Lin Wan wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and her tension eased significantly. As long as Uncle Jiang was willing to back them up, they could at least get a decent meal.
“Thank you, Uncle Jiang!” Lin Wan said gratefully.
Jiang Moran waved his hand. “Since I drank Old Lin's wine, I should naturally look after you a bit.”
“Tell me about the situation in the residence. Why are even the servants acting with such utter impunity? If I remember correctly, Old Lin should be the son-in-law of the Zhao Residence.”
Lin Wan clutched her sleeves slightly and slowly recounted their encounters in the Zhao Residence over the years...
It turned out that because Lin Yuanzu made a living in the jianghu, he was looked down upon even after marrying into the Zhao Family. His wife, who had insisted on marrying him, had also suffered a severe deterioration in her relationship with her family.
His wife had passed away from illness a few years ago. Early this year, Lin Yuanzu's old ailments flared up again, leaving him unable to get out of bed.
This made life even harder for the brother and sister. At best, the servants in the residence treated them with cold indifference. At worst, they ordered them around, even beating and humiliating them.
The two could only scavenge for leftovers that others didn't want while cleaning up after meals to stave off hunger.
Lin Yuanzu had seen all of this and felt the pain in his heart. Yet, even so, he had never once reached out to Jiang Moran for help.
It wasn't until a few days ago that he knew he couldn't hold on any longer.
This was not just a jar of wine; it was also the only question he could answer on his exam as a father.
Lin Wan kept wiping her tears with her head bowed, but she couldn't stop them from flowing. Although she was recounting past events, it felt more like pouring out her grievances to an elder.
Jiang Moran listened quietly, never once interrupting her from beginning to end. The cup of wine had already been emptied, and he did not refill it.
It was not a pleasant story, and it made the wine taste much more bitter.
Just as Lin Wan's vision was starting to clear, a hand was placed gently on her head, offering comforting reassurance.
“Stop crying. Uncle is going to give you backing,” Jiang Moran said with a smile, every word falling clearly onto her heart.
She stared blankly at his face, and her newly cleared vision blurred once more. It was only later in life that she would truly understand the weight of his words today.
...
Under the old locust tree in the courtyard of the Zhao Residence, a group of servants sat relaxing and slacking off, their brooms cast aside carelessly.
“I say,” one of the servants spoke up, “why have you been hiding your face like that since earlier?”
Following his words, the other servants looked over at the servant who was shrinking his neck.
“I... I just didn't sleep well last night.”
The other servants chuckled. They weren't going to believe that nonsense. They forced themselves on him and dragged him over, only to find a clear handprint on his face.
“Hahaha!”
“You must have been slapped for teasing a maidservant, and you're too embarrassed to admit it, haha!”
Seeing this, everyone burst into laughter. No wonder he had been hiding his face the entire time; it turned out he had been slapped.
“Shut up!” The man barked in anger and embarrassment. “I didn't tease any maidservant! I was hit by that guy who claimed to be the Zhao Family's son-in-law's friend!”
Son-in-Law Lin's friend?
The laughter of the crowd came to a halt. Since marrying into the Zhao Family, Son-in-Law Lin had always kept to himself. They had never heard of him having any friends.
And this resident son-in-law had just passed away a few days ago.
“Do you think that friend came to take those two bastards away?”
“Heh, in their dreams. Young Master Zhao won't agree to let them go. You know he hasn't had enough of tormenting them yet.”
“True, hahaha.”
The few of them laughed again as they spoke, entirely unaware that three people were walking toward them from a distance.
One of the sharp-eyed servants spotted them and whispered a reminder, “Look! It's those two bastards. The one in front must be that resident son-in-law's friend.”
Hearing this, the few of them looked over, and sure enough, they saw Lin Wan and Lin Ming following behind Jiang Moran.
Seeing the servants look over, the two couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. Lin Ming, in particular, kept his head lowered in anxious agitation.
Seeing their instinctive reactions, Jiang Moran didn't say anything on the surface, but a trace of coldness flashed in his eyes.
“Hey, what did you two bring someone over for? Did he come to help you sweep the courtyard?” a servant said with a grin as he stepped forward, his tone dripping with ridicule.
“Hahaha! No kidding, sweeping with three people might actually make it faster.”
The others burst into roaring laughter upon hearing this. The laughter was harsh and grating, carrying a deep, heavy malice.
Since even Young Master Zhao of the Zhao Residence despised this brother and sister, what did they have to worry about? Servants were already a class of low status. Having finally found a bit of superiority, they naturally wouldn't miss a chance to trample on others.
But what they didn't know was just who had come to back up the siblings today.
Splat!
The surrounding laughter stopped abruptly. The head of the servant who had stepped forward to mock them exploded like a watermelon, scattering red and white matter all over the ground.
Jiang Moran wiped his hands, his expression as calm as if he had merely crushed an ant.
“One minute. Clean the ground.”
This voice pulled the servants, who were on the verge of collapse, back to reality. Without even a moment to hide the horror on their faces, they scrambled to pick up their brooms and began to clean.
The sticky brain matter was pushed back and forth by the brooms, delivering a massive blow to the servants' mental states.
But that freezing voice constantly echoed in their ears, leaving them not daring to stop. They could only steel themselves and keep sweeping.
The two siblings were completely dazed with fright. The servant who used to bully them lay headless on the ground, his death gruesome and terrifying.
But compared to the fear, it was the sense of security Uncle Jiang brought that filled them even more.
A moment later, except for the headless corpse on the ground that no one dared to touch, everything else had been swept into a pile. The brooms acted like paintbrushes, adding a stroke of red to the ground, which looked exceptionally creepy from a distance.
“M-Master, it's swept,” several servants said tremulously, their voices shaking uncontrollably.
Jiang Moran did not even spare a glance at the ground.
“Is it swept?”
The moment those words were spoken, another servant's head exploded on the spot. Because they had been standing close together, the brains and blood of their companion splashed all over their faces and clothes.
“The ground still isn't red enough.”
At this moment, the last taut string of their sanity snapped. Utter terror overwhelmed their minds.
“Aaaaah! I don't want to die!”
“Help! Mother, save me!”
The entire courtyard echoed with shrill, miserable screams that made the skin crawl. The despair in their voices was chilling.
Companions continued to fall around them, their heads bursting without exception. This realization caused the remaining fleeing servants to collapse limply to the ground, their expressions turning completely vacant and foolish.
Waiting for death was far more agonizing than death itself.
Amidst the screams of extreme terror and despair, a melodious tune could faintly be heard.
Jiang Moran stepped onto the carpet woven of blood, softly humming a tune. If anyone had bothered to listen, they would have found the melody rather pleasant.
It was just that against the backdrop of desperate, echoing wails, the tune took on a distinctly eerie quality.
“Stop!!”
An angry, voice-cracking roar shattered his melody. Jiang Moran frowned slightly and looked over.
At some point, a man had appeared at the entrance of the courtyard. At this moment, he stared at the scene inside, his face a mixture of shock and disbelief.
Rate on N.U.
