Chapter 2: The Bloodstained Tin Box

Since the deal was done, it was time to hand over the goods.

Li Daqiang stuffed the money into the pocket closest to his body and even patted it twice in satisfaction.

That money was his hope of making a comeback.

As for his niece?

What was a niece worth?

Could she put food on the table?

“You little brat, stop playing dead and get out here!”

Dragging his lame leg, Li Daqiang stalked toward the pile of straw with a vicious look on his face.

Right now, when he looked at Tuan Tuan, it was no different from looking at a piece of merchandise that had already been sold.

Tuan Tuan did not want to leave.

She clutched the straw beneath her with all her strength.

“I’m not going... I’m not going...”

“I’m waiting for Daddy... This is my home...”

Her voice was choked with tears, but it was stubborn beyond belief.

The moment Li Daqiang heard that, his temper flared.

“Your dead father has already rotted into ashes!”

“Still waiting for your dad? Go wait for him in the underworld!”

He reached out and grabbed Tuan Tuan’s arm.

Tuan Tuan struggled with all her might.

She was strong, but she was burning with fever and had gone hungry for days. Throwing that dog earlier had already drained most of her strength.

“Let go of me! Bad man! Big bad man!”

Tuan Tuan opened her mouth to bite him.

Li Daqiang had been prepared. He swung his hand back and slapped her hard across the face.

Smack!

The slap was brutally heavy.

Tuan Tuan’s little face swelled instantly, and blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

Then Li Daqiang lifted his foot and kicked her hard in the stomach.

“You ungrateful little beast!”

Bang!

Tuan Tuan’s tiny body flew out like a ball.

She rolled heavily into the farthest corner of the cowshed.

A pile of messy junk was stacked there.

Her stomach hurt so much.

It felt as if her intestines had been torn apart.

Tuan Tuan curled up like a shrimp from the pain, cold sweat pouring down her forehead in large drops.

As she rolled, the back of her head struck something hard buried in the dirt.

Clang.

The sound was dull and muffled.

Tuan Tuan forgot the pain.

Her little hands began searching through the mud and straw.

It was...

A tin box.

A rusty, flattened tin box.

It was something her mother had left behind.

Before her mother died, she had secretly buried it here.

Li Daqiang had taken all the money in the house. He had taken her mother’s jewelry too.

But he had thought this broken tin box was trash and had tossed it into the cowshed.

Mommy had said Daddy was inside.

With trembling hands, Tuan Tuan dug the tin box out.

Her fingers were covered in frostbite, red and swollen. Even the slightest movement hurt so badly it pierced her heart.

But she clutched the tin box tightly, as if it were her last lifeline.

On the other side, Li Daqiang was still bragging to Scarface.

“Don’t worry, Brother Scar. This girl is tough. She won’t break from a beating.”

While they were not paying attention, Tuan Tuan used her tiny fingers, with only a few bits of nails left, to desperately pry at the edge of the tin box.

The box had rusted shut.

It was hard to open.

Tuan Tuan was so anxious that tears gathered in her eyes.

“Daddy... help Tuan Tuan...”

She prayed silently in her heart.

Perhaps it was the bond between father and daughter.

Perhaps the man she had never met was watching over her from heaven.

Click.

The tin box opened.

There was no money inside.

No food either.

Only a yellowed black-and-white photograph.

And a necklace strung together with different bullet casings.

The photograph was large, folded and tucked inside.

Tuan Tuan carefully unfolded it.

There were seven men in the photo.

They wore the same military uniform and smiled with dazzling brightness.

Even though the picture was black and white, the powerful, masculine energy radiating from it seemed to warm the cold cowshed a little.

Tuan Tuan did not recognize the others.

But with one glance, she recognized the man in the center.

That was the man Mommy had once pointed to the stars and told her about.

That was Daddy.

Daddy was so handsome.

Ten thousand times more handsome than Uncle Ergou, the best-looking man in the village.

Daddy was smiling.

He was looking at Tuan Tuan and smiling.

Tuan Tuan’s little heart suddenly thumped hard.

That feeling of being connected by blood made the pain in her body ease a little.

She turned the photograph over.

A line of words was written on the back.

The handwriting was strong and forceful, carrying a wild arrogance.

Tuan Tuan could not read.

But Mommy had taught her how to say this sentence.

Mommy had made her memorize it a thousand times, ten thousand times.

“If anything happens to me, these seven brothers are your fathers.”

Tuan Tuan pressed the photograph tightly against her chest.

The photo paper was cold, but at this moment, it seemed to carry warmth.

I have a dad.

I have seven dads.

Tuan Tuan is not a wild child.

Tuan Tuan is not an unwanted burden.

Just then, a shadow fell over her.

Li Daqiang had noticed her small movements.

He strode over in a few steps, his eyes fierce.

“What are you holding?”

“Is it private money your dead mother hid?”

Li Daqiang was poor to the point of madness.

He believed that anything hidden away had to be worth money.

“Hand it over!”

He reached out to snatch it.

Tuan Tuan did not know where the strength came from.

She suddenly stuffed the photograph and the bullet-casing necklace into her padded jacket, hiding them against her skin.

Then she curled herself into a ball and protected her chest with everything she had.

“No!”

“This is mine!”

“This is Daddy!”

Tuan Tuan screamed.

This was the last thing she had left in the world.

No one could take it away!

Li Daqiang failed to grab it and flew into a rage.

He seized Tuan Tuan by her thin, yellowing hair and lifted her up.

“You little bastard, now you dare rebel?”

“You dare hide things from me?”

Her scalp felt as if it were about to be ripped apart.

Tuan Tuan cried from the pain.

But she did not let go.

Her little hands remained pressed tightly over her chest.

That was Daddy’s photo.

She could not let it wrinkle.

She could not let it get dirty.

Seeing how stubborn she was, Li Daqiang became even more furious.

With his other hand, he began tearing at Tuan Tuan’s clothes.

“I’d like to see what kind of treasure this is!”

The instant Li Daqiang’s hand touched Tuan Tuan’s padded jacket, her eyes turned red.

It was the gaze of a young beast forced into a corner.

It was the ferocity of the Dragon Fang special forces flowing in her blood.

“Ah-woo!”

Tuan Tuan suddenly opened her mouth and bit down hard on Li Daqiang’s wrist.

She used every bit of strength she had.

Her two sharp little canine teeth pierced straight through Li Daqiang’s flesh.

Blood gushed out instantly.

At that moment, Tuan Tuan tasted blood.

Bad man’s blood.

“Ahhh!!!”

Li Daqiang let out a scream like a slaughtered pig.

“Let go! You crazy little dog! Let go!”

He shook his hand desperately.

But Tuan Tuan seemed glued to his wrist. She refused to let go, even if it killed her.

Li Daqiang’s face turned pale from the pain.

With his other hand, he fumbled wildly across the ground.

He grabbed a wooden stick as thick as a wrist.

It was the stick they used to beat cattle with.

“I’ll beat you to death!”

Li Daqiang raised the stick high.

With a sharp rush of wind, he swung it down viciously toward the fragile back of Tuan Tuan’s head!