Chapter Sixty: Retribution for Good and Evil (Part Two)

Twenty years ago, before Lady Zheng was married, she was considered rather attractive, and during a trip outside, she managed to strike up an affair with a young nobleman from Chang’an. After several passionate encounters, she found herself with child.

She had imagined that, thanks to her pregnancy, she would marry into a wealthy household and enjoy the comfortable life of a noblewoman. Unexpectedly, the young nobleman, cold-hearted and unfeeling, tired of her and left without a word, secretly returning to Chang’an. For the sake of his political future, he soon married the daughter of a high official, abandoning Lady Zheng completely.

Pregnant out of wedlock, shamed and disgraced—what could she do? Left with no choice, Lady Zheng flirted her way into marrying a man who seemed clever but was truly a fool, Li De. Nine months later, she gave birth to two sons, Li Chong and Li Fei.

Li De, unaware of the truth, assumed the two chubby boys were his own and raised them for over a decade, unwittingly playing the fool all those years. Such was their history.

As for the nobleman, with his thick skin and cunning ways, he thrived in Chang’an, rising to high office in the court. Now, as Lady Zheng fell on hard times, she thought of her former lover. If she took her two sons to seek him out, surely they would want for nothing. After all, they were his flesh and blood—he could not deny them.

“Big brother?”

“Younger brother?”

“Let’s go.”

“All right.”

On one side was their true father, a high official in Chang’an, riding fine horses and living in luxury; on the other, their foster father lay half-dead in a ruined temple, destitute and broken. Which would they choose?

Li Chong and Li Fei exchanged a glance, then followed Lady Zheng without hesitation out of the ruined temple, heading straight for the Laoshui dock. From there, a two-day boat ride would bring them to Chang’an. Once they found their real father, good days would be theirs at last.

…

“Wretch! So this is what you’ve done, deceiving me so cruelly! And those two bastards… Stop! I’ll kill you all… kill you… sob…”

Elsewhere, Li De, though he coughed blood, remained clear-headed as he lay on the ground, hearing everything. It struck him like a bolt of lightning.

So he had worn the cuckold’s hat for over ten years! He had raised another man’s sons for more than a decade! He was the greatest fool of all!

Struggling to his feet, he tried to chase after them, but after only a few steps, he collapsed at the temple’s threshold, forced to watch helplessly as Lady Zheng led Li Chong and Li Fei away, vanishing into the distance.

It was over—utterly over. Ruined and bankrupt, his family scattered… Oh, Heaven, why treat me so?

As he howled his sorrow to the sky, Li De suddenly felt cold on his face—it was snowing.

Goose-feather snowflakes descended, swiftly blanketing the earth.

Gazing at the white expanse, Li De recalled that over thirty years before, on a similarly snowy day, he had lain in this very ruined temple, frozen and starving, at death’s door.

By chance, Grandfather Li Zhao passed by, took pity on him, saved his life, brought him back to the ancestral home at Qianlong Ridge, cared for him, taught him to read and write, and even adopted him as a foster son.

Li Zhao’s father treated him as his own brother, entrusted him with the family business, helped him establish himself, marry, and start a family.

How had he repaid such boundless kindness?

He had seized the family estate, bullied the orphan, schemed and plotted, trying again and again to destroy young Li Zhao; his heart was a hundred times more poisonous than a viper’s.

Good is repaid with good, evil with evil—not repaid yet only because the time has not come… He had never believed this before.

But today, he believed.

Ruined and bankrupt, abandoned in a ruined temple—this was his retribution.

Retribution in this life!

If there is another life, he thought, I’d best be a good man. But with all the sins I’ve committed, in my next life I’ll likely be reborn as a beast…

Amid the falling snow, Li De froze to death at the temple’s entrance, his corpse left to the dogs, cats, and crows—a fate well deserved. Yet the story did not end there.

…

Outside Wu’an County, on a lonely path, a green-canopied carriage sped along. Inside sat a single passenger—Housekeeper Hou Si, who had fled his master.

