Chapter Fourteen Playthings

Qiao Yuan stared intently at Cheng Qing.

He smiled weakly. "Sakura Sato, you're sure I wouldn't dare kill you, aren't you?"

Cheng Qing slowly straightened up, her smile gradually fading, replaced by a layer of icy calm.

“It’s not that I’m certain, it’s that I’m not afraid.” Cheng Qing bent down to look at him. “Qiao Yuan, have you ever experienced going from heaven to hell, from a carefree princess to a slave? Do you know what it’s like to be kept in a sheepfold, working during the day and being bullied at night? Have you ever experienced being played with for two pieces of bread? And all of this was caused by someone who sent me to buy honey, who then kidnapped me. From that moment on, I told myself that I would never let that person get away with it!”

But in those eyes, there was no longer any gentleness, only a bottomless abyss of coldness and a desperate madness.

Qiao Yuan looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Isn't it good now? We've completely broken off relations. She doesn't have to pretend to be deeply in love with you anymore, and you don't have to have any illusions about her. All these years, she's only ever had Bai Mu in her heart, so why should you be delusional?" Cheng Qing suddenly straightened up and said.

Qiao Yuan's eyes were filled with coldness.

Cheng Qing smiled dismissively and walked downstairs.

"Where are you going?" Qiao Yuan asked, but even his question sounded weak and powerless. He probably realized that he was just caught in a whirlpool and powerless to do anything about it. He was just a small pawn.

Cheng Qing turned and smiled at him, "Didn't I say there's no need to pretend anymore? You treat me like a tool, and in my eyes you're the same. Of course I have my own place to go."

She went downstairs.

Ah Chen stood at the top of the stairs, looking at her with eyes full of contempt and anger.

Cheng Qing simply smiled at him and then slowly walked away.

...

Cheng Qing quietly left the Qiao residence and went straight to Sato's house.

Cheng Qing had someone announce her arrival at the front gate, then took a bath, changed her clothes, and donned a Japanese kimono before slowly following the person to Sato's room.

She shuffled along in her wooden clogs, following behind the man toward Sato's house.

It wasn't until a few years ago, when she put on a Japanese kimono, that she realized the woman wasn't trying to walk fast, but rather that she simply couldn't. The kimono was empty underneath, so that the owner of the house could satisfy his desires at any time.

As Cheng Qing walked, a look of disgust appeared on her face. Only when Sato opened the door did she put on a sweet smile, as if it were a mask.

The heavy oak doors of the Sato residence slammed shut behind Cheng Qing.

The person who had led the way left.

“Father,” Cheng Qing said respectfully in Japanese, looking at Sato Ichiro.

Sato raised his gaze, which held a scrutinizing and slightly amused look, and looked at her.

"Sakura-chan, you haven't been coming to see me very often lately. If I hadn't specifically called you to come over, would you have even remembered me?"

Cheng Qingyan asked, "What is Father talking about?"

"How's the matter with Qiao Yuan going?"

"Today, Lin Tang and Chen Kan should both believe in my identity as Gu Manqing, and they also have complete faith in everything that happened at the dock. Qiao Yuan should give up on Lin Tang now."

Sato clapped his hands and laughed, "You did a great job!"

"Father, you flatter me."

"Sakura, you haven't been coming to see your father as often lately! Could it be that you've really fallen for our Mr. Qiao?"

“Father, I know you’ve always wanted to recruit Qiao Yuan for your purposes,” Cheng Qing said softly, her voice sweet. “I think we can try to win him over, but… sometimes he’s not so obedient… so naturally, I’ll have to put in a lot of effort…”

Sato smiled and said, "Capable people tend to be disobedient, while obedient people are often not very capable. That's human nature."

Cheng Qing deliberately asked, "But Father, I don't understand, with so many useless people in Jiangcheng, why do you insist on having someone as difficult as Qiao Yuan? You've given him so much time and money, but you still haven't completely won him over!"

Sato shrugged and laughed, "What do you know? That gang of thugs in Jiangcheng has been dealt with cleanly. Rather than dealing with a bunch of rabble, it's better to control Qiao Yuan. He's young, ambitious, and talented—exactly the kind of talent our Great Japanese Empire needs!"

Cheng Qing lowered her eyes, but there was a hint of pride in them.

Sato stood up, grabbed her chin, and forced her to look up at him. "Sakura-chan, tell me, when you were by Qiao Yuan's side, did you tell me everything about him?"

"Of course..." Cheng Qing was about to speak in her defense when Sato suddenly stood up!

"Stop with your pathetic schemes!" Sato's voice suddenly rose, filled with impatience and disdain.

