Xiao Rufeng knew she was not welcomed, but she didn't expect she would be so unpopular in the family. No one in the Xiao family was willing to stick up for her; instead, they joined many outsiders in questioning her where Xiao Rufei was.
She was sent back by the woman named Zhi Po, so she had no idea where Xiao Rufei and those people were, either.
Finally Xiao Rufeng was detained in the dungeon of the Xiao family. Her relatives threatened that if she didn't tell them the whereabouts of Xiao Rufei, she would not be let out.
The dungeon had been set up to be difficult to escape.
Before Xiao Rufeng could think of a way to escape, she heard Xiao Rufei and Lord Seven had returned already. But Xiao Rufei was seriously injured and her life was in danger.
With a joint search and rescue by the Royal School and various major families, the rest of the students also came back one after another.
Xiao Rufei was trapped in a coma all the while. The Xiao family invited plenty of famous healers from all over the continent to treat her, but none of them could cure Xiao Rufei.
Xiao Rufei's mother, driven by great resentment and anger, relieved all her wrath upon Xiao Rufeng. Xiao Rufeng was fed medication to suppress her spirit force, thus she didn't have any strength to resist. Each time she would be tortured almost to death.
But deep in Xiao Rufeng's heart, she held an unyielding belief. As a former dignified killer, she crossed over here with much more advanced ideas in mind. Now at the mercy of these people, she felt angry and humiliated. She kept thinking of an opportunity to get herself out.
Unfortunately, before she could escape the Xiao family, she would be discovered and taken back every time.
"Xiao Rufeng, if you dare to run again, I will break your legs." Xiao Rufei's mother stood opposite the iron bars of the cell and condescended to Xiao Rufeng, accompanied by girl servants. "Rufei is home now, but if anything bad happens to her, I'll let you offer your life."
Thinking of how weak Xiao Rufei was now, Mother Xiao couldn't help hating the person in front of her. "It's all your fault, loser! It's not enough for you to bring death to your parents, so now you want to murder my Rufei!"
Xiao Rufeng's body was fully covered in injuries. She looked up slowly to the woman outside, curling up the corners of her mouth, and coldness gathered in her deep eyes.
For this moment, I will let you know the consequences, I promise.
Mother Xiao met with Xiao Rufeng's eyes unintentionally, and she was suddenly startled a bit to take a step back. But she calmed herself immediately. "Don't forget your identity, loser! You go in there and beat her as violently as possible. Let her know who she is. What do you think the Xiao family is? Your home? Next time, if she escapes again, you will all be punished!"
The last sentence was spoken to the guards.
Seeing Xiao Rufeng being punched and kicked, Mother Xiao could finally vent half of her anger. She sneered again and then left the dirty dungeon with the servant girls in tow.
Xiao Rufeng was even more covered in injuries now and lay there weakly. She clutched the straw strewn on the ground, eyes filled with unprecedented hatred.
The Xiao family… and that Zhi Po…
Just wait. I will have my revenge.
...
Ming Shu had stayed in the city for a few days. She didn't hide her identity, though. Since she certainly would be recognized, at least it would be known she was from Death Valley.
Not surprisingly, the Xiao family visited her for Xiao Rufei's sickness. But Ming Shu didn't expect the Bai family would also come to her.
"Miss, the Lord of the Bai family came in person, will you meet him?" Hui Xue stood beside Ming Shu. Although she didn't want to see anyone from the Bai family herself, she had to listen to what the Miss wanted.
"Have the people from the Xiao family gone?"
"Not yet, they're all there." Hui Xue glanced outside. "Now that the whole Xiling City knows you're here, I'm afraid it won't take a long time for those visitors to flock."
The reputation of Death Valley was definitely not for nothing, and the number of people who wanted to ask for treatment was just large enough to queue around Xiling City in many circles.
"Who does the Bai family want to treat?"