Hou Si clutched a black lacquered box, eyes half closed, leaning against the seat, lost in memories of his life:

He was born in Longyou, the son of peasants. Orphaned young, with no siblings, he grew up idle and shiftless, often resorting to petty theft. Eventually, the clan elders drove him from the village.

To survive, he stole, cheated, robbed, even worked as a “teapot” in a brothel. By a twist of fate, he ended up as a servant in the household of Li De and Lady Zheng, and, with his skill at flattery and reading faces, rose to the rank of second, then chief steward.

He had thought life would only get better from there.

But disaster struck—the newly built distillery burned to the ground, Li De and Lady Zheng fell into debt for tens of thousands of strings of coins, never to recover. Being no fool, he escaped their fate with a small trick, taking the black lacquered box along.

Within the box, gold and silver jewelry worth three or four thousand strings—a fortune. Once back in Longyou, he would build a grand house, buy hundreds of acres of good land, take wives and concubines, buy slaves and maids, and finally know what it was to be a master… He chuckled to himself at the thought.

Lost in his daydreams, Hou Si suddenly noticed the carriage had stopped.

“Hm? Why have we stopped?”

“To answer the guest, we have arrived.”

“What? Arrived?”

Lifting the curtain, Hou Si saw the carriage halted beside a patch of woods, in a remote spot with no houses for miles around. Why had the driver brought him here?

At that moment, the driver turned. Beneath his battered felt hat was a hideously ugly face—crooked eyes, a collapsed nose, a twisted mouth with broken teeth. Like a rotten persimmon that had been trampled twice.

Hou Si had not wanted to hire this driver—he was so ugly, it was nauseating. But the fare was cheap—half what others asked for the three hundred-mile journey. So he had reluctantly hired him.

“Weren’t we going to Long County? Why stop in this godforsaken place?”

“Heh, Chief Steward Hou, I’m afraid you won’t make it to Long County. This is your final destination.”

“My final destination? What do you mean… You know me?”

“Of course I know you—we’ve worked together for years. My current appearance is thanks to you, have you forgotten? Ha!”

“Ah… you’re… you’re Huang You!”

From that cold, familiar voice, Hou Si finally recognized the driver—not just anyone, but the former Chief Steward Huang—the Weasel.

Yes, the very one who, for harassing Little Qing, was crippled by a kick from Li Zhao, then ordered by Li De to be slapped two hundred times and have his leg broken, finally thrown into a filthy ditch.

How had he survived? How did he become a driver? Why bring Hou Si to the woods?

“Die!” the Weasel shouted.

Realizing his peril, Hou Si tried to leap from the carriage, but it was too late. The Weasel drew a sharp dagger from his sleeve and plunged it into Hou Si’s belly, twisting with force.

He withdrew it, then stabbed again.

Again and again, dozens of times, until Hou Si’s abdomen was a mangled ruin. Still unsatisfied, the Weasel slashed Hou Si’s face dozens of times, then dragged the corpse into the woods and buried it in a shallow pit.

A moment later, the Weasel emerged from the trees, his ugly face twisted in the ecstasy of revenge.

When he had awoken in agony and crawled from the filthy ditch, he had sworn a blood oath to avenge himself.

To take his revenge, he had to survive.

To survive, he had begged in the streets with a broken leg, scavenged from the trash of wealthy households, eaten restaurant slop, even fought stray dogs for food, enduring endless scorn, curses, and mockery—life worse than death.

But he survived. Slowly, he healed, became a carriage driver, and found a place to live.

Then, by Heaven’s will, Hou Si was delivered into his hands, and he finally vented his long-held hatred.

But now, having killed, he could not remain in Wu’an County. He would have to seek a new home.

“Hyah—clatter, clatter!”

After a moment’s thought, the Weasel picked up the black lacquered box, drove the carriage out of the woods, planning to quit his job and set out for Chang’an.

Chang’an—the capital of the Great Tang, where powerful and humble mingled. With his skills and this gold and silver to grease the wheels, he was sure he could make a name for himself.

When he was strong enough, he would return to exact vengeance.

Li Zhao, wait for me—one of us must die!

…

Qianlong Ridge, the ancestral home.

Li Zhao: “Achoo… Achoo, it’s snowing. I should put on more clothes.”