ATLAS TRANSLATES

Twilight was descending all around.

In an ordinary farmhouse at the border of Lingshou and Zhending counties, a tiny lamp flickered to life.

A young man wearing a sapphire-blue gold-threaded floral robe, with a folding fan and fragrance pouch at his waist and a riding crop in hand, rode a tall chestnut stallion. Behind him followed six or seven strong attendants. He moved unhurriedly through the fields, like a wealthy young master on a spring outing, completely unbothered by the summer heat, finally stopping in front of the farmhouse.

“Old Fourth Lu, go ask for directions,” called out the richly dressed youth, his voice revealing hints of satisfaction and excitement. “We’ve come so far, I’m thirsty – while you’re at it, get me some tea.”

“Right away!” answered a middle-aged man with rat-like eyes, pounding on the door.

“Who is it?” shouted a man in a blue coarse cotton jacket with broken eyebrows, opening the door and poking his head out. His face immediately changed, filling with fear: “Fou-fourth Brother!”

Old Fourth Lu frowned, making eye signals while calling out loudly: “Excuse me, where is this place? Our young master has lost his way and would like some tea.” He quickly added in a low voice: “Pretend you don’t know me!”

The broken-browed man finally came to his senses and said: “This is Wang Family Village.” His voice trembled, his face pale. “You… you can come in!” He opened the main gate with a creak and quickly stepped aside.

Old Fourth Lu gave him a strange look, muttering “This Wang Six has gone crazy” under his breath while scurrying to report to the young man: “Young Master, this is Wang Family Village, on the east side of Lingshou, only about forty li from the county town.”

The young master gave an arrogant “hmph” and dismounted.

Several attendants surrounded him as he entered the courtyard, just in time to see Scar Face leading some people out of the main hall.

The two groups faced each other, and the young master stopped in his tracks. Scar Face trembled, quickly glancing at the robust man behind him before hurriedly going forward to greet them.

Old Fourth Lu asked him in a low voice: “Where is she?” Seeing the unfamiliar, strong, righteous-looking men behind him, he hesitated suspiciously. “Are these your men?”

Scar Face nodded randomly and pointed to the inner room on the east: “Miss Dou is inside.” His voice trembled.

Old Fourth Lu became excited at this news, any confusion forgotten, and whispered “Follow the plan” before shouting loudly: “Do you know who we are? We’re from the Pang family of Lingshou County, and this is our Fifth Young Master Pang. How dare you have us drink tea in the courtyard? Are you mad?” Then he complained loudly to Young Master Pang: “That Scholar Li is worthless. Young Master took pity on him selling calligraphy on the street and couldn’t make ends meet, occasionally helping him out, but he doesn’t know his place. This time he openly invited you to drink at his home as thanks for your great kindness, but actually wanted to offer his wife’s younger sister as your concubine. If not for your virtue, Young Master, you might have fallen for Scholar Li’s scheme. But it upset you so much you rode off randomly and got lost. If not for Old Ten’s quick thinking, how could we have found you? Why should we suffer such annoyance?”

During the shouting, the young master stepped back, closely followed by a guard.

Suddenly, there came the sound of someone knocking on the window from the inner room on the east.

The young master and his attendants all perked up.

Old Fourth Lu, standing beside Scar Face, suddenly pulled a dagger from his waist and stabbed it into Scar Face’s chest.

Scar Face stared at Old Fourth Lu in shock, all sound ceasing.

“Why… why?” he gurgled, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth onto his clothes, leaving spots of stains.

“You’re a bandit!” Old Fourth Lu smiled triumphantly, twisting the dagger in Scar Face’s chest before quickly retreating behind the other attendants.

The attendants pounced like wolves and tigers at the people behind Scar Face.

Among Scar Face’s followers, someone shouted “Pang Kunbai, you’re trying to silence us by murder” and charged forward.

Both sides broke into fierce fighting.

Young Master Pang Kunbai coldly watched everything unfold.

These attendants were desperate men he had found from the northwest – how could ordinary people be their match?

This thought flashed through his mind before he quickly realized something was wrong.

Perhaps Scar Face’s death had frightened his followers. His own attendants initially controlled the situation, but as the fight continued, Scar Face’s followers quickly came to their senses and began fighting back forcefully. With their greater numbers, fighting two against one, they actually managed to hold their own against his men. One particularly muscular man even punched one of his attendants in the chest, producing a cracking sound of breaking bones and a terrible scream…

How could Scar Face have such formidable men under him?

Pang Kunbai instinctively sensed something was wrong.

He ordered the attendant beside him: “Quick, rescue Miss Dou!”

The attendant acknowledged and, with Old Fourth Lu, circled around the fighting crowd in the courtyard, rushing toward the main hall.

Someone came out to block them.

The attendant, relying on his superior martial arts, broke through, but Old Fourth Lu was caught by two men and knocked to the ground.

“Miss Dou,” the attendant, seeing more people coming to stop him, simply ran to the east window of the main hall and ripped off half the window frame with a crack. “We’re Young Master Pang’s men, we’re here to rescue you!”

The window frame fell on someone rushing to stop the attendant, revealing Dou Zhao’s face, her expression cold to the point of cruelty.

The attendant froze.

A red-tasseled flying dagger embedded itself in the attendant’s throat.

The bright red tassel trembled with the force.

