Lu Xiang suddenly raised her head. Her face was sallow and haggard, without any signs of vitality. The left side of her face was already destroyed, and the scar looked ferocious. It was terrifying.
Even so, her black eyes were still beautiful and moving. However, at this moment, her eyes shot out a cold and bloodthirsty light as she glared at the door angrily.
At this moment, a beautiful young woman stood at the entrance of the dilapidated house.
Her black hair was like a cloud, and it was tied into a bun. Her head was surrounded by pearls and jade. When the wind blew, it made a pleasant sound.
The woman had a beautiful face, bright eyes, and white teeth. Her skin was as fair as jade, and her eyes were filled with countless charms. Behind her were several maids and old servants, all of whom had respectful expressions on their faces.
However, when the servants saw the disheveled and ugly Lu Xiang in front of them, their eyes revealed mockery.
Mrs. Xiao, who used to be high and mighty, was now a detestable prisoner.
"Lu Mingzhu, Lu Mingzhu…" Lu Xiang gritted her teeth and bit her lips tightly. Her pale lips suddenly turned red, and the hatred in her eyes burned brighter and brighter.
When Lu Mingzhu heard Lu Xiang roar her name like a ferocious beast, she felt a sense of superiority. She clearly hated her, but she could not do anything to her.
She pretended to pat her cloak that did not have even a drop of snow on it. Her beautiful eyes casually swept across the room and looked at Lu Xiang sympathetically. She said in a soft voice, "Brother Heng is really too much. He actually let Sister stay in such a dilapidated house. Look at this door and window. Sister must be frozen. Someone, quickly bring the charcoal basin in and warm Madam up… Oh, I forgot. Sister has already been abandoned by Brother Heng and is no longer the Madam of the Xiao family."
Lu Mingzhu pretended to be enlightened. She covered her mouth with her hand and laughed heartily.
Soon, two old women carried a charcoal basin into the house and placed it in front of Lu Xiang.
The wood charcoal burned, and the choking smell of smoke drilled into Lu Xiang's nose, making her already weak body cough uncomfortably.
There was a pot on top of the charcoal basin. She couldn't see what was cooking inside, but she could hear the bubbling sound.
"Bah, you don't have to pretend to be kind," Lu Xiang said angrily.
Lu Mingzhu elegantly stroked her hair and glanced arrogantly at Lu Xiang's angry face. She chuckled and said, "Look at what you're saying, Sister. When have I not treated you well? I'm not as ruthless as you. Now, everyone in the capital knows that as the Madam of the Xiao family, you're ruthless. You tried to harm Sister and even attacked the child in my stomach. You're not human. A vicious person like you should be dismembered. Divorce is too easy of a punishment for you."
As Lu Mingzhu spoke, she slowly walked into the house. She walked to the burning wood basin and reached out her fair hand to warm herself.
"Nonsense. I didn't kill your child. You were the one who accidentally fell…" Halfway through her sentence, Lu Xiang seemed to understand something. Her pupils constricted as she stared at Lu Mingzhu dumbfoundedly. "You did it on purpose. You deliberately fell and used the child to frame me."
Lu Mingzhu's expression instantly stiffened. The room was terrifyingly quiet, and the howling cold wind outside could be heard clearly.
"You're right. I did it on purpose. If you can't bear to part with the child, you can't trap the wolf. Brother Heng said that he would give me the position of his wife, but he hasn't divorced you even after such a long time. Since he hasn't made up his mind, I'll do it for him." She suppressed her voice and gritted her teeth. A ferocious expression appeared on her beautiful face. At the mention of the lost child, Lu Mingzhu felt even more sorrowful.
Lu Xiang looked at the sorrow in Lu Mingzhu's eyes and felt that it was extremely ironic of her.
"You actually… actually…"
Lu Xiang's eyes widened in shock. Lu Mingzhu was so vicious. In order to frame her, she did not hesitate to kill her own child, even if the child was just a piece of meat in Lu Mingzhu's stomach then.
"Where's Muheng? I want to see him. I'm innocent. Let me see Muheng—" Lu Xiang suddenly shouted. She kept struggling and the chains that locked her made an ear-piercing sound.
"Pfft!" Lu Mingzhu suddenly sneered. Her gaze was like a cold lake that was bone-chilling. "Sister, you're really naive. Brother Heng saw you push me with his own eyes. How can you say that you're innocent?" As she spoke, she suddenly bent down and leaned closer to Lu Xiang. Because she was close, the stench from Lu Xiang's body made Lu Mingzhu frown in disgust. She raised her hand and covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief. She whispered in Lu Xiang's ear,
"I advise you to give up. You've been locked up here for so many days. Every day, you've been clamoring to see Brother Heng to clarify your grievances. Even I got wind of it, so how could Brother Heng not hear it? In the end, he doesn't want to see you. Lu Xiang, don't you understand? Brother Heng doesn't have you in his heart at all. When he was with me, the most he said was that you were boring and disgusted him. I heard that you've been married for three years and haven't slept together. Don't you notice such obvious disgust? Heh, Lu Xiang, you're really stupid…"
Lu Mingzhu's voice was very soft and gentle, but it was like a pair of invisible claws that gripped Lu Xiang's neck tightly, making her unable to breathe.
"Shut up. That's impossible. He said that he loves me. He…" Lu Xiang's pale face turned even paler. Shock and shock intertwined in her eyes.
Her tone was self-righteous, but there was a hint of sorrow in her voice.
With Lu Mingzhu's words, many scenes that she had once ignored gradually became clearer. In the end, it became a sharp blade that cut open her chest cruelly. Then, her heart seemed to be cut out and stomped into a bloody heap on the ground.
Within a hundred days after her grandmother's death, Xiao Muheng married her. He said that he missed her so much that he couldn't wait for her to mourn for three years. He was worried that there would be a change in these three years, so he couldn't wait to ask for Madam Liu's permission to get married in the first period of mourning. His father listened to Madam Liu and there was nothing his father wouldn't agree to if she asked.
On the day of the wedding, Xiao Muheng said that they had no choice but to get married at this time. However, he was his grandmother's grandson-in-law now, so he should mourn with her for her grandmother for the full three years. Hence, they lived in separate rooms for the past three years. Since they were already married, they would live together for a long time and so, three years of living apart would be nothing in comparison.
Lu Xiang was infatuated with Xiao Muheng, so she agreed to whatever Xiao Muheng said.
But the truth?
The deep love they once shared became a huge joke at this moment.
She thought that Xiao Muheng doted on her and did not touch her because he did not want her to be labeled as unfilial. She did not expect him to hate her from the beginning to the end.
If Xiao Muheng really had feelings for her, why would he not listen to her explanation and lock her up without any explanation?
Without Xiao Muheng's approval, how would the servants dare to torture and humiliate her?
She was immersed in Xiao Muheng's fabricated feelings and refused to wake up, so she lied to herself.
Now that she had woken up from her dream, countless images surfaced in Lu Xiang's mind. All these years, Xiao Muheng had looked at her with a hint of disgust in his eyes. However, at that time, she was immersed in the lie he had fabricated and had never noticed it. However, at this moment, that look of disgust became clearer and clearer in her mind, making her realize something.