The hatred of being robbed of the beans is irreconcilable.

Chapter 057: The Enmity Over the Stolen Bean Is Irreconcilable

Brother Qiang halted his attack mid-motion. His own men inside the room were dead; those outside didn’t sound alive either. Inside, there was still Banxia, whose skills were not to be underestimated, and outside, it sounded like there were even more people. He was left with little choice.

With a swift motion, Brother Qiang grabbed a wooden stool, channeled his inner strength, and hurled it fiercely toward Banxia and Fang Rulai. “You want to capture me? Not a chance!”

Banxia swung his sword, cleaving the stool into firewood.

In the blink of an eye, Brother Qiang’s figure shot upward—his target: the skylight in the roof.

“Where do you think you’re going!” Banxia shouted, leaping up in pursuit.

Brother Qiang’s lips twisted in a mocking smile as his hand struck down on a roof beam. The beam collapsed instantly, crashing straight toward Banxia’s head.

Banxia hooked his toe around a pillar, spinning in the air to dodge the falling beam, and changed position to continue upward. But by then Brother Qiang had already burst through the skylight, and, turning, delivered another karate chop to its frame.

The skylight was far less sturdy than the beams and broke apart into splinters, which rained down, dislodging the surrounding roof tiles now unsupported. Though the wood and tiles weren’t all that lethal, if Banxia tried to chop them aside, the already teetering roof would likely collapse entirely. Of course, he could force his way out like Brother Qiang, but with Fang Rulai—who was unarmed—still inside, all Banxia could do was grit his teeth and watch Brother Qiang vanish into the night.

After a moment, Fang Rulai’s voice sounded, “Alright, he’s long gone. You can stop gnashing your teeth now.”

“Yes, ma’am!” At her command, Banxia’s expression returned immediately to its habitual blankness. He turned around—and was momentarily stunned.

Fang Rulai was crouched on the floor, picking up the gold beans that had changed hands twice but ultimately returned to her. “One, two, three… Damn! I remember I had one hundred twenty-three. How long is this going to take? Banxia, help me!”

Banxia blinked, momentarily at a loss, pointing unconsciously toward the ceiling. “Mistress, shouldn’t our priority now be—”

“Of course it’s picking up the gold beans! I had to feign stupidity at the level of a second-tier cripple in a hundred-meter dash just to get him to notice me and force him to throw out my gold beans. Do you know how hard that was?” Fang Rulai’s hands never stopped their work; she didn’t even glance at him. “And that slap you pretended to take—did it actually make you brain damaged? Hurry up and help! And keep your mouth shut! Now I’ve lost count again thanks to your interruption.”

Left with no choice, Banxia silently crouched down to help collect the gold beans.

Thus, when Zhu Xishi burst into the room with her people, the only sound they heard inside was Fang Rulai counting, “Seventy-one, seventy-two, seventy—”

Zhu Xishi strode over in a few quick steps and pulled Fang Rulai up. “Are you alright? Are you hurt? You—”

“Aaah!” Fang Rulai suddenly shrieked.

Startled, Zhu Xishi quickly let go. “What is it? Is your arm hurt? Did I squeeze you too hard?”

What she received was a furious roar from Fang Rulai: “Why did you have to come in now? I was finally at seventy-something, and now I have to start over!”

Zhu Xishi’s tug had sent the gold beans in Fang Rulai’s hand rolling under the table once more.

Fuming, Fang Rulai shoved Zhu Xishi aside and dove under the table. “Fine, you’re here, so help me pick them up already!”

“Honestly, it’s like giving braised pork to a pig! I ran out the moment I got the message, didn’t even have time to change clothes, and all you care about are the gold beans!” Zhu Xishi stomped her feet in frustration. Glancing back, she noticed that Old Madam Lin, Wang Suzhi, and the others who had come in behind her were all gaping in astonishment at Fang Rulai, who was now under the table with her rear end stuck up high in the air.

A bit embarrassed, Zhu Xishi nudged Fang Rulai with her toe, trying to remind her of the dignified image she was supposed to maintain. “Hey, you—”

“Nineteen, twenty—Zhu Xishi, if you’re not helping, just stay put and stop bothering me—twenty-one, twenty-two—oh, here’s another little darling—twenty-three…” Intent on reclaiming her property, Fang Rulai’s mind was temporarily short-circuited, leaving her oblivious to Zhu Xishi’s well-meant caution.

Thus, the dignified and profound master, in the blink of an eye, degenerated into a miserly little rogue whose eyes saw nothing but money.

“...Heh, heh heh.” Zhu Xishi was speechless for a moment, then forced a laugh and stepped in front of the table. Until things were truly settled, she had to do her best to salvage the monk’s reputation.

But Fang Rulai was ungrateful, shrieking, “Zhu Widow, what are you doing? You’re blocking the light—I can’t see!”

“Gold shines brighter in the dark, you’ll find them more easily!” After shouting this toward the table, Zhu Xishi still felt that even shouting wasn’t enough to vent her anger, so she kicked the table leg for good measure. How dare she call her “Zhu Widow”—who had more right to be angry here!

Fang Rulai was quick to complain, “Hey, if you’re blocking the light, at least stand still. Don’t wobble around. Twenty-four, twenty-five…”

Zhu Xishi clenched her fists, barely refraining from cursing, and turned to look at the corpses of Xu Chunhua and the others not far away. “Banxia, get those out of here first.”

