Sangmo had never expected Su Dad to be so ruthlessly unsympathetic.
In his heart, interests were indeed the most important thing.
That night, precious incense was lit in Sangmo's room, the bedding became thicker, and even the messy grapevine in the courtyard had been neatly arranged.
This worldly father's affection really came quickly and left just as fast.
Sangmo stood under the vines, looking up at the green fruit.
In the Supreme Heavenly Court's God of Agriculture Hall, there was also a grapevine, with branches much thicker than this one, grown for a thousand years, bearing many large and sweet purple grapes.
Ze Lin would rest in the shade there whenever he had free time.
He was unkempt, always throwing his shoes here and there, one to the east, one to the west, and his outer garment would be carelessly dropped on the stone path.
Sometimes, he would come back from farming, chest exposed and drenched in sweat, and just lie down under the grapevine and sleep until it was dark.
Back then, Sangmo was still little, not even as tall as one of his boots, and found tidying up quite strenuous...
She would always pick the sourest berries from the vine and pour the juice into his half-open mouth.
Every time, Ze Lin would dramatically scrunch up his brow, appearing convulsed with sourness on the ground.
Actually, Sangmo knew that most of the time, he was awake; sometimes, he would even secretly half-open his eyes to observe her.
When Sangmo realized he was awake, she would spread her chubby, short hands and slap his mouth hard.
Ze Lin would then pretend to cry out loudly, "Oh my, trouble indeed, Little Sangmo has learned to hit people!"
Later, as Sangmo grew up, she could arrange his shoes and wash his clothes for him, but Ze Lin suddenly started to pay attention to his appearance, dressing neatly and no longer throwing his shoes around carelessly.
Pulled back from her thoughts, Sangmo withdrew her gaze from the small green fruit and sighed softly.
She turned her head and suddenly saw a figure in a moon-white wide-sleeved robe standing silently under the grape trellis, quietly observing her.
Startled, she quickly assumed an attacking stance, but once she recognized the face hidden in the shadows, she silently lowered her hand.
"What brings Elder Jiang Xiao here?"
Shen Yanqing turned and sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, "You recognize me?"
"Who hasn't heard of Changli Mountain's first Elder Shen Yanqing?" Sangmo walked over and sat down opposite him, "I just don't know when I offended the Elder, to be targeted by you at every turn, and now you have even barged into my boudoir."
Shen Yanqing stared at her intently, "That's not what I'm talking about."
Sangmo thought for a moment; she was certain that at this time, Su Jinyi had never met Shen Yanqing.
Seeing her silent, Shen Yanqing had no choice but to bypass the previous conversation. He reached out and placed a straw figure used for binding hair on the table.
It was a doll that Sangmo had specifically crafted to deal with her second aunt.
She reached out to grab it back quickly, but Shen Yanqing deftly avoided her.
"Why use such evil magic to harm people?"
Being caught using sorcery for the first time, Sangmo was a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment and yelled, "What do you know, give it back to me!"
Shen Yanqing evaded Sangmo's grasping hand, "I'll ask you a question, and if you answer, I'll return it to you."
Sangmo sat back down at his words, "Ask."
"Why pretend to be the bride?"
To this question, Sangmo, in order not to slip up, had practiced countless times in private. Upon hearing Shen Yanqing ask, she responded without hesitation, "I am fond of Gu Chao, he was originally going to marry me."
She saw Shen Yanqing suddenly stiffen, a trace of fierce spite arising in those peerless phoenix eyes. He pursed his lips and said softly, "Good."
Sangmo extended her hand towards him, "Now give it back to me."
Shen Yanqing watched her with those resentful eyes, slowly curving his lips into a smile, "I'll give it back to you now."
As he spoke, he stretched out the hand holding the doll in front of Sangmo and slowly clenched it.
Sangmo's eyes widened in horror, "Are you mad? Stop it!"
.
Meanwhile, the second aunt was sitting in a bathtub filled with a red viscous liquid.
Su Qianqian covered her nose as she sat to one side, "Mother, can you not be so disgusting!"
The second aunt, with a look of enjoyment, scooped up a handful of blood and spread it on her face, "What do you know? The blood of maidens is the best for nourishing the skin. If it weren't for your mother's beauty winning the master's favor, where else in the Su Residence would there be a place for us?"
"Are the families of those girls taken care of?" she asked, her face suddenly turning cold.
"Don't worry, their families have received money, and they won't say a word."
The second aunt nodded in satisfaction, "That's good."
She submerged her entire face into the blood, and when she lifted her head again, it was covered in fresh red.
Su Qianqian wanted to say more, but upon seeing her mother's ghastly face, she couldn't bring herself to speak and turned away in disgust, "I'm leaving."
Remembering that Su Jinyi's mother was hailed as a hero who resisted Xie Sui, her heart filled with even greater indignation and resentment towards her second aunt deepened.
She slammed the door and left, unaware that at that moment, her mother was already dead in the bathtub.
It was not until the next afternoon that the death of the second aunt spread throughout the residence.
It was her personal maid who, when she went to serve in the second aunt's bedroom in the morning and found no one there, ran to report to Su Dad, who then sent people to search, only to discover the dead body in the bath.
Coincidentally, when the maid reported back to Su Dad, he was entertaining distinguished guests.
And among those guests was Shen Yanqing.
He, very helpfully, joined in the search, which made the matter all the more public.
When the second aunt was lifted from the bathtub, her lower body with a chain of bloody things attached, all her ribs and backbone broken, her body severed in two, combined with the blood all over her body, the sight was unspeakably horrifying.
The coroner found that the chain of things was her internal organs.
Among the guests upstairs, one turned pale upon hearing these findings, while others promptly covered their eyes, "My goodness, no wonder the whole bathtub turned red; it's too cruel."
A family head scoffed, "Humph, it seems the blood in this tub isn't all her own."