CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 57: THE CRIME OF GENDER 57

When Fang Zhongyi saw that Qin Shuangshuang was ignoring his words and looking everywhere for someone, his heart had already tightened. By the time Qin Shuangshuang asked him, his face had changed, "Shuangshuang, has something happened to Yaoyao?"

Qin Shuangshuang’s face was also grim, "It’s very possible. Our village had some vagrants break in, causing a commotion all night. When I helped catch them and returned, Yaoyao was gone. Sister-in-law Li from the village told me a girl named Xiao Xia took her away, and Yaoyao looked very pale when she left. I felt something was wrong, so I came to see if Yaoyao had come home."

Fang Zhongyi’s face was beyond description. Like Qin Shuangshuang, Fang Zhongyi knew that the reasons or people who could lure Fang Yaoyao away were very few, and he happened to be the most important one!

Moreover, he had stayed in the mountains for four or five days searching for food, and only returned home less than a quarter of an hour before Qin Shuangshuang arrived!

Forcing himself to calm down, Fang Zhongyi desperately recalled the girls his daughter had been close with, trying to remember if any were named Xiao Xia. But no matter how hard he thought, only two people, Qin Shuang and Qin Miao, came to mind as his daughter’s best friends.

While Fang Zhongyi was desperately recalling, Qin Shuangshuang was pacing around anxiously, very agitated. Qin Shuangshuang just felt that this matter couldn’t be unrelated to the people of Fang Family Village!

Qin Shuangshuang was even certain that Fang Yaoyao might very well be in one of the households in Fang Family Village right now! It’s frustrating that in her past life she hadn’t asked Fang Zhongyi about the cause of Fang Yaoyao’s death, leaving her completely clueless at this maddening moment!

Actually, Qin Shuangshuang had previously talked with Fang Zhongyi about going to the border city, and Fang Zhongyi was supportive of it. However, when Qin Shuangshuang invited him to join her family in moving there, Fang Zhongyi shook his head, because he couldn’t leave the villagers of Fang Family Village behind.

Fang Zhongyi was a skilled hunter. Even in times like these, he could still find something to eat in the mountains, albeit rarely, but at least he ensured the Fang Family Village people wouldn’t starve to death. Fang Zhongyi feared that if he left, they might die of hunger and then resort to cannibalism!

However, Qin Shuangshuang still had a doubt in her heart, because in her previous life, Fang Zhongyi had saved her in another village far away from Fang Family Village, and even when he was gravely ill later, he never mentioned wanting to return.

Considering Fang Zhongyi’s feelings towards Fang Family Village in this life, it didn’t make sense. If this place hadn’t filled Fang Zhongyi with despair, he wouldn’t have chosen to stay away from Fang Family Village until his death. This made Qin Shuangshuang uneasy about Fang Family Village in this life.

Despite racking his brains, Fang Zhongyi couldn’t recall any close friends of his daughter. Truth be told, for a rough old man like him, his daily thoughts were all about hunting and selling the catch to save up for his daughter’s dowry. He hadn’t the mind to care about who his little girl was befriending!

Since his wife died of illness when Fang Yaoyao was four, it was already a miracle for him, a man, to raise such a delicate little girl! He couldn’t be expected to handle every detail of his daughter’s life with the care of a mother. He lacked that kind of delicate thought and time.

Unable to remember, and with Qin Shuangshuang growing impatient, she slung her bow and quiver over her shoulder and headed directly out towards a nearby household.

This household was unfamiliar to Qin Shuangshuang. She carried baggage against the people of Fang Family Village. Despite visiting the village numerous times, she had never interacted with its people—more accurately, she had refused to interact with them!

However, Qin Shuangshuang knew roughly where the families her daughter had been friendly with lived. Now, armed with bow and arrow, she kicked open doors one after another as she attempted to find them.

Qin Shuangshuang’s tremendous natural strength was well-known in the neighboring villages, so although the families whose doors she kicked in were displeased with her rude intrusion, seeing her with bow and arrows looking furious enough to devour someone, they quailed, too afraid to voice their anger.

Each time Qin Shuangshuang kicked open a door, she asked a single question: Do you have a girl named Xiao Xia? Even if they answered no, she would still search the place before leaving. After searching six or seven houses, Qin Shuangshuang’s patience was wearing thin.

Upon her next forced entry, Qin Shuangshuang grabbed a girl about her own size and ignored the girl’s frightened trembling as she lifted her by the shirt collar. In a chilling voice, she said, "Point out to me the households in this village with a daughter named Xiao Xia!"

The girl clattered her teeth together, seemingly struck dumb with fright, refusing to speak, her eyes staring vacantly at Qin Shuangshuang.

After several unanswered questions, Qin Shuangshuang frowned. Closely examining the girl, she noted her tattered clothing and filthy face, presenting a pathetically miserable appearance.

But upon a careful examination, it became apparent that this girl was not actually frail. Weighing her in her grip, Qin Shuangshuang realized, with her strength making it unnecessary to notice earlier, that this girl wasn’t light at all!

Scanning the girl’s family around her, she found seven or eight adults, equally ragged, clustered in a corner, avoiding her gaze as she scrutinized them.

But, after scrutinizing them one by one, an interesting observation emerged: the whole family wasn’t particularly skinny! This was undoubtedly odd because, at that time, everyone else was so starved that their skin clung to their bones. How could this family appear relatively normal?

Faced with such a situation, Qin Shuangshuang suspected only one possibility! Turning, she looked at the dazed girl in her grip, gnashing her teeth as she coldly laughed, "You’re Xiao Xia!" The statement was not a question, but an assertion.

The girl’s pupils shrank suddenly, panic flickering across her face, yet she still stared dazedly, refusing to speak. But that split-second expression change was proof enough for Qin Shuangshuang to confirm she was indeed Xiao Xia.

"Why did you take Fang Yao away?"

"Where is she now?"

"Rest assured, as long as you tell us where she is, we won’t blame you for anything that happened?"

"What will it take for you to say where Yaoyao is?"

"What do you want? Food? Silver? I can give you anything! Just tell me where Fang Yao is!"

No matter how Qin Shuangshuang probed, Xiao Xia wouldn’t open her mouth. Even though greed and hesitation flickered in Xiao Xia’s eyes when food and Silver were mentioned, she ultimately resisted, remaining silent.

Qin Shuangshuang’s mood suddenly turned volatile! Taking a deep breath to quell the rising anger inside her, she grabbed Xiao Xia’s hair and slammed her down hard on the ground. Xiao Xia screamed in surprise, collapsing instantly!

Before she could get up off the ground, she felt a weight on her back, pinning her back down, followed by a cold, cord-like object pressing against her neck and pulling tightly backward!

With her back firmly pinned, preventing any struggle, and the cord-like object continuously tightening, Xiao Xia felt a suffocating sensation creeping close to death!