Meeting Chang'an - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Every child of the Jiang Family was brave and heroic. I was the only useless coward among them.

I didn’t dare speak loudly. I didn’t dare walk quickly. If I got anxious while eating, I could even burst into tears.

The war on the border was urgent, and the whole family rushed off to the battlefield, leaving me alone in the capital.

Eldest Sister was worried that someone with my timid nature would be bullied in the capital, so she found me a lowly stable slave to practice on.

The boy was seventeen or eighteen, covered in wounds, and was thrown down in front of me.

Eldest Sister shoved a soft whip into my hand. “Hit him.”

Trembling, I took it. The moment I met the villain’s dark, bottomless eyes, I dropped to my knees.

Sobbing, I said, “I’m sorry.”

Then I gently laid the whip against him.

Eldest Sister’s roar rang out at once. “Jiang Jiang! Did you not eat? Put some strength into it!”

She snatched the whip away and demonstrated a few strikes herself.

The thick stench of blood immediately spread through the room.

With red eyes, I lowered my head, grabbed Eldest Sister’s sleeve, and pleaded, “Eldest Sister, please don’t hit him anymore.”

The villain was Wei Chong. In his youth, he suffered every hardship imaginable. Once he rose to power, he had everyone who had humiliated him back then arrested.

Boiling people alive over raging flames. Burying the living in coffins.

Those were all things he had done.

I was already afraid of him, and I was worried about Eldest Sister too, so my voice inevitably turned tearful.

Eldest Sister could only toss the whip aside with a headache. “Then kick him.”

I hesitated and looked at Wei Chong.

Blood was already seeping from his wounds, but his expression hadn’t changed. He still stared at me like a wolf or a tiger, his gaze terrifyingly sharp.

Shaking, I raised my foot and stepped on his leg.

As I cried, I stammered out a curse at him.

“You… you dog…”

My legs went weak, and I stumbled forward despite myself, ending up straddling Wei Chong.

Wei Chong’s expression changed at once, and even his breathing grew heavier.

Flustered, I tried to get up, but I was so frightened that I couldn’t summon any strength at all. I had barely risen a little before I fell back down.

With my eyes red, I looked at Wei Chong and apologized in a small voice. “I’m sorry…”

Wei Chong closed his eyes coldly.

Eldest Sister hauled me up and scolded me in disappointment.

“What are you so afraid of him for?! If I tell you to use force, then use force!”

I slapped his face weakly. My fingers brushed across his jaw, and I cried even harder.

“I… I’m sorry.”

Eldest Sister was irritated by my crying and finally agreed to let me off.

She ordered someone to take Wei Chong to the woodshed in the back courtyard.

I followed Eldest Sister forward, but I couldn’t help looking back.

Wei Chong was being dragged away.

I quickly called out, “Slow down. Let him walk properly.”

Before Wei Chong could lift his head, I ran off at top speed.

At the dinner table that night, Eldest Sister recounted my performance that day with a headache.

“Jiang Jiang, what exactly are you so afraid of?”

I pressed my lips together. “Hitting people… isn’t very good.”

“Wei Chong is a condemned criminal I pulled out of prison. He was going to die anyway.”

It was because he had suffered so much in prison that the young man had become so irritable.

But I remembered that Wei Chong had only been imprisoned in the first place because someone had framed him.

I lowered my head even further and listened as my older brothers and sisters discussed finding people in the capital to protect me.

“Today… I listened to Eldest Sister. I hit him, and I cursed him too.”

I tactfully declined my siblings’ kindness. “I should be able to take care of myself.”

The moment Eldest Sister heard that, she couldn’t help roaring again.

“You call that hitting someone? Even that stupid cat your Second Sister keeps has more strength than you.”

“Our Laifu is not a stupid cat!”

Second Brother waved at me, telling me to leave first.

So I stood, bowed to each of my brothers and sisters, and left the room.