Chapter Ninety-Six: Haven’t You Been Beaten Enough Yet? (Part Two)

Gu Dacai was still happily imagining tomorrow. He had decided he would sell his wife today, and then tomorrow he could go to the gambling den and try his luck a few times.

The smile at the corner of his mouth had not yet faded when a fierce gust suddenly swept past his ear. A lock of hair by his temple was severed, and a sickle shot straight into the trunk of a tree.

"Who is it?!"

Seeing the sickle buried in the wood, Gu Dacai was so frightened that his legs trembled as he turned back.

When he saw Gu Xiaoyao charging toward him, his mind had not yet reacted, but his body already had. He hurriedly dragged Li forward with all his strength.

Old Fourth, looking at the sickle still trembling in the trunk, could tell how much force it had taken to drive it in that deep.

"Gu Dacai, why didn't you say your daughter was such a fierce woman?"

Seeing this, Old Fourth could no longer stand there. He lifted a leg and was about to run.

Gu Dacai saw that he wanted to flee and would not allow it. When it came time to share the spoils, he had been more than willing. Now that danger had arrived, he wanted no part of it.

"Old Fourth, where do you think you're going? Don't you want to make money anymore? Don't be afraid—she's my daughter. She won't do anything to me."

No sooner had he said this than he felt a heavy blow land on his back, as if a great stone had been slammed against him.

He staggered forward and fell flat on the ground, biting into a mouthful of dirt. Gu Xiaoyao, who had just rushed up, had kicked him squarely in the back.

As for Old Fourth, who had tried to run, Gu Xiaoyao had already caught hold of him. The two of them sprawled on the ground like dogs eating mud, unable to get up.

"Gu Dacai, didn't I tell you not to come here, and not to come looking for my mother? Have you taken my words as nothing but wind in your ears?"

Gu Xiaoyao's voice was cold as she reminded him, pressing harder with her foot until Gu Dacai cried out in pain over and over.

Gu Xiaoshu saw that his mother had her hands bound, and rage reddened his eyes. He quickly untied the rope.

"Mother, he hit you, didn't he? That beast—I’m going to beat him to death today."

Seeing the bruises on Li's face, Gu Xiaoshu was so furious he seemed beside himself, and he was about to rush over and beat Gu Dacai black and blue.

Li saw how angry he was and did not dare let him go, fearing he might lose all sense of measure and truly beat Gu Dacai to death.

"Xiaoshu, it's all right. Mother is fine. It only looks frightening—just some surface wounds. Really, I'm not lying to you. He hadn't even had time to strike me yet!"

She clutched at her son and would not let him go, desperately insisting that she was unharmed.

But she could hold her son back and not her daughter. Gu Xiaoyao had already hauled Gu Dacai up from the ground like a dead dog and pinned him against the tree trunk.

"Gu Xiaoyao, I’m your own father! And you dare hit your father? I raised you for nothing, you heartless wretch. I should have strangled you to death back then."

He was the sort who forgot pain as soon as the wound had scabbed over. What sustained him now was the fury of having no money.

If he had no money, he could not gamble. Was there anything in this world more terrifying than that?

"Once my mother divorces you, Xiaoshu and I will cut all ties with you. Then you won't be my father anymore."

"If you don't shut that filthy mouth right now, I'll sew it shut myself."

Gu Xiaoyao did not bother arguing with him. She drew back her fist and slammed it into his stomach. Gu Dacai took the heavy blow and doubled over in agony, collapsing sideways onto the ground and crying out in pain.

Old Fourth, pressed against the tree trunk and too afraid to move, did not even dare make a sound. He only cast a careful glance at Gu Dacai on the ground.