Against the Current - Chapter 136

Chapter 136 - Retribution (Part 4)

Everyone was terribly startled and scrambled in a flurry to carry Xia Yun onto the bed. Lady Jin flung herself over Xia Yun, crying as if her heart were breaking, and wailed, "My son, if you become useless, won't that just cost me my life!"

Xia Yun panted heavily and said, "I spent more than a decade studying by the cold window, and the official status I gained through bitter toil has all been ruined by your tossing and turning. You... you are simply trying to take my life!"

Lady Jin and Xia's second sister-in-law stared at each other in blank dismay for a long while. Xia's second sister-in-law licked her lips and asked cautiously, "Uncle, has your official status really been... been..."

In a fit of fury, Xia Yun struggled to sit up, spat right into Xia's second sister-in-law's face, and cursed, "This is all caused by you heartless, ignorant women!"

By this time, Lady Jin had flopped down onto the floor, thrown back her head, and wailed to the heavens, "Oh, woe is me! Heavens, you are blind! Just as our fortunes were about to turn, we've been tricked by that deceitful, vile little minx of the Chen family—that thunder-struck, fire-scorched, flashy, depraved whore! Today, I'm going to risk this old life of mine and fight her to the bitter end, fish dying and the net breaking together!" With a scramble, she hauled herself up, shoved aside the people standing in the doorway, and bolted out the door.

The people in the room were stunned for a moment before Xia Yun recovered his wits and roared, "Someone stop her at once!"

Waking as if from a dream, Xia's second sister-in-law chased out after her.

Third Miss Xia found the whole spectacle immensely amusing; biting her finger, she leaned against the doorframe and giggled musically. Her laughter made Xia Yun's brain throb with pain. He gathered all his strength and hurled a teacup, which shattered against the doorframe with a loud crash, breaking into countless pieces. Startled out of her wits, Third Miss Xia fled in a flurry.

Now, Lady Jin ran like a streak straight to the front of the Chen residence, pounding furiously on the gate with loud, raucous shouts and screams. Before long, the old woman sent by Lin Jinlou came out to answer the door, blocking Lady Jin on the threshold. Lady Jin launched into a fit of shrewish screaming and brawling, spewing foul abuse. Xia's second sister-in-law hurried over to pull and drag Lady Jin away, but she couldn't persuade her no matter what. Hearing the commotion from within her room, Xianglan quietly dispatched the young pageboy to report the incident to the yamen, while instructing the old woman to close the door and pay them no mind.

Before long, two bailiffs indeed arrived from the yamen. Without a word of nonsense, they seized Lady Jin and Xia's second sister-in-law, dragged them off to the county office, and gave each of them twenty heavy blows with the paddle. They broke both women's legs right through before telling the Xia family to come and claim their people. Lady Jin was frightened out of her wits; being advanced in years and having suffered severe trauma to her bones and tendons, she was carried back home only to draw her final breath that very night.

The atmosphere in the Xia household was shrouded in a gloomy, desolate cloud. Xia Yun's father was a man completely devoid of decisiveness, and his two elder brothers were ignorant peasant farmers. With Lady Jin gone and Xia Yun bedridden, the Xia family was left entirely without a head. As it happened, Xia's second sister-in-law possessed a rugged constitution and managed to pull through. She called her husband over to her bedside and whispered in a low voice, "Now that Uncle's official degree has been stripped away, goodness knows when or in what lifetime he'll ever rise again. I'm afraid we're in for a few years of grinding poverty, and since he's offended the Lin family, he's probably finished for life. We must keep our wits about us and make sure we don't suffer along with him."

Second Brother Xia was cut from the same cloth as his wife, so he hurriedly asked, "What do you have in mind?"

Xia's second sister-in-law replied, "Didn't the Chen family give sixty taels of silver? Now that Mother has passed away, you go take that silver to handle the funeral. Buy a thin wooden coffin, candles, paper cattle, and all the ritual goods—fifteen taels at most will cover the whole shooting match. You can quietly pocket twenty taels for ourselves and keep that silver for our own use."

Second Brother Xia thought this plan was simply brilliant, but then he hesitated and said, "Just a moment ago, Little San was still crying and shouting about returning the silver to the Chen family... Father agreed to it as well, and even said that if we plead earnestly enough, the Chen family might soften their hearts and restore Little San's official standing."