"They didn't say." Hui Xue shook her head, moving her eyes around, and guessed, "It's possibly… about what happened to Bai Yanran?"
Bai Yanran was the most favored and valued in the Bai family. Now the Lord of the Bai family came to the door personally. Except for Bai Yanran, who else it could be about?
Ming Shu rubbed her chin lightly. "That's interesting."
So does the Miss want to meet him or not? Hui Xue wondered.
These people all gathered outside the inn, blocking the way. She suspected that within a short time, the inn owner would come up to drive them away for making trouble.
Ming Shu didn't give a certain answer, and Hui Xue didn't dare to ask again. Normally, the Miss was a reasonable and insightful master, except before, when she was obeying Bai Yanran's orders weirdly.
And recently, the Miss was still a bit weird, smiling more and eating more, but at least the former reasonable and insightful Miss had come back.
The Miss would tell her when she had made a decision.
Hui Xue was still a blind fan of her Miss. Poor innocent girl, she would never have thought her Miss had long been replaced by another person.
"Oh, right, Miss, here's the invitation sent by Drunken Flower Pavilion." Hui Xue remembered and took out a gilded invitation card covered in carved flower patterns from her sleeve to hand to Ming Shu.
Three enlarged words, Drunken Flower Pavilion, were particularly prominent on the invitation.
Drunken Flower Pavilion?
Inviting her?
What, does he want to grab my snack again?
Ming Shu opened the invitation with her index finger; nothing strange was written on it. It was only inviting Ming Shu to attend the opening ceremony of Drunken Flower Pavilion ten days from now.
Well, Ming Shu just destroyed his place, and now he was going to open another already?
Are the rich people now all willful like this?
Impressive.
Ming Shu turned over the invitation again and again, suspecting it may hide some unknown message. But it truly was just an invitation. She turned back to Hui Xue and asked uncertainly, "He's inviting me to destroy his new place?"
Hui Xue was a little shocked and carefully said, "Well, I think it's more like he's showing off."
Wasn't he saying, You worked hard to destroy my place, but I could just open another one in an instant. And he should be so generous to send an invitation to the Miss. If this was not showing off, what else could it be?
Ming Shu fell into silence for a moment. "What's the grudge between Death Valley and Drunken Flower Pavilion?"
It might be a coincidence that the man had taken the egg; perhaps he needed its force. But after that, his disdainful tone and provocations both seemed to hint at something. If the two groups were not enemies to each other, then that man was definitely playing stupid.
Hui Xue frowned as she searched her memories. "As far as I know, there shouldn't be such a thing. But I don't know too much about some stuff in the Valley. Everyone knows the Drunken Flower Pavilion is a brothel, but it also dabbles in many other industries. It's an extremely large force. No one dares to disrespect it willfully."
"Is he very powerful?" Before, Ming Shu had fought with that man, and he indeed was disadvantaged. He didn't seem to have hidden his real strength.
"Not exactly, I heard his force is not strong. But he practices an odd technique which can control people's hearts and minds. The controlled person will do whatever they are told and has no means to rebel, it's frightening."
Ming Shu thought of the man's appearance before, and she was suddenly covered in goosebumps all over.
Drunken Flower Pavilion, this force was mentioned in the story several times, but it wasn't the main point. Later in the plot, it didn't appear at all. Apparently the Pavilion and its master were not important.
"What's his name?"
"Qing Chen, everyone called him Lord Qing Chen or Master Qing Chen."
"His image doesn't exactly match his name." How could that man use the name Qing Chen, his appearance had nothing to do with "unworldly," it was a total waste. Ming Shu pushed the invitation to the edge of the table using her index finger, and as she lifted her finger the invitation dropped to the ground. Ming Shu then smiled slightly. "It must be a final dinner, too dangerous, I'm not going."
She was a party person.
However, the man had a criminal record of grabbing her snacks, she'd better not go there.
I have to resist the temptation.
Everything can be sacrificed except my snacks.