The more they walked, the closer they got to the cabin, the worst the bandit feels, as the roads became more and more familiar.

Hey, isn’t this near the place where Boss decided to keep the hostages?

Confirming his suspicion, the crooked cabin soon came into view, with a single fire lighting up the house.

Unable to hold back, the bandit asked the little girl who had her back towards him while carrying the 5 catfishes,

“…you live here?”

“Oh no, but I got invited to stay here for a while”

“…Who invited you?”

“A bearded man! He was so kind to let us use this place to rest”

Xu Fai turned around and smiled at the bandit,

“Who are you!?” the bandit asked while pulling out his knife preparing to attack her when necessarily.

“Why, I was just an innocent bystander, but your kind boss decided to play a game with me, so I eagerly agreed. So here we are. If you don’t want your companions to get hurt, follow me”

Seeing things more clearly this time, the bandit no longer hesitated and started attacking the girl.

Sensing the dangerous situation Xu Fai screamed out,

“ZHENG FUI! HELP!”

Using the most convenient weapon on hand, Xu Fai began swinging the fishes around. One of the fish managed to hit his head, which was oddly very hard, making him see stars for a bit. But soon Xu Fai got tired to lifting those heavy fishes, and he saw an opening so he jumped to attack, causing both them to fall, while his knife was ready to plunge into her flesh.

Out came a flying figure bursting out of the cabin’s door, with flashing green robes, he kicked over the bandit who was about to stab Xu Fai in the stomach.

Rolling over on the ground, he saw that two against one was to his disadvantage and was prepared to run, but who knows that Xu Fai would suddenly grab onto him, not allowing him to leave at all. As if the devil was here to drag him into abyss, with her evil smile.

Seeing the opportunity, Zheng Fui quickly captured the bandit, putting him into a point where his arms are locked. They quickly tied him up with their shredded robes, and threw him with the rest of the bandits inside the cabin.

The three well beaten bandits looked at the newcomer with hopeless and disappointed eyes, as they tried to speak with their blocked mouths.

The newcomer looked in awe at the beaten blue and black boss.

They all thought to themselves,

How did this happen?

“Haaa, looks the members finally gathered! We can now start the party!”

They all turned to glare at the evil girl, as if she was the devil’s reincarnation, as she smiled happily at them almost as if she was gloating them.

“Why did another come? And why are you so muddy?” Zheng Fui asked while calming his heart, as he was first alarmed by the shout, and then seeing her on the ground, it took him a while to actually recognize who it was.

“Oh, he was there on the lookout at the hut. And I went fishing”

“Fishing?”

“Yeah, I told you I was hungry, and perfect there’s a fire!”

“Did you manage to tell notify our parents?”

“…uhhhhhh…..I forgot….”

Zheng Fui glared at her as she cheekily scratched her swollen cheeks trying to act cute, but the image was too disrupted by her messy image to have any effect.

“Ah, don’t worry, they will eventually find out. One more hour won’t kill them. Come on let’s cook the fish, while we question them. Oh by the way, where’s your jade?”

“You still dare to ask of that from me?”

“Well the deal was that if I free you from the ropes, you would give it to me. But not only did I free you from the ropes but I’ve also helped you capture the bandits! I’ve actually did more than you asked for!”

Unable to refute back, he pulled out a white elegant jade with craved into a white dove on it.

Looking happily at it, Xu Fai with her muddy hands grabbed at the white shiny jade, covering its beauty with mud.

Zheng Fue’s face darkened at the sight.

“Let’s hurry up and question them so we can leave! I can’t stand another second at this place”

Unable to eat the fishes, Xu Fai can only look disappointedly at it. She grabbed a chair and decided to watch the show.

“So why did you decide to kidnap me?” Zheng Fui asked while stepping on the back of the boss.

“Ah pei, who told you to swagger around the streets in your fancy robes all alone?”

“Speak! Who told you to kidnap me?” Zheng Fui stepped down harder on the back on the bandit.

“Ahahaha, you fucking think someone asked us to kidnap you?”

Xu Fai no longer can watch this mess and decided to intervene,

“They should just be normal bandits, or else they could have killed or mutilated you after writing the letter”

“…But you said there’s a conspiracy!” Zheng Fui finally thinking things through he felt humiliated by the huge hole in the logic.

“Hehe, well I just thought of it now. Anyways, why did you guys decide to become bandits?”

“…Why? What other choice did we have?”

“What do you mean? Look at you guys, all big and burly, tons of energy with no missing limbs. Why can’t you guys just find a job?”

