The torn window paper had been pierced by an unknown hole, where someone silently pressed their face against it.
Inside, the young girl undid her hair and unfastened her collar, wearing only a dudou over her upper body, revealing large patches of snow-white skin.
She dipped her hands into the basin, scooped up clear water to wash her arms, then submerged her entire head to rinse it.
Just as she was scrubbing her hair with closed eyes, she suddenly heard someone enter!
Startled, the girl was about to react when someone yanked off the dudou covering her chest, excitedly calling out as they ran outside, waving it wildly in their hand.
Flustered and furious, Xi Luyan hastily covered herself, not even bothering to dry her hair before chasing after them: “Baozhu, stop messing around!”
But the little brat paid no heed, continuing to wave the brightly colored dudou as he ran wildly around the courtyard.
Mother Xi, who was vigorously scrubbing clothes in the yard, immediately started cursing: “You shameless girl! Don’t you know how to keep your filthy things properly? Letting your brother run around with it – have you no shame!”
Already humiliated and angry from having such an intimate garment snatched away, Xi Luyan couldn’t hold back her tears upon hearing her mother’s unjust scolding.
From the recliner in the corner, a drunken man rolled over: “Stop all that noise!”
Sitting up, he scanned the surroundings with bloodshot eyes. When his gaze fell upon Xi Luyan, they suddenly lit up.
The fourteen-year-old girl was just beginning to blossom, tender like a fresh spring onion, with a defined waist and curvaceous hips.
In her haste to come out, her clothes were disheveled, her cheeks tear-stained, appearing timid and vulnerable – enough to stir unsettling desires in anyone watching.
Licking his lips, feeling inexplicably parched, he beckoned: “Come here, you worthless girl!”
With her clothes in disarray and still crying from her brother’s mischief, Xi Luyan looked up upon hearing Lin Gui call her.
This Lin Gui was her stepfather – a heavy drinker with a terrible temper. If she responded too slowly when he called, she’d often receive several slaps across the face.
Not daring to delay, Xi Luyan swallowed her tears and approached, murmuring: “Father, what is it?”
As she drew nearer, Lin Gui’s bloodshot eyes widened increasingly.
His eyes roved greedily over Xi Luyan’s chest as he grinned lecherously, extending a hand: “Such a big girl already, yet you can’t even dress properly. Come, let father help fasten your clothes…”
Xi Luyan felt as if struck by lightning.
As a girl her age, being groomed as a servant to eventually serve the masters in their chambers, she already understood the ways of the world.
Seeing Lin Gui’s lecherous grin, a wave of terror washed over her, and she hastily retreated.
Lin Gui’s face instantly darkened.
This damned slut dared to evade him? Soon to be used and discarded by the masters, yet she dared play the chaste maiden before him!
Staggering to his feet, he moved to grab the wretched girl and slap her.
But before he could catch her, two sharp slapping sounds rang out instead.
After snatching the dudou, Lin Baozhu had been thoroughly amused by Xi Luyan’s humiliated reaction. Sticking out his tongue, he taunted: “Nyah nyah! Come catch me! I’m going to hang this on the tree to shame you to death, hee hee hee!”
After running several circles around the yard, he turned to dash outside but failed to watch his path, crashing straight into someone.
Used to bullying everyone at home, Lin Baozhu looked up and cursed: “Who dares bump into me!”
Before he could clearly see the person’s face, they had already raised their hands and delivered two resounding slaps – one from each side – sending him tumbling to the ground.Lin Baozhu froze for a moment, then slumped to the ground, his body trembling twice before he let out a wailing cry: “Mom! Mom! Mom!”
Mother Xi was cursing Xi Luyan while trying to grab Lin Baozhu, only to see her precious darling being slapped twice across the face by someone else and knocked to the ground.
She scooped up her precious darling from the ground and glared furiously at the assailant, but when she saw the person’s face, she suddenly froze: “Hong girl?”
She quickly regained her composure and angrily demanded: “Didn’t you follow the young mistress to the Prince’s Residence when she married? Why are you hitting your brother as soon as you return?”
Xi Hongrui calmly patted her hands and looked at her biological mother with composure: “I think this little bastard is itching for a beating. If I don’t whip him properly today, he’ll feel uncomfortable.”
Lin Baozhu had always been a bully who preyed on the weak but feared the strong, and he was most afraid of this eldest sister. Hearing her words, he immediately shrank into his mother’s embrace, sobbing while staring at her as if she were some kind of monster.
Mother Xi hugged her beloved son, stomping her feet in anger: “Isn’t he your brother too? How can you, as his sister, show no concern for him at all!”
