The north wind carried fine snow, biting cold to the bone. Pedestrians on the street hunched their necks and tucked their hands into their sleeves. Fan Changyu strode through the wind and snow, carrying a black iron cleaver, the veins on the back of her hand bulging.
At the entrance of Minjie Alley in the west of the city, a crowd had gathered to watch the commotion. Curses, sounds of smashing, admonitions, and children’s cries all mingled together.
Someone with sharp eyes spotted Fan Changyu and called out, “Changyu is back!”
Seeing the cleaver in her hand, they couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath.
“Is Changyu going to use that knife on her uncle?”
“Well, Fan Da is being unreasonable. The bodies of Fan Er and his wife are barely cold, and he’s already thinking of using the orphan girl’s property to pay off his gambling debts. He’s not afraid Fan Er and his wife will haunt his dreams…”
“Those gambling den people are no pushovers. Even with a knife, a girl like Changyu might not be able to drive them away…”
The area in front of the Fan family home was already a mess. Smashed bottles and jars, overturned tables and chairs stretched from the doorway into the house. Several burly men were still inside, smashing objects and searching for something. Even the bedding had been thrown onto the floor.
Chang Ning was crying hysterically in Madam Zhao’s arms. Madam Zhao’s eyes were also red from crying, and she could only call out futilely, “Stop smashing! Please stop!”
But no one was listening to her.
Fan Da was bowing and scraping next to a man who looked like a manager from the gambling den. Covering one of his hands, he said with a forced smile, “Master Jin, as long as we get the property deed, I’ll go to the government office to transfer ownership. This house will be mine, and I’ll have money to pay off the gambling debt. I’ll have money to pay.”
The man called Master Jin didn’t even give Fan Da a proper look, snorting, “If we don’t find the property deed today, I’ll chop off this hand of yours first and take it back as a down payment.”
Fan Da clutched his hand even tighter, “We’ll find it, we’ll find it…”
A furious shout that made people’s eardrums ache came from the doorway: “All of you, stop right now!”
The voice was so penetrating that it successfully drew the attention of everyone in the room to the door.
The young woman stood there, covered in wind-blown snow, her eyes as cold as the gleaming edge of the cleaver in her hand. Even the doorframe, letting in a sliver of daylight, seemed to become lower.
The moment Chang Ning saw Fan Changyu, her face crumpled and she cried out, “Sister…”
When Fan Da saw Fan Changyu, his eyes darted around evasively. He hunched his shoulders, standing next to the gambling den manager without daring to make a sound.
Master Jin from the gambling den glanced at the butcher’s knife in Fan Changyu’s hand and laughed dismissively, “Oh, it’s the Fan family’s eldest daughter.”
Fan Changyu coldly surveyed the mess in the room, her face tightly drawn: “Take your people and get out!”
Master Jin raised an eyebrow, seemingly finding her, an orphaned girl, too arrogant. “The gambling den always follows the rules. Fan Da said this house is his. We’re just here to take the property deed to cover his gambling debt. Your family’s private matters are none of our business.”
Fan Changyu’s gaze, sharp as a dagger, pierced Fan Da: “This house is yours?”
Fan Da, feeling guilty, didn’t dare look at Fan Changyu. He tried to appeal to her emotions: “Niece, your uncle is also forced by circumstances. I owe the gambling den money, and if I don’t pay today, I’ll lose a hand. Your father and mother are gone, and you and Ning have no brothers. When you get married in the future, if you don’t want to be bullied by your in-laws, you’ll need your mother’s family to back you up. Just help your uncle this once, bring out the property deed to pay off my debt. From now on, I’ll treat you and Ning like my own daughters. Your cousin will be like your own brother, and when you get married, you’ll have support from your mother’s family…”
Fan Changyu wasn’t buying his nonsense. She laughed coldly, “If you want to use a house to pay off gambling debts, use your own house. Using our house to pay your debts, what kind of logic is that? Your gambling addict son is just like you. In the future, if he’s not chased down and has his hands chopped off, it’ll be a miracle. And you expect me to rely on him?”
