Chapter 399 – Side Story, Empress’s Growth Diary [2]
In Zhao Family Village, a small remote village on the border of Hejian County.
The village is so small that a shout at one end can be heard clearly at the other.
With only twenty-five households, any major event happening in one would spread throughout the village in half an hour.
For the past six months, the most exciting event was when Widow Zhao picked up a mute wolf girl from outside the village.
According to the villagers’ analysis, this wolf girl must have been taken away as a child by a mother wolf who lost her own cubs, and raised as her own.
Thus, the wolf girl exhibited a strong aggressive nature, scratching anyone she caught, unable to understand human speech, let alone speak.
At first, the villagers were quite worried, fearing this wolf girl might bring disaster to the village, but as six months passed, nothing happened.
Not only did nothing happen, but the wolf girl’s hunting skills were top-notch; she would frequently venture into the deep mountains to hunt.
The village hunters only dared to roam the outskirts, while she bravely delved into the depths and always returned with plenty of good loot. Widow Zhao, who lost her husband young and struggled as a woman, had been enjoying meat for every meal and even used wild chicken eggs as a facial treatment ever since the wolf girl was adopted.
The wolf girl was taciturn, ignoring everyone and refusing to speak, looking at people as if they were dead, making the villagers wary of her.
However, Widow Zhao knew how to handle things; whenever the wolf girl returned from hunting, she would always share many good things with the neighbors.
Today, the wolf girl once again brought back two large wild boars, walking past effortlessly, face unflushed and breath steady.
With a focused gaze, the wolf girl marched into Widow Zhao’s yard, slamming the fence shut behind her.
“Yao’er, you’re back! Quickly wash your hands and face, come try on your new clothes!”
Upon hearing the commotion outside, Widow Zhao realized who had returned.
“I’m not called Yao’er…”
The wolf girl crossed her arms, leaning against the doorframe, her brow furrowed, visibly displeased.
She didn’t like Widow Zhao’s way of addressing her.
Compared to Widow Zhao’s fluid speech, the wolf girl’s pronunciation was quite strange, sounding as awkward as a child learning to talk.
The wolf girl, or rather Jiang Pengji, had been in this unfamiliar, wild, and backward world for a year now.
For the first half of the year, she mainly lived in the mountains.
She understood she had entered a completely alien and barbaric era, and what was worse, she couldn’t communicate with these primitive humans.
The inability to communicate meant she couldn’t quickly integrate into this society or obtain the information she needed.
Meeting Widow Zhao and being “picked up” was entirely accidental.
Jiang Pengji inexplicably became the so-called “wolf girl,” both envied and feared by the villagers.
She scoffed coldly at the crude thoughts of these ancient humans, having a strong aversion to talking with them.
Fortunately, Widow Zhao acted as a mediator, allowing her to remain in the village.
Widow Zhao, with her warm-hearted nature, showed her the new clothes.
“I see you’ve been hunting all the time; you should at least change into something clean and light, don’t be shy, let me see you in it.”
Jiang Pengji secretly rolled her eyes and took the blue outfit to her room.
“What about the pigs in the yard?”
“I’ll slaughter them later. If any villagers want to buy them, I’ll sell them cheap; whatever’s left, I’ll make into jerky.”
Jiang Pengji’s voice was deep and hoarse, sounding unlike a normal girl, even though she was just that.
Widow Zhao thought these peaceful days would continue indefinitely.
If she saved for another two years, she’d be able to prepare a bridal dowry for Yao’er and find a matchmaker for her.
Little did she know, fortune can be fickle.
One day, Jiang Pengji went hunting in the mountains again and reaped a bountiful harvest.
Just as she exited the woods, she saw an old man leaning on a cane waiting outside: it was the village chief.
She always kept a gentle attitude toward the elderly and children.
“Chief, you’re looking for me?”
Seeing his demeanor, it seemed a serious matter has occurred, causing Jiang Pengji to frown with a bad premonition.
