The little girl cried heart-rendingly, unable to catch her breath, looking pitiful in the extreme. Ji Hua said nothing, feeling not a shred of remorse. She simply sat there with an expressionless face, quietly watching her cry. Only after the girl had finished crying and was letting out those intermittent, hiccuping gasps did Ji Hua finally speak.
“Done crying?”
Wen Huaiyue’s eyes were red-rimmed, the tip of her nose flushed pink. She did not answer, just glared at her.
Ji Hua gave an unreadable smile, pulled out a medical kit from beneath the coffee table, and crooked a finger at her. “Come here.”
The child did not move.
Ji Hua lightly tapped the table. “Hurry up.”
The little girl was still afraid, after all, and shuffled over unwillingly. Watching those forced, tiny steps, Ji Hua wanted to laugh inside. She pulled the girl down to sit beside her.
“Don’t move, I am changing your dressing.” Ji Hua’s tone was cold as usual, carrying an unquestionable firmness.
The child let out another hiccup and obediently stopped moving.
Ji Hua first tended to the bite marks on Wen Huaiyue’s neck. The little girl shrank back slightly, clearly still traumatized.
Ji Hua ignored her, continuing to apply medicine to her neck on her own before unravelling the gauze on her forehead to re-dress the wound. The girl flinched from the stinging pain.
“Don’t move.”
Finding a shred of conscience, Ji Hua softened her movements slightly as she wrapped a fresh bandage around the wound. Once finished, the little girl lowered her head, looking listless with lingering tear droplets hanging at the corners of her eyes, a picture of deep sadness and misery.
Even her back radiated the message of do not speak to me.
Having lived for hundreds of years, Ji Hua, unfortunately, had never cultivated the skill of comforting others. Her mood right now happened to be quite good, her conscience swelling up by leaps and bounds. She patted the little girl’s head. “Kid, what do you want to eat? Big sister will make it for you.”
The little girl did not want to answer her.
Ji Hua did not care either, standing up and heading toward the kitchen while tossing out a sentence, “Go watch some cartoons.”
Hugging her knees, Wen Huaiyue sat stiffly on the sofa, her shoulders trembling slightly. A dull, stinging pain radiated from her neck. She did not understand why Ji Hua had bitten her. Was it because she hated her?
Would she bite her again in the future?
The little girl felt she had it so hard, and her resentment toward Ji Hua inevitably grew a notch heavier.
Ji Hua knew nothing of the child’s internal grievances and complex emotions. Though she rarely cooked, her culinary skills were quite decent. She prepared a few dishes suited for a child:
Char siu, boat congee, and shrimp dumplings.
Bringing the food to the dining table, she saw the little girl still curled up on the sofa and called out to her, “Come eat.” She paused. “Do not make me drag you over.”
Wen Huaiyue had originally resolved not to eat a single bite, but smelling the aroma and realizing she was indeed quite hungry, she obediently resigned herself to her fate and sat down at the table.
Ji Hua did not want to eat. Having just fed on blood, she could go without human food for quite a long time. Out of sheer boredom, she rested her chin in her hands and watched Wen Huaiyue eat.
Wen Huaiyue’s table manners were very refined. At such a young age, she already possessed a touch of elegance and poise, much like the refined grace of a young lady from an ancient wealthy family.
It seemed her older sister had taught her quite well, did it not?
Wen Huaiyue was spooked by her unblinking gaze. Every time she took a bite, she had to glance nervously at Ji Hua.
“What are you looking at me for? Eat your food,” Ji Hua said offhandedly.
Wen Huaiyue immediately lowered her head and silently shoveled food into her mouth.
She had to admit, Ji Hua’s cooking was truly exceptional. Even though the little girl detested her, she loved eating the food she made.
“Do you know how to wash dishes?” Ji Hua asked.
Wen Huaiyue shook her head.
Ji Hua had only asked casually; she certainly was not negotiating with her. Ignoring the head shake, she stood up and said, “Go wash the dishes.”
With that, she retreated to the living room.
Looking miserable, Wen Huaiyue carried her bowl out to the courtyard, and a moment later, a crisp shattering sound rang out. Ji Hua put down her digital drawing stylus and walked out to the courtyard.
