Chapter 301: Xie Ming’an’s Personal Recapture
Chapter 301: Chapter 301: Xie Ming’an’s Personal Recapture
Sister-in-law Liu was the first to lose her temper.
She lunged forward and grabbed Dong Aniu by the collar.
"Aren’t you just being a shameless rogue? Grandma Qin, are you going to do something about him or not? If you won’t, then we have our own ways to deal with him!"
Dong Aniu had borrowed firewood, cotton quilts, and even some expensive jewelry from the villagers.
Now, his simple claim that he "lost it all" was the last straw for everyone.
The villagers clamored, "That’s right, we’ll handle him ourselves!"
"Let’s drag him out and beat him! See if he’ll cough it up then."
Scared, Dong Aniu covered his head and hid behind Grandma Qin.
"Auntie! You can’t just ignore me. Don’t you forget, back when you were having a hard time, my mother often had my little sister secretly bring you food."
Grandma Qin closed her eyes, her hand tightly gripping the Cloud Pattern Walking Stick that Shen Ningning had bought for her.
Listening to the villagers’ curses and Dong Aniu’s brazen, shameless words, Grandma Qin slammed her walking stick heavily on the ground.
"Enough!"
Everyone instantly fell silent.
Grandma Qin turned her stern gaze on Dong Aniu.
"You swore up and down that you would return everything you borrowed."
"But now you can’t pay them back. These things have become your debt. You must repay it, and I can’t help you."
As she spoke, Grandma Qin continued, "Go home now. Everyone in the village, do me a favor and give Ah Niu five days to raise the silver."
"Even if you can’t return the items, paying back even half the value in silver would be a start."
The villagers exchanged glances, agreeing that Grandma Qin’s idea was a good one.
Once they agreed, they ignored Dong Aniu’s wails.
The villagers dragged and shoved him out of the village before tossing him into the ice and snow.
Crying, Dong Aniu scrambled up from the ground, covered in powdery snow.
’Silver? Where am I supposed to get silver?!’ he thought, his eyes darting around anxiously.
Suddenly, he had an idea.
Dong Aniu had a younger sister who had just celebrated her twenty-third birthday.
Though not yet married, she was well-known in their village for her beauty and virtue.
She could chop firewood and cook.
An old merchant from Yu’an County had his eye on her, wanting to buy her to be his eighteenth concubine.
’If I can sell my sister to that man, the silver I’d get...’
Dong Aniu glanced back at the village.
’Heh, as if I’d return the silver.’
’Once I get the money, I’ll flee the Capital City immediately!’
With that thought, he excitedly hurried home.
On an official road whipped by flurries of snow, a powerful steed galloped at full speed, followed by several dozen guards.
They were in pursuit of the Ma Family, who were fleeing ahead of them, wailing and screaming.
Lifen leaned tightly against Aunt Ma, constantly urging Ma Laoer, who was driving the donkey cart.
"Second Brother, faster, faster, they’re about to catch us!"
Piled high in their cart were the winter supplies they had forcibly taken from Xiangyun Village under the pretext of "borrowing."
The firewood had been too cumbersome to carry, so Lifen had long since exchanged it for silver.
They had been on the road for nearly two days. They never expected to be caught!
The more they urged him, the more frantic Ma Laoer became, the whip cracking sharply.
"I want to go faster too, but this is a donkey cart! It can’t outrun a horse, and it’s pulling the four of us!"
"Lifen, if you have any filial piety, you’ll jump off yourself. It’s fine if you get caught, but Mom can’t be."
Aunt Ma’s face was deathly pale, as if she still hadn’t recovered from the terror of that day.
She muttered uneasily, "Right, right! I can’t be taken back."
"That Commandery Princess recognizes me. She knows I was the one making a scene and almost threw a wok of hot oil at her."
"If I go back, I’ll be killed! Lifen, you’ve always been a dutiful daughter-in-law. Get off the cart!"
