A knife was better than the hairpin’s limited striking power, of course. She was simply out of practice — her intended target had been the great artery in his neck, but she had come up a cun short.

The man pressed a hand to his freely bleeding neck, beside himself with fury. He plucked the hairpin out, glanced at it, and threw it to the ground. He was livid, yet laughed. “A fine daughter the Hua Family raised. Not bad — you’ve got nerve!”

By now it was plain to him that everything from the moment the lights came on indoors, to the mistress and her maids stepping out of the room, had been deliberately engineered. He had somehow managed to capsize in a ditch.

“You think a few tricks like these are going to let you get away?” The man’s face was full of murderous fury as he advanced toward Hua Zhi one step at a time.

Hua Zhi retreated one step at a time, drawing him out into the courtyard.

Even before she had seen his face clearly, she had suspected he was injured. And so it proved.

The rain would hinder her vision, but the rain would also make him bleed faster. As long as she could hold out long enough, once he no longer had the strength to continue, she could call on the three guards to help overwhelm him. It might not be impossible to wear him down.

But before that, she had to stay alive.

The man launched a rapid attack. She could not meet him head-on, and she could not absorb any of his blows.

She wouldn’t survive it.

She had to find a way to get the weapon out of his hand. Everything she had once learned was for close-range fighting — she could only use it in close quarters. But she was weaker in raw strength, and a single strike was her limit, at that only if she was willing to pay a price.

The man had no intention of giving her another moment to breathe. No matter how fast she retreated, his attacks came faster still. Every thrust of the dagger carried the weight of a killing blow.

Every exchange of blows cost Hua Zhi everything she had, and before long her breathing was labored and heavy.

This body had never been through any kind of training. Lacking in strength, her hands and feet couldn’t keep up with what her mind commanded. When the dagger sliced open her arm, she steeled herself with sudden resolve — willing to take another wound, she went on the offensive, striking directly at his face. When he instinctively raised his dagger to deflect, the silver hairpin hidden in her other hand drove with all her remaining strength into the old wound at his waist. The man let out a raw cry of pain.

She wasn’t finished. Hua Zhi suddenly pulled back her forward attack, plunging the knife directly into the same wound and twisting hard — and at the same time she stopped defending. The man’s dagger came down on her shoulder. Had she not managed to shift herself slightly at the last moment, it would have been buried in her throat.

Even so, as she stepped back, she still remembered to pull her own knife free. His dagger remained in her. The man’s hand was finally empty.

She had always been capable of ruthlessness toward herself. While the man had not yet recovered, she swept up the hem of her garment, balled the fabric up, and bit down on it. Then she gripped the dagger and pulled it free with force. Blood sprayed everywhere.

The pain had every part of her trembling, and yet she was untouched by it. With one knife in each hand she launched herself at the man in a fresh assault. He rolled across the ground twice and got quickly back to his feet, his gaze fixed on Hua Zhi with a hatred that looked as though he could devour her.

Hua Zhi did not stop her assault for a single breath. She could not stop. She was afraid that if she stopped, she would fall.

The man bent his body low, coiled like a drawn bow. Hua Zhi understood then that she had underestimated him — had underestimated the resilience a person could have. Perhaps today she was going to meet her end here after all.

But even if she died, she would make him pay a price for it. One more heavy blow, and Wu Da and the others would be able to deal with him. That was enough.

Bao Xia and the others were devoted to protecting their mistress by nature, and after the life-saving debt of today, they would surely protect Bailin well from then on. That was all she could look after now — Bailin.

She only felt sorry toward Grandfather.

With the resolution of someone who accepts death, Hua Zhi’s speed increased by two degrees more. But the disparity in raw strength still sent her flying violently backward.

Even so, she did not release the knife and dagger when she fell.

The man curled his lips in a cruel smile and walked toward Hua Zhi. The sight of her trying and failing to get back up was to him like a tonic.

“Miss!”

The maids came weeping, about to rush into the courtyard. Wu Da and the others blocked them and pushed them back. They exchanged a look, then grabbed whatever they could use as weapons — sticks, bricks — and walked into the courtyard.

They ate the Hua Family’s rice. As guards, even if their hearts were trembling, there was no reason for the young miss of the Hua Family to fight for her life in front of them while they hid behind her and waited to be protected.

And in any case — if they died here, the Hua Family would take care of their families. But if the young miss of the Hua Family died while they walked away unscathed, they could not imagine what awaited them.

The three men, having made their peace with dying, found something like steadiness in their hearts. They quickened their pace and rushed forward, hoping to stop the assailant.

But faster than they were was an arrow cleaving through the air.

It tore through the assailant who had come within three steps of Hua Zhi. The force of it was such that the man staggered back several paces before dropping to the ground.

A team dressed in rain cloaks and rain hats, their faces covered by black cloths, appeared in the courtyard without a sound. The man leading them held a bow in his hand — evidently the arrow just fired had come from him.

The assailant’s expression changed drastically. He scrambled to his feet and tried to run. A long whip shot forward as though it had a life of its own, wrapped around him, and slammed him hard into the ground. The man let out a wretched cry. He felt the hairpin that had already been driven into his wound now sink completely into his body.

Wu Da and his two companions, seizing the moment, had already made their way to Hua Zhi’s side. They formed a tight ring around her and watched the group that had appeared from nowhere with wary eyes.

Bao Xia and the others no longer cared about anything else. They wanted to break through the black-clad figures’ blockade to reach the young miss. Only one thought was in their heads now — if they were to die, let them die in front of the young miss.

The black-clad figures had received no order, and so naturally they did not let anyone through. They needed no extra movement — a single extended arm was enough to leave the maids without any recourse.

Bao Xia fell heavily to her knees and began to kowtow over and over again. “Please let us through. Please.”

The other maids followed her, one by one. The sound of their foreheads striking the ground was enough to drown out even the rain.

The black-clad figures only remained silent, unmoving.

The leader dropped his bow and walked toward Hua Zhi. Wu Da and his two companions moved to block him and were each kicked aside in a single motion. He looked at the woman barely managing to sit upright.

Her hair was soaked and plastered against her. Her inner garment had been dyed red with blood and rainwater. Her face and lips were drained of all color. She was clearly at the very end of her strength — the hand holding the dagger was trembling — and yet she still held the blade level across her chest. He was sure that any slight movement on his part and she would throw herself at him in one last desperate strike.

So he did not approach. He took two small ceramic vials from inside his cloak and set them on the ground, then without a single word led all of his people away until not one of them remained.

Bao Xia crawled and stumbled over to her side. Tears and rain ran together down her face. She and Nian Qiu each took one side and supported Hua Zhi inside.

Fu Dong sat on the ground, unable to get up after several attempts. Liu Xiang hurried over to help her.

“Go to the kitchen. Help me to the kitchen.” Fu Dong’s voice was thick with grief. “The rest of you go change into dry clothes first. You’ll be needed to attend to the young miss shortly.”

“Yes.”

Bao Xia and Nian Qiu wept as they helped the young miss change her clothes. At the sight of those three raw, bleeding wounds, the tears only came faster.