Spitting in disgust, Xia's second sister-in-law snapped, "Absolute nonsense! Who ever heard of returning silver once it's been pocketed? Did I take those beatings for nothing? You just do as I say! Isn't there still that little minx named Yindie in the house? If we run short of silver, make Uncle sell Yindie to pay off the debts!"

The couple conspired in secret. Second Brother Xia went to demand the silver to arrange Lady Jin's funeral. Because the household had virtually no savings left, Xia Yun had no choice but to produce forty taels of silver. Second Brother Xia followed the plan: he spent fifteen taels on the funeral, secretly pocketed twenty taels, and handed the remaining five taels over to Xia Yun. Bedridden and ignorant of the scheming behind the scenes, Xia Yun could only submit to the manipulation of his second brother and sister-in-law. Moreover, he worried that failing to return the silver to the Chen family would invite even greater disaster upon them. Rack his brains as he might, he could find no other solution, so Second Brother Xia easily coaxed him into selling Yindie.

Previously, because of the maidservant bestowed upon him by the Lin family, Xia Yun had felt a tender affection for Yindie and doted on her beauty. Now, with all these calamities erupting, that lingering trace of fondness had long since been swept away by the winds. He nodded and agreed on the spot.

Second Brother Xia immediately went out to look for a human trafficker. After inquiring at several places, he found that because Yindie had lost her chastity, wealthy households wouldn't touch her with a ten-foot pole, and middle-class households couldn't afford a high price. Only a brothel madam was willing to offer one hundred taels of silver, which was pushed to one hundred and ten after some bargaining. Second Brother Xia, being a cold-hearted and avaricious wretch at core, knew that Xia Yun was good-natured and soft-hearted, so he lied and claimed he was selling Yindie to a wealthy household.

Meanwhile, Yindie harbored her own calculations. Seeing that Xia Yun had lost his official degree and the entire Xia family was reduced to living off a few meager patches of farmland—destined to plunge back into grinding poverty—and surrounded by loud-mouthed, aggressive people who possessed countless filthy, disgusting habits and foul mouths, her life had been nothing but beatings, scoldings, and abuse every single day since Xia Yun lost his post. Yindie had never known hardship or poverty since childhood and had grown up accustomed to the luxury and wealth of the Lin estate, so she deeply despised and looked down upon the Xia family. Hearing that Xia Yun was going to sell her, although she felt a flutter of apprehension, she also felt a secret thrill. If the buyers were willing to spend a high price to purchase her as a maid or a concubine, she could return to a life of wearing silks and eating delicacies. Though she felt a tinge of reluctance to leave the young, handsome, and romantic Xia Yun, the thought of eating coarse rice and rotting gruel every day dissolved all those tiny benefits like clouds on the horizon.

Therefore, when Second Brother Xia deceived her by saying, "A wealthy rural landlord wants to buy you as a concubine, hurry up and pack your things to go live a life of wealth and luxury! Why stay here with us suffering in poverty?", Yindie packed her belongings without a moment's hesitation.

She went into the room to kowtow to Xia Yun, kneeling on the floor with tear-filled eyes as she said, "Though I am loath to leave you, my lord, the family has suffered a massive catastrophe and urgently needs silver. Second Brother selling me can at least bring back a few taels of silver to tide the household over."

Xia Yun's head injury had not yet healed, and now a fresh ailment had struck him down. Lying on the bed and listening to Yindie's words, his heart softened somewhat, thinking that they had shared genuine affection after all, and selling someone away like this truly felt ruthless. But when he turned his head to look, he saw that Yindie had dressed herself in her very best bottom-of-the-trunk outfit: a brand-new pink silk vest embroidered with peonies and butterflies, paired with a peach-red multi-threaded gauze skirt that set off her slender, willow-like waist. She had meticulously arranged her hair into a coil adorned with two or three pearl and kingfisher-feather hairpins, and her face was heavily tinted with powder and rouge, looking dazzlingly vibrant. There was not a shred of sorrowful parting in her demeanor; she looked entirely like someone who couldn't wait to escape.

Filled with such fury that his head spun anew, and remembering that all his present troubles stemmed entirely from this woman, Xia Yun sneered, "I only hope the young lady climbs even higher branches to become some rich man's little concubine—just wonder if he'll mind wearing shoes that I've already broken in!"

This remark choked Yindie until her face turned beet red, and burning hatred welled up in her heart. She wanted to retort, but fearing that she would anger Xia Yun and prompt him to sell her off to some unmentionable hellhole, she swallowed her humiliation and retreated in silence.

