Chapter Ninety-Five: Counterattack

He had slipped out of the manor that morning by hiding in a cattle cart bound for the southern quarter of the city, only to be seized by two Japanese pirates. By afternoon, he had not had a single sip of water or a bite of food.

His stomach gave a humiliating growl.

Wei Yilin was furious, anxious, and ashamed all at once, while Wei Ruo pretended not to hear and continued eating her own portion.

Wei Yilin had never suffered like this in his life. The more he thought about it, the more miserable he felt.

"Wei Qingruo!" he shouted.

"What?"

"You... you..."

"What, you want to eat but are too embarrassed to ask?" Wei Ruo finished for him.

"I don't!"

Whether he thought that or not hardly mattered, Wei Ruo said. "I would never give my carefully prepared food to someone who is hoping I die."

"You!" Wei Yilin ground his teeth in fresh anger.

Wei Ruo gave a light smile and went on leisurely chewing her sweet dried potatoes.

"If you won't give me any, then don't! As if I'd care!"

Half an hour later...

His stomach was growling even louder now. Wei Yilin, who had never gone hungry in his life, was experiencing such prolonged starvation for the first time.

His spoiled temper had been worn down considerably.

Watching how carefree Wei Ruo seemed, he began to realize that some of what she had said was true.

At a time like this, someone like Wei Ruo at least could wait for rescue a little more comfortably.

"Wei Qingruo, if they want to kill me, are you really not going to do anything?" Wei Yilin asked.

"If I had seen you for the first time today, I would have saved you. But after you shouted that 'eldest sister' just now, a title you have never once called me sincerely before, then I would not care whether you live or die," Wei Ruo said without hiding her true thoughts.

Wei Yilin froze, shame rising in him.

He looked at Wei Ruo twice, as if wanting to say something, but swallowed it back.

After all, if he apologized to Wei Ruo, it would make him look utterly humiliated, and it would also be unfair to Sister Wanwan. He had promised Sister Wanwan that he would only acknowledge her as his sister. A proper man could not go back on his word.

"Then can you give me something to eat? I'm hungry." He could not bring himself to apologize, but hunger was hunger, and in the end he had to grit his teeth and ask her for food.

"No."

Wei Ruo refused without even the slightest hesitation.

While putting on a show of giving Wei Yilin a cold face, she kept a careful eye on the cave entrance.

After making sure the people outside were not looking in, she quietly took out a small bottle from her person and sprinkled the powder inside over the remaining dried sweet potatoes in her pouch.

She shook the pouch to mix it evenly.

Even Wei Yilin did not notice the small movement. He only thought Wei Ruo was hogging the food for herself and watching him starve without caring.

After a while, Wei Ruo called toward the entrance, "You two brave fellows outside, I have some food here. Would you like some?"

"Wei Qingruo, what are you doing? Fine if you won't let me eat, but you're going to feed those two heartless Japanese pirates too? Are you even human?" Wei Yilin snapped.

"Wei Qingruo, did you hear me? It doesn't matter if you won't let me have your food, but you cannot give it to them. They are monsters without conscience!"

Wei Ruo paid him no mind, her eyes fixed on the cave mouth.

Sure enough, one of the pirates came in. Wei Ruo offered up her pouch of dried sweet potatoes. "These are dried sweet potatoes. They're very tasty."

She still held a piece in her hand, and as she spoke she took a couple of bites.

The pirate only hesitated for a moment before snatching the pouch from her as though stealing it.

They were hungry, starving, and had scarcely eaten anything decent in days.

The man ran back to the cave mouth with Wei Ruo's pouch and shared this hard-won food with the other pirate.

Inside the cave, Wei Yilin continued to curse her.

"Wei Qingruo, are you worthy of the countless soldiers? Are you worthy of the suffering people of the county?"

"Wei Qingruo, you have no conscience! You're a traitor! How could our family have someone like you? I will never acknowledge you as my sister for as long as I live!"

Wei Ruo had no mind to pay attention to him. All her thoughts were fixed on the cave entrance, and she listened intently to every sound from outside, refusing to miss a single one.

After a little while, she finally heard two dull thuds as heavy bodies hit the ground.

Now that she was no longer bound, Wei Ruo crept toward the entrance.

Outside, the two pirates had collapsed after eating the drugged dried sweet potatoes.

Wei Ruo clenched her fists, still shaken.

From obedience, to bargaining, to delaying, to asking to be untied, to offering the dried sweet potatoes herself, everything had been for this one moment.

Her argument with Wei Yilin and her feigned indifference were only a mask of composure. This was her first time facing such a thing, and the fear and panic in her heart were no less than anyone else's.

Only now did she dare truly show how frightened she was.

But she still could not relax. There was still one thing she had not done. She had to kill these two men.

The medicine she carried was only a sedative, not poison. If she did not finish the job, they would wake before long.

Wei Ruo crouched down and removed the saber from one of the pirates.

Her hand trembled as she held the blade. She knew how to use a knife to save someone, but to use one to kill...

In her mind, the only time she had ever killed in her previous life rose up before her again, making her heart jump.

She was afraid. Afraid to kill.

Wei Ruo told herself: Wei Ruo, you must kill these two men today. They are Japanese pirates, bandits who rob our people of life and property. Their hands are soaked in blood and lives.

What's more, if you do not kill them, the moment it is revealed that they once captured you, you will have no road left but death.

Whether or not they truly violated you, so long as you were abducted and taken captive, the world outside will decide that you have already been dishonored. By then, there will be no way for you to live.

After a fierce struggle within herself, Wei Ruo suddenly gripped the blade with both hands and drove it down, ending one pirate's life.

Then came the second.

Blood flowed out, soaking the clothes of both pirates.

Wei Ruo had never feared blood before, but at that moment, looking at it, she could clearly feel the reality that she had killed someone.

Afraid, but not regretful.

"Wei Qingruo, you killed them..."

Suddenly, Wei Yilin's shocked voice rang out from the cave mouth.

After Wei Ruo had run out, Wei Yilin, still tightly bound, had wanted to know what was happening outside. Gathering strength from somewhere, he had wriggled forward like a caterpillar until he reached the entrance.

And then he had witnessed the scene of Wei Ruo killing the two pirates.

His eyes were wide with shock, his face full of disbelief.