Chapter 14: Slave Xiao
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
It was pretty normal for Bighead Kingpin's daughter to summon the 10 teen servants. They were led by a maid to the Eighth Young Master's yard. After swearing allegiance, every morning the teenagers would pay their respects to the female master.
After a few days, Gu Shenwei realized how difficult it was to get close to the Miss.
Despite trying to imitate Slave Yao, Gu Shenwei did not win the Miss's favor.
As the young Master of the Gu family, he never had this sort of difficulty before. Everyone liked him. It had never crossed his mind how difficult it was to gain someone's favor. Now as a low-ranked slave in charge of taking care of dead bodies, who would like him? Even strangers would try their best to avoid him.
Whenever the teenagers paid their respects to the Miss, they would kneel at the very edge of the yard. They would remain motionless with their heads bowed. They could not stand up until the Miss had completely entered the backyard. Then they would take the same route back to Firewood Yard, where Slave Ji's stony face would await them.
The Miss with the surname Luo was not a young lady of the Shangguan family. As a daughter-in-law, she had to fulfill her duties every morning. She would go bow to her mother-in-law with other daughters-in-law. It was in those moments she would have such horrendous moods. Somewhat similar to her husband Shangguan Nu, she would vent her anger by torturing her own slaves.
Slave Yao warned the teens, scaring them. "I wonder who will be the first to piss off the Miss. Whoever does, don't come ask me for help. We may be brothers, but I need to take care of myself first."
Slave Yao often intimidated them with such lies. This time, something actually did happen, matching his prediction. The poor and hapless teenager was named Slave Xiao.
As the tallest and oldest, Slave Xiao was strong and always liked to smile with a genial round face. He often appeared more childish than even the youngest, Slave Xie. Slave Xiao was also very intimidated by Slave Yao to the point of crying. However, Slave Xiao became exceedingly bold when they bowed to the Miss again.
He raised his head and glanced at the Miss.
The Miss was striding in the yard hurriedly. Angrier than usual, she asked, "Why does Little Ru have to change her name? Does the Shangguan family have all of the characters copyrighted? This is absurd!"
Except for Mama Xue, the Miss's four maids were named Little Chen, Little Xin, Little Ru, and Little Yi. This was according to the Chinese idiom "Chen Xin Ru Yi". The teenagers privately thought that these names sounded awful. The Miss's preference for them was not affected by how they sounded.
Perhaps the Miss cared about neither the actual four maids themselves nor their names. She was reluctant to change her maid's name because she was forced to do it. She could not fight against it, however. This was her mother-in-law, Mistress of the Shangguan family, who made the request.
Slave Yao had explained all of this to them afterward. The teens at the moment could not think clearly as they became frightened by another voice.
"Why did you raise your head?"
The scream resounded throughout the whole yard. The maid, Little Ru, who had yet to change her name, angrily glared at the teenager kneeling at the edge of the yard. Slave Xiao was trampled underfoot by Mama Xue before he could explain himself. His face slammed into the yard's bluestone. He did not dare to move.
The teenagers had been kneeling with their heads on the ground. At that moment, no one dared to even roll their eyes.
The Miss abruptly stopped her continuous complaints and rushed into the hall. Once the screen was set down, she asked,
"This man saw me?"
Slave Xiao, only a silly teenager, became a "man" due to his offensive action.
"No, he shouldn't have."
Although she had cruelly kicked him, Mama Xue tried to help Slave Xiao with an excuse. Slave Yao wanted to say something when Mama Xue glared at him, but he choked back his words.
"I saw nothing." Slave Xiao muttered while on his stomach, which proved that he had raised his head.
"Kill him," the Miss ordered behind the screen.
"Miss... we'd better not," Mama Xue said hesitantly.
The Miss was now in Golden Roc Fort, not the Iron Mountain Gang. She no longer had the supreme power to decide life and death. Although she resented her new status, she could not do anything about it.
"Gouge out his eyes and cut off his tongue."
This was the same punishment the unlucky girl standing next to the Miss had suffered. Each time the teenagers bowed to the Miss, they saw her.
"I didn't see, I didn't see."
Slave Xiao was so terrified, his body trembled like a sifter as he lay flat on the ground.
The Miss's four maids approached him together. It was their duty to gouge out people's eyes and cut off their tongues. The maid, Little Ru, was especially eager as she needed an outlet for her anger. She was as angry as the Miss.
Though Bighead Kingpin's daughter might not be able to act as she acted before, it was still inevitable. No one could restrict her from punishing her own servants.
No one begged for Slave Xiao.
Gu Shenwei did not want to admit it, but he was scared stiff. He even wished for a moment that he was deaf so that he was not able to hear Slave Xiao screaming.
The maids acted quickly and professionally. They even gave Slave Xiao some medicine to staunch the blood afterward.
The teenagers quietly carried Slave Xiao back to Firewood Yard. Even though no one was sincere when they swore to be pack brothers, everyone currently felt like they owed Slave Xiao, who had barely survived.
Slave Ji was astonished by Slave Xiao's bloody face. He jumped back a step and waved his rosewood stick as if driving away invisible evil spirits. "What happened?"
Slave Yao briefly explained the whole story. "Idiot, why did you raise your head?" Slave Ji asked, appearing strained and afraid.
Slave Xiao could still hear even after losing his eyes and tongue. He disengaged himself suddenly from the crowd's hold, cried out, and rushed toward the place that he thought Slave Ji was standing.
It happened so abruptly that no one could stop him. Slave Xiao almost ran past his target. Slave Ji initially froze up, but then he became irritated and swung his rosewood stick at Slave Xiao.
"Heartless idiot, are you mad? How dare you peep at the Eighth Young Mistress! Do you want to be killed?"
