Chapter 20: Not a Good Girl
“Of course! You have done such a great service, I must reward you!” The village chief ignored her protests and turned to discuss the matter with the other villagers.
Ultimately, the chief presented her with a large bag of dried fish brought back from the town. Upon inspection, Lu Yunxi found the fish to be blue-grade! Although they didn’t provide permanent attribute bonuses, they possessed the ability to restore health. She was already more than satisfied; so far, she hadn’t been able to cook any blue-grade dishes herself.
To express their own gratitude, the other villagers also brought over gifts: bundles of firewood, fresh vegetables, fruits, grain, and baskets of eggs. Looking at the supplies piled up like a small mountain in her courtyard, Yunxi felt a mix of amusement and genuine warmth.
Over the following month, Lu Yunxi busied herself. She processed the rabbit meat from her previous hunt into thousands of pieces of jerky and prepared various dried vegetables and fruits. She planned to pack a portion of everything for Daya to take to town, especially the jerky, which would be perfect for keeping her energy up during long days of dance practice.
However, before she could finish packing the supplies, a loud commotion erupted from the house next door.
Curiosity piqued, Yunxi crept toward her front door and pressed her ear against the wood. In the past, she might have struggled to hear much, but her constant training had sharpened her hearing significantly. Besides, the people next door were shouting so loudly they clearly weren’t concerned with privacy.
“Ergou! Ergou’s wife! You’re back?!” Grandma Li’s voice was high-pitched with excitement.
Ergou?
Yunxi’s eyes widened at the familiar name. That was Uncle Li’s nickname. Daya’s parents had actually come back to pick her up?
Could it be that they’ve really changed? she wondered. Maybe they don’t favor boys over girls anymore?
She stroked her chin, considering the possibility. It seemed likely. Since Grandma Wang was a respected dance teacher in town, there were many more opportunities for women there, and a girl’s status would naturally be higher. Under that influence, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Li couple had started to value their daughter. After all, when the villagers had “awakened,” many of their original personalities and motivations had shifted.
Movement from the yard next door caught her attention again. It seemed Daya was being shy, as she heard Grandma Li urging her to greet her parents. After a long pause, Daya’s hesitant, embarrassed voice drifted over.
“Dad… Mom.”
Yunxi let out a silent sigh of relief. Daya was usually a bit scattered, but she could be quite timid around people she didn’t know well—even if those people were her own parents. She was a fair, clean-looking girl with a bit of cute baby fat; surely anyone who saw her would be charmed. Her parents would undoubtedly be thrilled to see how lovely she’d grown.
Snap!
A sharp, violent crack interrupted her thoughts. Yunxi’s expression hardened instantly.
What was that?
She pressed herself firmly against the door, straining to catch every sound from the Li courtyard.
“You worthless girl! We’re away for years and this is how you behave? You’re asking for it! And dancing?! You look hideous—you actually have the nerve to show your face in public? It’s embarrassing! You’re a girl, why aren’t you in the kitchen? All you want to do is run around outside! You have no sense of shame or duty!”
The roar of curses was followed by a series of sharp, “crackling” sounds that reminded Yunxi of firecrackers. Then came a low, muffled sob, followed by the hoarse, mocking laughter of a boy whose voice was currently breaking.
“Haha! This is hilarious! Look at you, all grown up and crying like a baby. How pathetic!”
Yunxi’s face went grim. She didn’t need to see it to know exactly what was happening. Her fire of anger rose from her stomach all the way to the top of her head. Uncle and Aunt Li hadn’t changed at all. If anything, their favoritism had curdled into something much worse.
Her expression turned ice-cold. She threw back the door latches with two loud bangs. She could have opened them quietly, but she deliberately made as much noise as possible, hoping to startle them. If the Li couple had any shred of shame, they might stop the beating if they realized a neighbor was watching.
She took her time opening the door, stretching the process out for nearly three minutes. When she finally stepped outside, the Li family’s front door was shut tight. She listened, but the sounds of shouting and sobbing had ceased. With a heavy, dark cloud hanging over her, she turned and headed toward the mountain.
She didn’t bring many arrows this time; she wasn’t going to hunt. She needed to train, and more importantly, she needed to vent.
During her fight with the Wild Boar King, she had realized a major weakness: she couldn’t maintain her speed on the uneven hills. When the boar was chasing her, she’d had to be extremely careful with her positioning to keep from slipping. If she ever ran into a tiger, she wouldn’t be able to rely on luck.
She ran twenty laps up and down the mountain slopes, stopping only when the sun began to dip below the horizon. As she walked home, panting and drenched in sweat, she spotted what looked like a large mushroom crouching on the ground in the distance.
Getting closer, she realized it was Daya.
“Daya, you…” Yunxi started to reach out, but the words died in her throat when Daya looked up.
Daya’s face was horribly swollen. Her soft, fair cheeks were bruised and puffed out, making her head look twice its normal size. Yunxi gasped.
They beat her again?!
She pulled Daya into her house and rummaged through her supplies until she found a specialized swelling-reduction ointment.
“Daya, I got this from Doctor Sun a while ago. Rub some on before you go to bed. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”
Daya lowered her head, taking the jar with a tiny, mosquito-soft thank you. Yunxi felt a wave of helplessness. She knew Daya didn’t want to talk about her parents, so she tried to lighten the mood with a tease. “Look at you… did you sneak out to find a beehive and get stung again?”
Daya clenched the ointment and whispered a soft, “Yeah.”
The two of them sat in the darkening room in heavy silence. After seeing a heartbroken Daya off, Yunxi let out a long, deep sigh. In an era that demanded absolute filial piety, parents could beat and scold their children as they saw fit. No one in the village would step in. Aside from providing medicine, there was little she could do.
Over the next month, Yunxi went to the mountains to practice every day, shooting down any prey she encountered. By the end of that month, Daya suddenly arrived at her door, dissolved in tears.
“Xiaoxi, I…” She collapsed onto the table, sobbing uncontrollably.
Yunxi’s brow furrowed. What have those monsters done now?
In the past few weeks, she had learned the truth: Uncle and Aunt Li hadn’t come back for Daya at all. They had returned because they’d lost their jobs in town. During that time, Daya had been subjected to constant verbal abuse and a beating every two or three days.
The girl was now as thin as a bamboo pole, her baby fat completely gone. The light had vanished from her eyes, replaced by a constant, timid flinch whenever anyone moved.
Yunxi rubbed her back gently, whispering comforts as if to a small child. Gradually, Daya’s sobs subsided into hiccups.
“My parents… they’re going to marry me off!”
“What?!” Yunxi’s face went cold. Daya was only eleven years old. The angrier Yunxi became, the calmer her voice grew. “Daya, did they say who it was?”
Daya shook her head. “I only know the man’s name. I don’t know anything else…” She covered her face, fresh tears falling. “They won’t let me go back to the dance studio. When my Master came to talk to them, they screamed at her. They said… they said dancers don’t come from ‘decent’ families!”
