Demon King's Repayment - chapter 4

The eldest sister took the axe from her hands, put it down, held her hands, then looked at her with red eyes, apparently having just cried.

“Dad… called you.”

“Now? Why?”

Yuan Chunhua shook her head, then said that she did not know the situation. But she turned her face, avoiding the sight of his sister as she quietly wiped the tears from her face.

But Yuan Xiang was not a real seven years old girl after all. Her father had been chatting with a stranger in the front hall for a long time, then he asked her sister to bring her. A bad premonition surged in her heart.

The so-called front hall of the Yuan family was nothing more than a thatched cottage with air leaking on all sides. The dilapidated shrine housed several gods and Buddhas and the whole wall had been blackened by long-term cooking smoke. A dining table was placed to eat, entertain guests, and reward God in this room on weekdays. At the moment, on the table, there were two thick tea bowls for hospitality and three small silver ingots kept dazzlingly on the edge of it. 

Father Yuan sat with legs crossed in a stool, next to the table. The years left deep marks on his face. Years of overwork made this man of mature age develop a tired and old look. He kept rubbing his thick and yellow fingers then lowered his head slightly and awkwardly the moment he saw his little daughter walk in.

Opposite him, sat an unfamiliar young man. This man was inconspicuously dressed. He wore plain short brown clothes, with straw sandals on his feet, and a bamboo hat kept beside the stool leg. It was just that his indifferent temperament and good looks made it difficult for others to ignore his existence even if he was dressed plainly.

Although he only had ordinary clothes on and sat in such a humble and barren room, this man could still give people a sense of care and ease. It seemed like he was not sitting in front of an oily table and drinking rough tea in a notched but instead in an elegant room with green pine and snow, with a cup of authentic fragrant tea with melted snow.

Seeing Yuan Xiang coming in, he raised his eyes and nodded to the little girl with a smile.

Yuan Xiang’s dark eyes circled in the house and landed on the silver ingots on the tabletop. In such a poor country, the transactions between villagers were in copper plates and silver ingots would not appear often.

Unfamiliar guests, large transactions, and the strange situation.

Yuan Xiang finally turned her gaze on his father, whom she had called Daddy for seven years, and saw him avoid her gaze.

And so, she realized that her parents could not bear the burden of five children and sold her as a commodity.

The evening breeze poured in through the gaps in the wall which made her feel a little cold. But if he had to sell a daughter, compared to the elder sister who was about to become an adult and the second sister who was reckless and ignorant, such an undead from another world was indeed the most suitable choice.

She had no father in her previous life and after seven years in this world, she once thought that she had made up for the regrets in her heart. Now, she suddenly realized that she was still a stranger to this world.

Since it was just a guest, there was nothing to be sad about. That was what Yuan Xiang told herself in her heart.

“Sir, this is my third girl.” Father Yuan called the young guest Sir. At this age, those who read books, those who exorcised demons, and those who settled accounts… could all be called Sirs but she didn’t know which kind of category this man belonged to.

The gentleman looked at Yuan Xiang and slowly introduced himself, “My surname is Yu, my name is Yao. The nickname is Kunpeng. I have practiced the yin and yang and the five elements throughout my life. If I want to accept you as a disciple, I wonder if you would agree?”

(Yin and Yang: The Principles of Universal Balance, Five elements: the Five Transformational Phases)

Yuan Xiang wanted to say that she didn’t want to and he was a fake like Taoist Wu. Why should she leave home with a stranger. Who knew whether he was going to abduct her or make her an alchemy furnace? But when she watched her father’s ardent eyes linger on the shining silver pair on the table, she knew that this matter could not be determined by her own will. The main point was the price that this person paid had satisfied her father.

“Yes.” She said flatly.

Father Yuan raised his head and glanced at his seven-year-old daughter. The child was thin and small and spoke very little usually, but her eyes were exceptionally clear, as if she could see everything in the world.

He finally remembered that she was a quiet girl who had been sensible since childhood.

Although she was despised by him when she was born, he had held her, teased her, and watched her grow up a little bit. Father Yuan’s heart that was delighted by the unexpected wealth finally had a trace of real guilt.

But what could he do? The harvest that year was not good and the family couldn’t get to eat. They couldn’t endure starving and freezing during winter. His sons must not be sold, so he could only give up one of his three daughters. After all, three ingots and ten taels of silver was a large sum of money that can be used in the countryside. Not only could the whole family survive the bad winter, he could even save most of it for the future of his sons and their betrothal gifts.

He sighed, “Go to the back room and meet your mother and your grandma.”

Yuan Xiang looked at him for a long while, then turned to enter the back room.

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1 KO-FI= 1 EXTRA CHAPTER