Chapter 8 - The Path Forward
Equal parts amazed and afraid, Yang Xiu watched as the cultivator disappeared from view. “Did you see that, Ru’er? Fang Wei is dead. He killed Fang Wei. Our nightmare is over. Finally.”
Her brother tried to hide his dismay from her, but as his twin, she knew him way too well.
“What?” she said. “He’s dead. It’s over.”
“We can’t go back, Xiu’er.”
“Why not? We can live with uncle.”
He clenched his hands. “Uncle Hai fled. When I told him we were leaving, he started packing almost before the words were out of my mouth.”
“We can still go back. We have friends—”
“How do you think the Lord Mayor will react when the two peasants his son chased return without him, when his son never returns?”
Oh.
“It’s all my fault. Our parents. Us having to flee.”
“Not that again, Xiu’er! I can’t. Please. All blame goes to that obsessive idiot, Fang Wei. Why couldn’t he have just taken no for an answer?”
“I should have used a knife to scar my face.”