"I personally made a bowl of longevity noodles and brought it to your courtyard. You were teaching Su Xinrou to play the zither and didn't even let me through the door."
"Outside, I heard you tell Su Xinrou, 'Mother only has one daughter.'"
"In the end, it was Nanny Wang who came out. After taking the longevity noodles, she said, 'The mistress is busy, eldest young miss, please return.' That bowl of noodles… ended up feeding the stray dogs in the back alley."
Her gaze swept over her two older brothers, Su Chen and Su Ze: "As for eldest brother and second brother, the last time we shared a meal was five years ago at the New Year's Eve dinner, wasn't it?"
"I picked up a piece of osmanthus cake, and second brother immediately slammed down his chopsticks, saying, 'Seeing you ruins my appetite.' Eldest brother, you said, 'Go back to your own room to eat, so as not to spoil the mood.'"
With each sentence she spoke, the expressions of the people in the room grew uglier. Seeing the situation taking a bad turn, Su Xinrou immediately spoke softly to persuade:
"Sister, why bring up the past? Besides, Mother and our brothers didn't mean any harm. Father often teaches us to maintain family harmony—"
"Harmony?" Su Jin interrupted her, her gaze finally landing on this girl who always dressed in white and wore a pitiful expression.
"Su Xinrou, you live in my courtyard, use my allocated resources, steal away the only family I have left… and now, you won't even let go of this 'dead egg' in my hand."
She took a step forward, closing in on Su Xinrou: "Do you just love… taking my things that much? Or do you feel a sense of accomplishment from stealing what's mine?"
"I… I haven't…" Su Xinrou's eyes instantly reddened, and she instinctively hid behind Su Ze.
Her hands, clutching a handkerchief, trembled slightly, her voice choked with tears: "Sister, you've misunderstood. Xinrou never intended to take your things…"
"Never?" Su Jin sneered. "Then let me ask you, who did the Liuli Pavilion originally belong to?"
Su Xinrou bit her lip and remained silent.
"It was given to me as a special gift by the clan Elders because I smiled a lot when I was born and made them happy!" Su Jin's voice suddenly rose sharply.
"The year I turned three, ever since you came to the Su family, everything changed. You pitifully told Mother that you envied me for having a big courtyard to live in."
"Mother immediately discussed it with Father, saying, 'Jin'er is still young and doesn't need such a big courtyard. Let Xinrou live there for now.' Then I was driven out to this Liuyun Pavilion, and you've lived in the Liuli Pavilion for eleven years! A full eleven years."
"And then there's the monthly allocation. As the legitimate eldest daughter, I should receive five Mid-grade Spirit Stones, two hundred low-grade spirit stones, and five bottles of Qi Gathering Pills."
"But what actually reaches my hands is only thirty low-grade spirit stones and two bottles of elixirs. Where did the rest go?" Su Jin's gaze was like a knife, piercing straight into Su Xinrou.
"All subsidized to you, right? Su Xinrou! You, a foster daughter living under someone else's roof, receive a larger monthly allocation than me, the legitimate daughter."
"Don't you feel any guilt? Consuming so many resources, aren't you afraid of choking on them?"
Su Xinrou's face turned pale, then green, then pale again under Su Jin's scolding. The others' expressions were equally unpleasant. Su Xinrou's lips trembled:
"That's not true… Mother said Sister didn't need that much, so… so it was temporarily placed with me…"
"Temporarily?" Su Jin laughed as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world. "Temporarily for eleven years? Su Xinrou, how long are you going to keep up this act?"
"Do you think that as long as you put on a pitiful act, all the good things in the world should belong to you?"
"Do you think I, Su Jin, deserve to yield to you, indulge you, and in the end, even give my life to you?!"
The last sentence was almost roared out by Su Jin.
Her eyes burned with fury—a fury mingled with fifteen years of pent-up grievances, resentment, and despair from the Original Host, as well as her own anger as a transmigrator toward this world’s female protagonist and pity for the Original Host.
That final shout was also a question on behalf of the Original Host to the family members standing before her.
Su Xinrou staggered back a step, her face as pale as paper. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found herself unable to utter a single word.
And in that very instant, Su Jin clearly saw a flash of malice and murderous intent in Su Xinrou’s eyes—so fleeting it could almost be mistaken for an illusion. But Su Jin saw it.
Immediately after, Su Xinrou’s eyes rapidly welled up with tears, reverting to her usual fragile and pitiful appearance. Her lips trembled as she spoke in a faint voice:
"Sister… how could you say that to me… I never meant to take anything from you, I just… I just…"
Before she could finish, her eyes rolled back, and her body went limp, collapsing backward.
The family members, who had already felt a twinge of guilt over Su Jin’s earlier words, now threw all caution to the wind upon seeing Su Xinrou faint.
"Rou'er!"
"Xinrou—!"
Madam Su and Su Chen cried out simultaneously, both lunging forward to catch Su Xinrou.
Su Ze was a step slower but still rushed to Su Xinrou’s side. Su Chen’s trembling fingers reached for Su Xinrou’s pulse.
"Her breath is faint… it’s a reverse surge of qi and blood!" Su Chen’s face turned ashen as he frantically channeled Spiritual Power into Su Xinrou’s body to stabilize her.
Su Ze looked up, his eyes bloodshot and veins bulging on his forehead, glaring fixedly at Su Jin. His gaze was like a poisoned blade.
If looks could kill, Su Jin would have died a thousand times over!
"Su Jin—!"
Su Ze’s furious roar shook the dust from the rafters, falling like snow. He sprang up,
his right palm surging with Spiritual Power as a crimson flame took shape. A massive attack was hurled fiercely by Su Ze straight toward Su Jin’s face!
A full-force strike from the seventh layer of Qi Refining.
Fortunately, Su Jin had been prepared.
The moment Su Ze raised his hand, Su Jin had already channeled all her Spiritual Power into her legs and leaped backward!
At the same time, she cradled the egg in her left arm while her right hand slapped her storage pouch. A palm-sized bronze shield flew out, rapidly expanding to half a person’s height and positioning itself in front of Su Jin!
"Clang—!!"
The flame collided with the shield, emitting a piercing metallic screech!
The small shield trembled violently, cracks spreading across its surface like a spiderweb. Su Jin felt a tremendous force transmitted through the shield, splitting the skin of her palms and sending blood streaming down her wrists.
"Crash—!"
The shield in front of Su Jin could no longer hold on, shattering into fragments that scattered on the ground. Though broken, it had blocked most of the attack’s force!
The remaining residual flames swept across her left shoulder. The ordinary fabric of her clothes instantly turned charred and blackened, her flesh sizzling with a burning sound and emitting a scorched odor.