Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The pitch-black room was so dark that one couldn’t see his own hands. In the emptiness, only breathing—at times slow and at times hastened—accompanied the eeriness in its melody.
Xia Ruya reached out in front of her gently only to feel a glass surface—a mirror actually stood before her. If not for the fact that she knew her position and could feel it, who’d have known that in this pitch-black house, the mirror was actually just right in front of her?
The mirror before her was pitch dark, totally couldn’t reflect her image.
However, she felt a special sense of security. Only in darkness like this could she totally release her genuine emotions—even the mirror couldn’t reflect the hatred stirring within her.
“Wen! Xin! Ya!” She slowly spat out three words from her tender lips. She could feel that as she said each word, the hatred in her eyes was like a teeth-baring higanbana—a flower blossoming from her viscous blood like a hysterical demon.
That alluring fire-red color and perfect exterior couldn’t conceal her pathetic soul…
Out of the blue, a depressing, bone-piercing chill arose.
“Wen Xinya, it’s still unknown who’ll win. You’ll need my permission to mock me. The ultimate winner is the one who’ll have the last and greatest laugh.” Her lips slowly parted, revealing a smile. She could feel how bone-piercingly enchanting her own smile looked right now—such intense and cold gorgeousness was like a demon’s sharp claws emerging from the flower bud.
“Just you wait. I’ll make you pay back several times of the humiliation and distress that I’ve endured today.” Xia Ruya’s voice suddenly sharpened into a piercing sound like that of scissors ripping silk apart in an instant—the sound contained soul-frightening hatred and madness wanting to destroy one’s mental clarity.
“Hahahaha…” Xia Ruya suddenly broke into a piercing laugh. She thought… her expression currently must be extremely twisted with hatred, but… so what—even she couldn’t see it, who else could?
“Ring ring ring ring!” A loud, hurried sound rang suddenly. The slightly piercing sound instantly torn her eardrums and shook her awake.
She slowly switched on the light. The mirror suddenly reflected a thin, pale—almost transparent, and tender little face. The pink-colored trails of tears on her cheeks added a touch of exquisite charm to her pale face. Her sad lips with dry lines parted slightly, presenting a tinge of hardly visible redness—a beauty that touched one’s soul.
Such alluring paleness, charming fragility, and stubbornly pretty decadence was breathtakingly beautiful, yet lightened her aggressiveness and instead made her appear pale and pitiful.
She blinked gently and the hatred buried below her eyes instantly disappeared without a trace.
“Ring ring ring ring!”
The doorbell continued ringing. Only then did Xia Ruya get up and got out of the room to get the door.
From the fish-eye lens on the door, she saw Ning Shuqian and hurriedly opened the door. “Aunt Ning, please come in.”
Ning Shuqian entered the house quickly, suddenly closed the door tight, and checked the safety door lock before saying, “Why are the paparazzi so difficult these days—I’ve been watched since I left home. Luckily, I was quick-witted, changed out when I went to the supermarket to buy something, brought the reporters round and round, and only got them off my back with great difficulty.”
She was currently wearing a black top and bottom, had a scarf wrapped around her head, and held big bags of food in both of her hands—all prepared for Xia Ruya.
Xia Ruya was greatly touched as she hung her head and sobbed. “Aunt Ning, thank you!”
Seeing that her pale little face was completely void of radiance, Ning Shuqian placed the items on the floor, held her icy-cold hands, and said, “Ruya, things are quite serious for you. The reporters are looking all over the place for you hysterically, and even my side is being watched. You hide here for a while first. Remember to lock the door and windows and don’t answer even if someone knocks on the door.”
Ever since she publicized her hymen examination report, although the media no longer wantonly reported her scandal previously, to publicize a hymen examination report was an earth-shattering matter even overseas—how could the reporters miss out. They had been looking all over the place for Ruya, hoping to interview her for exclusive news.
As such, even her residence over at the Jade Lake was dotted with loitering reporters every day—she totally didn’t even dare to leave home.
“Got it, Aunt Ning. I can roughly guess the situation outside as well.” Saying which, she stubbornly stopped the tears that welled up in her eyes from falling.
After leaving the conference hall at the Piazzetta that day, she was once again surrounded by camping reporters. When she finally broke free, the reporters followed her like they were on drugs. She sat in a cab and brought the reporters around half of the capital city before finally shaking them free at 3 A.M. and secretly came to this villa on the outskirts to hide.
Now, she totally couldn’t appear. Once she appeared, she would get snapped by the reporters.
Placing the stuff on the tea table, Ning Shuqian held her hand, sat down on the sofa, and said, “Have this food first. Call Aunt Ning once you’ve finished them and Aunt Ning will think of a way to send more over. Don’t starve yourself.” Saying which, her gaze landed on her face as she said sympathetically, “Silly child, in just a few days, you’ve lost so much weight that you look like you can be blown away by the wind. Don’t go against your health no matter what happens, got it?”
“Aunt Ning, everyone says that it’s easy to add brilliance to one’s splendor but hard to offer timely help. I really wouldn’t know what to do without Aunt Ning!” Xia Ruya hung her head and cried, sending huge droplets of tears onto Aunt Ning and her hands held together. The warm tears quickly turned cool upon touching her skin, sending chills to her heart.
Ning Shuqian helped her head up gently as she watched her pale and frail looks all withered—she was obviously a flower bud-like person, yet looking all dispirited and defeated at this moment. “Dear child, you’ve suffered this time.”
She had known from the start that this child was clean, honest, soft on the outside, and strong on the inside. Unexpectedly, in order to prove her own innocence, she had tainted her own reputation by publicizing her own hymen examination report—such a resolution really ached her heart.
“Sob sob sob sob…” Xia Ruya sobbed out loud.
Ning Shuqian took a piece of tissue paper and wiped her tears for her gently. “Aunt Ning has always thought that you’re an intelligent child who was always extremely sensible in all that you do, knowing what can be done and what can’t be done. I didn’t expect you to actually do such an outrageous thing.”
Xia Ruya finally fell apart under Ning Shuqian’s soft words. “Aunt Ning, I can’t take the media reporting about me like this, the outsiders misunderstanding me, those eyes filled with looks of despise and disdain, and those faces filled with humiliation. I can’t take all of these.”