The moment Second Brother Xia led Yindie out the door, he dropped all pretense and assumed a ferocious grin, snapping, "You cheap little slut! A sold piece of chattel, and you dare dress finer than your master?" With that, he snatched Yindie's bundle right out of her hands and ruthlessly yanked every single hairpin and ornament from her hair.

Horrified, Yindie shrieked and lunged forward to grab them back. Second Brother Xia planted a brutal kick straight into her lower abdomen and cursed, "A destructive money-pit! Beating you is already letting you off easy!"

Enduring the pain, Yindie scrambled to her feet and lunged to snatch her things back again. Just as Second Brother Xia grabbed her by the hair and raised his hand to strike her, he heard a voice call out, "Tsk, tsk, you can't be doing that! If you ruin her face, how is she supposed to meet clients?" It was Gao Erbao, the brothel pimp from the Cuiwei Pavilion, strolling over leisurely.

Second Brother Xia instantly lowered his hand, his face plastered with ingratiating smiles as he bowed and greeted Gao Erbao. Gao Erbao looked Yindie up and down, nodded in satisfaction, settled the payment on the spot, and led Yindie away. Second Brother Xia pocketed the silver, secretly kept thirty taels for himself, and handed the remaining amount over to Xia Yun. Xia Yun took sixty taels to repay the Chen family, and we shall leave that matter there for now.

Now, when Yindie learned that she had been sold into a house of prostitution, she turned deathly pale with shock, bursting into frantic tears and cursing endlessly. The madam lost patience, administered a severe thrashing with rattan canes, and left her to starve for two meals, after which Yindie quickly quieted down and learned obedience. Seeing that Yindie possessed a lovely face, the madam set about teaching her how to read and play musical instruments. To everyone's astonishment, Yindie was utterly devoid of talent in these areas; after studying for many days, she picked up none of it. Instead, she possessed a glib, flattering tongue designed to win favor, yet lacked even the basic ability to read the room or anticipate others' moods.

Finding her impossible to train and realizing Yindie could never master refined arts, the madam simply threw caution to the wind and put her out on display to receive clients. Knowing Yindie wouldn't obey willingly, the madam spiked her wine with a sleeping potion and sold her night to a wealthy merchant. Though Yindie was fully aware of what was happening, her limbs refused to obey her commands, and she wept uncontrollably once it was over.

The madam comforted her, saying, "Good girl, while you're young, you should earn a few taels of silver early on so you have something to lean on when you're old. Spreading your legs brings in floods of glittering silver—that's far more reliable than a man's false, hypocritical affection."

Before long, the merchant sent over a five-tael silver ingot as allowance for Yindie's cosmetics, promising to send several bolts of gold-woven fabric for new dresses another day. Overjoyed from ear to ear, the madam immediately elevated Yindie's status, moving her into a prime parlor suite and assigning two little maidservants to wait on her. The next day, the merchant delivered thirty taels of silver to buy out Yindie for a multi-day stay. Although Yindie detested the merchant's advanced age and foul body odor, she was greedy for his silver. When she saw the merchant have two fine bolts of fabric sent over from the silk shop for her to tailor into clothes, accompanied by an enormous box of famous pastries and fine wine delivered by a pageboy, the other courtesans in the brothel grew green-eyed with envy. For a time, Yindie felt that such grand fanfare and prestige surpassed even her days in the Lin household, so she swallowed her complaints and officially threw herself into the flesh trade.

This month one patron came to buy her out for a stay, and next month another came to sleep with her. As spring passed and autumn came, there were initially still men willing to redeem Yindie, but Yindie either scorned them for being poor or disdained them for offering an unrespectable status. Before she knew it, her youth faded and her looks withered. When she finally woke up to reality, she realized that the only men still willing to redeem her were ones she found utterly repulsive, which left her burning with an even deeper resentment. Another two winters passed, and she contracted a filthy venereal disease, her entire body festering and leaking pus without end.

Disgusted by her foul, reeking condition, the madam threw Yindie out of her rooms and relegated her to a low-class brothel hovel, where only destitute laborers and street porters who scraped together a few coins would come to lodge with her. Gradually, even those men stopped coming. Then one day, Yindie was seized by relentless abdominal pains, but no doctor was summoned. When someone finally came to check on her, they found that she had long since passed away, her round eyes staring wide open in an unresisting gaze of unknown hatred, her body already swarming with maggots. They simply wrapped her in a straw mat and bundled her off to a hasty, shallow grave.