She trembled uncontrollably, glaring at Yu Nanzhi with pure hatred. “How could you be so cruel!”
Yu Nanzhi looked at her, his sneer deepening. “I’m not as cruel as you, who tore apart the only dog willing to stay by your side, cooked its bones into soup, and drank every last drop. Compared to you, my methods are nothing.”
This was truly the villain playing the victim first. Clearly, he was the one who killed and stewed Cha Cha, yet he pinned the blame on her. Oh, Yu Nanzhi, only someone like you could do such a thing.
Ji Liao bit her lip, enduring the pain, tears falling before she could speak. “You’ve gone to such lengths just to make me suffer, harming innocent lives and treating them like weeds. How are your actions any different from the person you see me as?”
She struggled, but Yu Nanzhi slapped her. “You killed Shuangshuang, and I merely killed a dog. How dare you compare an animal to Shuangshuang? Are they even comparable?”
Ji Liao suddenly laughed, a wild and mocking laugh. “Cheng Shuangshuang naturally can’t compare to Cha Cha. She isn’t even worth a single strand of Cha Cha’s tail fur. As a person, Cheng Shuangshuang was a failure, disgusting like a crippled widow who enjoys bothering someone else’s husband, completely lacking self-awareness. She deserved to die!”
Though Cha Cha was a dog, it did everything itself and loyally cared for her. Cheng Shuangshuang wasn’t fit to be compared to Cha Cha!
Yu Nanzhi grew even more enraged and slapped her again, drawing blood. “You poisonous woman! The dead should be respected, yet you still insult her!”
“Heh…” From beginning to end, Ji Liao never cried out in pain. She laughed again, tears streaming down her face at his words about respecting the dead. “My parents have been gone for so many years, yet you’ve never shown them an ounce of respect. I merely said a few words about Cheng Shuangshuang, and you’re already furious, threatening to kill me or make my life unbearable. How can you be such a hypocrite?”
“How can they be compared?” Yu Nanzhi retorted resentfully.
Ji Liao sneered. “They can’t be compared because Cheng Shuangshuang isn’t even as good as a dog. Even a dog knew to protect me, and in death, it still thought of letting me eat its flesh to survive. And Cheng Shuangshuang? Her death had nothing to do with me, yet she always wanted to drag me into hell. Tell me, isn’t she malicious?”
Oh, Yu Nanzhi, when you scattered my parents’ ashes, did you ever consider how my world would shatter?
Before she could react, he had already grabbed her and slammed her violently to the ground. “Ji Liao, you really deserve to die!”
Ji Liao coughed up blood, as if she couldn’t feel the pain. “If I can make a business titan like you lose your composure, then I’ll die with honor.”
Her demeanor was even more frenzied than his.
It was as if she had nothing left to lose, ready to perish together with him.
Yu Nanzhi released her, standing up to look down on her with a piercing gaze. “Letting you die would be too easy. From now on, this prison will be your home. Enjoy the ‘care’ from others here!”
With these icy words, he stepped over her body and left the prison completely.
As the cell door closed, Ji Liao lay on the ground, too weak to move. Remembering Cha Cha, whose color she could no longer recall, tears once again streamed down her face.
“Take advantage of the moment when no one’s around and get up quickly.” The woman had remained silent from the beginning to the end, sitting dazedly on the bed knitting a sweater.
Only after Yu Nanzhi left did she remember her.
Ji Liao stared blankly at the dim ceiling and said to her vacantly, “Don’t help me, you’ll die.”
Cha Cha’s fate was the outcome, and also Yu Nanzhi’s warning to her.
The woman froze for a moment, put down her needles, and walked forward. Just as she was about to say something, they heard someone enter from outside and throw a box to Ji Liao.
When the box was opened, it revealed a complete canine skull, still fresh.
Ji Liao’s pupils dilated instantly, and she stared at the person in disbelief. “Why are you doing this?”
The person was none other than the Old Butler by Yu Nanzhi’s side. His face remained calm and unperturbed as he said, “The master said that when he’s suffering, he won’t let you off easy. Today, it was just Cha Cha. Tomorrow, it might be someone connected to you. The master wants you to know that all your relatives and friends are being implicated because of you. He instructed me to bring you new news every day, hoping you can endure it.”
Yu Nanzhi was out to get revenge on her!
Ji Liao stiffened, momentarily unable to respond properly.
“And this woman…” The Old Butler’s gaze fell on the woman standing idly by.
Ji Liao’s heart tightened. Was he going to harm an innocent?
The woman said woodenly, “I’m a murderer.”
The Old Butler lifted his eyelids slightly, scrutinized her, and then pointed at Ji Liao, saying, “What a coincidence, she’s a murderer too.”
“I am not!” Ji Liao retorted loudly.
“If the master says you are, then you are. Someone, take this woman who helped Miss Ji out and teach her a lesson.”
“What are you trying to do!” Outside the cell stood several women dressed in prison uniforms like them, laughing like robots programmed only to work.
The woman who admitted to being a murderer showed no panic, not even lifting an eyelid, as if this were a routine occurrence. But Ji Liao grew frantic. “She never helped me with anything! You can’t target her!”
Upon hearing her words, the Old Butler sneered coldly and pointed to a corner of the ceiling.
Ji Liao followed his gaze and saw a surveillance camera installed in that corner.
In other words, she had no privacy in this cell; every move was being watched.
In an instant, Ji Liao’s mind went blank with a buzzing sensation. The woman was taken away without struggling, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.
The remaining women glared at her with predatory eyes. The Old Butler walked to the door, his voice cold. “Miss Ji, I hope you won’t be too fragile.”
With those words, his figure disappeared.
“Get up, stop pretending to be weak.” One of the women grabbed Ji Liao by the collar and hauled her up with imposing authority.
Ji Liao clenched the instigator’s wrist, her smile aloof and unapproachable. “If Yu Nanzhi bullies me, that’s one thing, but even you prisoners dare to pick a fight? I, Ji Liao, may have no power or influence, but the pride in my bones is not something you can trample on!”
Slap!
A swift, heavy, and vicious slap landed on the other woman’s face.
This—was unexpected. No one had anticipated her sudden strike.
“You hit me?”
Ji Liao replied fearlessly, “Didn’t you experience it firsthand? Why ask such a stupid question!”
“Heh! You’ve got nerve! Sisters, how should we deal with a defiant woman like this?”
“Of course it’s ‘treat her well’! Anyway, Mr. Yu said we just need to keep her alive with a breath left in her.”
As they spoke, the woman knitting the sweater was dragged back. Her face was covered in bruises, irregular footprints marked her body, and her exposed ankles were red and swollen. Her entire expression was wooden, like a dead person’s, yet the words she spat out proved she was still alive, “I… am a murderer!”