Inside a side room of Li Wang Temple.
A scarred man with a fierce expression played with a gold bar on the table, then looked at Zan Popo and asked coldly,
“Old woman, where did you hide the rest of the gold?”
“No, there’s none left—” Zan Popo shook her head in terror, “This old woman only has these twenty gold bars; there really isn’t anything else.”
“Hmph, lying.” The scarred man snorted, “Wasn’t there a pretty boy here earlier?”
“I—” Zan Popo stammered, “I don’t know.”
“Don’t know? Do you think I’m blind? Let me tell you, I was keeping watch before and after the celebration.”
The scarred man grinned, “I bet those gold bars were given to you by that pretty boy, weren’t they?”
Zan Popo quickly shook her head: “No, no, these are what this old woman saved up over the years.”
Slap!
As soon as she finished speaking, she was harshly slapped by the scarred man, causing her eyes to see stars and her head to spin, even blood oozed from the corner of her mouth.
The pain made her groan softly without stopping: “Ow, that slap—it almost took half of this old woman’s life.”
“Half a life? Heh.”
The scarred man sneered, “If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll make you lose your whole life right here later! Hmph, hmph,
If this gold was truly saved by you, then why did you suddenly take it all out today and put it on this table? To use it as a plate mat for eating?”
Faced with this interrogation, Zan Popo only gasped in pain, remaining silent.
Seeing that the old woman wouldn't speak, the scarred man softened his tone and said gently:
“Old woman, let me tell you the truth. Actually—the pretty boy who gave you the gold today is a slave I bought from the south. It cost me a fortune when I bought him.
And my purpose in buying him was to sell him to Wang Widow in your town. You know that woman, she’s obsessed with handsome men.
But this pretty boy, he actually escaped without my knowledge and even took my gold with him before he ran off. A full thousand taels!”
As he spoke, he pulled out a deed of sale from his embrace. On the deed, there was a clear image of a handsome man resembling Li Hai.
Below this portrait were dense rows of text, and at the very end of the text was a vivid red fingerprint.
“This, this—”
Zan Popo murmured, looking at the deed of sale, “But that young man, his appearance and temperament are so good, he doesn’t—he doesn’t look like a slave at all.”
“You talk too much nonsense, asking this and that.”
The scarred man snorted coldly as he put away the deed of sale, “Let me be clear, all I want to know now is where that pretty boy went, and where he hid that gold?!”
“I understand—this deed of sale of yours is fake, and your words are also fake.”
Zan Popo slowly closed her eyes and said faintly, “This old woman knows nothing. Do whatever you want.”
“Hmm?” The scarred man froze, then sneered, “Courageous, good. Since you’re so brave, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”
With that, he brought his palm down like a knife and instantly cut off Zan Popo’s right hand.
Thud~
The severed hand fell to the ground, spewing a large amount of blood.
“Ugh!” But Zan Popo only groaned in pain, then fell silent, continuing to keep her eyes closed and saying nothing.
“Impressive.”
The scarred man smiled and gave a thumbs up, “Dead old woman, I’ll give you one more chance. If you still refuse to speak,
Then I’m going to dig out your eyes.”
“I—”
Zan Popo said expressionlessly with her eyes closed, “Know nothing.”
“Very well.” The scarred man smiled savagely, then extended two fingers and brutally jabbed them into Zan Popo’s eyes,
And amidst her shrill screams, he cruelly gouged out two eyeballs, casually tossing them onto the ground.
“Ah ah ah ah, beast! You beast!”
Zan Popo trembled as she shrieked, “You motherless, dog-like beast! You torment an old woman my age, you’ll get your comeuppance! You’ll die a terrible death! You’ll go to the eighteenth layer of Hell!”
“Good, good, good!”
The scarred man grinned wickedly, “Damn it, you blind old hag, your mouth is really tough. Fine, I won’t ask you anymore, I’ll go find that pretty boy myself!”
With that, he grabbed Zan Popo’s already graying head and yanked it hard.
Pfft!
Amidst splashing blood, Zan Popo’s head was forcefully ripped off by him, and then he kicked it like a ball, sending it flying to smash through and get stuck in the door panel of the side room.
As for the scarred man, after brutally killing Zan Popo, he collected all twenty gold bars, swaggered out the door, and then leaped away from Li Wang Temple.
With his departure, the originally noisy side room suddenly fell silent, with only Zan Popo’s headless corpse, tied to a pillar, quietly spurting blood.
But the scarred man who had already left did not notice that on the dead Zan Popo’s blood-soaked, old face, a strange and sinister smile slowly bloomed.
This smile flashed and vanished, then once again turned into a wooden sadness.
In the Red Soil Forest, Feifei, who was striding quickly, suddenly cried out in pain, clutching her chest and falling to the ground.
But before Li Hai could help her up, she hastily scrambled to her feet, her face pale as she said in panic:
“Something’s wrong, something’s wrong! I don’t know why, but I—I just feel like something big has happened on Master’s side—I feel like something big has happened at Li Wang Temple! I have to go back, I want to go back and see!”
With that, she turned around and ran frantically out of the forest.
As for Li Hai, he shook his head helplessly and could only follow her.
And when they rushed out of the forest and returned to Jin Fu Town, back to the Li Wang Temple located in a corner of the town.
Feifei stared blankly at the tightly closed temple gate, momentarily not daring to enter.
But after taking two deep breaths, she pushed the door open and walked inside.
Upon entering the temple gate, everything in the main hall—the prayer mats, incense burner, lamps, divine statues—everything was normal.
So Feifei bit her lip, walked through the main hall, and headed towards the side rooms at the back.
The scene in the side room then made her freeze in place.
“Feifei, why are you standing there Silly?”
In the bright side room, Zan Popo, who was standing at the table setting out bowls and chopsticks, saw her stunned ing and couldn't help but complain, “Come quickly and eat! Oh, and bring that pot of pig trotters with ginger.”
“Oh.”
Feifei obediently walked to a corner of the side room, picked up a pot of pig trotters with ginger that was placed on the edge of the stove in the corner of the room,
And brought it over to the wooden table where the master and disciple often ate.
But after sitting down, she looked at the full porcelain pot of pig trotters and couldn't help but ask, “Master, why did you make so much? I can’t finish it, and you don’t even like to eat it.”
Zan Popo did not answer, only repeatedly urged her to eat, but she herself did not even have a rice bowl in front of her.
And as Feifei ate with her head down, Zan Popo raised her hand and slowly stroked her head, speaking in a voice filled with memories:
“Feifei, it’s been about ten years since we, mother and daughter, started living together, hasn’t it?”
Feifei, with her head down, ate and mumbled, “It’s—it’s been twelve years.”