Banxia’s first reaction was to look toward Fang Rulai—he took orders from only one master. Unfortunately, that master’s only response was to present him with an unseemly rear end stuck high in the air.

Zhu Xishi was too exasperated to be angry anymore, only hoping her gritted words were still clear enough. “So, do you want to follow your master’s orders and keep picking up beans with your butt in the air, or do you want to follow mine and do what a proper guard should? You choose!”

Before Zhu Xishi could finish, Banxia had already leapt up. In a flurry of motion, he gathered the bodies with the deftness of a master dumpling-maker.

The onlookers were so dazzled they instinctively shut their eyes. When they opened them, Banxia’s back was already vanishing through the shattered window.

All five corpses were gone from the floor.

Though the smell of blood lingered, at least no one was too frightened to approach any longer.

Wang Suzhi was the first to rush over. “Were these the people who killed my husband as well?”

Aided by Nanny Li, Old Madam Lin also hurried over, trembling. “What on earth is going on? Has my Liang-er also been gone for years…?”

Old Madam Lin swayed, unable to utter the more painful words.

Wang Suzhi quickly reached out to steady her. “Mother, perhaps you should return to your room and lie down. Let us daughters-in-law handle the rest?”

“No! I’ll do it myself!” Old Madam Lin closed her eyes in agony, then opened them again. “You said that the man who just escaped isn’t really my son—do you have evidence?”

“If he were truly your son, why would he run? It’s simple: the real one would stay, knowing he’d be safe. The fake one needs to flee to survive,” Zhu Xishi replied bluntly. Though she sympathized with this old woman, bereft of all three sons, the truth was the truth—it couldn’t be denied just because it was painful.

Old Madam Lin closed her eyes and nearly collapsed. How could she not know? Her question was merely the last hope that her second son might still be alive.

“Mother!”

“Madam!”

Wang Suzhi and Nanny Li rushed to support the fainting Old Madam Lin.

But as her body touched their arms, Old Madam Lin straightened herself again. When she opened her eyes, they burned with hatred. “I will never let him go! I will tear him limb from limb to appease my son’s spirit!”

“That’s right, he cannot be let go!” Fang Rulai echoed, her hatred no less intense than Old Madam Lin’s, even as she emerged from under the table in utter disarray.

Wang Suzhi was still dissatisfied. “Then why didn’t you immediately call for someone to pursue him? With Banxia’s skills, surely he could have caught the villain with ease.”

“Hey, what right do you have to complain?” Zhu Xishi stepped in front of Fang Rulai, chest out. “You failed to solve a decades-old case, and now that someone else has, instead of saying thank you, you’re just here picking holes and finding fault.”

“You—!”

“And what of it?” The defiant gazes of Wang Suzhi and Zhu Xishi locked together, their chests practically colliding, eyes sparking with tension.

The gathered servants couldn’t help but imagine that, given another moment, a hair-pulling fight might break out, when Fang Rulai strolled past the two, dropping a remark, “Why must widows make things difficult for each other?”

In an instant, Wang Suzhi and Zhu Xishi were both struck dumb.

Fang Rulai walked up to Old Madam Lin. “Madam, the second young master’s body was thrown into the mountain ravine behind the house. So many years have passed, I fear…”

Old Madam Lin staggered at these words. “Those heartless fiends! I will catch him with my own hands—I must!”

Fang Rulai’s gaze fell on Old Madam Lin’s trembling hands clutching her cane. “That’s why I let Brother Qiang escape.”

“And then?” Old Madam Lin, catching the undertone in Fang Rulai’s voice, seemed to understand, and her trembling hands steadied.

A hint of bloodlust flickered in Fang Rulai’s eyes. “And then, someone has been following him all along, leaving markers along the way. Whether you want to kill him outright, surround and annihilate him, or play a drawn-out game of cat and mouse—it’s entirely up to you, Madam.”

“If you succeed, I will see to it that you are handsomely rewarded, Master.”

“Then I thank you in advance, Madam.” Fang Rulai pressed her palms together in a gesture of gratitude and called out, “Banxia, come out!”

“Yes.”

“Lead the madam and the others to the markers left by Mu Zhijin.”

“Yes.”

The Zhao household’s party quickly set off toward their new goal.

Left without her sparring partner Wang Widow, Zhu Widow drifted over, bored. “Why do I suddenly feel a bit sorry for that Brother Qiang? To run into someone as cunning as you—tsk, tsk. I bet he won’t live to see morning!”

“Of course! He mustn’t survive the night!” Fang Rulai’s hatred was practically spat out between clenched teeth.

Zhu Xishi was startled. “Were you really hurt just now? Is that why you’re being so ruthless?”

“Hmph, if only I’d been hurt! Then I could have granted him a merciful death.” Fang Rulai opened her palm abruptly. “Did you see? He actually stole one of my gold beans! I had one hundred twenty-three—I count them every day, there’s no way I’m mistaken! But look, now there are only one hundred twenty-two. Where did the other go? He must have taken it! No, I have to go after them too! The theft of a gold bean is an irreconcilable enmity—I don’t care if he dies, but he has to return my gold bean before he does!”

Zhu Xishi, following behind, nearly tripped over herself…

A sincere thanks to dear zengfengzhu and !Manman!^_$ for the bouquet encouragement! Much love~

The coldest month is here, everyone—bundle up and eat well, but don’t gain weight~

This book is first published here.