Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Kowtowed

Tang Ji Zu stared at Tang Bao Yu.

Tang Bao Yu’s face went pale. “Dad, I’m so little. I can’t kowtow that many…”

Tang Ji Zu looked away as if it hurt him to see his son frightened. When he spoke, his voice was cold enough to frost over. “Each of your kowtows will count as two wen. You’ll only need to do a little over 1,000 to make up for it. Since you started this mess, you’ll solve it yourself. Go with them and kowtow.”

Qin Hui Yin tilted her head. “Uncle, strictly speaking, this has nothing to do with you. If you want to do it in Tang Bao Yu’s place, then each of your kowtows can count as three wen.”

Li Tao Hua caught the intent at once and put on a reluctant expression. “Three wen per kowtow means it’d be over in no time. Is your head really that valuable?” She sighed as if forced into generosity. “But since my daughter said it, I can’t make her lose face. Fine. If you feel sorry for your son and want to do it for him, that works too.”

Tang Bao Yu’s eyes lit up like someone had set a lantern inside his skull. He grabbed at Tang Ji Zu with his gaze. “Dad, if you do it, it’s three wen per kowtow. You’d only need to do a thousand! No—wait—Mom already did 120, so you don’t even need that many. Dad, it’s more cost-effective if you do it!”

“One person does what he’s responsible for,” Tang Ji Zu said, his tone turning harder. “You caused this, so you bear it. Your mother loves you and was willing to kowtow for you, but I won’t spoil you. Either you kowtow now, or you won’t eat meat ever again.”

Tang Bao Yu stared as if he couldn’t believe the words were real. “Mom can kowtow for me, so why can’t you? Are you even my dad? Do you even love me?”

Tang Ji Zu’s eyes sharpened, warning clear as a knife held to the throat. “What did you say?”

Tang Bao Yu shuddered. He thought of the way Tang Ji Zu had dealt with Li Er Niu. The rest of his protest died on his tongue. He burst into loud sobs instead.

Qin Hui Yin’s voice stayed mild. “Uncle, you’re truly making him kowtow? If you’re sure, we’ll take him.”

Tang Ji Zu hitched the bundle on his shoulder and turned away. “Yes,” he said without looking back. “Take him to kowtow.”

If it couldn’t be avoided, there was no point lingering here. He would settle this score slowly—later.

As he walked off, something ugly flickered again in his eyes, quick as a snake’s tongue.

—

Li Tao Hua and Qin Hui Yin each seized one of Tang Bao Yu’s arms and dragged him down the lane toward the ancestral hall. Tang Bao Yu’s heels scraped the ground. His wailing rose and fell like a saw through wood.

When they reached Tang Yi Xiao, they shoved Tang Bao Yu forward.

“You watch him,” Li Tao Hua told Tang Lu Wu. Then she and Qin Hui Yin turned back to their own work as if the matter were no more than chores to be finished.

Nearly 1,500 kowtows weren’t easy, but they trusted Tang Yi Xiao to count every single one—and to soften for no one.

If they let Tang Bao Yu off just like that, then what had all these years been for?

Those days with no way out. Those nights Tang Yi Xiao had hated himself until he could barely breathe. Those moments he had stood helpless, swallowed by shame and rage. He had endured them all for this.

Now he watched the boy he loathed kneel in front of him and lower that arrogant head.

That fat body could no longer press him down.

The sensation was unreal, like stepping into a dream and finding your feet didn’t sink.

So this was what it felt like to fight back.

It felt… incredible.

—

By the time Qin Hui Yin finished making lunch, Tang Lu Wu and her younger brother still hadn’t returned.

A child clung to the fence outside the yard and called in, voice thin but eager. “Sister Hui Yin! I just took a look—Tang Bao Yu still has 500 kowtows left!”

“Oh?” Qin Hui Yin opened the gate. “Then could you do me a favor?”

“Yes, Sister…” The little girl had a bundle of firewood strapped to her back. Her face was smeared with soot and dirt, her sleeves too short, her clothes obviously patched from someone else’s castoffs.