Fan Da, thoroughly embarrassed, pointed at Fan Changyu and said, “How can you be so vicious? Cursing your cousin like that? Your cousin is about to get engaged. If we give up this house, how will he be able to marry? You and Ning are just girls who will eventually marry out. What do you need this house for?”
Fan Changyu laughed in extreme anger: “What I do with what my parents left for me and Ning is none of your business.”
Seeing that Fan Changyu was determined not to hand over the property deed, Fan Da stopped playing the family card and revealed his true colors: “Fan Er didn’t have a son. Now that he’s dead, even if we take this to the government office, his property and land will be mine. What are you, a girl who’s going to marry out, fighting for? To take it to your future husband’s family?”
“Could it be that you’ve brought death to your parents, and then had your engagement to the Song family broken off? Afraid that with the reputation of being a bringer of misfortune, you won’t be able to marry well, so you want to keep the family property as your dowry? Your sickly little sister probably won’t live much longer under your unlucky influence, right? Who would dare marry a harbinger of death like you?”
No one saw clearly how Fan Changyu moved. By the time they realized, the butcher’s knife in her hand had been thrown, almost grazing Fan Da’s ear before embedding itself deeply into the wall behind him. A few strands of his cut hair floated to the ground.
Fan Da was so frightened his face turned pale. His legs shook like sieves, and though his mouth was open, he couldn’t make a sound.
Inside the house, Master Jin from the gambling den and the thugs he had brought were originally just watching the show. Seeing this scene, they seemed to realize that the young woman before them was a fierce one, and their expressions became more serious.
Fan Changyu raised her eyes, staring hard at Fan Da: “The property my parents left behind is for Chang Ning’s medical treatment and medicine. You’d better take these gambling den people and leave right now, or else… The gambling den only wants one of your hands, but I’ll chop up your entire family before I go to see my parents!”
“You!” Fan Da shuddered violently. He was unnerved by Fan Changyu’s gaze and didn’t dare to look at her directly. Stammering, he said, “Then… then let’s go to the government office to settle this. Let’s see if the officials will give this property to you or me!”
He then put on a smile and bowed to the gambling den manager who was sitting authoritatively in a chair, “Master Jin, can you… can you give me two more days?”
The gambling den manager snorted coldly: “Huixian Gambling Den has never set such a precedent for debt collection. If word gets out, people might think our gambling den is short-handed and can’t collect debts!”
He gave Fan Da a cold look: “Or would you prefer to use your right hand to pay off the debt?”
Fan Da broke out in a cold sweat instantly, repeatedly saying, “No, no, but this girl…”
He glanced at Fan Changyu, still feeling intimidated.
The gambling den manager just laughed coldly: “If you’re sure it’s yours, the brothers I brought can just find it directly.”
Rather than taking Fan Da’s hand, he naturally preferred a house that could be exchanged for money. Master Jin said to the gambling den thugs, “What are you standing around for? Keep looking for the property deed!”
The group of thugs resumed ransacking the place and smashing things.
Fan Changyu gritted her teeth, her fists clenched so tight they creaked.
Master Jin smiled, “Miss Fan, please don’t blame us. This is just how the gambling den operates.”
Madam Zhao watched this scene with her heart burning with anxiety. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she hurried outside.
She didn’t go far, just pushing through the crowd of onlookers at the door to knock on the Song family’s door: “Song Yan, Fan Da has brought people from the gambling den to snatch Changyu’s property deed. You’re a scholar of the classics, and Fan Er and his wife treated you well. Can’t you come out and say something for Changyu? You’re a successful candidate in the imperial examinations, surely the gambling den will give you some face!”
All the neighbors in the alley knew that something was wrong with the Fan family, but only the Song family’s door remained tightly shut. No matter how loudly Madam Zhao knocked, there was no response from inside.
Finally, Madam Zhao couldn’t help but cry and curse: “Song Yan, did you study those books for nothing? When your father died, you were so poor you couldn’t even afford a coffin. Have you forgotten who bought the coffin and buried your father? Aren’t you afraid your father’s bones are being crushed by that coffin in the ground?”
