CHAPTER 98: CHAPTER 098 REPAYMENT (1)

Miss Chai is wearing an old, earth-gray outfit, her hair disheveled as she runs toward her.

Her expression is panic-stricken.

Her cheeks are thinner than they were two days ago, making her eyes protrude even more frighteningly.

She has a round face and a rather large head; her overly thin frame makes her resemble a bobblehead doll.

"Save me, save me—" She gasps for breath as she runs toward Li Yuzhu, waving frantically for help, "Someone wants to catch me and lock me up!"

"Aren’t you Miss Chai? What are you doing here?" Li Yuzhu asks curiously.

"You... who are you? Have we met?" Miss Chai catches her breath, hands on her knees, bent over.

"Just the day before yesterday, I brought a few snow rabbits to your house, only for all of them to die because of you." Li Yuzhu raises her eyebrows, "Were you in such a bad mood that you took it out on the rabbits?"

"I remember now, it’s you." Miss Chai straightens and laughs coldly, "I wasn’t the one who killed the rabbits."

"Wasn’t it you?" Li Yuzhu is surprised, "But your servants said it was you who did it."

"My servants..." Miss Chai smiles slightly, "Those servants are not mine."

Li Yuzhu doesn’t understand what she’s saying, how can a household’s servants belong to two families?

Miss Chai glances at Li Yuzhu, her eyes lowered, "If you save me, I will repay you one day."

"How will you repay me?" Li Yuzhu watches her leisurely.

"I..." Miss Chai bites her lip, momentarily unable to answer.

At that moment, the sound of horse hooves grows nearer.

"Come with me!" Li Yuzhu grabs her hand and pushes her into the wild grass beside the path.

Miss Chai immediately understands, squatting in the grass without daring to make a sound.

Li Yuzhu brushes off her sleeves, carrying a basket in one hand and a shovel in the other, walking forward nonchalantly.

Soon, the sound of hooves draws closer.

A middle-aged servant, riding a horse, approaches.

Li Yuzhu quickly steps aside.

But the servant angrily lashes a whip at her, "Get out of the way! Aren’t you afraid of being trampled by the horse?"

Li Yuzhu swiftly retreats back, hopping into the wild grass, avoiding the whip.

"Little girl, did you see a round-faced, very thin, sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl pass by here?" The fat servant sits on the horse, shaking his whip arrogantly.

Li Yuzhu points forward, "She ran that way."

"Giddy up!" The middle-aged servant waves his whip and rides off.

"Wicked servant!" Li Yuzhu angrily watches the receding fat servant, "This path is a yard wide, wasn’t it enough for you to run? I already moved to the side, what more did you want?"

Only when the sound of hooves fade completely does Miss Chai emerge from the grass, lifting her skirt and heading back.

"Hey, you’re still sick, where are you running to?" Li Yuzhu shouts at her.

Miss Chai ignores her, running faster and faster, soon disappearing from sight.

"Such a temper!" Li Yuzhu shrugs.

Miss Chai runs for a while and, tired, sits down on the ground to rest.

After a while, she sees a teenage boy, fourteen or fifteen years old, coming her way, carrying a basket on his back and holding a bow and arrow.

The boy sees her and says, "Wolves have appeared nearby; don’t walk around here."

Miss Chai recognizes him; this boy is part of the group with the little girl from earlier who delivered the rabbits that day.

Thinking about how the little girl has so many people who care for her, while she herself doesn’t have anyone who likes her.

Miss Chai feels saddened and tears fall from her eyes.

"I didn’t see any wolves, but I did see a wicked man on horseback, who took away a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl."

Mu Yuanxiu’s face suddenly turns deathly pale, "What did you say?"