Chapter Five: Escape

  In the blink of an eye, Tang Lin and his sister Tang Xinyi had been living with Liu San for over two months. During these two months, Tang Lin and Tang Xinyi went out to perform and earn money with Liu San every day. The role he played was that of a punching bag, getting beaten up every day until he was covered in bruises. And each time, Liu San would give him a bowl of medicine that tasted like shit, saying it was strange, but as long as Tang Lin drank the medicine, his injuries would heal overnight, and he could continue to take a beating the next day, earning money for Liu San.

  It's not that Tang Lin never resisted, but every time he was met with a severe beating, it was just that he was too small and didn't have the strength to fight back against Liu San. If it were his past life, he would have given him a bullet long ago.

  On this day, Liu San brought Tang Lin and his sister to the street to perform as usual. It was still the same routine: Tang Lin stood there allowing others to hit him without fighting back, one copper coin per punch with no upper limit, while Tang Xinyi collected the money, and Liu San himself counted the coins on the side.

  One day of fighting left Tang Lin speechless with pain, his entire body basically having not a single good spot. Dragging his painful body, the three returned to Liu San's place. Perhaps because business was good today, Liu San seemed very happy, and brought out two jars of wine and some beef. After returning, he started eating and drinking alone, completely disregarding Tang Lin and his sister's well-being.

  Liu San sat alone at the table, eating voraciously, while on the grass mat beside him, his siblings gnawed on hard buns that could knock a person dead. Tang Lin was now just a thirteen-year-old kid, and although his body had become more robust over the past two months under Liu San's training, he was still young. Every day, he suffered from beatings, and although his external injuries healed quickly with Liu San's medicinal soup, his internal organs were gradually being damaged due to the cumulative effect of the abuse. Sometimes, Tang Lin felt a tightness in his chest, and when he coughed slightly, he would see some blood threads. However, he had never mentioned this to Tang Xinyi.

  Watching Liu San drinking and eating meat, while his own siblings were gnawing on pig food that even dogs wouldn't dare to approach, Tang Lin's anger surged, he walked up to Liu San and said:

  "Uncle Liu, my siblings and I have worked for you for over two months now, plus the money we gave you before, that should cover the cost of saving me. We can't keep making money for you forever, tomorrow I'll take my sister and leave!"

  "Slap"

  Before Tang Lin could finish speaking, Liu San's palm had already slapped his face. This slap was extremely powerful, and with just this one slap, Tang Lin was sent flying several meters away. The blood flowing from the corner of Tang Lin's mouth showed that this slap was extremely severe.

  "Leave? Dream on! I've finally found a way to make a fortune, and you're telling me to leave just like that? Let me tell you, you'll never have the chance again in this lifetime. Pour wine!" He yelled at Tang Xinyi.

  Propping himself against the wall, Tang Lin gritted his teeth and struggled to stand up. At this time, his eyes were bloodshot, and the left side of his face was swollen from being slapped by Liu San. There was still fresh blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. Fortunately, his teeth were hard enough, otherwise he would have lost a few teeth.

  Watching Tang Lin being beaten by Liu San, Tang Xinyi's face was filled with heartache. Such a scene would basically be reenacted every few days. Ever since Liu San first violently beat Tang Lin, Tang Xinyi had lost all sense of gratitude towards him in her heart, and even silently cursed him every day, hoping he would die soon.

  Tang Xinyi held a wine jug that was extremely disproportionate to her body shape with both hands, carefully pouring wine for Liu San. However, her eyes drifted towards Tang Lin on the side, looking at her brother who was covered in blood. In Tang Xinyi's heart, aside from worry, there was only hatred left.

  Perhaps worried about Tang Lin's body, her attention was not focused, and with a slight carelessness, the wine jar slipped from her hands, "pa" the wine in the jar spilled all over the floor, this time Liu San was enraged, raised his hand to give Tang Xinyi a slap.

  "Stop! You can hit me if you want, but don't you dare touch my sister. If a single hair on her head is hurt, I'll kill you!"

  When he said the word "kill", Tang Lin's voice was low and cold, his eyes fixed on Liu San with a fierce stare. Perhaps it was because of his terrifying appearance that Liu San felt a chill run down his spine, and the hand that had been raised high slowly fell back down.

  "Alright, I won't touch her, so you take her place then!"

  Liu San picked up the wine jar and smashed it at Tang Lin with all his might, taking advantage of his drunken strength. As a former bandit, Liu San was skilled in martial arts and had been involved in many bloody fights, having taken several lives. Tang Lin, on the other hand, was just a child with an existing injury, no match for Liu San's ferocity. The wine jar hit him squarely on the head, and if it weren't for the fact that Tang Lin's body had been tempered by Liu San over the past two months, he would have been killed instantly.

  Tang Lin was directly knocked unconscious by the wine jar, and his forehead was also cracked open. Yin Hong's fresh blood flowed all over the floor, wetting his hair with wine, and the sight was simply unbearable.

  "Brother!"

  Tang Xinyi didn't care about Liu San behind her, and immediately pounced on Tang Lin's body, constantly shaking his body. Tears poured out like a broken string of pearls.

  "You little brat, dare to threaten me? If I didn't still need you, I would have killed you long ago!"

  After finishing speaking, he swaggered back to his own room and went to sleep soundly.

  In the dead of night, Tang Lin woke up and saw his sister, who was holding a bowl and constantly applying medicine to herself. Tang Lin's grief and indignation reached a boiling point, and the anger he had been suppressing finally erupted. With a sudden burst of energy, he jumped out of bed, ignoring his injuries, grabbed a piece of bluestone from the ground, and tried to rush out, but was tightly held back by Tang Xinyi.

  "Xin Yi, let me go! I'm going to kill him!"

  At this time, Tang Lin's eyes were bloodshot, his hair was disheveled, and his face was ferocious, giving people the feeling of being like a malevolent spirit, scaring Tang Xinyi's complexion changed.

  "Brother, don't go, you can't beat him. I just stole some medicine from him, hurry up and take it, then while he's in a deep sleep, we'll escape."

  Tang Xinyi's face was filled with pleading, looking at her own beloved younger sister in front of her. Tang Lin put down the stone and hugged Tang Xinyi in his arms, saying:

  "Xin Yi, brother swears, from now on I won't let you suffer a bit of grievance. If anyone dares to harm you, brother will definitely tear him into pieces!"

  Feeling their way through the darkness, the two siblings managed to escape. After running for a while, Tang Lin suddenly stopped because there was something he had to do, but it was something that Tang Xinyi couldn't see.

  "Wait, we can't just run away like this. We're penniless, and escaping like this will only lead to a dead end. Besides, the things from our Tang family are still in Liu San's hands. I'll go back and steal them out, you wait here for me, I'll be right back."

  Tang Lin was about to leave when Tang Xinyi suddenly pulled him back, "Brother, let's not go back. If that bad guy wakes up, we won't have a chance to escape."

  Stroking Tang Xinyi's head, Tang Lin comforted:

  "Don't worry, he won't wake up. He drank a lot of wine today and must be sleeping like a dead pig. I'll sneak back, he won't notice. You hide here and wait for me to come back."

  After finishing, he led Tang Xinyi to the bottom of a large tree and pulled out some withered grass to cover her body. He then gave Tang Xinyi a reassuring smile before disappearing into the darkness of night!