Xi Hongrui sneered, snatched the object from Lin Baozhu’s hand, walked over to Xi Luyan standing under the eaves, glanced at Lin Gui, then swept her sharp eyes over the people below.
“You’ve known me for more than just one day, and you know what kind of temper I have. If anyone really gets in my way, I don’t care who you are. Keep your precious darling under control – if he falls into my hands, I’ll make him regret being born.”
Mother Xi:…
Although there’s no saying in this world about parents being afraid of their children, for some reason, Mother Xi was genuinely intimidated by this daughter of hers. She could only hold her younger son tighter, remaining silent with resentment.
Lin Gui, who had been leering at Xi Luyan with lustful eyes, felt a surge of fear when he saw Xi Hongrui standing beside Xi Luyan. He retreated several steps, bowing and scraping as he said: “Madam, what brings you back today?”
Xi Hongrui glanced at him sideways, then turned to look at Xi Luyan who stood nearby with tearful, bewildered eyes.
Xi Hongrui had three fathers, one elder brother, two younger brothers, and one younger sister. This useless creature who only knew how to cry was her second younger sister, while that little bastard below was her youngest brother.
She and her elder brother shared the same biological father.
Among the Xi siblings, those who took after their mother in appearance were quite good-looking, because their mother had been exceptionally beautiful in her youth.
However, for a maidservant to have striking looks could sometimes be a good thing, but sometimes not necessarily so.
Her mother never achieved her dream of becoming a concubine, but was instead viewed as a thorn in the madam’s side and was married off to a cart-driver servant – her biological father.
Her biological father’s surname was Ma, and her elder brother was called Ma Baogen. So naturally, she wasn’t originally named Xi Hongrui either, but Ma Baofang.
But Xi Hongrui’s vanity had been cultivated since childhood. She absolutely hated her original name – Ma Baofang. It sounded awful, completely unpleasant to the ears.
Therefore, after her biological father died, she changed her surname without any psychological barriers to follow her second father, and even modeled after Xi Luyan’s name to change to a particularly beautiful name – Xi Hongrui.
In this world, women were meant to marry into other families anyway – it wasn’t their place to continue the family line. So they could be called whatever people wanted, as long as the betrothal money was left behind.
Instead, her second father appreciated her obedience and gave her many benefits. Xi Hongrui was delighted, calling him “father” even more sweetly.
Her second father was a traveling merchant who, while conducting business in the capital, had taken one look at her mother – this charming and attractive widow – and been smitten.Her mother wasn’t the virtuous type either, naturally unwilling to remain a widow. After some back and forth, she got involved with a man and bore him a pair of Dragon and Phoenix Twins—her second brother Xi Luliu and second sister Xi Luyan.
During their second father’s time, it might have been the family’s most prosperous period. But one day, their second father disappeared without warning.
Xi Hongrui still doesn’t know the reason to this day, though it could have been anything—perhaps he met bandits during his merchant travels and perished, perhaps his business in the capital collapsed, perhaps he was restrained by the clan elders or his legal wife back home, or perhaps simply because her mother had aged and lost her looks.
In any case, he left completely clean, leaving her mother with only two burdens—a son and a daughter. Her mother cursed daily in frustration, but there was nothing to be done.
The comfort she gained through her beauty in youth came back to haunt her in old age. Over the years, her mother had learned nothing except how to depend on men.
So relying on her fading looks, she hooked up with Lin Gui—not for his character, not for his money, not for his capabilities, but simply because he was a man with some brute strength.
As it turned out, Lin Gui truly had nothing to offer except that brute strength. Not long after marrying him, he beat her mother into submission.
Instead of finding support, her mother was drained of her savings by Lin Gui, beaten and scolded daily while forced to work.
This former high-ranking maid who had never done rough work could only become a laundry woman, not even qualified to wash clothes for the nobility in the mansion, but only the stinking garments of the lowest servants, all to support Lin Gui’s drinking habits.
Her mother resented it all, but dared not resent Lin Gui—she would be beaten for that. Nor dared she resent her sons, who were her future support. So she only dared to take out her resentment on her two daughters.
But what kind of person was Xi Hongrui? At the slightest provocation, she would glare and overturn tables. Whoever made her suffer would make everyone suffer. If her mother dared scold her, she would stand hands on hips and curse the entire family until their ancestors’ graves smoked.
Over time, her mother stopped daring to provoke her. Moreover, Xi Hongrui was clever and capable at handling affairs, quickly catching the young mistress’s eye and being taken into her service.
With the whole family relying on her status before the masters, they increasingly treated her like a bodhisattva. Unable to vent her anger elsewhere, Mother Xi directed all her resentment toward Xi Luyan.