It seemed unnatural for Slave Ji to get angry.
From Slave Xiao's facial expression, Gu Shenwei suddenly realized that it was Slave Ji who incited Slave Xiao to secretly peep at the Miss.
What really happened was that while Slave Ji was chatting with the servants from the other yards, he showed his curiosity about the Eighth Young Mistress's appearance multiple times. The bandit's daughter from the Western Region was known for her peerless beauty, but no man had ever seen her face. The men in Golden Roc Fort had never experienced Bighead Kingpin's might and were naturally eager to know whether the rumor was true or not.
The 10 teenagers, on the other hand, had already ingrained in them the notion to never look at the Miss. Not even the most ordinary curiosity could affect them. Only Slave Xiao, who was the most well-behaved and a people-pleaser, had been unexpectedly persuaded by Slave Ji.
Everyone figured out the truth, but no one spoke up. Slave Yao hurriedly led them to grab ahold of Slave Xiao and carry him to their bedroom. Hit by the rosewood stick, Slave Xiao was not able to resist and had already lost consciousness.
Slave Xiao lay on the brick bed, bleeding everywhere. Slave Ji had refused to get a doctor, so the other teenagers could only wipe the blood off of him. It was similar to what they did in their daily routine with dying people.
During the night, Slave Xiao kept groaning and puffing for breath. Occasionally, he cried out in his own language. Gu Shenwei did not know what he yelled, as no one translated it for him.
No one could fall asleep under such circumstances. Slave Yao jumped out of the brick bed and patted Slave Xiao's head, saying something in an imperative tone. The dying teenager eventually became quiet.
That night, Gu Shenwei basically did not sleep.
The next morning, when he opened his eyes groggily, he knew that Slave Xiao had passed away.
The sworn brothers, without any genuine emotional bonds, completely fell apart. Everyone knew that as servants, they were not qualified to protect each other. To survive, they had to find other backers.
Three of them turned to Slave Ji. Certainly, they had all learned a lesson through Slave Xiao and would never peep at the Miss for Slave Ji.
The other two teenagers curried to Slave Yao's favor more than usual. Slave Yao, appreciated by Mama Xue, soon seemed to have a bright future as a killer apprentice.
The pair of brothers, Slave Qi and Slave Xie, remained independent and rarely associated with others. They were always whispering something in their own language.
Gu Shenwei did not care about these connections in their social circle. He was focused on the way to get revenge.
The day after Slave Xiao died, Mama Xue came again and directly burst into Slave Ji's room with a glare.
"You killed our Miss's servant."
Slave Ji was scared of Mama Xue's imposing attitude. He took two steps back and muttered,
"Don't accuse me. You murdered Slave Xiao yourself by gouging out his eyes and cutting off his tongue. This has nothing to do with me!"
Mama Xue was ineloquent, but adept in Iron Finger. With no words, she poked Slave Ji in the chest twice. The experienced teenagers knew that the skinny woman's finger was harder than the overseer's rosewood stick.
Slave Ji's face abruptly turned beet red. Crying out, he fell and curled up on the ground. It was the second time he had gotten stabbed by her. The strength this time was quite more powerful than last time.
Mama Xue punished Slave Ji, which concluded the death of Slave Xiao.
In order to avoid being despised by the teenagers, the next day, Slave Ji invited his backer. It was due to this man that he was able to become the overseer of Firewood Yard.
At dusk, when the nine teenagers were getting ready for bed, Slave Ji called for them in his room and ordered them to come in. It seemed that he was emboldened and wanted to show his "power".
Slave Ji became confident because of the person in the room. The man lay on his back in a deck chair, while Slave Ji sat on a small stool, massaging the man's legs.
The man was a killer of Golden Roc Fort. He had a black robe with a golden bird embroidered on the shoulder, a dark red waistband, and a narrow blade.
The teenagers could only recognize his identity from his clothing, but Gu Shenwei actually knew the man.
Gu Shenwei thought that he looked familiar just by seeing his profile. He must have met him somewhere before.
"Bastards, did the Miss not cut off your tongues today?"
Slave Ji looked mean, so no one dared to respond.
"Hey, watch out! That's the Eighth Young Mistress you're dealing with, don't lose your manners," the assassin in black said casually with his eyes closed.
"Third Brother, I'm serious. It was just a slave that died. In our fort, I've always taught the servants in this way. No master has ever complained. The new Mistress asked that skinny bitch to stab me twice, but it was them who gouged out his eyes and cut off his tongue. They were the ones who caused him to die. Third Brother, you are not aware of this, but the bitch's finger is so pointy. There are two bruises on my chest from her."
Slave Ji took the killer's right hand and used it to massage his own chest.
His tone and behavior were completely different from the usual cruel overseer.
"That bitch has a background. It was very kind of her to not stab you to death. What do you want me to do? I'm an underling of the Eighth Young Master. How can I go against the Eighth Young Mistress?"
"Hmph, I think the Mistress must be very ugly, or she doesn't know how to be cordial. Why doesn't she allow others to look at her? She has just gotten married a few days ago, and the Eighth Young Master has traveled far from home. Alas, Third Brother, you yourself had left for several months and just came back a few days ago. Soon you'll leave again. Third Brother, you should speak to the Eighth Young Master about Mama Xue. She has just entered the fort, but she's so arrogant. What will become of her in the future?"
Gu Shenwei suddenly remembered who the man was.
About three months ago, a man called Han Shiqi from the Western Region came to the manor of the Gu family with a letter. Master Gu Lun had accepted him as a manor servant.
Gu Shenwei found himself fearfully looking down at the edge of the cliff again. If Han Shiqi were to sit up and open his eyes, he would immediately recognize the young Master of the Gu family.