The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 67

The scruffy dog stood upright.

Balanced on its crooked hind legs, it planted its forepaws on Han Yin’s thighs and raised its head to stare at her horrified face.

“You’re going to abandon me, aren’t you?”

Its voice was hoarse and rough, as though scraped across sandpaper.

“Ah!”

After one brief, frozen silence, a scream shattered the air.

The young ladies scattered like startled birds, fleeing in every direction with the help of their maids.

The courtyard instantly descended into chaos.

Han Yin turned to run, but the black dog latched onto both her legs and sent her crashing to the ground.

It pressed its entire weight on top of her, breathing heavily.

A foul, rancid stench engulfed her.

Han Yin saw vicious eyes glaring from its almost human face.

The man who had come to present the betrothal gifts was Han Yin’s cousin. He instinctively ran forward.

“Cousin, save me!”

Han Yin screamed and reached out to him.

The hem of the man’s robe swept past her. He went straight to Han Yun, who appeared frozen with terror.

Seizing the motionless girl, he pulled her behind him and shielded her as though she were a precious treasure.

Han Yin’s mind roared. Her hand remained suspended in the air.

For a moment, she could no longer distinguish nightmare from reality.

“See, A-Yin? The man you want finds you disgusting,” the black dog said, its weight bearing down on her.

“You and I have shared the same bed for more than a month. He doesn’t want you anymore.”

It stretched out a long tongue and dragged it across Han Yin’s face, leaving a wet, reeking trail behind.

Sweet powder from the young woman’s skin coated its tongue. It smacked its lips and chuckled.

“Every night, when I watched you beside the bed, I wanted to lick you all over just like this.”

“A-Yin, you taste so sweet.”

As it spoke the last words, its features twisted horribly.

All this happened in the front courtyard of Han Qi’s residence, before countless witnesses.

Terrified screams erupted from the crowd.

The women were in complete disarray. Even Han Qi, master of the household, failed to recover his senses for some time.

“Young Mistress!”

Han Yin’s maid reached out to pull her free.

But Han Yin had gone as limp as a sack of flour. The maid was too weak to move her.

“Master, save the Young Mistress!”

Clinging to one of Han Yin’s arms, the maid looked pleadingly at Han Qi.

Han Qi recoiled half a step in horror.

The estate guards, hearing the commotion, rushed over.

Several froze when they came near. Then Han Qi shouted, “Hurry! Beat that dog demon to death!”

The guards looked at one another before advancing with their clubs.

The black dog sprawled over Han Yin paid them no attention at all.

It lowered its head and greedily inhaled her scent at the side of her neck.

“A-Yin… my lady… A-Yin…” it murmured, repeating her name.

Thud!

A club as thick as a man’s wrist whistled down.

It struck the black dog squarely on the head with a muffled crack.

Blood burst out, and the creature immediately collapsed on top of Han Yin.

Warm blood ran into the hollow of her neck.

Only after the dog’s body was dragged aside did Han Yin, lying on her back, begin to shriek.

“Young Mistress.”

The maid crawled over to help her, but both of them were so terrified and weak that it was impossible to tell who was supporting whom.

The dog was dragged away, yet no one dared approach it.

The spreading hems of Han Yin’s and her maid’s skirts resembled a flower within the circle the crowd had opened around them.

One estate guard gathered his courage, went forward, and rolled the motionless dog with his club.

Only then did Han Qi finally steady himself and look away from the black dog on the ground.

His gaze swept around the crowd before settling on Han Yin, who remained crumpled on the flagstones.

The maid wept as she used her sleeve to wipe the blood from Han Yin’s body.

Trembling all over, Han Yin clung to her.

She looked up and met her father’s eyes.

Her heart plunged.

“Master, it… it doesn’t seem to be a dog demon.”

The guard who had dared examine it flung away his club as if shocked.

When he turned the black dog’s body, he had discovered stitches hidden in the fur of its underbelly.

He teased them apart slightly and glimpsed filthy skin beneath the crooked seam.

It was rough as old bark, covered in grime and blotches.

But there could be no doubt.

It was human skin.

“Master, this is a man!”

The guard’s blurted words drained the color from every face in the courtyard.

Han Yin went deathly pale.

Han Yun peeked from behind the tall young man. “Eldest Sister, are you all right?”

At her call, every gaze in the courtyard stabbed into Han Yin like a needle.

Though she sat beneath the sun, Han Yin felt as if she had been cast into a frozen wilderness. She wrapped both arms around herself, her teeth chattering.

She raised her head and looked helplessly around.

Her father, Han Qi, stared back with cold eyes.

She turned to her cousin, the man she was supposed to become engaged to today.

The refined young scholar had one arm raised protectively before her younger half sister, Han Yun.

The look he directed at Han Yin held horror and… disgust.

Leaning against her maid, Han Yin went completely rigid.

Han Qi took a deep breath. “My household has made a spectacle before our honored guests.”

He produced a perfectly measured smile and clasped his hands in apology to the visitors.

He alone did not look at his daughter on the ground.

He merely flicked his sleeve. “Take her away.”

He would not even say her name.

When several sturdy servant women came forward, Han Yin finally reacted.

“Father,” she said hoarsely, “I knew nothing about this. I never committed such a shameless act.”

Han Yin was no fool. She knew perfectly well how jealously her father guarded his reputation.

She feared that, within a few days, she would mysteriously “die of illness.”

Han Yin knelt on the ground, soaked in blood until it had saturated her clothes.

She looked again at the cousin she had loved since childhood.

“Cousin, save me. Please.”

Her cousin’s brow furrowed, then smoothed. He slipped the gift list he had not yet presented back into his sleeve.

His answer could not have been clearer.

Han Yin collapsed.

She looked at the black dog lying nearby, a faint breath still in its body.

She could not understand how one act of kindness had brought her to this end.

The tall servant women approached.

Han Qi continued apologizing to his guests without looking at her even once.

Han Yin glanced at her maid, who was trembling just as badly.

Then her gaze fell on the sharp corner of a nearby railing.

She had only two choices now.

She could bear the stain on her name and quietly die of an “illness.”

Or she could kill herself before them all to prove her innocence.

A miserable smile crossed her face. With shaking hands, she began to push herself up.

Then a gentle female voice spoke.

“Lord Han, Miss Han must have known nothing about this.”

“Her chastity may have been ruined, but it was not by her choice. She is a victim as well. Why not report the matter to the Five Cities Military Patrol Office and investigate it thoroughly?”

Han Yin shuddered.

She raised her head and saw the imposing, elegant Zhao Yaoguang.

Stunned, she stared at the woman hailed as the model for all young ladies in the capital.

Word by word, before the entire gathering, Zhao Yaoguang had nailed the verdict of Han Yin’s lost chastity firmly into place.

Even though Han Yin had done nothing.

Even though she had known nothing.