“YOU FUCKING NOBLES DON’T UNDERSTAND THE LIVES OF OURS! SO DON’T YOU DARE FUCKING CRITIZE US!” the bearded man shouted as he struggled against the ropes, as his face turned red and veins were even popping out on his forehead.

“Yes, I don’t understand so please explain” Xu Fai calmly asked without an ounce of mockery in the question, just a pure genuine interest with a hint of care.

“Why bother!?! Why!? You guys don’t understand how fucking ugly the world is! We’ve spoken out a dozen times before! But no one listened! NO ONE! WE’VE CRIED A THOUSAND TIMES, BUT SILENCE AND VIOLENCE WAS WHAT WE GOT IN RETURN! NONE OF YOU FUCKING PIGS ON THE HIGH CHAIRS BOTHERED! WE WERE JUST FUCKING BUGS IN YOUR EYES!”

“Look, here a pig willing to listen for once, so why not try telling it this time?” Xu Fai pointed to her face.

“…hehe, what would you understand? Since you are so eager to listen, let me fucking open your eyes to see how fucking perfect your life is compared to our fucking shit lives. Did you know the moment we were born we were labeled as the lowest caste? Why? Simply because our parents were criminals. As children, we could only beg on the streets to live through life. Thankfully, we were able to live through that time, but do you know how many of our friends died? Do you know how many of them starved on the streets? Do you know how many of them got beaten to death? How many of them got raped? Sold to brothels? Used as experiments? Used in the name of fun!? Even if we had no energy to retaliate! All we can do is silently bow down and accept it” the bearded man shook with anger, grief, and guilt, as he thought back to those moments. While the other three looked down on the ground, as they were overwhelmed by the memories, one even started crying silently.

Taking a deep, long breathe to suppress his own tears and anguish, he continued,

“Finally, we all grew up so we can properly find a job as an adult, but because of our parents, we got labeled as slaves, with this fucking brand stuck forever reminding us of the sins of our parents. So whenever we got hired, most of the time we didn’t get paid, only some do, but then they start abusing their powers as we were nothing but slaves. We’ve tried arguing with the officials, but they just wouldn’t listen! They couldn’t trust the words of criminals’ offspring! So how do we live?! TELL ME! HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO LIVE!? Others have tried burning off the slave mark, but they all notice the scars, the spot where the brand should have been…We used to fucking hate our parents for the fate they brought us…we condemned them a thousand times, as they left us here for retribution while they died in prison…but we understand now…THE WORLD SIMPLY DIDN’T LET US LIVE IN THE FIRST PLACE! NO MATTER WHERE WE GO WE ARE REJECTED FROM BIRTH! AND NOW OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS WILL FACE THE SAME FUCKING SCUMMED FATE” the bearded man shouted into the face of the little girl, as if she was the cause of the sins fallen upon them, as if that was their only way of retaliating against this world of theirs.

But the girl wasn’t scared, rather she remained calm, as the cabin silenced besides the heavy breathing of the bearded man, and the crying of the other, while fire crackled, casting a dark shadow in the room, but as she spoke out the lights seemed to be drifting towards her,

“If the world doesn’t give you an opportunity, then I shall”

“Huh?” All five of them didn’t understand what she means. Including Zheng Fui, who was listening to this, who also felt a twinge of guilt, but he didn’t understand how she can help them.

“You shall work for me from now on. No more begging, no more slaving, no more stealing. I would give you a proper wage and a proper place to stay. Although I cannot give you a proper name as of now, but I can guarantee you that you guys will no longer be treated as slaves. Prove to me that you are worth it. Prove to me that it was just fate being unforgiving, rather than your moral selves that cannot be redeemed.”

They all looked at the girl, who seemed so little in comparison to all of them. But her confidence, her understanding, all of those can be seen from those eyes of hers, even her muddy state could not cover the brightness of her eyes. It conveyed the simple yet strong word of ‘hope’.

Unable to, maybe even unwilling to, they all felt drawn to the little girl and her words. It was rather absurd to trust this little girl, who they can be fathers to, but as if it was instincts, they felt safe, they felt welcomed by the little girl.

Author's note:

Cough cough, hope you guys don't mind the transition to 3rd POV, but I felt it would be more impactful this way. There would be a more in-depth look at how they suffered in the hands of society later on in the story. Thanks for reading, I'm hoping this would be a good opening to a more serious issue :o. Pls point out any grammar issues as always :)