Qin Ruan stood with arms crossed, her eyebrows slightly raised, a faint smile on her face as she watched Han Kexin making a spectacle of herself.
Her adversary was warning her. With her father and elder brother out of the country, she couldn't threaten Han Kexin.
As for the latter's remarks, they were merely attempts to smear her, to which Ruan had long become accustomed.
Qin Ruan's lips curved, revealing a hint of a naughty smirk.
She casually cleaned her ears, her gaze swept towards Han Kexin, her tone laced with unmistakable sarcasm.
"Han Kexin, are you hard of hearing? Who said I'm fooling around? I'm in a normal relationship with a boyfriend, driven by affection beyond ordinary bounds. Do you want to control that, too? My father doesn't interfere with me, who do you think you are?!"
"Qin Ruan!" Han Kexin's eyes narrowed as she stared coldly at Qin Ruan.
Always under Han Kexin's thumb, Qin Ruan had learned to fight back, and this unexpected resistance made Han Kexin uneasy.
There were several spectators in the hotel corridor.
It was precisely by seizing this opportunity that Han Kexin tried to tarnish Qin Ruan's reputation.
But to her surprise, Qin Ruan didn't retreat into silence, as she used to do.
Qin Ruan knew all too well Han Kexin's schemes. She picked up her phone from the table, scrolled through her contacts to find her father's number, and shot Han Kexin a cold glance.
"Han Kexin, I don't wish to repeat what I've said earlier. Do you choose to leave on your own, or do you need my father to personally evict you?"
There were certain things she didn't mind exposing prematurely, despite the potential damage to the Qin Family's reputation.
If she was unhappy, someone else would keep her company.
Even if Han Kexin's days were numbered, Ruan would be delighted to twist the knife if she could.
Seeing her father's name on Qin Ruan's phone screen, Han Kexin clenched her teeth: "You'll regret this!"
Having said that, she turned around and left in a huff.
She needed to ask her mother what Qin Ruan knew and why she suddenly gained such confidence.
She wondered whether Qin Ruan was bluffing or if she really had some kind of hold over her.
With Han Kexin gone, the room was left empty except for Qin Ruan.
She didn't stay long, cleaned up, and left the hotel without a second thought.
The esteemed gentleman, Master Huo, had fallen ill and the Huo Family had taken him away. There was no point in her staying there.
She wasn't entirely sure what kind of illness he had contracted.
The only reason she knew about this at all was that Master Huo offhandedly mentioned it during one of his visits, while he was paying his respects to her and her son.
He had left in a hurry to go abroad and wouldn't return until a year later.
In her previous life, she had died before he could return.
In this life, everything that belonged to her was off-limits to everyone else, including the father of the child in her belly.
In her previous life, Master Huo had held a deep affection for her and the child, and Qin Ruan had seen it all.
If truth be told, they were tragic lovers, destined to meet but never to be together. Their brief lives had allowed for only a fleeting acquaintance.
Though they had experienced something only a couple could share, they couldn't recognize each other's faces.
Each of them was incapacitated in some way: one under some kind of spell, the other dead drunk. They were indeed a perfect match.
Even if Master Huo couldn't remember her face, a single thread could unravel an entire history.
When everything was exposed, the man who had killed her, her father, forced her elder brother to leave the country and caused her second brother to disappear would suffer eternal torment in Hell.
Qin Ruan agreed with him on one point.
Death was a release for enemies. It was by keeping them alive to endure the torment every day that they would experience real suffering.
Qin Ruan walked alone down the deserted street as dawn broke.
She thought of the nearly hundred years of her afterlife, her bright eyes dimmed, a serene light flickering in their depths.
In order to return, she struck a deal in the solemn Yama Hall.
The price of resurrection was to open her Heavenly Eye, to extend her life with the killing, and to cleanse the world of all demons.