The Republic of China: I, Xiangzi, a Hero in a Chaotic Era

"You're worried about me."

Tiger Girl let out a cold laugh through her nose, but tears rolled down her cheeks uncontrollably.

"When have you ever truly worried about me? You're worried about your money and your car factory."

She raised her hand and forcefully wiped away her tears, her voice choked with resolute determination.

"Alright, you don't need to say anything more. Just stay here and I'll be leaving now."

After saying that, she stopped looking at Liu Siye's face, which had suddenly become complicated and indescribable, and stood up abruptly. The chair legs scraped against the ground, making a screeching sound.

The prison guard at the door gave me a wary glance.

Tiger Girl lowered her head, wiped her face haphazardly with the back of her hand, and strode towards the closed iron door of the visiting room, her back stiff and resolute.

"Tiger Girl..."

Uncle Liu called softly from behind her, his voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of anxiety and exhaustion. But Tiger Girl didn't turn around.

The prison guard opened the door, and she squeezed through to the side. The heavy iron door slammed shut behind her, separating the inside from the outside, and seemingly severing the last thread of warmth between father and daughter.

Stepping out of the gloomy gate of the police station, the afternoon sun was a bit dazzling.

Tiger Girl stood on the side of the street, looking lost for a while.

The early winter wind blew on her face, cold and dry, but it couldn't dispel the turmoil in her heart or the chilling cold.

Her father's last words of defense and his subconsciously wary look were like a cold thorn, deeply embedded in her heart. They caused her more pain and despair than Liu Jiaxiang's cold calculations or the huge extortion of four thousand silver dollars.

She walked back to the car factory in a daze.

The once bustling courtyard was now unusually quiet, with only a few old coachmen who had nowhere else to go squatting by the wall in the sun. When they saw her return, their eyes darted away and they whispered among themselves.

Tiger Girl ignored him and walked straight across the yard toward the main house where her father lived.

Pushing open the heavy wooden door, the room was dimly lit and filled with the smell of my father's usual tobacco and old furniture. In the very center of the main room was the place my father had mentioned.

The floor was paved with blue bricks, and because of the years, black grime was embedded in the mortar. Tiger Girl squatted down, her fingers trembling slightly, and started counting bricks one by one to the right from the doorway.

One, two, three... Her heart beat faster as the numbers increased.

She stopped counting the seventh tile. It looked no different from the others, its edges even worn from years of footsteps. She extended her fingernail and carefully probed along the mortise and tenaciously felt a slight looseness. She dug her fingernail into the mortise and pried it upwards with a sudden pull.

The floor tiles were lifted up. Below was a shallow crater, and at the bottom of the crater lay a small, square package wrapped tightly in thick oil paper.

Tiger Girl's heart pounded. She reached out and took out the oil paper package; it was heavy.

With trembling hands, she unwrapped the layers of oil paper. Inside, a neat stack of silver notes lay.

The top one was a thousand silver dollars. She quickly counted them: five.

A silver note containing a full five thousand silver dollars.

Besides the banknotes, the oil paper package also contained a smaller cloth bag.

She opened the cloth bag, inside were several yellowed old land deeds and house deeds, a small roll of small-denomination banknotes tied with red string, and several stacks of silver dollars sealed with oil paper.

Tiger Girl sat on the ground, holding the heavy oil paper package, with her back against the cold wall.

The silver note felt icy cold to the touch, yet it felt as if it were burning hot.

Four thousand yuan can buy my father's life and the safety of the car factory.

Now, she holds five thousand yuan in her hands, along with these loose change.

Her father's words in the visiting room echoed in her ears once again, along with his face, which was sometimes shrewd and sometimes tired, sometimes loving and sometimes guarded, appearing alternately in her mind.

"You're my only daughter, so all my money will be yours sooner or later."

"Don't rummage through my room. You'll never find what I've hidden."

It will be mine sooner or later.

Tiger Girl's lips curled into an extremely bitter smile.

Sooner or later? Until he's too old to move.

He should wait until he finds a "son" who can support his family business and carry on the family line.

As for myself.

She'll always be a housekeeper, a helper, and an outsider who'll eventually get married and leave the family.

Even if we have to go to great lengths to rescue him this time, the car factory will still exist, and he, Master Liu, will still be Master Liu.

As for herself, besides continuing to toil in this car factory, watching his mood, managing this group of drivers for him, and waiting for him to arrange a marriage that might just be a way to tie down a laborer, what else could she do?

Zhao San's complaint, Hai Gouzi's extortion, the greed of the police chiefs, Liu Jiaxiang's cold gaze... This world is a place where people are devoured without spitting out their bones.

If even her father was being manipulated like this, what good could possibly come of her, a woman?

This time it's four thousand, what about next time? How many more times can my father's shady secrets withstand such extortion?

A bold, crazy idea, like a venomous snake, silently crept into her mind and then quickly grew and spread.

Roll up your bag.

These three words, carrying both immense temptation and even greater fear, instantly seized her heart.

They took all the silver notes and other valuables from their father's room.

She left the capital, left this cannibalistic place, left the father who never truly treated her as a daughter, and left these dark and fearful days.

Go far away. Go somewhere no one knows you.

This money is enough for her to live comfortably for the rest of her life.

No longer do I have to be mindful of anyone's feelings, no longer have to worry about the trivial matters of the car factory, and no longer have to endure my father's thief-like gaze.

But... that's her father.

Although he was wary of her, although he favored boys over girls, and although he only treated her as a tool, he was still her father after all.

He's the one who raised her. Now he's imprisoned and waiting for this money to save his life.

Tiger Girl felt as if her heart had been torn in two.

Half of it was the pent-up resentment, discontent, and yearning for freedom accumulated over the years, burning fiercely under the stimulation of a huge sum of money; the other half was blood ties, moral responsibility, and years of habitual obedience and fear.

Two forces were tearing at her violently, making her tremble all over and her inner shirt soaked with cold sweat.

"Your father's money will be yours sooner or later."

At this moment, this statement sounds more like an empty reassurance, a pie in the sky that is out of reach.

His truest thought was, "You will never find what I've hidden."

He didn't trust himself and never truly regarded himself as an heir to whom he could entrust everything.

Fear and anger once again overwhelmed the attachment to family.

It seems I have to make a choice. If everyone looks out for themselves, they'll be doomed.

Once she made up her mind, Tiger Girl was very efficient. She first quickly and carefully searched her father's room, and then found five small yellow croakers hidden in the crack of the bed.

After ransacking the room, Tiger Girl casually packed up her valuables and then quietly left the car factory, disappearing into the afternoon sunlight.