Wen Huaiyue stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the shattered bowl on the ground. Seeing Ji Hua, her eyelashes fluttered uncontrollably as she made to squat down and pick up the shards.
“What are you picking those up for?” Ji Hua frowned slightly, unsure whether she was angry or just annoyed, probably thoroughly rendered speechless. “Come here.”
Wen Huaiyue walked up to her side. “I am sorry, Sister.”
“Idiot,” Ji Hua spat out the two words indifferently, lifting her chin. “Inside.” With that, she went ahead to clean up the mess in the courtyard herself.
The little girl sat nervously on the sofa. Seeing Ji Hua walk back in, she pouted, unable to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes.
Ji Hua hated seeing that tearful look the most. “Do not you dare cry. What good does crying do, you little good-for-nothing? Swallow it back down!”
“Oh.” Wen Huaiyue wiped at her eyes.
When it was time for bed, Wen Huaiyue hugged her pillow and crept into Ji Hua’s bedroom, staring at her with big, pleading eyes.
“You want to sleep with me?”
Wen Huaiyue nodded. She was still terrified of sleeping alone; only with someone by her side could she drift off.
Ji Hua did not mind. She certainly did not want to be woken up by this kid in the middle of the night again anyway. Wen Huaiyue’s body was always chilly, and she instinctively kept trying to snuggle close to Ji Hua.
After Ji Hua scolded her a few times to no avail, and realizing the child’s body felt as soft as a little mochi ball, a rather novel sensation that she did not actually detest, she simply let her be.
From then on, Wen Huaiyue stayed at Ji Hua’s place. She soon discovered that Ji Hua was not someone who knew how to take care of herself at all. She would oversleep, could not be bothered to make her bed, and merely ran a comb through her long hair before calling it a day. Moreover, because her hair was so long, Wen Huaiyue ended up lying on top of it every time they slept, earning herself another round of scoldings from Ji Hua.
At such a tender age, Wen Huaiyue had already developed obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Sometimes, when she simply could not stand the mess anymore, she would end up tidying the room herself.
Ji Hua disliked going out. Feeling sorry for the little girl who wanted to play outside countless times but never dared to, she could only huddle in the courtyard and play with the flowers and plants.
The most important thing was that Ji Hua seemed to have no need for regular meals. Wen Huaiyue would repeatedly find herself starving, and since she did not know how to cook, she had no choice but to hound Ji Hua.
Driven mad by the constant nagging, Ji Hua would head to the kitchen and whip up a massive mountain of food just to stuff her full all at once. She had originally tried to teach Wen Huaiyue how to cook, but the kid had nearly blown up the kitchen. Thoroughly enraged, Ji Hua abandoned that idea completely.
Since the child was still growing and got hungry fast, Ji Hua found herself endlessly annoyed, yet very reluctantly began cooking three meals a day.
Through living together, Wen Huaiyue also discovered that Ji Hua’s temper was truly terrible. Her personality was wicked; she loved scolding her, bossing her around to do this and that, and took a perverse pleasure in teasing her. Every time, she would push her to the point of tears, only to forbid her from crying because she enjoyed watching her struggle to hold it in.
Gradually, the frequency of Wen Huaiyue’s crying began to decrease.
Aside from that, every few days, Ji Hua would bite her neck. It did not hurt as much as it used to, but Wen Huaiyue still found it terrifying. Every time she was bitten, Ji Hua would lick away all the blood left on her neck until it was completely clean.
Wen Huaiyue often wondered: Is blood really that delicious?
Once, she decided to try it out, licking a drop of her own blood. She gagged and spat it out in disgust, finding that it tasted awful at all.
Why did Ji Hua like drinking her blood so much?
Meanwhile, Ji Hua noticed the child was getting much more obedient, crying far less often. Though she still threw the occasional waterworks display, she was much better than before.
Ji Hua’s ears finally enjoyed some peace and quiet as well.
As the weather grew increasingly cold, Ji Hua lay in bed looking at her tablet, a digital stylus in hand as she sketched. Sitting on the tatami mat in the room, Wen Huaiyue curiously craned her neck to see what Ji Hua was drawing.
