Xiao Shan was a hunter. Six months ago, he settled in Bozi Village at the foot of Qingyun Mountain. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with bulging chest muscles and sturdy arms that were quite intimidating. His deep voice could shake your ears when he shouted.
His martial arts skills were extraordinary. He had once killed an adult tiger with a raised eye and white pupils with his bare hands and carried it down the mountain alone.
When the villagers witnessed this, they thought a bandit had arrived and fled in terror, scattering like startled birds.
Later, rumors spread that he had been a bandit leader, a killer, and the several knife scars on his body were proof.
Fortunately, he lived alone at the foot of the mountain, about a hundred meters away from the last house in the village. He rarely interacted with the villagers. When they occasionally met, most people avoided him.
Those with daughters or wives were specifically warned to stay away from Xiao Shan.
In the eyes of others, he was a solitary eccentric.
One day, he took his game to a restaurant. He didn't have much game, selling it for a total of two taels of silver. He lived alone and wasn't particular about his needs. He bought a few dou of rice and a bag of sweet potatoes from the market, enough to last half a month.
He encountered a crowd of people gathered, but he wasn't interested in watching and walked straight ahead.
He paid no attention to the cracking of whips, the gasps of the onlookers, or the sharp curses.
"Scream! I want you to scream! Aren't you going to scream!"
"Forget it, forget it. I don't want her anymore. She's definitely mute!"
A man in his forties, with a mouthful of large yellow teeth, snatched the broken silver from the human trafficker. A mute who couldn't even scream, what fun was there in playing with her?
She looked so frightening, perhaps she had some contagious disease.
She was also so thin, she wouldn't live much longer. He didn't want her.
The human trafficker, seeing the burden he was about to discard being returned, was furious and whipped the small, curled-up figure on the ground again.
"Don't do that! Sir, don't judge her by her appearance. Her skin is very tender! You won't lose out by buying her!"
"No, no! She's been beaten like this, she must have scars all over her body, and she can't even scream. What's the use of her!"
The big-toothed man left in disgust.
A gasp came from the crowd.
The small figure on the ground was gone.
The human trafficker, almost knocked over, whipped the small figure that stumbled forward fiercely, baring his teeth.
"You little slut, I'll beat you to death!"
Xiao Shan's ears twitched. His sturdy body agilely dodged, and the figure that lunged from behind fell to the ground.
The tattered clothes couldn't hide the color, and the whip marks were bloody. Her hair was tangled like dry grass and emitted a foul odor.
This body looked as frail as a child's.
"I'll see if you can run now!"
The human trafficker caught up and swung his whip again.
This time, the small figure did not passively take the beating. Instead, she got up and bit the human trafficker's hand. Her eyes flashed with fierce light, like a dying wild beast in the mountains making its last resistance.
This allowed everyone to clearly see the terrifying spiderweb-like black markings on her left cheek, which not even the dust could hide.
It was terrifying.
Like a malevolent ghost.
After the initial shock, the surrounding people immediately began to discuss.
It was a good thing that the big-toothed man hadn't bought her. With such a frightening face, any desire would have been scared away.
The human trafficker cried out in pain, shaking his hand to break free, but it only hurt more.
"You little bastard!"
The sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked human trafficker gritted his teeth and pulled out a shiny knife from his embrace.
Since she wasn't bought with money, and hadn't been sold for months, she was just a burden. He might as well kill her.
"How much?"
"What?"
The human trafficker's hand, about to stab, stopped. He then noticed a tall man standing beside him. His full beard made him look rugged and untamed, and his pair of tiger-like eyes stared at him intently, truly frightening.
In front of him, the short and thin human trafficker only reached his chest.
"One tael, no, half a tael of silver, and you can take her away!"
Seeing the man's eyes narrow, fearing he would go back on his word, the human trafficker swallowed and quickly changed his price.
While they were talking, the little slave who had been biting his hand fiercely had lost her strength and slid to the ground. Only her eyes, still like a young beast in the mountains, stared at her surroundings with unwillingness.
Xiao Shan took out broken silver, threw it to the human trafficker, and without minding the stench, picked up the little slave from the ground and strode away.
Xiao Shan was twenty-six years old. His parents had died early, and he had suffered the hardships of displacement due to war. He later joined the army and experienced the pain of bloody battles and fratricide. He thought he had long been invincible and stone-hearted, that nothing could easily break his toughness.
He could go ten days or half a month without speaking to anyone, or crouch in the mountains motionless from dawn till night.
His heart was calm, without joy or sorrow.
He lived like a stone man.
Yet today, he had actually bought a little slave.
It was only because this little slave had a pair of eyes that seemed familiar.
He was certain he had never seen her before, so where did this sense of familiarity come from?
Unable to figure it out, Xiao Shan stopped thinking about it.
It was just one more mouth to feed. Letting her wash clothes and cook at home wouldn't bother him.
From the moment he picked up the little slave, she had bitten his shoulder. Perhaps she was truly out of strength, or perhaps his shoulder was too hard. After a while, she let go.
She weighed nothing. Such a tiny thing, would she be able to cook?
Xiao Shan was a little worried. What if he had bought a burden and would have to serve her instead?
He carried her all the way home. The little slave didn't make a sound. When they reached home and he put her down, Xiao Shan realized that the little one had fallen asleep.
Her face was so dark that he couldn't see her features, only the terrifying spiderweb on her left cheek, which was like a ferocious black tentacle.
Xiao Shan frowned. This wasn't a birthmark, but rather seemed like some kind of toxin?
The bloodstains on her body stained the quilt, but he didn't care. The first thing he had to do was wash her properly and then apply medicine. It wouldn't be worth it if she died so soon after he bought her.
But he didn't have a bathtub at home. He usually just used a basin to rinse himself or washed directly in the mountains. He never thought he would bring someone home one day.
No matter how young, she was still a girl, and she certainly couldn't be like him.
What a bother.
Xiao Shan threw her onto the bed and went out again, specifically going to town to fetch a wooden tub.
It took about half an hour. The person on the bed was still in the same position as when he left, not having moved at all.
He wondered how long she hadn't slept.
After boiling water, he went to the bedside and turned her over to untie her tattered clothes. The clothes were a bit loose, and her body inside was too thin.
The light figure shivered, and her withered fingers tightly gripped the collar of her clothes, her brow furrowing. She was about to wake up.
Xiao Shan pressed gently on the back of her neck. The uneasy person fell back asleep, and her fingers loosened.
With such strong defenses, he wondered what she had been through before.
Xiao Shan examined the torn clothes. They seemed to be made of some kind of brocade, not the coarse linen worn by farmers.
When her clothes were removed, the whip marks were all exposed, both new and old. However, the longest ones probably did not exceed six months.
It seemed she had been abducted about half a year ago.
This body...
Xiao Shan didn't know whether to treat her as a child.
He had seen many women, some with slender waists and large breasts, some petite and delicate. In summary, they were all pretty much the same.
Even the most beautiful enchantresses in the eyes of others were just prettier skins to him, mere skeletons adorned with rouge and powder.