fourteen at the time, with a long future ahead. He didn’t want to remain there as an ordinary farmer whose future was all too predictable. He wanted to see a broader world.