Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Shi Xiaoyu let go of her hair and took two steps back. Looking her up and down, Shi Xiaoyu said, “Did you know? I feel exceptionally thrilled every single time I see you being in so much agony. In fact, I get even more exhilarated than I was when I became the president’s wife. Shi Qingzhou, I admit, you’ve always been the prettier one between the two of us, ever since we were young. But you can’t deny that I’m the ultimate winner at the end of the day. As for you, I believe your daughter will suffer the same fate as you did. She’ll enjoy days of glory when she’s young, but her life will end up in a dire state when she’s older. Isn’t that the case for you and your mother? Do you really think your daughter can escape the destiny of your family?”
Shi Qingzhou’s heart was ricocheting vigorously against her chest, as if Shi Xiaoyu’s words had struck a sour note within her.
“I forbid you from saying that!”
“So what if you forbid me? You’re only a paper tiger now. There’s nothing you can really do to me. Well, I’m just speaking the truth. You’re merely a dead person in the eyes of everyone now. You must really hate me, don’t you? That was how much I detested you back in the day too. I’ve never once buried the hatchet or let go of the grudge I bear against you. You and your mother will forever be the sinners of the Shi family!” Shi Xiaoyu bellowed in exasperation and agitation.
“Shut up! What rights have you got to criticize my mother? You’re not fit!” Shi Qingzhou yelled at the top of her lungs.
“Why don’t I have any rights to criticize her? Because of your mother, my parents and I have never dared to return to our hometown and acknowledge our extended family members, even until today. Calling her a sinner is an understatement!”
Shi Qingzhou glowered at her, her eyes brimming with resentment that soon vanished as she seemed to be getting a grip on her anger and emotions.
“There isn’t anyone else here. Shi Xiaoyu, drop the act. I know clearly whether my mother implicated the Shi family or the other way around. You don’t have to try and brainwash me all the time.” Shi Qingzhou raised her hand to point a finger at Shi Xiaoyu, dragging the heavy chains across the floor, causing a metallic clanking sound. “Scram and get lost now!!! Get lost and continue being the president’s wife!”
“Look how worked up you are.” Shi Xiaoyu looked at the guards nonchalantly and ordered, “Give her 50 lashes with the whip tonight. I’ll see how she yells when that happens.”
“Yes, Madam,” the guards chorused.
Shi Xiaoyu humphed and walked away slowly to leave the basement.
“Hais…” One of the guards sighed and said, “Why do you always ask for trouble and bring suffering upon yourself?”
“Exactly, you’re not self-aware at all. How obstinate of you. Seriously… c’mon, let’s do it,” said the other.
The two guards picked up a large, thick whip and stared at each other in unison. They then lifted their arms with all their might and whipped her forcefully. The moment the whip landed on Shi Qingzhou’s frail and petite body, she let out an agonized shriek that filled every corner of the basement.
The guards put the whip down after lashing her for less than twenty times.
The reason being that that was already immense torture for a woman whose health was in poor condition.
She had already run out of breath and passed out.
“Shall we apply some medicine for her?”
“Okay.”
Shi Qingzhou lay on the ground with her head cocked toward the side.
All she could think about was her mother.
Her mother was a ravishing beauty back in her days.
Yet, she was branded as an ominous person and burned alive by the uneducated, simply because she was psychic.
The person who spread the word about her supernatural abilities was none other than her own mother-in-law, Shi Qingzhou’s grandmother.
Afterward, Shi Qingzhou’s mother managed to escape.
In order to shun and hide from the people, she fled to an ancient graveyard.
The graveyard was exceptionally spacious, with a night-luminescent pearl hung inside and a coffin placed in the middle.
She opened the coffin to find that there was a corpse inside and a booklet beside it.
It was that very booklet that had given her mother the courage to return and kill everyone who tried to force her into a corner.
However, that resulted in more people coming after her life.
In Shi Qingzhou’s memory, she had never seen her mother cry before.
Yet, she witnessed her mother bawling uncontrollably for the very first time when her father chased the latter out of the house.
She remembered how those people would resort to extreme means in order to kill her mother.
They used her to threaten her mother.
In order to keep her alive, her mother had been willing to be subdued and allowed them to tie her to firewood, after which they drenched her in kerosene and set her on flames.
Back then, her mother had secretly handed her the booklet before her father divorced her and before she was chased out of the house.
Tears welled up in Shi Qingzhou’s eyes.
She was told only that the booklet was precious and that she had to safeguard it at all costs. Shi Qingzhou only came to know about what it was when she was much older.
It was a book about witchcraft.
It allowed one to obtain formidable power within a short period of time, which would enable them to live just like an immortal without having to eat and drink or answer nature’s call.
After her mother’s death, the Shi family relocated and moved away from their hometown.
They had never once returned ever since.
Shi Qingzhou had sneaked out of the house to visit her mother’s grave in the middle of the night a few times before, though she rarely got the chance to.
Her mother had been wrongly accused of being a demon and was branded as an evil witch by her father and family members.
They called her an evil witch capable of casting sinister spells and curses.
Being an adolescent of tender age at the time, she spilled the beans about the booklet in order to prove that her mother was not an evil witch.
Her father then interrogated her about where the booklet was. However, she never once gave him the answer, although he’d tried to force it out of her.
Shi Xiaoyu only had the audacity to lock her up in the basement simply because she knew that Shi Qingzhou’s mother was not capable of witchcraft.
She had forgotten how many times she tried to torture her.
In order to agitate her, Shi Xiaoyu once said to her that their father felt a huge sense of relief upon hearing about her death. She constantly told her that she was better off dead since that would mean that she could no longer bring disaster upon their family.
Although she knew that her father was heartless, she was still devastated and upset to hear those words since he was still her biological father, after all.
She entered the Autumn Palace with the sole purpose of seeking revenge for her mother against the people who ordered her mother killed back then. Those people were none other than Tuoba Rui’s parents. Little did she expect to have fallen in love with Tuoba Shuo and allowed herself to end up in such a pathetic plight.
Life was as such, things would more likely than not turn out to be a far cry from what you had intended.
She initially thought that she no longer had any kin left in this world, but now…
She found out that she still had a daughter.
Shi Qingzhou closed her eyes and allowed her tears to flow freely, clenching her bloodied fists tightly with anger and resentment brewing within her.
—
An Xiaoning did not sleep well at all that night, which was a night full of dreams. Yet, she could not remember what she had dreamed of when she woke up in the morning.
She took a look at the time to find that it was already half past six in the morning. Reminded of the hiking appointment with Tuoba Gucheng, she hurriedly got out of bed to wash up and put on her human skin mask.
She arrived downstairs, only to be greeted with the sight of Tuoba Gucheng leaning against the couch with folded arms.
“Your Highness, am I late?”
“You’re half an hour late. Hurry and go have your breakfast. We’re setting off very soon.”
“Yes, yes,” she said as she scurried toward the dining table. She finished the glass of milk in one go and grabbed a sandwich before leaving.
He walked in front while she followed behind, taking huge bites of the sandwich.
Noticing how unsightly she looked when she was eating, Tuoba Gucheng stared at her with a look of disdain and hissed, “You look so hideous when you’re eating.”
