Youthful Glory

Ming Tan was a bit slow to react, still holding the chicken leg in her mouth as she looked up at him in confusion.

How had she gotten into trouble?

But before Jiang Xu could explain, she heard footsteps outside the dilapidated temple—chaotic and hurried, some light, some heavy, all sounding unmistakably hostile.

Ming Tan seemed to understand something. "Is... is this the innkeeper bringing people here?"

Earlier in Tonggang Town, the only person they'd interacted with was the innkeeper. Could it be that because they'd discovered the truth about the inn, the innkeeper had brought people to silence them?

But that... didn't make sense. The townspeople clearly knew exactly what kind of business the inn was running—otherwise, no one would have knowingly headed straight there. So what had they done to provoke a silencing attempt?

Ming Tan couldn't figure it out.

Though her mind was still processing, her body reacted quickly. She hastily put down the chicken leg and timidly hid behind Jiang Xu. Worried he might not be able to handle the threat alone, she tugged at his sleeve, trying to pull him behind the Buddha statue with her.

Jiang Xu glanced at her but said nothing.

The footsteps outside grew closer, and Ming Tan's tension rose, her grip on Jiang Xu's sleeve becoming sweaty.

But to her surprise, though the footsteps had approached aggressively, they all stopped abruptly outside the temple. Then came the sound of people falling to the ground, accompanied by pained cries—

"Ouch!"

Ming Tan belatedly remembered—oh right, outside were two shadow guards who could chop firewood when needed, buy chickens when retreating, and spoke even less than her husband.

She felt slightly reassured.

Half a moment later, the shadow guards had tied up everyone outside, hauling them in one by one and tossing them like sandbags.

One, two, three...

Ten.

When the tenth person was thrown in, Ming Tan froze, her gaze fixed on that figure, unmoving and unblinking.

She recognized him—the pitiful-looking little beggar from earlier in the day, to whom she'd given a package of pastries and a small silver ingot.

Why was he here?

"What's going on?" she asked, bewildered, turning to Jiang Xu.

Jiang Xu didn't answer. Instead, he stood up and coldly surveyed the first man who'd been thrown in, now lying on the ground.

Without a word, he stepped on the man's left cheek, pressing down slowly and deliberately.

"Ahhhh! Spare me, my lord! Spare—!" The man screamed, his face distorted under the pressure, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. His words cut off halfway, the rest rendered incoherent.

The others, witnessing this, were terrified out of their wits, kneeling and kowtowing frantically for mercy.

The little beggar Ming Tan had helped earlier was especially pale-lipped, trembling uncontrollably, tears streaming down his face.

He crawled forward humbly, stopping just short of Ming Tan, and began kowtowing desperately, his voice small and choked with sobs. "Sister, sister! I was wrong! Spare me! Sister, I'll kowtow to you! Please, spare me, spare me!"

Soon, his forehead was bleeding profusely, the blood mixing with dust and tears on the ground, as if he no longer felt the pain.

Ming Tan knew he was involved, but seeing how thin and pitiful he looked, she couldn't bear it. "Stop kowtowing!"

Suppressing her anger, she asked again, "Tell me, what exactly is happening?"

The little beggar opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, his eyes flicked toward the man under Jiang Xu's foot. He shuddered involuntarily.Ming Tan sensed something was amiss. She crouched down halfway and asked patiently, "Tell me, what's really going on?"

The little beggar was trembling with fear and nervousness. After a long pause, he finally whimpered timidly, "Sister, I didn’t want to harm you, but if I don’t obey, he’ll beat me."

Him?

Ming Tan glanced at the man pinned under Jiang Xu’s foot.

The man seemed to want to say something, struggling slightly, but he couldn’t move or speak. Jiang Xu’s foot pressed down harder, and the man, overwhelmed by the pain, passed out completely.

Ming Tan had a vague suspicion in her mind. She handed a clean handkerchief to the little beggar, her voice softening, even gentle. "Don’t be afraid. Take your time."

Seeing the man unconscious, the little beggar let out a huge sigh of relief. Hesitating for a moment, as if still fearful, he finally mustered the courage and haltingly explained the whole story.

It turned out the little beggar was named Xiao Shitou (Little Stone). He had been abducted from another village and brought to Tonggang Town by the man now crushed under Jiang Xu’s foot—Chen Wu.

Chen Wu, along with Li Si and Wang San Mazi, often kidnapped children from villages near Tonggang. Once they gathered a group, they would take them from Tonggang to wealthier nearby towns.

There, they had contacts who specialized in training the children to become swindling beggars. But not just anyone could become a swindling beggar—they had to be quick with their hands and sharp-witted. Those who couldn’t make the cut would have their limbs deliberately broken, forced to beg by exploiting pity.

Xiao Shitou and his group were supposed to be taken away in two days. That day, they happened to encounter these two outsiders on the street. Chen Wu pushed Xiao Shitou out to beg, never expecting the strangers to be so generous—not only giving a pack of pastries but even a piece of broken silver!

Seeing they were only two people, Chen Wu assumed they were easy targets. He secretly followed them all day, and by evening, when they entered the abandoned temple, he planned to lead his men in a robbery to seize their ill-gotten gains.

Xiao Shitou’s account matched most of Ming Tan’s suspicions. But when she heard him say that those who couldn’t swindle would have their limbs chopped off, she couldn’t help but gasp in shock.