The chief, seeing her come out, wore a somewhat evasive expression. “Yao… Yao’er, something happened to Widow Zhao; hurry back and check!”
Jiang Pengji understood his meaning and quickly dropped her wild game, rushing back to Widow Zhao’s home.
The fisherman who retrieved the body claimed Widow Zhao drowned after falling into the water, but when Jiang Pengji examined her body, she found evidence that she had been strangled and dumped in the water—previously assaulted by at least three men… Such obvious signs, who did they think they were fooling?
Jiang Pengji’s face hardened, almost dripping with gravity, while nearby villagers murmured that she was an ungrateful wolf.
Widow Zhao treated her so well, and now that she was dead, Jiang Pengji didn’t even cry—what a white-eyed wolf!
Jiang Pengji understood what they meant but found it somewhat laughable.
The best way to deliver justice for the wronged wasn’t through tears, was it?
Crying?
What good would it do?
Taking the excuse to keep vigil, Jiang Pengji carefully examined Widow Zhao’s body, finding several crucial clues.
After holding back for a few days and waiting for Widow Zhao’s burial, she left Zhao Family Village in the night.
After half a month of careful investigation, she narrowed it down to four suspects.
Given their social standing and the entourage they kept, Jiang Pengji opted for assassination.
While taking down the fourth one, something went a bit awry.
“Liu Zhi, you beast! How could you… kill your own half-brother?”
Liu Zhi pointed a trembling finger at Jiang Pengji, half-drunk and coming back to his senses.
His eyes were sunken, and his steps were unsteady; it was evident he had been exhausted by indulgence.
Jiang Pengji disliked indiscriminate killing; her quick movements made her unafraid of Liu Zhi recognizing her face.
“What Liu Zhi?” she asked coldly, her voice hoarse. “What half-brother?”
Liu Zhi looked at her in disbelief, then at the lifeless body on the ground, filled with grief and fierce anger.
“You beast! If I don’t kill you today, I can’t avenge my son!”
In his younger years, Liu Zhi was a notorious ruffian in Hejian, daily indulging in wine and debauchery, with countless concubines loitering in his back yard and many women abducted. He was responsible for even more deaths. Maybe it was karma; after marrying, he faced difficulties, ending up with only two bastard sons and a legitimate daughter. One bastard son died young, and the other lived like a golden nugget, spoiled by him and his concubine, regularly committing acts of coercion against village girls.
As for the legitimate daughter, she fell into the den of bandits a year ago, allegedly having lost her purity; feeling ashamed, he simply declared her dead and didn’t send anyone to search for her.
Little did he expect that a year later, she would return and take the life of her half-brother.
Jiang Pengji frowned.
Her memory was sharp; on her first day in this world, she had rescued a group of girls being bullied by bandits, and when those girls called out to her, indeed one of them had voiced “Lan Ting.” Could it be the original name of the body she possessed?
“I don’t know who this Lan Ting is, I only know that this beast lying on the ground and the other three beasts—they are responsible for the death of the most important person to me in this world. He committed crimes, and according to Federation law, rape and murder are death penalties.”
Jiang Pengji leaped onto the roof, her right hand plucking a stone from her waist pouch, striking Liu Zhi on the head, knocking him out cold.
Afterward, she returned to the mountains, resuming her carefree life as a wild person.
If nothing unexpected arose, such days could be quite nice, but her “neighbors,” those bandits, were trouble-seekers.
Jiang Pengji single-handedly challenged the entire bandit stronghold; while she didn’t kill anyone, every bandit bore injuries, and some even suffered fractures.
Witnessing Jiang Pengji’s ruthlessness, every bandit’s heart filled with fear.
“Whose mountain is this?”
“Lady Bandit’s!”
“Who’s in charge of this mountain?”
“Lady Bandit, you are in charge!”
“Great! From now on, this is my territory; who’s orders will you obey?”
“We obey all of Lady Bandit’s orders!”
Thus, Jiang Pengji became the bandit leader of this stronghold.
