On the other side, Qin's father and his two companions were terrified when they saw the masked man with a knife suddenly appear.
"What... what do you want to do?" Qin Lao Er asked, swallowing hard as he pulled his leg back.
The masked man didn't answer his question, but directly ordered, "Attack!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than a group of people swarmed forward, knocked the three men unconscious, stripped them naked, and threw them by the roadside. The cow was also slaughtered with a single blow.
Once you've done all that, retreat immediately.
The entire process took only the time it takes to drink a cup of tea; it was professional, swift, and left no clues.
When Gan Luo told Qin Shi the results, she cautiously asked her question, "Sister Qin, if you wanted revenge, why did you let them go so easily?"
"Let them go?" Madam Qin sneered. "There's no such thing as a free lunch. I want them to be like me, struggling desperately even when they still have the strength, yet still unable to escape... the nightmare!"
Upon hearing this, for some reason, Gan Luo suddenly felt a chill run through her body.
Sometimes, death is not scary; living numbly and without hope is perhaps more despairing.
For example, the Qin family.
As evening approached, the Qin father and his two sons slowly woke up. Before they could even rejoice at having escaped with their lives, they discovered that the cow was dead and the money was gone.
"Where's my silver? Where did my silver go?" Father Qin frantically searched his entire body, leaving no hair untouched, but he couldn't find a single piece of silver, and even the copper coins on his person had vanished.
"Father, where's the ox?" Qin Lao Er asked in alarm. "Where's our oxcart?"
Losing silver is fine, it's only three taels anyway, but losing the oxcart is worth more than twenty taels.
Even if their family earned some money, it wouldn't be enough to compensate for the loss of the oxcart.
"Yes, the oxcart is gone too," Qin's father hurriedly looked around and saw the cart frame not far away, but there was no sign of the ox.
"Dad, stop looking, he's already dead," Qin Laoda said weakly. "There's so much blood on the ground, and we're not injured, it can only be Niu's."
Logically, he should be happy to have escaped from the jaws of death, but now, he can't feel happy at all.
The silver was stolen, and the cow was also stolen; this loss was something their family could not afford.
"Dead?" Qin's father was stunned. "How could this be?"
He slumped to the ground, burying his head in his hands. "How could we suddenly run into thieves? We didn't let anything slip."
Upon hearing this, Boss Qin fell silent.
He considered the possibility that these people were from Qingfeng Temple and were deliberately double-crossing each other.
Even if the money they earned by selling their daughter was stolen, the family dared not speak out and could only suffer in silence.
What he couldn't understand was why these people would kill cattle, when a live cow would be more valuable.
"How could this happen?" Qin Lao Er couldn't accept it. "Why did we suddenly encounter robbers? Did that brat do something?"
"That girl," Qin's father paused, then asked nervously, "does she have such great abilities?"
If she has such great abilities, wouldn't our family be in great danger?
Although Qin's father did not feel guilty about what he had done, he knew that he had indeed pushed his daughter into a pit of fire. Even though he was a father, he had developed a rift with his daughter.
In addition, given that Qin Shi had always been heartless, he couldn't help but think the worst of people.
“How could that be?” Boss Qin shook his head. “If my little sister had such great abilities, we wouldn’t have been able to get the silver today.”
After all, it was the younger sister who did the work, and our family only bore the title. If the younger sister really hated the Qin family, cutting off their money would be more effective than anything else.
"That's true," Qin's father realized, "That girl is only worth her skin and flesh, she doesn't have that much ability."
If he were truly that capable, he wouldn't have been so easily fooled by those few.
“Father, elder brother, it doesn’t matter who did this,” Qin Lao Er said. “The important thing is what we do.”
The money belongs to us; if we lose it, so be it.
The cow was rented from someone else, and it was agreed that it would only be used for one day. The owner would definitely be unhappy if they found out that their own cow had died.
“Yes, that makes sense,” Qin’s father thought of this problem and immediately broke out in a cold sweat. “If we don’t return the cow today, someone will definitely come to ask for it tomorrow.”
"It's getting dark, let's go home first," Qin said in a low voice. "We can discuss it together when we get home."
Without the oxcart, the three had no choice but to walk home. By the time they returned to Qin Family Village, it was completely dark.
Upon seeing the three of them, Qin's mother immediately smiled and asked, "How much silver did you take?"
"Don't even mention it," Qin's father waved his hand impatiently. "Let's go inside and talk."
The group entered the hall, and Qin's father briefly explained the situation.
Upon hearing this, Qin's mother felt her vision go black and almost fainted.
"Husband, how could this happen?" Qin's mother felt like the sky was falling.
How could such a terrible tragedy suddenly occur during such a peaceful life?
“How would I know?” Mr. Qin said irritably. “If I had known, I would have taken precautions. How could I have been robbed?”
"That's right," Qin Lao Er asked directly, "Mother, how much silver do we have left?"
Upon hearing this, Qin's mother looked at her son warily, "Why are you asking this?"
"What can we do?" Qin Lao Er looked at his mother speechlessly. "We lost someone's cow, don't we have to pay for it?"
It's the busy farming season now, and even with money, it's hard to buy. If the owner knows about this, they certainly won't let it go easily. They'll need to raise enough money early to avoid this mess.
"Let's put that off for now," Qin's mother said dismissively. "Our family doesn't have that much money right now."
Even if she could afford it, she wouldn't.
You can only feel at ease when you have money in your own hands. As for those debts, it's okay to wait and see.
“We can’t delay,” Qin’s father shook his head. “We can’t afford to offend the owner of the ox.”
This ox was borrowed from Yangjia Village next door. The owner has seven brothers, each stronger than the last. If they dared to renege on the debt, their house might be torn to pieces.
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Qin’s mother said, glancing sideways. “We don’t have that much money at home.”
She refused to believe that this person would actually dare to demolish her house.
"How much is left?" Qin's father asked in a deep voice. "If it's not enough, we can pay back part of it first."
"Not much, only seven or eight taels in total."
"Only seven or eight taels?" Qin's father exclaimed in surprise. "How could it be so little?"
“What’s missing?” Mother Qin said, counting the items one by one. “The medicine cost four taels, the silver ring cost two taels, and the clothes and meat cost more than two taels.”
"This money really doesn't last long," Old Qin said with a wry smile. "A cow costs at least twenty-five taels, and even if all the money in the house were spent, it wouldn't be half of it."
Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.
From having savings to incurring debt in just one day, this was something they found hard to accept.
Now that they're living a good life, they find it even harder to tolerate the hardships of the past.
"Don't pay it back yet if you can't pay it back," Qin's mother said through gritted teeth. "We'll settle the debt after a while, when we have some spare money at home."
"If only it could be like that," Qin's father said with a wry smile, "I'm afraid the Yang family won't give up."
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