Chapter 117 Walking into a Trap

Chapter 117 Walking into a Trap

Xie Wanniang frowned. "Did they take the money from them?"

Atai nodded, "I received ten taels of silver."

He bit his lip in a mixture of indignation and helplessness, and after a moment he added, "They don't admit that it was the dowry given by the old bachelor, they only say that it was the money their family had painstakingly saved up over the years."

Xie Wanniang felt some sympathy for the little girl she had never met before. "So what do you plan to do? Without evidence, your clansmen can't stand up for you, can they?"

Atai's expression grew increasingly indignant. He said, "Even if they stand up for us, it's useless. Whatever they say goes in one ear and out the other. They just keep doing what they were doing."

Actually, that was his original plan, but he and his sister were too small and weak to resist their uncle's family's pulling and dragging.

Yes, they were forcibly dragged away from their home by their uncle's family.

What's hateful is that their clansmen at the time not only didn't help them, but also sided with their uncle, pretending to be kind in advising them.

In Atai's mind, if his uncle's family were the executioners who harmed him and Xiaomei, then his clansmen were a group of accomplices who eagerly handed knives to his uncle's family.

He hated his uncle's family, and he also hated his relatives.

Seeing that Atai's thin and frail body was trembling slightly uncontrollably, Jiang Yuan reached out and patted Atai's shoulder to comfort him.

"Do you want to go back to your own house and land, and move out of your uncle's house with your sister?"

Atai suddenly looked up, his eyes wide open. "You have a way?"

Jiang Yuan nodded. "I have two ideas."

He said a few words like that, which made Atai's eyes sparkle with excitement.

But instead of choosing one of the two methods Jiang Yuan mentioned, he carefully observed Jiang Yuan's expression and asked him a question that surprised both Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang, "Can I use both methods?"

Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment, while Xie Wanniang couldn't help but burst out laughing.

She answered for Jiang Yuan, "Of course."

Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on Atai's dark and thin face for the first time.

He and Jiang Yuan found a relatively flat and open place not far from the foot of the mountain, and then Jiang Yuan began to give Atai emergency training.

Xie Wanniang wandered around them looking for various herbs, while also keeping watch to prevent others from seeing Jiang Yuan teaching Atai martial arts.

Unlike his methodical and steady teaching approach when instructing Xie Wanniang, Jiang Yuan now focuses on speed. Therefore, he mainly teaches Atai a series of fighting techniques that subtly attack the enemy's weaknesses.

To Jiang Yuan's surprise, Atai was actually very talented in martial arts.

His original plan was to spend two hours teaching Atai a few moves, but it ended up taking only one hour to teach Atai nearly half of the skills he already knew.

“You have great talent.” Patting Atai on the shoulder, Jiang Yuan led him towards Xie Wanniang’s location, and asked him in a low voice, “Would you like to learn martial arts from me?”

Although Artest is already fourteen years old, compared to those who started building their foundation step by step from the age of five or six, his starting age is indeed a bit late, but fortunately it is not so late as to affect his future achievements.

With his talent, as long as he can endure the hardships of martial arts training, he will surely achieve something in the martial arts world in the future.

Of course, this is on the premise that he has to spend several years or even more than ten years practicing martial arts.

Atai was taken aback by Jiang Yuan's question. He hesitated for a moment, "Can I think about it before I answer you?"

Right now, he's preoccupied with his sister's affairs and can't spare any extra thoughts about whether or not he should follow Jiang Yuan to learn martial arts.

Jiang Yuan nodded, "Once we've settled your family's affairs, we can discuss whether you want to learn martial arts."

After saying that, he reached out and picked up one of the baskets full of herbs. "How was the harvest?"

Xie Wanniang nodded, "Not bad."

Jiang Yuan smiled slightly and turned to look at Atai. "You should go back first. If you get beaten up, try the methods I taught you to avoid getting hurt."

Whether it's a fist or a stick, the damage caused varies depending on where it hits the body.

"I understand." Atai nodded and started walking towards the village at the foot of the mountain.

Although he would still be beaten if he went back now, he dared not delay any longer, because if he continued to delay, that vicious woman, who had nowhere else to vent her anger, would turn to beating his sister instead.

After descending the mountain, Atai tiptoed into the courtyard, only to find that the door to the woodshed was bolted from the outside. A bad feeling arose in his heart, so he quickly removed the bolt, opened the door, and ran inside.

To Atai's surprise, even though he had returned before the safety deadline to be beaten, his sister still got a severe beating before he arrived.

The little girl lay battered and bruised in a corner of the woodshed. She had made a makeshift bed out of straw, and her already worn and thin clothes had been torn to shreds by her wicked aunt.

"Xiaomei?" Seeing his younger sister lying in the corner, silently shedding tears, her body covered in bruises and weeping, Atai was heartbroken. He rushed over, "That bitch hit you? Why?"

Xiaomei twitched her lips. "She told my uncle that she wanted to send me away while you were not home. I heard her and tried to run away, but they found me."

They originally intended to grab her and stuff her into a sack, but because she shouted so loudly, people from the neighborhood came out to see what was happening. Her uncle and aunt couldn't do it in front of others, so they covered her mouth, dragged her to the woodshed, and locked her up.

To outsiders, they claimed that Xiaomei was throwing a tantrum because of the nonsense her brother was spouting.

The neighbors, unsure of the truth and too embarrassed to barge into Xiaomei's home, pressed her for details, and so Xiaomei was simply thrown into the woodshed.

After listening to his sister's intermittent explanation, Atai was so angry that the veins on his forehead bulged. He gritted his teeth and was about to say, "Don't be afraid, brother will take you away now," when he heard the sound of the door being closed and bolted.

He turned around abruptly and found that the door to the woodshed had been bolted shut by his good uncle.

At this point, his uncle stopped pretending. Through the woodshed door, he lowered his voice and threatened Atai and Xiaomei, "You two little brats better behave yourselves, or don't blame me for killing you!"

Atai had already realized that his supposed sneaking in had not escaped his uncle's notice. They were just waiting for him to walk into their trap so they could lock him and Xiaomei up together.