During her father’s time, Xi Luyan had been something of a “pampered young lady.” Xi Hongrui still remembered how when they were very young, Xi Luyan could recite the Three Character Classic.
But once they fell into the mud, they could never rise again. Whatever refinement she had gained from proper upbringing only made her easier to bully, offering no other advantage.
In her previous life, Xi Hongrui actually found her annoying too—in such miserable circumstances, why play the bodhisattva?
Still, compared to her, Xi Hongrui naturally detested Lin Gui and his little bastards even more. So whenever she saw that old bastard and his offspring bullying the siblings she acknowledged, she would not hesitate to slap them hard, making them understand who truly ruled this household.
Perhaps because of this, Xi Luyan’s weak heart came to see her as a savior.
In her previous life, when Xi Hongrui was sold to a brothel and completely defeated, everyone avoided her like plague. Only this timid sister secretly went to that filthy place, using all her savings to bribe the people inside to treat Xi Hongrui better.
Xi Hongrui truly couldn’t understand—why would someone who couldn’t even protect themselves try to play the bodhisattva?
But at that time, the down-and-out Xi Hongrui was indeed touched by the glow of that bodhisattva’s compassion.Later, when Xi Hongrui was sent to the death row for killing those clients and was to be executed after autumn, her elder brother and half-brother came to deliver her last meal before execution.
Xi Hongrui glanced around and felt somewhat disappointed not to see her timid younger sister. She casually asked, “Luyan didn’t come?”
Hearing her question, her elder brother fell silent, while the younger brother holding the items paused his movements.
In her final moments, Xi Hongrui instead felt an unusual calm. Looking up at the invisible sky beyond the prison walls, she said, “Well, that’s fine. She’s so timid—seeing this would only frighten her.”
The sound of bowls and chopsticks hitting the ground heavily drew Xi Hongrui’s attention. She noticed Xi Luliu’s hands trembling uncontrollably.
As twins, he and Xi Luyan bore some resemblance. When he looked up, Xi Hongrui had the illusion of seeing Xi Luyan.
Xi Luliu stared at her with trembling lips: “Eldest sister… she can’t come anymore… but sister, you’ll see her soon. When you’re on the path to the underworld, please watch over her…”
Xi Hongrui froze, then suddenly understood. She grabbed the prison bars: “What do you mean?”
Xi Luliu looked at her and finally broke down into loud sobs. As he wept uncontrollably, their usually silent elder brother slowly explained everything.
The story was simple: Xi Luyan had become inexplicably pregnant.
Since she wasn’t married yet, the child could only be an illegitimate one of unknown origin.
She was terrified but dared not tell anyone, so she made a bold decision on her own—to jump from a height to induce an abortion. In the end, she lost both the fetus and her life.
Xi Hongrui grew frantic: “Whose child was it?”
She feared it might have been one of those lowlifes who came to see her…
But the truth turned out to be even worse than she imagined. After a long silence, her elder brother dejectedly revealed an unexpected answer.
Xi Hongrui glanced at Lin Gui’s slimy grin. She had always known he was scum, but never imagined he could be this depraved.
Yet when she looked at Xi Luyan, another kind of anger surged within her: “You useless thing! What are your hands for? Couldn’t you have hit him!”
What could someone who wasn’t even afraid of death possibly fear? What was there to fear!
Xi Luyan, terrified by what had just happened, could only stare wordlessly at Xi Hongrui.
Seeing her long-lost elder sister, she immediately found her anchor. Before she could speak, tears began falling: “Eldest sister…”
Oh heavens…
Seeing her tears, Xi Hongrui felt nothing but annoyance! She wanted to punch someone!
But what could you do? When someone decides they can’t go on living and chooses death, what could you possibly do?
Nothing! Just endure it!
Xi Hongrui took a deep breath, trying her best to calm down. She put on a gentle expression and handed the items back: “Go back inside and put your clothes on properly.”
Since Xi Hongrui had left with the young lady as part of her dowry, Xi Luyan had no one to talk to. She had countless things she wanted to say: “Eldest sister…”
Xi Hongrui smiled softly and slowly uttered two words: “Hurry up.”
Xi Luyan: “…”
“Okay.”
As Xi Luyan entered the room, Xi Hongrui turned and looked at the three people below the steps one by one.
When she became an Imperial Concubine, rising from branch to phoenix, her mother, brothers, and sisters would naturally follow her across the dragon gate.
As the saying goes: No matter who you rely on, none is more reliable than your maternal family.Her gaze fell upon the shameless Lin Gui, and a cold sneer unconsciously rose in her heart.
But how could a lowly cur like you ever hope to touch the feathers of a phoenix?
Stop deluding yourself, Imperial Father-in-law. Today, you shall— die by my hand!