While Daiyu's life continued peacefully, the same could not be said for Xia Xiulan.
The past few months were not looking good for Qiaoling. Another woman had appeared in the life of Cui Cheng and the man had begun to ignore her. While he still supported Qiaoling with a monthly allowance, he no longer called for her at night to warm his bed.
Unable to swallow her looming defeat, she took out her anger on Xiulan. Every night, she would come home drunk and beat her. Xiulan would go to school with new bruises every day but she would try her best to hide it with her clothes or her hair.
A part of it was because she was ashamed. But a larger part of it was because of her pride. She didn't want to admit that she was losing to her mother. She told herself repeatedly that it was okay. That this physical pain was temporary and that it was nothing compared to the psychological burden she carried in her past life.