They were just children—how could anyone be so cruel?

Suppressing the discomfort churning inside her, she gently reached out and brushed aside Xiao Shitou’s blood-matted, messy hair. "Do you remember where your home is?"

Xiao Shitou sniffled, hanging his head, and whispered, "I do."

Ming Tan nearly blurted out, "Then I’ll take you home," but remembering the purpose of their journey, she swallowed the words.

Just as she was about to ask Jiang Xu if their hidden guards could escort the children back, Xiao Shitou sniffled again, kowtowed to Ming Tan, his voice filled with the fear and humility of someone who had narrowly escaped death. "Sister, you’re a good person. None of us wanted to harm you. Can you spare us?"

"Stop kowtowing," Ming Tan couldn’t help but steady him. "How about I have someone take you home?"

Hearing this, Xiao Shitou looked up at her, so overjoyed that a snot bubble popped out. "Thank you, sister! You’re truly a good person!" He wiped his nose, glanced at Jiang Xu, and his voice instinctively lowered again. "I can go back by myself. I don’t want to trouble you, sister and brother."

This child was so heartbreakingly sensible.Ming Tan glanced at the other children, their faces sallow and covered in grime, and felt a pang in her heart. She stood up and took out all the broken silver and dry provisions from her bundle, distributing them among the children.

Jiang Xu allowed her to proceed without interference.

Aside from these children brought along as helpers, Chen Wu's companions—Li Si and Wang San Mazi—had also come tonight. However, Li Si and Wang San Mazi had been more capable outside earlier and thus suffered heavier blows from the hidden guards, falling unconscious long before being thrown into the dilapidated temple.

After Ming Tan finished distributing the items, Jiang Xu ordered the hidden guards to escort the children away from this desolate wilderness. He then instructed the guards to dislocate the limbs of the unconscious trio before dumping them in a mass grave.

The temple returned to silence.

The leftover chicken leg had gone cold.

Ming Tan no longer had the appetite to eat.

She sat by the still-warm fire, hugging her knees, lost in thought for a long while before murmuring, "Husband, did you already know that giving them things would bring trouble?"

Jiang Xu lifted the hem of his robe and sat beside her, his voice calm. "Someone who has starved for three days, upon seeing pastries and silver, would naturally bite the silver rather than eat the pastries."

Recalling the scene from earlier, Ming Tan hesitated. "Can you really conclude that from just one detail? Maybe he needed the silver for an emergency, or perhaps he wanted to take the pastries back to share with others. It's... not necessarily true, is it?"

Jiang Xu lowered his gaze and replied indifferently, "You’ve never starved for three days. It’s normal that you wouldn’t understand."

Hearing this, Ming Tan turned to look at him, her eyes filled with shock and doubt.

"Husband, have you ever starved for three days?"

The question slipped out before she could think. Then she suddenly remembered—her husband had once mentioned nearly dying of thirst during a military campaign.

If he had experienced near-death from thirst, perhaps near-starvation wasn’t unusual for him either. Her husband was a prince of the mighty Daxian Kingdom—what kind of life had he lived before? Her heart ached even more.

But Jiang Xu didn’t respond. Instead, he pulled her close, letting her lie flat across his lap. "You’re tired. Rest early."

Ming Tan wanted to say more.

Jiang Xu leaned down, brushing away the stray hairs on her face. "Sleep."

From this angle, the contours of his face seemed softer than usual, and even his voice had grown husky and tender.

She stared at Jiang Xu unblinkingly for a moment before suddenly declaring, "Husband, A Tan will treat you well from now on."

Without waiting for his reaction, she wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggled closer, and closed her eyes contentedly.

Jiang Xu paused briefly, a faint warmth flickering in his eyes.

The night was deep.

The sky was clear, the moonlight pristine, and the surroundings utterly silent, save for the intermittent cries of unknown birds and beasts in the mountains, lending an air of solitude.

After the hardships of recent days, Ming Tan had grown accustomed to falling asleep even in such harsh conditions.

Once she was sound asleep, Jiang Xu gently laid her on the straw mat, exchanged a glance with the hidden guards, and disappeared alone into the boundless darkness beyond the temple.

...

Under the escort of a hidden guard, Xiao Shitou and the group of children safely left the desolate temple and returned to their homes in the town.

After the hidden guard departed, the children fell silent for a while.

Suddenly, Xiao Shitou spoke up. "I wonder what happened to Chen Wu, Li Si, and Wang Mazi. Let’s go to Lotus Town tonight, just in case they wake up and talk. We don’t want those people coming after us again."

The other children deferred to him and nodded in agreement.The timid look on Little Stone's face was gone, replaced by a maturity that didn't match his age. "I'll go outside first to keep watch. You guys hurry up and gather their valuables," he said.

With that, he stood up, dusted off his pants, and walked briskly outside.

The streets of Tonggang Town were eerily quiet in the dead of night.

Little Stone walked all the way to the crossroads without seeing a soul. It seemed the man who had brought them back had truly left. He finally let out a sigh of relief.

But as he turned around, he suddenly froze.

Under the cold moonlight, a man dressed in black descended from the rooftop. His face was expressionless, his gaze calm, like still water.

"Where do you think you're going?"