The attendant stared at Dou Zhao with wide eyes, disbelieving, before finally crashing to the ground with a thud.

Everyone fighting in the courtyard looked over.

Pang Kunbai’s attendants all looked at him in shock.

Pang Kunbai let out a surprised sound and stood straight, all his previous ease gone.

“Cousin Dou,” he called out loudly, his face dark, “I am Pang Kunbai of the Pang family, I’m here to rescue you!”

“Is that so?” Dou Zhao smiled, her smile holding indescribable mockery and derision in the twilight. “A noble son never sits under a dangerous wall. The Pang family is Lingshou County’s wealthiest family – how could their Fifth Young Master suddenly appear at this remote farmhouse with a group of shady characters? You’re clearly an impostor! Uncle Duan, help me capture all these people to send to the magistrate for questioning. If they dare resist, kill them immediately – I’ll take responsibility for the Dou family!”

These men were very skilled fighters. Earlier, because they were worried about these men being Pang family attendants, Uncle Duan and the others didn’t dare fight back with full force, and were afraid of being cut by them. They had been somewhat restrained. Now with Dou Zhao’s words, Uncle Duan and the others immediately felt relieved, loudly acknowledged with a “Yes,” and began beating them mercilessly.

The situation immediately changed.

Pang Kunbai’s men began to falter and retreat continuously.

Pang Kunbai looked at Dou Zhao, whose eyes glinted coldly, and thinking seriously about Scar Face and the others’ strange behavior after he entered, immediately realized the situation was exposed.

He turned and ran for the door.

But Uncle Duan grabbed him by the collar.

Uncle Duan hesitated, unsure what to do.

Pang Kunbai screamed like a pig being slaughtered: “My father is Pang Yinlou! My aunt is the daughter-in-law of Governor Wang of Shaanxi! If you dare touch a hair on my head, I’ll kill your entire family…” As he spoke, he swung back and punched Uncle Duan in the stomach.

Of course, Pang Kunbai’s amateur strikes were merely like scratches to Uncle Duan, but Uncle Duan’s scalp still tingled.

County magistrates could destroy families, prefecture governors could wipe out clans. A despicable person like Pang Kunbai might really do such things.

“Uncle Duan, don’t listen to his ranting,” Dou Zhao’s cold voice carried over from afar. “If he’s really a relative of Governor Wang of Shaanxi, even better – after capturing him, send him to my Fifth Uncle in the capital and let Governor Wang give our Dou family an explanation. We can’t let ourselves be deceived!”

Ah yes, how could he forget this point!

If Miss Dou knowingly let them beat someone to incapacity, she must have her backing. He was just a guard, doing what he was paid for – worst case, he could take the money and run. With his skills, he wouldn’t worry about making a living. Besides, he had long disliked these rich young masters who treated them as less than human…

“Miss, we’ll follow your orders,” Uncle Duan chuckled and delivered a punch to Pang Kunbai’s stomach.

Pang Kunbai screamed miserably, clutching his stomach and curling up like a shrimp. He even vomited bile.

Chen Xiaofeng, standing beside Dou Zhao and responsible for protecting her, glanced at her somewhat uneasily and said: “Miss isn’t really planning to beat Young Master Pang to death, is she? Young Master Pang is Pang Yinlou’s only son, I’m afraid the Pang family won’t let this go easily…”

Dou Zhao said coolly: “Is there a Fifth Young Master Pang here? I don’t know of any. I only know my carriage overturned, I borrowed this farmhouse to rest, encountered bandits who were extremely vicious, and my guards accidentally killed someone in self-defense. If the Pang family wants to settle accounts with me, they’ll first have to explain why Pang Kunbai tried to kidnap me, won’t they?”

Chen Xiaofeng smiled bitterly and said: “I’m just afraid if this matter gets stirred up, it will damage Miss’s reputation…”

“Damage my reputation?” The mention of this made Dou Zhao’s anger flare, and she interrupted Chen Xiaofeng with a cold laugh. “Why did Pang Kunbai have people bring me here and wait until dark to pretend to accidentally rescue me? He just wanted to use the excuse that it was too late, make me stay overnight at the farmhouse, create a situation of an unmarried man and woman spending the night together, then make a big show of proposing marriage, forcing the Dou family to marry me to him. If not for Su Xin and Su Lan by my side, he might have already succeeded! Reputation? What’s reputation compared to killing Pang Kunbai? This will serve as a warning to others who covet me!”

Chen Xiaofeng fell silent.

If Dou Zhao were truly a sheltered thirteen or fourteen-year-old young lady waiting shyly to be married, she might have chosen “revenge can wait ten years” for the sake of her reputation, temporarily letting Pang Kunbai go and waiting for another chance to wash away the shame. But having lived two lives and decided never to marry, she would eventually become someone seen as strange and reclusive in others’ eyes – why should she swallow her anger and let Pang Kunbai go?

However, there was one thing Pang Kunbai said that she really liked.

My aunt is Governor Wang Xingyi of Shaanxi’s daughter-in-law…

Dou Zhao couldn’t help but smile.

In the distance came the thunder-like sound of hoofbeats.

Chen Xiaofeng’s ears were even sharper than Dou Zhao’s, and he naturally heard it too.

His face changed dramatically.

Horses were military-controlled items – while ordinary wealthy families might keep a few, for so many to suddenly appear…

Could Pang Kunbai have called for people from the military garrison?