That Woman Was Really Fierce

That Woman Was Really Fierce.

Outside Li Yuan's home, the shadow climbed over the fence and reached the door. Without even knocking, he simply pushed at it, as if the door had never been locked.

Just then, the shadow suddenly sensed something and looked to the side.

Under the ghastly pale moonlight, a brightly striped tiger was leaping through the air, pouncing over the fence.

The shadow jolted in terror, scared out of his wits. His legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed.

An instinctive cry of terror escaped his mouth. "Ah! Ah!"

His hands thrust wildly forward in panic.

Li Yuan's door was pushed open just like that.

It wasn't locked!!

The shadow scrambled inside.

As long as he got through the door, he could block it behind him. Surely the tiger couldn't break in, could it?

But in the blink of an eye, the tiger pounced again before its front paws even touched the ground. Like a lone rider charging through enemy ranks, it shot forward more than ten feet like lightning and circled behind him.

Leaping through the air, it sank its fangs into his neck from behind.

The shadow toppled over, screaming miserably, "Help! Help!"

The tiger clamped down on his throat, biting his neck without letting go, then dragged the shadow straight back.

The shadow's shrill screams startled the neighbors.

Hearing that the commotion came from Yan Niangzi's home, Aunt Wang hurriedly grabbed a kitchen knife and peered outside through the window.

At a glance, Aunt Wang's face turned deathly pale.

"A tiger! A tiger's entered the village!!"

The tiger kept dragging the shadow along.

When it neared the woods, Li Yuan finally saw clearly.

The shadow was none other than the ruffian who had lost an arm-wrestling match to him that day.

After giving it some thought, Li Yuan understood. The ruffian had turned misfortune into fortune: his injured hand had allowed him to escape conscription.

A month had passed since the conscription began, and the ruffian's wrist should have healed by now.

He had seen the County Soldiers defeated, many yamen runners dead, and even the County Commandant gone. With public order in shambles, evil thoughts had arisen in him. He had planned to sneak into Li Yuan's home at night and violate Yan Yu, taking revenge on Li Yuan in the process.

The ruffian had not been so bold before, but with things so chaotic now, he had given in to wicked intentions.

A wave of lingering fear rose in Li Yuan's heart, and his expression turned cold.

Looking at the ruffian again, Li Yuan saw that he was already slipping in and out of consciousness. Blood gushed from the artery in his neck, streaking across the ground as though a blood-soaked mop had been dragged over it.

The ruffian's overall strength, "1–2," was also slowly fading, changing to "0–1" before quickly disappearing.

That meant the ruffian was completely dead.

Twisting its head, the tiger kept crunching down on his neck and dragging him away.

Yet at this sight, every household that had heard the screams kept its doors tightly shut. Not a single person dared to come out.

That was only natural.

The able-bodied men had all been conscripted. How could the elderly, weak, women, and children fight a tiger?

Throughout the vast Little Ink Village, not a sound could be heard that night except the crunching of the tiger biting someone outside.

Everyone felt a heavy weight in their hearts, but no one dared open their doors.

If a child cried, the adults immediately covered the child's mouth, terrified of drawing the tiger over as well.

The next day, dawn broke.

Little Ink Village remained utterly silent.

It was not until nearly noon that a few households cautiously opened their doors, gripping pitchforks, wooden clubs, and whatever else they had, then poked their heads out to look around.

At Li Yuan's home, Yan Niangzi rubbed her aching forehead and sat up from the bed.

Her head felt muddled. She had never felt like this before. Turning to look outside, she saw that sunlight had already reached through the doorway.

A faint shadow fell across the threshold, giving the village an air of quiet peace.

"Why is the door open?"

"What happened to me?"

Yan Niangzi held her head.

Suddenly, her body stiffened.

It was daylight?

Then where was Yuan Ge'er?

How had she felt nothing at all?

Yan Niangzi suddenly realized something. She hurriedly lowered her head and felt herself all over with both hands, searching up and down. Only after a while did she let out a breath of relief.

She had already guessed that someone had drugged her.

If she had lain unconscious on the bed and someone had entered to violate her, she would never have known.

If some wild man had climbed into bed and defiled her body, she would have no face left to see anyone—much less Yuan Ge'er.

But thankfully, thankfully.

She quickly recalled what had happened yesterday.

Who had drugged her?

Who had the chance to do it?

Suddenly, her expression became extremely ugly, and fury surged up within her.

Only two people had come to her home yesterday to eat and drink with her: Aunt Wang and Feng Er.

Was it Yuan Ge'er who saved me?

But how had he returned?

Yan Niangzi hurriedly got out of bed, slipped on her embroidered shoes, and rushed outside. The moment she reached the door, she let out a sharp cry.

But before the cry could escape, Yan Niangzi clamped a hand tightly over her mouth, turning the sound into a muffled gasp.

There was blood in the courtyard outside.

Blood on the dirt beneath the sunlight.