Madam Zhao’s shrill and sorrowful curses could be heard throughout the alley.
Just on the other side of the door, Song’s mother was shaking with anger: “That foul-mouthed shrew! You’ve already broken off the engagement with that Fan girl. Their family’s mess has nothing to do with you. I must go out and scold that shrew!”
The person who had been bent over reading finally spoke up: “Mother.”
Song’s mother stopped in her tracks: “Never mind, never mind. That old hag just wants to drag our family into this. If I go out, I’ll be falling for her trap! Yan, don’t go out either. You’re a man aiming for an official career. Don’t get involved with that family again.”
In the loft of the Zhao family’s house, which shared a wall with the Fan family, Xie Zheng naturally heard the commotion next door and Madam Zhao’s crying and cursing.
It seemed there were many people causing trouble, while that young woman was alone, and the elderly couple couldn’t offer much help.
Outside the window, the gray sky had cleared in the afternoon. The frost on the eaves melted under the sun, reflecting a pale golden light that held no warmth.
Xie Zheng’s face, illuminated by the sunlight, was equally devoid of warmth. His lips were pressed down as if his mood was thoroughly foul.
Those scum were giving him a headache.
His pale hand still scabbed with blood, gripped a pair of crutches placed by his bedside. He struggled to get up. The crutches had been made for him by Carpenter Zhao just that day.
His wounds hadn’t healed yet, and the sudden movement caused the bandaged injuries to slowly seep blood again. But he paid no attention to this, steadying himself on the crutches and taking each step with great stability.
If he didn’t deal with those troublemakers next door today, he feared he wouldn’t be able to rest in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Fan family home had been turned upside down by the gambling den’s thugs. They even used wooden sticks to tap on each floor tile.
Chang Ning cowered behind Fan Changyu, crying hoarsely. Fan Changyu had one hand protecting her younger sister, her face half-lowered so that her expression at this moment was unclear.
One of the thugs was searching the table where Fan Changyu’s parents’ memorial tablets were placed. He knocked the tablets to the ground and was about to step on them to see if there was a hidden compartment inside when suddenly his collar was grabbed from behind. A tremendous force then threw him violently out the door. When his head hit the threshold, the big man was still in a daze.
Everyone else in the room was stunned too.
Fan Changyu was now standing where the thug had been, silently looking at her parents’ memorial tablets on the ground. A cold draft blew through the hall, lifting the loose strands of hair at her temples. Blood dripped from her palm.
It was from where her fingernails had pierced her skin earlier as she restrained herself.
“I’ll give you one more chance. Leave or not?”
Her voice was unexpectedly calm, but somehow it made people’s hair stand on end.
The gambling den people looked at each other, while Fan Da had already quietly retreated to the doorway on his shaky legs. The knife Fan Changyu had thrown earlier had frightened him.
Master Jin had been collecting debts for many years, but this was the first time he had been so disrespected. With so many people watching outside, if he couldn’t collect the debt and return today, it would be a loss of face for the entire gambling den.
He stood up and kicked one of the thugs standing next to him: “Are you dead or what? Keep smashing! I’ve been collecting debts in Linan Town for so many years, am I going to be afraid of a little girl?”
The group of thugs tried to reassure themselves the same way, but looking at their companion still lying at the door, they couldn’t help but feel a bit scared.
This girl had incredible strength. It was truly uncanny.
The group exchanged glances and then rushed forward together. Fan Changyu didn’t even raise her head. She flicked up the wooden stick the thug had dropped earlier with her toe, gripped it, and swung it in a wide arc. Several thugs were hit in the abdomen and immediately folded over, flying backward. Some even spat out their stomach contents.
Fan Changyu didn’t give them time to react. The long stick in her hand moved like the wind, sweeping, jabbing, chopping, slashing… It was less like she was using a staff technique and more like she was wielding a long-handled knife without a blade.
The gambling den thugs were beaten one by one, crying out for their parents as they were thrown out of the Fan family’s front door like broken sandbags. The spectators gasped in waves.
