Chapter 274: Courting Death
Translated and hosted on BCatranslation
“Heavens! What is that?”
“A monster!”
The crowd’s faces turned pale as they stared in horror. Leading the way was a massive, nine-headed hydra. Each head towered over them like twisted, dark towers, swaying menacingly as its tongues flicked out, tasting the fear in the air.
The serpent’s cold, predatory eyes seemed to pierce through anyone who dared to look. One head, in particular, had a small horn sprouting, as if it had just started to grow.
“That’s Xiangliu, the nine-headed serpent from the Classic of Mountains and Seas!” an old minister cried out, his voice shaking with fear. “It’s a legendary creature that devours humans. Why would the envoy from the Southern Kingdom bring such a monster here?”
“Look! Someone is sitting on its head!”
A gasp went up from the crowd when they noticed a young man calmly sitting atop one of the serpent’s heads.
“Quick, everyone, get inside the city! Xiangliu is a bloodthirsty monster! If it starts attacking, not even His Majesty can protect us,” the old man shouted. Panic spread, and people rushed toward the city gates.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuan Ze stood apart, strangely calm. His eyes were wide, and his mouth twisted into a crazed grin.
“Pei Jiao Jiao, you deserve to die. You’ve ruined me! I’ve lost everything!” he screamed, his voice cracking as his fingers clawed at the air in fury.
By the riverbank, Lu Jing Yao watched the chaos, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Daddy, please, let Mommy go!” she begged.
“Help! Somebody help my mommy, please! I’m begging you, save her… Boo-hoo…” Jing Yao sobbed, collapsing to her knees, her small body shaking.
Behind the city gates, the citizens watched from a distance, terrified. The nine-headed serpent loomed over the city walls like a mountain of flesh.
“Mommy, please… somebody save her…” Jing Yao cried pitifully, her small voice trembling. She faced the beast, its cold, indifferent eyes staring back at her.
Drool dripped from the serpent’s gaping mouths, filling the air with a metallic stench. One of its heads lowered, sniffing Jing Yao as if deciding whether to eat her next.
Jing Yao’s face turned pale. She trembled, struggling to stay upright. Desperate, she looked toward the procession. “Big Brother, please save my mommy. Save Jing Yao’s mommy…” she pleaded, her voice breaking.
She had noticed the emblem on the carriage—it was the symbol of the Southern Kingdom – and wanted to get them to intervene.
The little girl continued to kowtow on the ground, crying up to Nan Mu Bai, who led the procession, “Big Brother, I beg you…”
Anyone who didn’t know the situation would feel pity for her.
As she kowtowed, the pendant around her neck slipped off, clattering onto the stones. Jing Yao quickly picked it up, holding the small copper coins in her trembling hands. “Big Brother, I’ll give you money! This is a family heirloom. I’ll give it to you if you save my mommy, okay?” she sobbed.
Nan Mu Bai’s eyes narrowed as he focused on the copper coins in her hand, his face suddenly serious.
“Stop!!” His voice boomed, cold and commanding.
Several guards rushed from the procession, pulling Lu Yuan Ze’s hands away from the almost lifeless Pei Jiao Jiao, who fell to the ground, gasping for air.
“Cough, cough… Ugh…” Pei Jiao Jiao choked, clutching her throat. Each cough felt like a knife cutting through her.
Just a little longer, and she would have been strangled to death by Lu Yuan Ze. Even her spit was tinged with blood.
Lu Yuan Ze held his broken fingers, howling in pain as he writhed on the ground.
“Who are you people? How dare you touch a court official!” he shouted, his veins bulging, his mangled fingers throbbing.
Nan Mu Bai chuckled smugly. “A court official? Ha… Even if I killed a court official of North Zhao, what could King Xuan Ping do to me?”
He turned to Lu Jing Yao, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the copper coins in her hand.
“Little girl, where did you get those copper coins?” Nan Mu Bai asked, stepping closer to take them from her. The coins, three in number, were tied together with a red thread, like a protective charm.
The coins were clearly from the Southern Kingdom, each one stamped with its national emblem. Nan Mu Bai’s face grew tense as he looked at them.
Jing Yao, her big eyes filling with tears, looked up at him. “Big Brother, they’re my mommy’s things,” she whispered softly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, faded pouch.
Nan Mu Bai took the pouch, his expression softening as he looked at it. The fabric had faded to almost white from washing, and the golden thread patterns had been carefully picked off. Yet, the original design was still visible.
He unfastened his own pouch from his belt and compared the two.
Despite the loss of its golden threads, the old pouch looked exactly like his own.
“Big Brother, your pouch looks just like mine…” Jing Yao said, her voice trembling as she looked up at Nan Mu Bai with hope and fear.
“Where did you get this pouch?” Nan Mu Bai asked, turning it over in his hands.
The two pouches were similar but not exactly the same. The old one had an embroidered golden dragon—a symbol of royalty. It was something his grandfather had once used.
[It’s like finding a needle in a haystack and stumbling upon it,] Nan Mu Bai thought.
“This was my mommy’s. She gave it to me,” Jing Yao replied, clinging to her nearly unconscious mother. “Mommy, Jing Yao is so scared. Mommy, you have to be strong. Jing Yao only has you, Mommy…” Her eyes shifted back to Nan Mu Bai, silently begging for his help.
Nan Mu Bai glanced at Pei Jiao Jiao, who lay still on the ground. His brow furrowed, sensing something was wrong.
“Little girl, what is your name?” Nan Mu Bai asked, still examining the pouch.
“My name is Lu Jing Yao, and I have a brother named Lu Jing Huai,” Jing Yao said softly. “Daddy wants to hurt us. He doesn’t love Jing Yao anymore. Jing Yao feels all alone.” Tears flowed down her cheeks.
[Thank goodness I noticed something strange about those copper coins,] she thought. [I’m so glad the people from the Southern Kingdom came just in time.]
She moved closer to her mother, trying to comfort her.
Pei Jiao Jiao’s eyes fluttered open weakly, seeing Nan Mu Bai studying the pouch. A faint memory stirred—a story her mother had told her on her deathbed.
Years ago, before Pei Jiao Jiao’s birth, her father died suddenly. At that time, Old Madam Pei had just arrived in the capital to become the Marchioness of Zhongyong.
Pregnant and desperate, Pei Jiao Jiao’s mother came to the capital seeking support. Without it, she would lose her child. With it, she could secure an heir for the Pei family.
Still new in the capital, the family of the Marquis Zhongyong hadn’t established themselves yet. So, they only gave her a small sum of money—not much, but enough to make a difference.
Translated and hosted on BCatranslation
On her way home, her mother met an old woman holding a baby in the cold. Seeing an opportunity and knowing the baby wouldn’t survive, she took the woman’s pouch and hurried away.
When she got home, she found the pouch was adorned with golden threads.
Afraid she might be caught, she didn’t sell it. Instead, she removed the threads and sold them bit by bit for small amounts of silver.
Then, after giving birth to Pei Jiao Jiao, her mother remarried.
[That baby probably didn’t survive the cold, did it?] Pei Jiao Jiao thought weakly, a sad smile forming. But before she could smile fully, Nan Mu Bai snapped his fingers, pulling everyone back to the moment.