In a shop with tightly closed doors and windows on a street near the market, a black-clothed girl's red pupils stared intently through the only clear crack in the frosted glass. Her gaze seemed to still see the young man's figure through that gap.

She picked up a pencil and wrote on a piece of paper torn from somewhere, alternating between heavy and light strokes, afraid that the sharp pencil tip might easily break.

Just like those useless people in the family who were still smugly thinking they controlled everything.

—

"Only after not seeing you did I understand what 'living' meant.

Like a trapped beast with its spine removed, every breath carries the smell of blood, the blood vessels under my skin are rotting, even my heartbeat feels perfunctory.

Some people say I've gone mad, but they don't understand. That light didn't go out, it followed you.

Brother, I've been looking for you for four years and four months, walking the streets you walked, stepping on the bricks you stepped on, sitting withered in the corner of the coffee shop you used to frequent.

I'm like an old doll ruined by water, flesh rotted, threads all broken, only clutching tightly to that one thread—

You.

Do you know? I secretly went back there to look again. The plants on your windowsill withered, the streetlight downstairs was fixed, even the breakfast shop selling soy milk at the entrance added another table.

I remember all of this, but I could only stand in the tree shadows across the street, looking at that house no one would ever enter again, watching the curtains flutter in the wind.

They always whisper in my ear, saying when you took that money you never looked back, saying I was just a bone you chewed up and spat out.

I saw you living in a villa, even cohabiting with a maid. I really wondered then if you had changed."

The afternoon sunlight gradually moved, slanting through the window and shining on the bar counter, casting window frame shadows on this crookedly torn paper.

Writing to this point, her hand gripping the pencil suddenly tightened, even trembling slightly, until her fingertips turned white, then suddenly loosened.

The hook of the character "了" was drawn too long, the end slightly trembling. Unfathomable emotions rippled in her blood-red eyes. She quickly turned her face away and took a deep breath.

When she turned back, her lower lip had already been bitten into a deep red mark by her teeth, almost bleeding.

The pencil was spun around her fingertips and repositioned at a steadier angle.

"But I knew that figure running frantically through the streets was you, running, then roaring my name. You really hadn't forgotten.

To lose control like that over a ridiculous fake, if there weren't tremendous difficulties involved, how could you bear to leave?

But I can't get close."

Writing to this point, the dull thudding of high heels on wooden boards came from the staircase behind her.

The sound was unhurried, as if each step carried elegance and the confidence of having victory in hand.

A flash of disgust and viciousness crossed Wen Ruohan's blood-red eyes, but it disappeared instantly, becoming calm and undisturbed.

"Little Han~ my good daughter~"

Before this sickeningly seductive voice arrived, there was the woman's rich perfume scent, mixed with the nauseating... hormonal atmosphere between men and women.

Wen Ruohan calmly turned her head, her emotionless gaze sweeping over the woman's disheveled clothing and her pallid face from excessive sexual activity.

"Mother."

Wen Ruohan swallowed the waste paper that had been crumpled into a ball, slightly lowered her head, and spoke respectfully.

The woman just tidied her messy clothing on her own, her hand holding a USB drive carelessly caressing it.

"When I went to see that poor brother of yours last week, he asked for more..."

The woman's hand teasingly brushed across her chest.

"Too bad he still couldn't satisfy me. Such a pity, such a pity..."

Her trailing tone was extremely light, like spider silk tightly winding around a neck.

Wen Ruohan suddenly looked up, breathing rapidly, clenching her fists tightly. "What did you do to him?" Her voice carried undisguisable trembling.

The woman chuckled softly.

"What could I do? He's quite comfortable now."

She leaned forward.

"But if someone refuses to be sensible—"

"I understand." Wen Ruohan interrupted her words. She saw satisfaction flash in the woman's eyes.

"Good that you understand." The woman straightened up, her tone returning to its usual calm, as if what just happened was merely casual conversation. "At the upcoming family banquet, regarding the credit for the southern trade routes, you know what to say."

The woman looked at this daughter who had once lived at the bottom of society and been contaminated by that lowly life, now trained into such an obedient appearance, and couldn't help feeling secretly proud.

Fortunately, after the old family head announced the cultivation of a new generation within the family as successors, she had found this product of a one-night stand from years past.

Originally she had only wanted to bring her back to have a share of the pie, but unexpectedly this beautiful child was surprisingly clever and intelligent. Combined with the touching story she had fabricated, within just a few years, she had gained that old man's favor.

More importantly, she still had a handle to manipulate at will. Although this handle had been protected by certain people two years ago, all her planted spies had been pulled out.

Was it her?

The woman's seductive eyes swept over Wen Ruohan's pure and lovely face. Thanks to her resembling that man's face but having eyes as seductive as hers, no wonder the old master favored this child the most.

But it didn't matter. With just a fabricated lie every so often, she became as obedient as a little dog.

"This time the old master rewarded you by sending you to Spring City University. You must seize this opportunity well and not disappoint the family."

She raised her hand, fingertips tracing across Wen Ruohan's cheek.

Wen Ruohan watched her turn and leave, the compliance in her eyes instantly transforming to indifference, then turning to mockery and viciousness in those blood-red pupils.

The corners of her mouth curved into a smile.

Her tightly clenched hands loosened, blood seeping from her palms.

Fingernails digging into palms hurts, and pain lets you know you haven't completely rotted yet. Those self-righteous people always thought they controlled everything, but they had never tasted what it was like to have someone's name growing in their bones and flesh.

Viciousness flashed through Wen Ruohan's seductive red pupils, followed by tenderness, and then something resembling madness.

Wait a little longer.

Wait until I wrap this shameful madness properly in a respectable skin, wait until I can walk up to you with a smile, just like before, wait until I take your hand and we return together to that little house where we held each other for warmth.

Wait until I sweep those debauched beasts in human clothing into the garbage heap in the most torturous way, wait until I grasp that family's decaying power and wealth entirely in my hands.

Soon, very soon.

By then, what would that bit of money matter? If you want stars, I could pluck them for you.

You see, without you, I don't even know how to 'live.' So I came, standing where you can't see me, waiting for a chance to touch you.

Even if I have to break all my fingernails and swallow all the blood in my throat, it doesn't matter.

After all, I've long had no other way to live.

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