After pacing at the door for a while, Su Wei took a deep breath and stepped back into Shen Yan's room.
Shen Yan had already finished his porridge. Perhaps the food had given him some strength, for he had propped himself up against the wall into a seated position.
Su Wei looked at his hair—chewed up like a dog had gotten to it—and found herself at a loss for words.
That was the original owner's doing. She had said Shen Yan had lice in his hair, and then added, "Your body and hair are gifts from your parents. Your father, mother, and brother were all killed by your bad luck—what use do you have for this hair anyway?"
Utterly cruel—striking at the heart itself!!
Su Wei let out a sigh.
She felt a bit of sympathy for Shen Yan, but not much. She felt far more sympathy for herself—she was truly wronged here…
"You should move to the main room to sleep." Su Wei broke the silence.
The old Shen family house actually had several rooms. The one Shen Yan occupied was the shabbiest—a storage room with wind seeping through every crack, freezing and damp. Needless to say, that was also the original owner's doing.
When no response came from Shen Yan, Su Wei put on a fierce act. "Are you going or not? Say something."
The original owner had fair skin and delicate features—a slender waist, long legs, an oval face, a pert nose, and a pair of large, sparkling eyes. She had the classic vixen look. Su Wei wasn't fully aware of this yet, so she had no idea that her fierce scolding, in Shen Yan's eyes, looked more like coquettish pouting… or seduction?
Shen Yan sneered. He wasn't like those dogs outside who thought only with their crotches—he wouldn't fall for a venomous woman's tricks.
Shen Yan didn't acknowledge her, as if he hadn't heard a word.
Su Wei was at her wit's end. Taking advantage of Shen Yan's unguarded moment, she tossed a quilt at him—but she threw with too much force, and it landed square on his face, knocking his head to the side.
Su Wei: "…"
"What if I said that was an accident? Would you believe me?"
Shen Yan gave her a cold stare.
Clearly, he did not.
Su Wei: "…"
…
After Su Wei left, Shen Yan sat for a while before slowly getting out of bed.
The venomous woman only knew the quarry had paid ten taels of silver, but she didn't know his mother had long since used that silver to get his injuries treated. She had called in a mountain doctor, one who was especially skilled at healing wounds like his, and the medicine he used was of good quality. Besides, he was young—even with the venomous woman's mistreatment, after all this time, his injuries had healed considerably.
Shen Yan walked a few steps while bracing himself against the wall, drenched in sweat, with searing pain shooting through his legs and feet. Yet he only felt exhilaration. He was almost addicted to the pleasure this pain brought him, as if the suffering, the humiliation, the despair—all of it flowed away with the ache…
…
Su Wei, meanwhile, had nightmares all night. One moment she dreamed of Granny Wang coming to claim her life, the next she dreamed of Shen Yan trying to strangle her. When she opened her eyes again, it was already broad daylight.
Staring at the soot-black ceiling, she let out a heavy sigh.
It seemed she truly couldn't go back.
The weather was nice today—sunny, with a light northwest wind. Su Wei threw on her clothes and resigned herself to cooking in the kitchen.
There wasn't much food left in the house, barely enough for a meal or two. Su Wei had never once worried about food in her entire life, yet here she stood in the kitchen, scraping out the last of the coarse rice to make porridge.
As the fire crackled in the stove, Su Wei calculated that she'd need to go out today to buy food and supplies. The little mirror wouldn't fetch much, and the silver hairpin was worth a bit but not a lot. What was more valuable, though…
Su Wei weighed the money in her hand—several lumps of blackened, tarnished silver.
This silver had been dug out from the crack behind the cupboard in Granny Wang's house.
Yesterday, when she'd carried Granny Wang's body back, she'd been terrified at first, but…
Since we're here anyway…
We can't exactly leave empty-handed, can we…
Granny Wang was an old widow. Her husband had died early, and she had only one son, who had been thrown into prison a few years back for theft.
Perhaps that was why she was jealous that Mother Shen's two sons had both turned out so well…
After the Shen family fell into misfortune, she often went to Mother Shen and said spiteful things, claiming that Mother Shen had brought death upon her husband and sons.
The matter of the ten taels of silver was also something she had deliberately leaked to the original owner. After Mother Shen died, she secretly stirred up the original owner to mistreat Shen Yan, even going so far as to pimp the original owner out, urging her to have an affair with Young Master Dong, and ultimately wanting to kill Shen Yan to completely end the Shen bloodline…
Truly vicious to the extreme…
Su Wei slowly poured out the silver, then casually tossed the handkerchief that had held the money into the stove, burning it clean.