"That scoundrel Zhang finally got what was coming to him today! He used to harass respectable women in the village and climb over widows' walls now and then. A hunter from the next village nearly broke both his legs a few years ago, yet he still refused to mend his ways!"
"Serves him right! I've been sick of that bastard for ages! He harassed my daughter a few years back, and I nearly caught him. If he hadn't run so damned fast, I would have swallowed him alive and skinned him raw!"
"That girl may be formidable, but that scoundrel Zhang has the Canghai Association behind him! Almost every sticky-fingered crook in the towns and villages around Black City belongs to it. They're not people you want to provoke!" one villager said quietly. The others fell silent.
"If you ask me, you lot still don't see it. This girl is so beautiful, and her bearing is unmatched! I've never seen such an extraordinary woman in my life. Even the daughters of the great families in the city can't hold a candle to her. She must have an exceptional background!" said one of the few villagers who had been to Black City and seen something of the wider world.
His words won the agreement of those around him.
They simply could not understand how these two impoverished orphans had suddenly acquired two such extraordinary relatives.
Early that morning, Ye Ping and an unfamiliar man had carried a sack of game into town. Quite a few people had seen them with their own eyes.
Now a woman of peerless beauty, lovely enough to topple cities, had appeared as well.
"That damned Zhang Er! He's bullying my sister again!" Ye Ping stared at the figure through gritted teeth, then took considerable delight in