Chapter 6: Dragging Her "New Year's Cargo" To The Capital

Scarface was stunned by Tuan Tuan's roar. But only for a second. Then shame and fury surged back. He was a wanted criminal. He had blood on his hands. If he let himself be scared off by a four-year-old milk-slobbering brat, he might as well smash his own head against a block of tofu and die.

"Commander daddies? You're still dreaming!" Scarface spat out a mouthful of blood and lunged viciously.

This time he'd learned his lesson. No more underestimating. The dagger in his hand sealed off every escape route. The size difference was overwhelming. Like a bear pouncing on a rabbit.

Tuan Tuan's grip on the knife was slick with sweat. She saw that massive shadow bearing down and instinctively wanted to back up. But behind her was a huge millstone. This ruined shrine might have been a mill once, long abandoned. That millstone leaned against the broken wall, barely balanced, ready to topple.

Nowhere to retreat!

Tuan Tuan's pupils contracted violently. Scarface's dagger was already in her face, the cold steel stinging her eyes.

"Die!" Scarface snarled.

At that critical instant, Tuan Tuan's body moved faster than her brain. She dropped to the ground. Her tiny body curled into a ball.

Scarface's blade stabbed empty air. He'd thrown too much force into it and couldn't stop his momentum. And right under his feet was a round log of firewood—deliberately kicked there by Tuan Tuan.

Whoosh—

Scarface's feet slipped. He lost his balance completely and crashed headlong into the broken wall.

BOOM!

A thunderous crash. Scarface slammed into the wall, seeing stars. But that wasn't the worst of it. The impact shook that already-precarious millstone. The several-hundred-pound stone lost its last support and collapsed.

CRACK!

"AGH—!!!"

A bone-chilling crack echoed alongside Scarface's soul-rending scream, ringing through the entire valley. The millstone landed dead center on Scarface's right calf. His shin bone snapped clean. Flesh and blood, mangled. Scarface's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. He thrashed on the ground, clawing at the millstone with both hands—but several hundred pounds of stone wasn't moving now. He passed out. From the pain.

The ruined shrine fell back into deathly silence. Only the crackling of firewood in the fire pit remained.

Tuan Tuan huddled in the corner, hugging her knees, gasping for breath. Her little face was covered in cold sweat and blood, smeared together like a little spotted cat. She stared at the bad man lying motionless in a pool of blood for a long time, not daring to move.

Was he dead? Did she kill someone?

Tuan Tuan's little heart hammered wildly. She picked up a small stone and carefully tossed it over. It bounced off Scarface's head. No movement. She threw another. Still nothing.

Only then did Tuan Tuan gather her courage and slowly inch over. She reached out a trembling hand and held it under Scarface's nose. Still breathing. Warm. Not dead.

Tuan Tuan let out a breath of relief—then immediately tensed up again. Not dead. So what happens when he wakes up? When he wakes up, he'll hit Tuan Tuan again. He'll sell Tuan Tuan again. No. Can't let him wake up and grab me.

Tuan Tuan's clever little brain spun fast. She looked around and found a pile of rotting straw rope in the corner of the shrine. It was what they used to tie up livestock back in the day—somewhat decayed, but still strong enough.

Tuan Tuan ran over and grabbed the whole pile. She was going to do something big. She was going to tie this bad man up! Just like Uncle tied up pigs!

Tuan Tuan was small, but she was strong. She struggled to wrap the straw rope around Scarface, loop by loop. Hands first, then feet. To make sure he couldn't break free, Tuan Tuan even copied the way Scarface had tied her up earlier and tied a dead knot.

But—after tying him up, what then? Leave him here? Tuan Tuan looked at the blizzard outside. If she left him here, he'd freeze to death or get eaten by wolves. He was a bad man, but… but Tuan Tuan needed to go to the capital to find Daddy.

Where was the capital? Tuan Tuan didn't know. She only remembered that while she was in the sack, she'd heard Scarface on the phone, saying he was going to deliver this batch of "goods" to the capital. This bad man knew the way!

Also—police uncles give rewards for catching bad men. Tuan Tuan patted her flat, empty little tummy. If there was a reward, maybe she could buy lots and lots of steamed buns? And buy candy for Daddy.

An earth-shattering idea was born in this four-year-old's mind.

She was going to take this bad man to the capital! Turn him in to the police uncles and trade him for steamed buns! And make him lead the way!

This was insane. A four-year-old dragging a two-hundred-pound grown man through the snow? This was an impossible task. But Tuan Tuan didn't know the word "impossible." She only knew she needed to find Daddy, and she needed to survive.

She searched Scarface's body and found the tin box and the photograph. She tucked the photo deep inside her padded jacket, pressed tight against her heart. That was her life.

Then she tied one end of the straw rope around Scarface's waist and looped the other end twice around her own tiny shoulders.

"Here we go…" Tuan Tuan gritted her teeth, leaned forward, and dug her little bare feet into the ground. "UP!"

That heaven-defying strength erupted again. The two-hundred-pound man actually moved! Slowly. Painfully. But on snow, a body could slide.

The ruined shrine's door was pushed open. Blizzard roared in. A little sticky-rice dumpling not even as tall as Scarface's thigh, wearing a battered sack bigger than her entire body (filled with scavenged odds and ends and dry rations), gripping a straw rope. Behind her, dragging an unconscious, one-legged-broken man.

Like a tiny ant hauling a giant beetle.

The image was absurd. Bizarre. Yet it carried a heartbreakingly tragic heroism.

Tuan Tuan walked into the vast snowy expanse, one footprint at a time. Snowflakes landed on her eyelashes and melted into teardrops. So cold. Her feet hurt so much. But she couldn't stop.

Daddy is waiting for me in the capital. Seven commander daddies are waiting for me.

Tuan Tuan sniffled her freezing, bright-red little nose and cheered herself on in her baby voice: "Tuan Tuan's not scared. Tuan Tuan's strong." "Dragging New Year's cargo to the capital, trade it for money to buy candy…"

In the blizzard, that tiny figure was so stubborn it made you want to cry.