Though being agitated, An Rushuang knew she mustn't be intimidated, otherwise, she would be surely overwhelmed by this scoundrel!

An Rushuang, clenching her fists, felt the sharp pain shooting down her head. She forced herself to calm down before she scoffed. “Bah! As humble as you are, you could only search for news from those servants doing miscellaneous ch.o.r.es. Do you think the high-ranking officials would tell everything to their servants? I came here on horseback, while my grandma in wagon, so I arrived here two days ahead.”

After spitting on Zhao Laoda intentionally, An Rushuang said in a gruff voice, “Humph! Ignorant peasant! Send me back as soon as possible, or you will have a taste of An Family's power!”

Flinching at her sharp and arrogant eyes at first, Zhao Laoda, then, turned more furious after a second thought. This young man was trapped at his home just as a crab without pincers. How bold and condescending he was to talk like that!

“How arrogant you are!” Zhao Laoda kicked An Rushuang forcefully before he scolded, “Who cares the d.a.m.n An family? You are at my home now. Where there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to fear!”

It was so refres.h.i.+ng to give a full vent to his anger. Zhao Laoda gave An Rushuang's shoulder a hard boot before he shouted in a wild laugh, “The An family. Hhha. The imperial censor. Hhha. What a d.a.m.n s.h.i.+t!”

Following a sharp pain on the shoulder, the back of her head began to ache. An Rushuang took the chance to roll backward. The woman in black robe holding her hand suddenly before whispering, “Be careful yourself.”

Sweating all over in pain, An Rushuang, with a coldness in her palm, touched a sharp object. It was nothing but a knife.

Glancing at the woman in black, she nodded imperceptibly.

The woman in black rose to her feet in difficulty, trying to exhort her husband, “Don't hurt him so badly...”

Upon hearing her words, Zhao Laoda slapped his wife, seizing her hairs firmly while howling with his eyes wide open in fury, “What are you talking about! Are you ordering me, b.i.t.c.h?! How dare you boss me around!”

His ugly face was twisted, the fat flesh shaking lightly. His yellow teeth buried in pungent smell of alcohol revealed during the shout, as if he intended to gulf the woman alive.

As savage as he was, Zhao Laoda was more like a demon than a human being.

Zhao Xiaotao must have watched this scene for many times; she held her father's waist while crying, “Dad, dad! Mum didn't mean that. She, she feared you wouldn't get a lot of money if you injured him seriously!”

During the mess, An Rushuang tried her best to rub the knife against the rope, hoping to cut it off.

At the same time, Zhao Laoda kicked Zhao Xiaotao away. “Humph, he is not you. He doesn'tliving on his appearance. Even if I cut down one of his arms, he is still a childe of the imperial inspector. What about you? As humble as the mud trodden by crowds! Save your sympathy for him.”

Zhao Xiaotao was sent to crash to the ground with a dull yelp, huddling in severe pain with mud and tears sticking on her cheeks.

Even so, she was still begging her father while sobbing, “Dad...please let go of mum, she didn't do it intentionally...”

It was until then Zhao Laoda let go of the woman in black. “Once more, I will beat you to death, ugly b.i.t.c.h!”

The woman in black, lying on the ground, lowered her head submissively in silence.

“Fetch the thing for me.”

Following her father's order, Zhao Xiaotao ran to the inner room before she returned with a stack of coa.r.s.e paper in her hand. She laid the paper and a carbon stick before An Rushuang.

“Write.”

Sneering at An Rushuang, Zhao Laoda ordered, “Write a letter to Lord An if you want to return safe and sound. He pointed to Zhao Xiaotao and continued, “You keep an eye on him, in case he would play a trick! Do as I said, or I will kill you all!”

Zhao Laoda was illiterate, but Zhao Xiaotao, as weak as she was, dared not to disobey his father.

Zhao Xiaotao, her hairs tousled, nodded kneeling on the ground. Being satisfied, Zhao Laoda put his hands behind his back and turned to look at An Rushuang in chuckle. “Young boy, I have to remind you of how valuable your life is...”

Staring at him coldly, An Rushuang cut in without any expression on her face, “Hha! I really want to know how much your life cost!”

A thug like him, maltreating his wife and daughter, never had any humanity in his soul! His sin couldn't been atoned for even in the h.e.l.l.

Chuckling happily, Zhao Laoda narrowed his eyes into a slit while retorting ferociously, “As humble as I am, my life is like a smelly stone, totally worth nothing. You are like a priceless jade which I must avoid touching, or you will cost nothing if badly injured, right?”

He sized An Rushuang up and gasped in admiration, “Such a handsome young boy could be sold for about 100 taels of silver as a male prost.i.tute. Hha. It is really a cost effective business.”

Even though the rope on her wrists had been cut off, An Rushuang, gritting her teeth, still kept silent. With his disabled wife and young daughter here, there was no chance for An Rushuang to defeat Zhao Laoda given they didn't want to hurt him badly...

What should she do?

After a second thought in anxiety, An Rushuang had no choice but to say, “If you let me go, I will give you 100 taels of silver as a reward. I promise never to mention your doings to others.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhao Laoda spitted on her savagely.

“Young boy, do you think I am as naive as a three-year-old child! I am not a beggar. Even 1000 taels of silver is a small piece of cake for the An family!”

He then pretended to be kind when saying, “As for letting you go, never think of it before I get the money and leave the capital city safely!”

“What?!”

As An Rushuang couldn't help crying in frown, Zhao Xiaotao was also staring at her father in shock. Obviously, she had no idea of his father's plan.

“What? Do you think you are not worth 1000 taels of silver? It doesn't matter. I can cut off one of your limbs, and get less money from your family...”

Suddenly, Zhao Laoda's sneer stopped and his body froze, with his eyes and mouth wide open in surprise, blood trickling down from his mouth corner, reddening his clothes on the chest, as well as the ground below. “How... dare you...” His lips trembled.