Chapter 8
"I was brought up by Mrs. Dong, so she's my real mother. And I matter a lot in this family. How could cheap concubines and daughters like you compare with me?" sneered Dong Tianlang, "Dong Ling, you cheap girl! You don't respect Mrs. Dong! How unruly you are!"
He continued, "If you're smart, leave through the back door. And you, Concubine Lin… you're Father's concubine. You mustn't leave home without authority. Remember who you are!"
Dong Ling listened and held back her anger. But she couldn't help flaring up in the end. She took up the broom in the corner and whipped at him, "d.a.m.n it! Who do you think you are?"
She added, "You ignored it when your biological mother and sister were bullied. Now we're kicked out and you come to scoff at us! Even animals are grateful to their mothers. Dong Tianlang, you're even worse than animals!"
Dong Ling whipped him hard and Dong Tianlang shouted wildly in pain.
Concubine Lin was disappointed. She used to protect her daughter, but she never stopped caring for her son. Whenever she received something good, she would give some to him. Dong Ling only got what he didn't want.
Sadly, her son never treated her as his mother. Sometimes, he even found it humiliating to have such a biological mother.
In case of bigger trouble, the butler asked the carter to drive the cart to the front door and got Dong Ling in the cart. Fine, as long as she could leave!
Concubine Lin didn't cry out until she got in the cart. She wailed, "I'm sorry. Sorry to have you suffer."
"Mom, you still have me. Everything will be all right." Dong Ling comforted her.
The carter drove quickly and soon they left the capital city. Dong Ling didn't know the way, thus she had no idea where they were heading for.
But Concubine Lin worried when she watched where the cart was going.
"I think we're heading for Li Village. That's the toughest place the Dong family reigns over. Many servants there are henchmen of Mrs. Dong. I'm afraid we're going to suffer." She explained.
But Dong Ling still ate melon seeds, without saying anything.
She didn't fear people in the ancient time because they didn't even use firearms. Though she was just partly recovered, she was strong enough to deal with them.
"Don't worry, Mom. We'll find a way out." She
"You should have been more worried. When we stay in the capital city, Mrs. Dong has scruples for the crown prince even if she wants to hurt you. But when we're out of the capital, I wonder what she will do with you." explained Concubine Lin.
She thought she would enjoy a happy life after her daughter got married six months later.
But now, she didn't even know if they could come back to the capital city alive.
"Mom. Think positively. Think about it. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't. When we leave, Mrs. Dong must be too far away to make trouble. But if we still stay, we'll have no time to rest or develop our power."
She didn't realize the Dong family was the most dangerous place until she experienced that. People there were ruthless and greedy.
"You made some sense. But what can we live on after leaving your father?" asked Concubine Lin.
Dong Ling was about to comfort Concubine Lin when she suddenly smelled something strange. Her eyes narrowed.
"Stop the cart!" yelled she.
But the cart still ran forward.
Dong Ling lifted the curtains, only to find the carter was missing. The horses were running off the main road and rus.h.i.+ng to the forest.
"d.a.m.n! I was too careless!" shouted she.
She looked serious and angry. She jumped to the driving seat and pulled the rein strongly!
"Stop!"
The horses neighed with fear while the cart wobbled. Before Concubine Lin realized what happened, Dong Ling had ridden on one horse.
"I said, stop!" she repeated.
As she pulled, the rein left a bloodstain on her palm. She grasped the rein empty-handed and put it around her wrist. The rein strongly stuck into her waist.
"Miss Ling, you hand!" yelled Zhumo. She was the first to realize what was happening and looked anxious. Concubine Lin was so nervous that she tried to get out of the cart. But Dong Ling pushed her back.
"Don't move! It's dangerous!" shouted Dong Ling.
The roar of beasts came from the deep forest. The horses got more restless. It wasn't until then did Dong Ling realize what she smelt. That was a medical ingredient which could irritate beasts.
What a cruel woman Mrs. Dong was!
"Which of one could drive the cart?" Dong Ling turned back and asked.
There were totally four of them in the cart. Dong Ling, her mother, Zhumo and Senior Maid Liu who served her mother.
"Let me do it." Senior Maid Liu came up. Her husband used to be a carter, working for the Dong family. So she knew a little about driving the cart.
Dong Ling gave the rein to her and took out a dagger from the cart. She proposed, "Drive along the main road and don't bother about me."
A spotted tiger rushed out from the forest and bit two horses to death in only a few seconds. Dong Ling cut off the rein of the dead horses and jumped off the cart.
The remaining two horses moved forward with the cart. With the dagger in her hand, Dong Ling stared at the tiger sharply.