All she could see was a woman without any clothes on, no, wait, she seemed to be wearing something, but it was practically the same as wearing nothing. The woman had her head tilted back, biting the neck of a man whose hand rested on the small of her back. The man appeared to be naked as well.
“What are they doing?” Wen Huaiyue tilted her head and asked.
Ji Hua glanced at her with a half-smile. “Doing happy things.”
Wen Huaiyue did not understand, her eyes brimming with innocence.
Too lazy to discuss such matters with a child, Ji Hua added a few more strokes on her tablet, rendering the entire image hazy and dreamlike so that only silhouettes were visible. It imbued the scene with an unbridled, ascetic yet frantic aura of sensual desire, exuding an itch-inducing yearning that clawed at the heart.
She posted this artwork on an overseas website. The platform gathered numerous digital artists, video editors, and master creators across various entertainment and artistic fields. With its open-minded atmosphere, it was a melting pot of all sorts of eccentric and avant-garde art.
Ji Hua was a creator on the platform. Having recently joined, she had rapidly attracted a wave of followers thanks to her provocative, erotic art style.
It was merely a hobby of hers.
A bit perverted, and brimming with unquenched desire.
Not understanding a thing, Wen Huaiyue turned back to watch her cartoon. After sketching for a while, Ji Hua got up to use the restroom. Just as she stepped out, she heard a sharp, piercing scream.
Wen Huaiyue was staring in sheer terror at the television screen, as if some man-eating monster lurked within it.
Ji Hua glanced at the TV. It was a financial news broadcast, and the anchor was reporting on a breaking story: “Recently, Guangmao Real Estate Group has been exposed for illegal fundraising, with multiple assets under its name frozen. Meanwhile, Yaowang Investment, one of its business partners, has also been placed under investigation by the Supervisory Bureau.”
Yaowang Investment was the company belonging to the male and female leads of the novel.
The television flashed a picture of Guangmao Real Estate’s president. The moment Wen Huaiyue saw his face, she shrieked, “Ahhh! The bad guy! The bad guy who hit me! He caught me! He tied me up, the bad guy!”
Ji Hua switched off the television, walked over, and gripped her by both shoulders. “Stop screaming!”
Immersed entirely in that terrifying memory of hers, Wen Huaiyue trembled uncontrollably, shrieking in extreme panic as tears streamed down her face.
It was evident what kind of profound psychological shadow this man had inflicted upon her.
Ji Hua figured that Wen Huaiyue falling into the river might even have been tied to this man. Was it because of a corporate dispute between this man and her older sister’s enterprise?
Ji Hua did not know the exact details, but right now, calming the child down took precedence. However, the child was clearly too terrified, continuing to hug her head and wail.
Ji Hua deepened her tone. “Wen Huaiyue, stop crying!”
Completely unable to hear her, Wen Huaiyue wept even harder, looking like a drowned puppy.
After calling her name a few more times with no effect, desperation set in. In a flash of exasperation, Ji Hua slapped her across the cheek, not hard, but enough to snap the little girl out of it and make her quiet down.
Wen Huaiyue stared at her in a daze.
With one hand, Ji Hua grabbed the girl’s slender neck and pulled her straight into her embrace, fixing her with a hard stare. “Listen to me. Crying solves absolutely nothing; that is the behavior of a coward. No matter what you are afraid of or what you hate, crying will not change a thing. You have to stand up and fight to resolve it.”
Ji Hua’s voice was cold, yet filled with force. “If you hate that man, swallow your tears right now. Someday, you will step all over him and crush him to pieces, instead of sitting here howling your head off!”
Whether the little girl understood or not, she just stared at her in a daze.
Roughly wiping away the girl’s tears, Ji Hua warned, “If I ever catch you crying again, you are missing a meal.”
The child’s skin was tender, and Ji Hua’s rough wiping left her entire face flushed red. Pouting with grievance, Wen Huaiyue suddenly threw her arms around Ji Hua’s neck, burying her face in her hair as she kept calling out Sister as if seeking comfort.
Ji Hua let her hold her, waiting a long time before frowning and asking, “Did you hear what I said?”
Wiping her face, Wen Huaiyue stuttered, likely still shaken from the shock. “I will not cry.”
“See that you do not.” Ji Hua gave a cold sneer. “Do not let me catch you crying, you little good-for-nothing.”