It was glaring and savage.

At the edge of the woods in Little Ink Village, a crowd had gathered.

A person gnawed into a bloody, mangled mess lay there.

"Isn't that Zhang Shisi from the village?"

"Zhang Shisi was young and strong. He should have been seized for conscription too. His injured hand let him escape it, but who would've thought... sigh."

"What a horrible death. Could that tiger still be nearby?" someone asked, looking around in panic.

Then someone else asked curiously, "Why was Zhang Shisi outside in the middle of the night?"

"From the screams earlier, it sounded like it came from Aunt Wang's direction," said a woman who lived nearby.

"Aunt Wang's place?" A man suddenly said, "Doesn't a widow live next door to Aunt Wang? I remember now. Zhang Shisi was taught a lesson by that widow's man before. Could he have been trying to sneak into the widow's house in the middle of the night?"

As he spoke, the man suddenly added, "These days, there probably aren't any yamen runners left to deal with this sort of thing, right?"

The moment those words came out, everyone froze.

For a time, the atmosphere was terrifyingly silent.

"Let's go check Aunt Wang's place and that widow's door!" someone said.

Before long, the villagers arrived at Li Yuan's home.

Someone peered into the courtyard and saw that it was perfectly clean, with no bloodstains or drag marks. The door was shut as well.

Seeing that there were many people now, Aunt Wang finally came running out and called through the fence, "Yan Niangzi? Yan Niangzi?"

She called twice, but there was no response.

The villagers exchanged glances. Each saw the gravity in the others' eyes, and then they went straight inside.

A man at the front reached the door and was just about to knock.

But the moment he lightly touched it, the door creaked open.

A strange look flashed through everyone's eyes. Why hadn't the widow's door been locked?

After entering and looking around, they saw Yan Niangzi lying on the bed in white floral clothes with a blue background. So many people had come in, yet she did not react at all.

"Yan Niangzi, Yan Niangzi?!" Aunt Wang squeezed through the crowd and hurried over. After checking her breathing, she sighed in relief.

The crowd immediately began discussing it.

"What's going on?"

"She fainted? The tiger must have scared her."

"Would someone who fainted be lying so neatly on the bed? Think about it." Someone said, "I think Yan Niangzi may have been set up."

Aunt Wang hurriedly found a bowl, scooped up a bowl of cold water from the water jar, and sprinkled it on Yan Niangzi to wake her while calling her name.

After a while, Yan Yu's eyelashes finally fluttered. When she slowly opened her eyes, she looked at the many people beside the bed in confusion.

"I... you..."

"My head hurts so much..."

Yan Niangzi stammered incoherently.

"Aunt Wang."

"Why are you all here?"

Aunt Wang said, "Yan Niangzi, a tiger entered the village last night. It dragged Zhang Shisi away."

"Zhang Shisi?"

Yan Niangzi looked somewhat dazed.

A man in the crowd said, "That Zhang Shisi came near your home. The screams earlier came from around here too."

"I... I don't know anything.

My head feels so dizzy." Yan Niangzi rubbed her forehead, then suddenly asked curiously, "You... how did you get in?"

A woman said, "The door wasn't locked. It opened with one push."

"Ah? I... I wouldn't leave the door unlocked..." Yan Niangzi said.

After whispering among themselves for a while, the villagers gradually pieced together the full story.

Zhang Shisi had somehow drugged Yan Niangzi with Sleeping Drug, then planned to come over at night to take revenge. After all, Zhang Shisi had once held a grudge against Yan Niangzi's former man. But then... Zhang Shisi had unexpectedly encountered a tiger and been dragged away by it.

"Sleeping Drug..."

"Yes. Yesterday, I drank the water Feng Er gave me, and my head got so dizzy."

Yan Niangzi muttered.

Suddenly, her bearing changed. She sprang to her feet, grabbed a kitchen knife, and rushed outside.

The villagers followed her out as well.

Yan Niangzi arrived at Feng Er's home, lowered her kitchen knife, knocked directly on the door, and called, "Feng Er, Feng Er?"

No one answered.

Yan Niangzi pushed at the door, but it was locked.

She took a few steps back, then charged forward and slammed into it.

But she was thin and small. How could she possibly force it open?

Fortunately, Aunt Wang was much bigger. She was furious too, and helped Yan Niangzi ram the door.

After several attempts, the door opened.

Yan Yu rushed inside with the kitchen knife in hand.

At a glance, she saw the covers on the bed shifting.

Yan Yu threw them aside and saw Feng Er hiding beneath the quilt, trembling all over.

Yan Yu pointed the kitchen knife at her and demanded sharply, "Why did you harm me?!"

Feng Er was terrified and stammered, "No... I didn't..."

"Why did you harm me?!!" Yan Yu took several more steps closer.

Feng Er screamed in fright. "It wasn't me! Zhang Shisi did it—it was Zhang Shisi!"