Li Chuxin curled her fingers tight until her nails pressed into her palms. She spoke calmly and steadily. “On the contrary second brother it is you who owes me. Remember when you injured Director Xiao’s son? I went every day to tutor him and do their housework for a whole year just to turn his anger into forgiveness.”
“If I had not toiled like a beast in their home you would have been locked up half a year by now. With a criminal record how could you ever have joined the military?”
“And beyond that your rapid advancement and the respect you earned from the leaders came entirely from the merit of my saving that senior officer’s life.”
She had given so much to this family. She had only wanted her brothers to fare well. She had humbled herself to win their approval and hoped they might one day be close as they once were.
Pain shot through her chest as if her very insides were being torn. The taste of blood rose thick in her throat and she spat it onto the floor.
Seeing her spit blood Li Jianyong panicked. Regret hit him hard. “Chuxin I lost my temper. I did not mean to strike so hard.”
“I am truly sorry.” His heart twisted tight with hurt and remorse. He kept apologizing over and over.
Li Chuxin’s gaze went dull. It was always the same. After every beating at his hands driven by Xixi he would be sorry. She had been hurt so deeply she carried the shadow of it now. She gave a short bitter laugh. How many times had she forgiven him? And every time he swore he would never do it again. Yet whenever Xixi was involved he lost control.
Li Jianyong flinched at her cold smile. Something had changed. “Did you go there for me? You went because you saw they were well off. You wanted better food than we had at home.”
“And one more thing. It was Xixi who saved that senior officer. Not you. It was Xixi who secured your posting and earned that favour. You have not changed at all. You lie and you claim her deeds as your own.”
He shook his head. “No matter how much I might have felt for you it is gone now.”
Li Jianhan spoke up. “That is right Chuxin. Those were Xixi’s achievements. She risked herself to save that man and that is how Jianyong got his chance. Why do you always do this?”
“Is there nothing you will not do just to be the favourite? Must you steal everything Xixi has?”
“You have truly broken my heart.”
Li Chuxin smiled faintly and looked straight at Li Xixi. “Was it you elder sister? Look me in the eye and tell me it was.”
“I brought sweet potatoes and steamed buns from home every single day. You know that.”
“When second brother broke that boy’s arm I knelt outside their house all through the night until they agreed not to press charges. You were there. You saw me.”
She met her brothers stunned disbelieving stares. Her heart turned colder still. They did not know. They only knew what Xixi had told them.
“Is that the way it really was sister?”
Li Xixi looked at her with a strange distant wariness. “Little sister.” She bit her lip until it blanched. “If it means so much to you then let us say it was. Will that make it easier? I will yield. Let us make peace. May I have my pendant back now?”
Li Jianhan stepped in his voice sharp with rebuke. “That is enough Li Chuxin. You have gone too far. You would make her humble herself just to feed your pride.”
“Return what belongs to Xixi or do not blame us for being harsh.”
Li Chuxin took a patterned wooden box from her pocket and opened it just enough to show what lay inside. “Is this what you want?” She had known Xixi would come for it. In her past life Xixi had seen her wear it and scoffed that it looked like cheap plastic not worth having. People who wrong you always know you have been wronged.
She had slipped away to the third floor to collect a sample from a patient with hepatitis C. She had exchanged her last fifty points in the space store for an exact duplicate pendant and soaked it in the sample for three hours. She had waited to show it until now drawing out the moment.
Li Xixi’s eyes lit up. There it was. Chuxin had not awakened to its power. She did not know what it truly was.
“Give it back.”
“I will.” Li Chuxin said. “Only if you admit what you have falsely accused me of. I will not carry blame I do not deserve.”
“The matter with Director Xiao?”
Li Xixi hesitated. The pendant and its hidden realm weighed against her brothers trust. She chose quickly. “You are right. You did kneel for him. You ate only what you brought from home. You never feasted at their table.” It cost her to say it but she would have the pendant back.
Li Jianyong stared at Xixi in disbelief.