When Fan Da saw Fan Changyu use this set of knife techniques, his face turned deathly pale. He shrank into a corner like a quail.
Master Jin saw the situation was unfavorable and tried to run, but before he could get out the front door, a black iron cleaver flew from behind, embedding itself firmly in the door frame just in front of him, nearly slicing off his nose.
Master Jin swallowed hard, “Miss Fan, it’s a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding…”
From outside the crowd came a commotion, “The constables are here! Make way, make way!”
The group of people who were usually up to no good all breathed a collective sigh of relief at hearing the constables had arrived.
Carpenter Zhao, leading the constables, arrived sweating profusely: “In broad daylight, bullying an orphan girl, do you have any…”
Seeing the gambling den thugs lying on the ground outside the Fan family’s door and Master Jin trapped at the doorway by a cleaver, the words “sense of law” got stuck in Carpenter Zhao’s throat.
Xie Zheng, who had just come down from the Zhao family’s loft on his crutches, saw this scene and also showed a hint of surprise on his face.
He had thought earlier that the young woman’s breathing was steady and long, no worse than a trained fighter. He didn’t expect she was one.
The onlookers were all watching the excitement, and no one noticed Xie Zheng. Seeing that the trouble had been resolved, he glanced at his clothes, which had been stained red by blood seeping from his wounds. With an expressionless face, he turned back, though his forehead was covered in a fine sheen of cold sweat.
A blue-robed scholar who had just opened the door and stepped out of the Song family house saw the constables outside. He glanced at the Fan family with an indescribable expression, then retreated and closed the door again.
Inside the house, Fan Changyu suppressed the fierce aura that had been forced out of her in her great anger. She knelt silently to pick up her parents’ memorial tablets that had fallen to the ground.
The blood on her hands stained the tablets, so she used her sleeve to wipe them clean.
This set of long-handled knife techniques had all been taught by her father, but he had never allowed her to use them in front of others.
Her father had said that they should only be used when necessary when there was a threat to life. Otherwise, it could bring trouble.
She had broken that rule today, not because her life was in danger, but for her parents’ memorial tablets.
Fan Changyu hugged the tablets and closed her red-rimmed eyes.
“Father, don’t blame Changyu—”
With the arrival of the constables, the situation became significantly more manageable.
Fan Changyu had injured several individuals at the gambling den, but those individuals had first invaded her home and damaged her property. The constables reprimanded the troublemakers from the gambling house, instructing Master Jin to compensate for the damages to Fan Changyu’s home, without requiring her to cover the medical expenses of the injured gamblers.
Fan Da loudly insisted that the house belonged to him by law. However, a constable shot him a sideways glance and replied, “This matter is straightforward. If you want to claim the house, write a petition and submit it to the magistrate. Let him decide.”
Immediately, Fan Da fell silent.
The gamblers, resembling a row of gourds, helped each other out of the Fan household, and Fan Da left in disgrace. The onlookers slowly dispersed, having witnessed the commotion.
Fan Changyu turned to the head constable and said, “Thank you, Uncle Wang.”
Wang, the head constable, was a long-time acquaintance of her father. Zhao the carpenter had traveled a considerable distance to request his assistance, hoping he would support Fan Changyu.
Wang replied, “Today, they were in the wrong, and I enforced the law impartially, so it doesn’t seem biased toward you. But if Fan Da were to truly submit a petition to the county, your house might not be safe.”
The reason Fan Da had yet to approach the county with a petition was twofold: pursuing a lawsuit was troublesome, and hiring a lawyer would require a significant amount of silver. Yet, he realized that pressing Fan Changyu wouldn’t yield results, and he might very well resort to filing a complaint to reclaim the property title to settle his gambling debts.
Fan Changyu’s face reflected deep exhaustion and despair. “I’ve exhausted all possible solutions, even consulting a lawyer. They all told me I cannot transfer the title of the house left by my parents.”
Lawyers specialized in drafting petitions and were well-versed in the laws of the current dynasty.
Having handled many cases over the years, Wang considered the situation thoughtfully for a moment before saying, “Perhaps there is another way.”