Qin Hui Yin lifted a parcel wrapped in oiled paper. “Help me deliver food to Sister Lu Wu and Brother Yi Xiao. As thanks, this is your pay.” She placed the braised pig trotter into the girl’s hands. “Eat it before you go. Afterward, rinse with salt water to clear the smell.”

“Sister Hui Yin…” Third Sister Tang’s eyes reddened on the spot. She held the trotter like something too precious to touch. “I can’t take it. I’m only delivering a meal—it’s nothing. I can’t accept something like this.”

“Eat it,” Qin Hui Yin said gently. “I’ve got more. You’re too skinny. Eat some meat and build yourself up.”

Third Sister Tang’s fingers trembled as she tightened her grip. She sniffed hard, then asked in a whisper, “Then… can I take it back and share it with my sisters and brother?”

Li Tao Hua appeared in the doorway. “What a silly child,” she said, half scolding, half kind. “If you take it back, do you think there’ll be any left for you? Either eat it here, or I won’t let you help. I can deliver the food myself.”

Third Sister Tang swallowed. Her stomach cramped at the thought of real food.

These past few days she’d lived on thin rice water. Forget meat—she hadn’t even seen a full grain of rice. Up on the mountain that morning, her head had swum and her feet had gone light; she’d nearly stepped right off a cliff. Only grabbing a branch at the last instant had kept her alive.

“Auntie Tao Hua, Sister Hui Yin… thank you,” she said, voice rough. She wasn’t stupid. She knew exactly why they were insisting.

She lowered her head and tore into the trotter.

The rich, salty aroma flooded her mouth, and it felt like life rushing back into her veins.

Drip. Drip.

Tears slid down her dirty cheeks, cutting clean tracks through the grime.

Li Tao Hua paused. “Why are you crying?”

“It’s so good,” Third Sister Tang choked out. “I’ve never eaten anything this delicious.”

She ate fast, as if someone might snatch it away if she blinked. When she finished, she rinsed with the salt water Qin Hui Yin had prepared, hoisted her firewood again, picked up the meal basket, and set off.

As she walked, the fragrance from the basket drifted up, warm and cruelly tempting. Thinking of what had happened that morning, Third Sister Tang envied Tang Yi Xiao and Tang Lu Wu more than ever.

They both had stepmothers too—but her stepmother only barked orders, making her work, making her raise her little brother as if she were already his mother. Tang Yi Xiao and Tang Lu Wu’s stepmother protected them.

Tang Bao Yu had bullied her before. Her stepmother and her blood brother had walked right past without even slowing down. Her two sisters were timid and weak, clinging to her and crying, unable to do anything else.

When Third Sister Tang reached the ancestral hall courtyard, she saw Tang Bao Yu’s forehead had already split from kowtowing. He moved with agonizing slowness; every time he lifted his head, it took him a long moment, as if the air itself were heavy.

Tang Lu Wu and Tang Yi Xiao had found a spot to sit. They watched him like a pair of judges.

“Younger brother,” Tang Lu Wu asked, “how many now?”

Tang Yi Xiao didn’t look away from Tang Bao Yu. “1,053.”

“Yinyin said he has to do 1,440,” Tang Lu Wu muttered, counting on her fingers, brows knitting tighter with every number. “So we’re still short… still short… what do I do? I can’t figure it out.”

“387,” Tang Yi Xiao said.

Tang Lu Wu stared at him in awe. “You’re amazing! No wonder you can add it up so fast every time we do accounts. Yinyin even praised you, saying you’re made for business. Why am I so dumb?”

“You’re not,” Tang Yi Xiao said. “You’re good with your hands. Every time Second Sister teaches us a recipe, you’re the first to learn it. Even Mom learns slower than you.”

“Don’t let Mom hear you say that,” Tang Lu Wu hissed, suddenly nervous. “She only just started to like us. We can’t make her angry.”

“I know,” Tang Yi Xiao said.

His gaze shifted, catching Third Sister Tang standing nearby with the basket. “Did Second Sister send you?”

Third Sister Tang nodded and hurried over. “Sister Hui Yin said no one should suffer at the expense of their belly. She told you to eat while you watch him kowtow.”