Compared to the hairpin with its low attack power, a knife was undoubtedly better. She had indeed neglected her training—her original target was the carotid artery in the neck, but she missed by an inch.
The man clutched his bleeding neck, furious. He yanked out the hairpin, glanced at it, and threw it to the ground with a bitter laugh. "Well taught by the Hua family! Bold enough, I’ll give you that!"
By now, he understood everything—the lit room, their deliberate exit—it was all a trap. He had stumbled in a gutter.
"Do you think such petty tricks can save you?" The man’s face twisted with rage as he advanced step by step toward Hua Zhi.
Hua Zhi retreated slowly, luring him into the courtyard.
Even before seeing the man clearly, she had guessed he was injured—and she was right.
The rain might obscure her vision, but it would also accelerate his bleeding. If she could stall long enough, until he weakened, she could call the three guards for help. They might just wear him down.
But first, she had to ensure her own survival.
The man lunged swiftly. She dared not confront him head-on or block his strikes—she simply couldn’t withstand them.
She needed to disarm him. Her training had focused on close-quarters combat, which required getting near, but her strength was limited. One full-force attack was her limit, and even that came at a cost.
Yet the man showed no intention of letting her live a moment longer. No matter how fast she retreated, his attacks were faster, each dagger strike aimed to kill.
Every parry drained Hua Zhi, and soon her breathing grew labored.
This body had never been trained—it lacked strength, and her limbs couldn’t keep up with her mind. After the dagger grazed her arm, she gritted her teeth and launched a desperate strike at his face. As he instinctively blocked with his dagger, she drove the hidden silver hairpin in her other hand deep into the wound on his waist. The man screamed in agony.
But she wasn’t done. Hua Zhi abruptly withdrew her initial attack, thrust her knife into the same wound, and twisted it hard. Unhindered, the man’s dagger sank into her shoulder—had she not shifted slightly, it would have pierced her throat.
Even as she retreated, she remembered to yank her knife free, leaving his dagger embedded in her. Finally, the man was disarmed.
She had always been ruthless to herself. Before he could recover, she ripped a piece of her robe, stuffed it into her mouth to muffle any cry, and pulled the dagger out forcefully. Blood sprayed.
Though trembling from the pain, it seemed to affect her not at all. Armed with both knife and dagger, she charged at the man. He rolled aside twice and sprang to his feet, glaring at her as if he wanted to devour her.
Hua Zhi pressed on without pause—she couldn’t stop, afraid that if she did, she would collapse.
The man bent low, coiled like a bow ready to snap. Hua Zhi realized she had underestimated him—underestimated human resilience. Perhaps today, she would meet her end here.
But even in death, she would make him pay. One more heavy blow, and Wu Da and the others could handle him.
Bao Xia and the others were loyal by nature, and with this life-saving favor, they would surely protect Berlin well. For now, Berlin was all she could care about.It's just... I'm sorry, Grandfather.
With a resolve to die if necessary, Hua Zhi quickened her pace, but the disparity in strength still sent her flying harshly.
Even so, she held onto her sword and dagger without letting go.
The man cruelly curled his lips and walked toward Hua Zhi, growing even more excited, as if he had taken an aphrodisiac, at the sight of her struggling to stand but failing to rise.
"Miss!"
The maids cried out and rushed toward the courtyard, but Wu Da and the others blocked their way, pushing them back. Exchanging glances, they grabbed whatever could serve as weapons—sticks and bricks—and strode into the courtyard.
They ate the Hua family's rice, and as guards, even if they were terrified, there was no reason for them to hide behind the young lady of the Hua family while she fought desperately.
After all, if they died here, the Hua family would not mistreat their families. But if the Hua family's young lady died while they remained unharmed, they could not imagine what awaited them.
With their resolve to die, the three men seemed to gain courage, quickening their steps to charge forward and stop the assailant.
But faster than them was an arrow that cut through the air.
The arrow pierced the assailant, who was only three steps away from Hua Zhi. The sheer force of the shot sent him stumbling backward several steps before he collapsed to the ground.
A group of figures in raincoats and rain hats, their faces covered with black cloth, appeared silently in the courtyard. The leader held a bow in his hand, clearly the one who had fired the arrow.
The assailant’s face changed dramatically. He scrambled to his feet to flee, but a long whip, as if alive, coiled around him and slammed him hard to the ground. The man screamed in agony, feeling as though the hairpin already embedded in his wound had been driven completely into his body.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Wu Da and the other two rushed to Hua Zhi’s side, surrounding her protectively and warily eyeing the sudden arrivals.
Bao Xia and the others disregarded everything else, desperate to break through the black-clad men’s blockade to reach their mistress. Their only thought was that, even if they had to die, they would die before their mistress!
Without orders, the black-clad men naturally did not let them pass. With a mere outstretched hand, they rendered the maids helpless.
Bao Xia knelt heavily, kowtowing repeatedly. "Please let us through, we beg you."
The other maids followed suit, the sound of their kowtowing even drowning out the rain.
But the black-clad men remained silent and unmoving.
The leader tossed aside his bow and walked toward Hua Zhi. Wu Da and the others tried to block him, but he kicked each of them aside with a single motion, then turned his gaze to the woman struggling to sit up.
Her drenched hair clung to her body, her undergarments stained red with blood, her face and lips pale as one. Though she was at the end of her strength, her hand trembling as she held the dagger, she still raised her sword horizontally across her chest. He believed that at the slightest hint of movement from him, she would fight to the death.
So he did not approach. Instead, he took two porcelain bottles from his robe, placed them on the ground, and without a word, led his men away, disappearing as cleanly as they had come.
Bao Xia scrambled over on her hands and knees, tears mingling with the rain as they streamed down her face. She and Nian Qiu supported Hua Zhi on either side, helping her into the house.
Fu Dong tried several times to stand but failed. Liu Xiang hurried over to help her up.
"To the kitchen, help me to the kitchen," Fu Dong said, her voice choked with sobs. "The rest of you, go change into dry clothes. We’ll need people to attend to the young lady soon."
"Yes."Bao Xia and Nian Qiu changed the young lady's clothes while weeping, their tears flowing more urgently as they saw the three bloody wounds.
PS: Third update! Isn't Kongkong awesome? Seeking monthly votes.
OpenNovel