The room was small, not even half the size of a regular servant’s room in the Shi household.
Previously, it had contained no furniture at all; this time, there was a single table, on which rested a delicate white rose.
Ye Xiangwen held a small silver scissors. With a “snip,” a bud fell instantly onto the table.
Only then did she look up, glancing at Shi Sheng, her tone haughty: “You’re here? Why so slow? Don’t you know I’ve been waiting?”
As she spoke, she idly twirled the small silver scissors in her hand.
Shi Sheng didn’t answer. Instead, she closed the door behind her and locked it just as Ye Xiangwen had done to her before.
“Heh, obedient, aren’t you? A vile wretch is always a vile wretch…”
The habitual mocking insult slipped out, but this time, Ye Xiangwen was interrupted before she could finish.
“Eighteen years ago, you bought me?” Shi Sheng asked, stepping slowly forward.
Ye Xiangwen’s expression darkened. To put it nicely, Shi Sheng was the Shi family’s adopted daughter; to put it bluntly, she was merely a tool Ye Xiangwen had used to shield Yiyan from misfortune. And now this thing dared interrupt her?
But when she heard the rest of Shi Sheng’s words, she froze.
She hadn’t expected Shi Sheng to have uncovered the truth but even if she had, so what?
An orphan girl, thinking she could defy the Shi family?
With a sneer, Ye Xiangwen said, “So what if I did? If it weren’t for me, you’d have starved to death in the slums!”
At the time, she had just given birth to Yiyan when a fortune teller told her that Yiyan’s fate was too weak; if raised in the Shi household, she might not live past eighteen.
This fortune teller was a long-time guest of the Ye family, and Ye Xiangwen herself had been analyzed by him as a child she trusted him completely.
Her husband, however, scoffed at the fortune teller, thinking him a charlatan.
But Yiyan was her daughter, the product of her every ounce of effort. She dared not disbelieve.
Thus, what followed had happened.
Shi Sheng’s sudden question was it to find her real family?
Ye Xiangwen sneered. A mere family of commoners what use would finding them be? Better to obey her instructions and live a life of wealth.
Even if raised lavishly, a child taken from outside the family would always carry a small, provincial nature.
Although she didn’t know Shi Sheng’s family’s whereabouts, that didn’t stop her from using it to threaten her.
Ye Xiangwen glanced at Shi Sheng, contempt barely masked on her face.
“You want to find your family? Fine. If you do something for me, I’ll tell you what I know.”
She said this, confident, waiting leisurely for Shi Sheng’s answer.
But the answer never came. Pain suddenly shot through her neck.
Shi Sheng’s cold fingers clamped around Ye Xiangwen’s delicate throat. The pampered noblewoman’s pupils constricted sharply; fragmented syllables escaped her throat.
“You… you dare…”
Shi Sheng smiled lightly. “And why wouldn’t I?”
As she spoke, her fingers tightened slowly. Ye Xiangwen’s carefully maintained face flushed, her styled hair in disarray, looking like a frightened bird with its life in someone else’s hands.
Only when Ye Xiangwen began to struggle for breath did Shi Sheng slightly loosen her grip, then picked up the small silver scissors Ye Xiangwen had dropped in shock and twirled them in her hand.
As the scissors spun, a scar across Shi Sheng’s palm was faintly visible, almost dividing her hand in two.
“What… are you going to do…”
Ye Xiangwen’s voice trembled with fear and anger, sandpaper-like, her expensive dress soaked with cold sweat and clinging to her heaving chest.
“Tell me who sold me?”
Ye Xiangwen swallowed. The words were at her lips, but she thought of Yiyan and straightened her back: “As long as you ”
Before she could finish, her breath was snatched away again.
Shi Sheng’s grip tightened. She spoke casually, softly: “I don’t like hearing nonsense. So, who sold me?”
This time, Ye Xiangwen was genuinely terrified. The sudden lack of air made her vision darken in waves. She struggled wildly, hitting Shi Sheng’s arms, panic overtaking her.
Shi Sheng leaned closer, her gaze catching Ye Xiangwen’s trembling earlobe. “Now… can you speak properly?”
Ye Xiangwen could only nod desperately.
“Why didn’t you cooperate sooner?”
Shi Sheng released her, wiping her hands on her clothes with disdain.
Ye Xiangwen clutched her neck, coughing violently. When Shi Sheng’s gaze swept over her, she forced herself to confess everything she knew.
“I don’t know the man’s real name, only that he was nicknamed ‘Lame Hao’…”
“When I contacted him, you were already in his hands. I don’t know whether you were sold or kidnapped…”
“Anything else?” The silver scissors danced in Shi Sheng’s fingers, blade glinting coldly.
“Let me think… yes, Lame Hao had a daughter too. I kept an eye on her for a while. She was studying in Haishi at the time. As for now…”
“That’s all I know. I’ve told you everything…”
Shi Sheng looked at Ye Xiangwen, trembling and cowering in the corner, wishing she could hide in a crack somewhere. A corner of her mouth curved.
This pitiful scene so much like herself as a child.
Step by step, Shi Sheng advanced, crouched, and used the tip of the scissors to lift Ye Xiangwen’s chin.
“Afraid? When I was five, you locked me in this little room and tormented me for three days and nights. Were you afraid then?”
Ye Xiangwen’s eyes filled with terror, her makeup streaked with tears, leaving black lines across her face.
She feared not just Shi Sheng’s words, but that she couldn’t even remember which time Shi Sheng was referring to.
She had long forgotten how many times she had tortured Shi Sheng.
She regretted everything why she hadn’t listened to her husband, why she sent away the guards and servants, why she had called this demon back!
“You can’t… I’ve already…”
A flash of cold steel, and a piercing, blood-curdling scream shattered the air.