Struggle

At the same time, a subtle change was quietly taking place within Pearl Village.

Perhaps it was because the Chen family had been buying grain a bit more liberally lately, or perhaps it was because Chen Yue's increasingly robust appearance was so different from before—the village women began visiting directly, their words circling around to inquire about Chen Yue's age, then tentatively bringing up their own daughters, their speech laced with intentions of marriage.

The Sea Shark Gang's members held themselves high above, treating the Pearl Households like cattle, and naturally paid no heed to these minute shifts among the lowly.

But the Pearl Households, struggling together in the same mire, were the most familiar observers of one another. Which family's circumstances had eased slightly, which young man looked stronger and more capable—none of this escaped the neighbors' eyes.

In this precarious Pearl Village, a young man who seemed able to earn a bit more food was undoubtedly a decent prospect for a daughter.

To suffer a little less hunger, to have one more sliver of hope for survival—this was already the most basic and realistic consideration at the bottom.

As for these matchmaking visits, Father Chen and Mother Chen politely declined them all.

If it had been before, Father Chen and Mother Chen might have seriously considered it—after all, their son had reached the age for marriage.

But now, their son harbored a massive secret—martial arts training, killing, and the upcoming Martial Examination, where life and death hung in the balance... Every step walked on the edge of a blade, the future entirely unknown, whether fortune or calamity.

To arrange a marriage at this time would not be forging a bond. If things were exposed, wouldn't it ruin some girl's entire life?

That evening, just after the Chen family had finished a simple dinner, a cautious knock came at the door. Opening it, they saw Auntie Li, who had come to borrow pearls before.

Her patched and repatched clothes seemed even more tattered, her face haggard, and she tightly held her daughter, eight-year-old Yaya, by the hand. Yaya was pitifully thin, her big eyes full of fear as she clung to her mother.

Mother Chen sighed inwardly, assuming Auntie Li had come to borrow grain or pearls again. After Li the Third's death, this widow and orphan had lost their able-bodied laborer, could barely scrape together the Pearl Tax, and life was even harder, often needing handouts from neighbors.

"Sister Li, come in and sit..."

Before Mother Chen could finish, Auntie Li stepped inside and dropped straight to her knees on the dirt floor, pulling the trembling Yaya down with her.

"Brother Chen, Sister Chen, I beg you, have mercy!"

Auntie Li's face was streaked with tears, her voice hoarse and desperate. "I... I really can't go on, and I have no way to raise Yaya. Please, be kind and take her in! Give her something to eat, let her be a child bride for your family... I'll kowtow to you!"

With that, Auntie Li truly began to lower her head to the ground.

"Oh! Don't! Get up! Sister Li, please get up!"

Mother Chen was startled and hurried forward to help her up. But Auntie Li, with some unknown strength, stubbornly knelt and refused to rise, sobbing bitterly.

Mother Chen's eyes reddened as she choked out, "Sister, if Yaya comes with us, what about you? You're still young, you have a long life ahead!"

Auntie Li lifted her head, her face a dead gray of numbness and despair: "Me? I... I'll just live one day at a time. When I can't go on anymore... I'll go find her father in the sea. Anyway, this life isn't worth living. I only beg that Yaya can survive..."

Beside her, young as she was, Yaya understood the finality in her mother's words and burst into loud wails, clutching her mother's arm tightly: "Mom! I don't want to go! I want Mom! Yaya stays with Mom! Mom, don't abandon Yaya..."

The child's cries were heart-wrenching.

Father Chen stood at the door, watching this scene, his brow deeply furrowed.

Didn't he want to help? But their son's matters weighed on his heart, the future a blur—how could they have the strength to take in another child?

He stepped forward, bent down, and forcefully helped Auntie Li up a bit, saying, "Sister Li, we understand your hardship. But... our family is struggling too, and we really can't afford to feed another mouth. This matter... let's talk about it another time."

With that, Father Chen turned and went inside, soon returning with a small coarse-cloth sack weighing about two or three jin, filled with coarse rice mixed with beans. He pressed it into Auntie Li's hands: "Take this grain for now, get by with Yaya for a few days. There... there will always be a way. Take the child home. It's getting dark."

Auntie Li's tears gushed forth again, but not in sorrow—rather, a deeper, more hopeless sob.

She shoved the sack of coarse rice back into Father Chen's hands, her withered hands trembling uncontrollably: "Brother Chen, Sister Chen... I'm not here to borrow grain or beg for money... I truly have no other way. I only beg for a path for Yaya to live, don't let her follow me... to wait for death!"

She raised her tear-blurred face to look at Father Chen and Mother Chen, her eyes holding the last humble hope of a mother: "I know this is sudden, but please... think it over, won't you? Yaya is very sensible, eats very little, and can learn any chore..."

After saying this, she didn't even glance at the sack of life-saving grain. She pulled the sobbing, breathless Yaya, kowtowed once more to Father Chen and Mother Chen, then staggered to her feet, her figure quickly swallowed by the thick dusk.

Chen Yue stood in the shadows inside the door, taking in everything—Auntie Li's desperate kowtow, Yaya's heartrending cries. His lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing, only letting out a sigh caught in his throat.

Sympathy? Yes.

Helplessness? Even more.

He himself was still struggling in the mire—what could he offer to save another pair on the verge of drowning? The path to change his own family's fate was narrow and perilous; he had no spare strength, nor dared to lightly shoulder another's life.

As night deepened, Pearl Village sank into a dead silence. The hardships of the day seemed devoured by the darkness, leaving only weary snores and stifled sighs drifting between the shacks of each household.

Yet this fragile peace did not last long.

"Kill—!"

"Hold them off!"

"They're mountain bandits!"

Suddenly, from the direction of the village entrance, earth-shaking battle cries and the sharp clash of metal erupted. The sound was like a thunderbolt from clear skies, instantly jolting every sleeping or wakeful person in the village.

"What's going on? What happened?"

"Sounds like a fight at the village gate!"

Terrified whispers rose from every home. Many people tremblingly crept to their doors, pressing their eyes to the cracks to peer outside.

By the sparse torches at the village entrance and the hazy moonlight, they saw about twenty or thirty fierce-looking men wielding sharp blades, howling as they charged the village gate.

Their opponents were five or six Sea Shark Gang members on night duty, along with seven or eight county constables who had rushed over from nearby.

But these sudden attackers were extremely ferocious, especially the leader—a burly man with a bristly beard wielding a ghost-head broadsword. His blade flashed like a ribbon of light, each swing carrying a terrifying wind.

The ordinary gang members and constables could barely last a single exchange; anyone touched was wounded, anyone in the way was cut down!