His rough hands gripped the front of Cheng Qing's cheongsam tightly, the silk groaning under the weight. "What do you think you are? A piece of trash from a brothel. If you hadn't been sent here back then, and I hadn't thought you were somewhat useful, would I have let you stay? You dare to point fingers at me and tell me how to do things?"

The sharp sound of tearing silk shattered the deathly silence of the room.

Cheng Qing felt a chill on her chest as the delicate buttons popped off, and the expensive silk was roughly torn open, revealing a plain-colored petticoat and a patch of glaring skin underneath.

Overwhelmed by immense shame and fear, her body trembled violently and uncontrollably.

Sato's hands didn't stop; instead, they tightened even more, as if he wanted to tear her apart. "In my eyes, you're not even as lowly as the lowest prostitute in a brothel! At least a prostitute understands that her duty is to please men, not to try and control the game!"

With his other hand, he suddenly grabbed Cheng Qing's chin, the force almost crushing her bones, forcing her to look up at him. His eyes were filled with utter contempt. "A plaything should be treated like a plaything! Don't even think about having thoughts, and don't even think about using me!"

A sharp pain shot through Cheng Qing's jaw, causing her vision to go black. Physiological tears blurred her vision, but amidst this extreme humiliation and fear, an even colder, desperate ruthlessness surged up from the darkest corner of her heart, instantly overwhelming all weakness.

She even caught a fleeting glimpse of a desire for destruction itself in those crazed eyes.

She suddenly grinned, ignoring the excruciating pain in her chin, and let out a broken yet sharp low laugh, mixed with the smell of blood.

"Ha..." she managed to squeeze out, each word like blood froth ground from the depths of her throat, "I... am a plaything... yes... but I will always be loyal to you..."

Sato's movements suddenly stopped.

The room was deathly silent, save for Cheng Qing's suppressed breathing and the faint sound of silk shreds slipping through her fingers.

The next moment, Sato scrutinized her crazed smile, a mixture of tears and blood, but his movements became more violent, as if he wanted to pierce through her skin and go straight into the burning ashes deep within her soul.

Cheng Qing looked up at the sky, a few strands of her hair clinging to her sweaty forehead, her eyes empty and blank, but she was just enduring it.

endure……

As in all these years, I've endured the rudeness, stupidity, and incompetence of one man after another...

They thought they could control her, but in reality, she was controlling them!

Sato lay on top of her, his face flushed, breathing heavily like a wild beast. Then he suddenly pushed her away. Cheng Qing was caught off guard and rolled off the tatami mat, crashing into the cold wall. Her torn clothes were completely exposed, revealing large areas of glaring skin.

Ignoring her shame, she bit her lower lip hard and used all her strength to sit up, her gaze meeting Sato's without flinching. The intense pain and cold made her tremble slightly, but the mad flame in her eyes burned even brighter.

Sato slowly rose, tidying his clothes with an elegant demeanor that contrasted sharply with his earlier tyranny. He strolled to the heavy mahogany table, picked up a cold white porcelain teacup, and casually ran his fingertips along the rim.

Cheng Qing's heart sank suddenly. The madness that had sustained her seemed to be halved in an instant, and immense fear gripped her heart once more.

His fingers slid to her bare shoulder, pressed down hard, and his sharp nails almost pierced her skin.

Cheng Qing groaned in pain, her body stiff as a stone.

“Sakura-chan, you have to prove to me that you’re not just a bunch of flammable trash.” Sato’s voice was like a devil’s whisper, every word striking Cheng Qing’s taut nerves. “Go back to Qiao Yuan’s side. Like before, be his docile, shadowy concubine. Pass on everything you see and hear, every subtle change in him, everyone he comes into contact with… especially the movements of Lin Jintang and Chen Kan, without missing a single detail.”

He abruptly withdrew his hand, his eyes turning cold and distant once more: "You only have this one chance. Let me see if you, this match, can actually... ignite the great fire I desire."

He turned around, his back to Cheng Qing, and waved his hand as if shooing away an annoying fly.

"Get out. Clean yourself up."

Cheng Qing wrapped the plain shawl she had temporarily used to cover her tattered clothes tightly around herself, lowered her head, and almost pressed herself against the wall as she quietly left Sato's residence.

The icy night wind pierced through the thin fabric, sending shivers down my spine, but the chill was nothing compared to the deathly ashes in my heart.

Cheng Qing walked very lightly, as if afraid of disturbing something, or as if trying to shrink himself into the shadows of this deep mansion and become that inconspicuous shadow again.

Passing through the familiar corridor, she deliberately avoided the brightly lit main path, wandering through the shadows of artificial hills and flowering trees. The places on her chin and shoulders where Sato had pinched her still throbbed with a burning pain, mixed with the sharp sound of tearing silk.