As she spoke, Aunt Ma’s bony hands shoved hard at Lifen’s shoulder.
Lifen almost fell off, letting out a terrified scream.
She roared, "Mother, without me, you wouldn’t have gotten any of this!"
"Ma the Third is the useless one, why don’t you push him off!"
Ma the Third’s eyes went wide. "What are you talking about? I’m her son. What are you?"
"Once you’re married off, you just belong to another family."
Just as they were arguing amongst themselves...
WHOOSH! A sharp sound cut through the air.
A Purple Feather Arrow flew from behind, passed through the narrow gap between them, and pierced the donkey’s rump.
The donkey shrieked in pain and immediately thrashed, breaking free from its harness.
The entire Ma Family tumbled from the cart into the snow. They were all a mess of scrapes and bruises, crying out in pain.
Aunt Ma, in particular, was thrown so hard she couldn’t get back up.
Even so, she desperately grabbed Lifen’s sleeve, yelling for her two sons.
"Laoer! The Third! Run, just run!"
Ma Laoer and Ma the Third paid them no mind, immediately splitting up and running for their lives.
Little did they know, the tall figure on the powerful steed had already coolly placed two fingers on his bowstring.
He drew the bow, pulling the string taut.
Xie Ming’an’s eyes were jet-black and sharp.
In his eyes, Ma Laoer’s distant figure was nothing more than prey with no hope of escape.
With a flick of his fingers—WHOOSH—the arrow flew over a hundred meters and struck Ma Laoer squarely in the back of the leg.
Ma Laoer let out a bloodcurdling scream and collapsed into the snow.
Meanwhile, Ma the Third was already scrambling up a hillside.
He hoped to use the trees for cover to evade Xie Ming’an’s pursuit.
One of Xie Ming’an’s men spoke up from behind him. "Lord Shaoqing, allow us to give chase on horseback."
But Xie Ming’an simply nocked another arrow.
"There’s no need," he said, his thin lips forming a cold line. "That would be too slow."
’Why waste the effort on someone who can be caught with a single arrow?’
He narrowed his eyes, watching Ma the Third’s figure appear and disappear among the dense trees.
Timing it perfectly, Xie Ming’an abruptly released the string.
This time, the arrow struck Ma the Third square in the back, piercing his heart.
He fell without so much as a scream.
Aunt Ma watched helplessly as her two sons ended up one dead and one injured, and she let out a shrill, miserable scream.
She started crawling, trying to get to her son.
Lifen tried to run, but Aunt Ma turned back and grabbed her in a death grip.
In her delirium, she even started cursing furiously, "You worthless baggage! It’s all your fault what happened to your two brothers!"
Xie Ming’an lowered his bow, his cold, narrow eyes fixed on the two women grappling with each other in the distance.
"Take them, and those two Ma family brothers, back to the Ministry of Justice and lock them in prison."
After a moment’s thought, he added in a cold voice, "Also, inform Shen Ningning to come and identify the valuables the Ma Family took. Confirm if they belong to her and Xiangyun Village."
With that said, Xie Ming’an cleanly turned his horse around.
His proud, aloof figure galloped away on his steed, a stark silhouette like black jade against the vast, white expanse of snow.
By the time Shen Ningning received the news and rushed from the National Academy to the Ministry of Justice, she was greeted at the entrance by the ministry’s Chief Clerk.
The Chief Clerk was over forty, with a round face and a rather fawning smile.
"Commandery Princess, our Lord Shaoqing took your case very seriously."
"This family of thieves fled through the night with their loot. By the time we found them, they were already fifty li outside the Capital."
"But our Lord personally led the chase all night long and finally apprehended them. Commandery Princess..."
He hadn’t even finished speaking when Shen Ningning walked into the Ministry of Justice with a calm expression.
The Chief Clerk was puzzled.
’Why doesn’t Princess Funing seem as pleased as I expected?’