Chapter 57 Looking at her

The moment Ruan Yi closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembled.

Buried deep in my mind, the sharpest fragments of childhood memories, like rusty blades, unexpectedly slash through my consciousness.

The study in the villa was eerily quiet.

The only sound was the whimpering of the body as it was dragged across the ground.

The man grabbed the young maid by the hair, his knuckles turning white, and dragged her toward the desk.

The maid's scalp was pulled back, revealing her thin neck. Her cries were shrill, but the man slapped her hard across the face, making her hoarse, and blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

"It's so noisy," the man said in a low voice.

His handsome face was now contorted with rage.

"You dare refuse me? You think you can choose?"

The woman following behind slowly walked in, lightly tracing the door frame with her fingertips before closing the door behind her.

The woman was dressed in a well-fitting maid's uniform, but wore bright red lipstick that was incongruous with her status. Her makeup was glamorous and alluring, and her facial expression seemed completely numb.

She watched as the young maid was pinned to the edge of the desk, her skirt roughly torn, her gaze indifferent as if what was happening before her was commonplace.

She was once this girl.

After all, she was the most sensible mistress of the male owner, and the deepest secret hidden in this villa.

I am currently witnessing an atrocity that has nothing to do with me.

The young maid's resistance grew weaker and weaker, and she gradually despaired amidst the painful abuse.

The sound of tearing fabric, the pitiful cries... these sounds pierced the space under the desk like needles.

It pierced the little girl's ear, which was hidden under the desk.

She followed the toy remote-controlled kitten into the room.

The cat's plastic paws scurried across the floor, eventually getting stuck in the gap between the desk and the floor. It crawled in to retrieve them.

Before I could even leave, I stumbled upon this scene.

Her small body curled up in the shadows under the table. She knew very well that the man who had abused her was her father, who loved her dearly.

She tried to cover her ears, but found her fingers were shaking uncontrollably.

The young maid's wails grew increasingly desperate before abruptly ceasing.

The little girl held her breath and closed her eyes very tightly.

She heard footsteps approaching, and a pair of feet in high heels stopped by the desk, the heels sharp and thin.

The little girl bit her lip tightly, daring not to let go even when she tasted the rust, for fear of making the slightest sound.

She dared not look up; every second was torture.

She didn't know how much time had passed, until the young maid's movements had completely disappeared, leaving only silence. Gathering all her strength, she cautiously raised her eyes...

My breathing suddenly stopped.

The woman bent over, head down, neither smiling nor speaking, but simply staring intently at her.

A very subtle, yet incredibly eerie, curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Looking up from under the table, all you could see was that face split in two by the sunlight, one half blindingly white, the other half shrouded in shadow.

The woman's face was as white as plaster, but her lips were frighteningly red. Her eyes were large, but because of her bent-over posture, the corners of her mouth were turned up in a deep arc, like a gaping wound.

There was no surprise, no pity in her eyes, only an almost cruel indifference.

She knew the girl was there.

He was always above the girl's head, watching her.

The woman even adjusted her posture, bringing her almost eerie face closer to the little girl.

The little girl's heart suddenly stopped beating. She wanted to scream, but her throat felt blocked, and she could only gasp for breath.

The scene before her eyes began to spin, the woman's face distorted in the backlight, her eyes like black holes, threatening to suck her in.

With a "thud," the young girl lost consciousness.

"She actually fainted from fright." The woman straightened up, speaking as if it were something insignificant.

The man kicked the unconscious young maid on the ground, walked over, glanced under the table, and frowned.

"Xiao Yi is here? Why didn't you say so sooner!"

"You were busy when I found out, so I didn't dare to bother you."

The man knelt down, his fingers tracing his daughter's pale cheeks. The emotion in his eyes was hard to discern—whether it was more heartache or impatience.

"Let's see if she's forgotten by tomorrow. Even if she does, what does she know? She didn't see the scene anyway, so at most she'll just think it was a nightmare."

Outside the door, a young boy stood at the end of the corridor.

He had been searching everywhere for his sister, but she was nowhere to be found.

The door couldn't block out the sounds from inside the study; the desperate cries, insults, and low laughter from before pierced his ears like sharp needles.

The little boy's innocent face was expressionless, filled with a calmness beyond his years, his eyelashes casting a cold, hard shadow beneath his eyes.

He quietly turned around and walked towards the path the lady of the house would take to get home.

The next day, the villa's real mistress overturned the dining table and smashed the tea set against the man's head.

After settling the young maid who had been bullied and handling everything, she finally got the man out of the villa.

The little girl woke up in her own bed.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains and shone on her small face. She blinked, her mind blank, as if it had been completely erased with an eraser.

She remembered remote-controlled kittens, remembered looking for them yesterday, but couldn't remember where she looked or why they were lying under her desk.

I have no recollection of the woman's eerie face or the mournful cries from the study.

When extreme fear breaks through a child's psychological limits, the brain automatically activates a defense mechanism to protect the vulnerable child.

A heavy gate slammed shut, locking that memory—which could have destroyed her—deep within her subconscious.

She will remember the villa, her father, the maid, and even the remote-controlled kitten.

But what was lost were those few hours in the study—that void, soaked in violence, desire, and malice, enough to tear apart the fragile soul of a young child.

Even today, many years later.

Similar scenes, equally grotesque faces, like a key being inserted into a lock, shattered memories are reopened amidst the deafening roar.

Her eyelashes fluttered again, and Ruan Yi suddenly opened her eyes.

Everything in my vision was swaying, the halo of the chandelier blended into a blurry white, and my face was already icy cold from being soaked with tears.

Those long-forgotten images still explode in my mind.

Her face was deathly pale, her lips were crimson, and there was suffocating darkness under the desk. Memories flooded her like a dam breaking.

She remembered.

That face, worn smooth by time yet still radiant, was clearly that of the numb woman from the study years ago.

It was her, it was her who watched her father commit violence, it was her who stared at her with that eerie look, and it was her...

He had been drugging his mother!

"It's her..."

But it wasn't just her; it's obvious who truly wanted her mother dead.

Fear and pain remain, but what surges even more intensely now is hatred.

I hate my father's beastly behavior, I hate this woman's aiding and abetting evil, and I hate myself for forgetting for so many years.

Ruan Yi suddenly pointed at the maid, her voice trembling as she squeezed out the words through clenched teeth.

"It's her! Fan Min! She's Cheng Huaiyuan's mistress! She's the one who's been drugging Mom!"

The woman's expression changed drastically; her gaze towards Ruan Yi instantly turned terrified and increasingly panicked.

Why did I suddenly remember that!

The woman turned and ran towards the door, desperately trying to escape the room.

Don't let her go!

Feeling the person in his arms suddenly tense up, Gu Zhi tightened his arms to protect her.

Just as the woman was about to rush to the door, he turned to the side, holding the doubt in his arms, stretched out his long leg, precisely hooked the woman's ankle, and pulled her forcefully.

"Ah!" The woman lost her balance and crashed hard into the shards of glass on the ground, her knees bleeding profusely from the cuts, and she screamed in agony.

The woman on the ground struggled to get up, but Gu Zhi's icy, knife-like gaze froze her in place, and she dared not move again.

The housekeeper heard the noise and rushed into the room with his men.

Gu Zhi didn't look at the woman again, but simply held the soft woman in his arms even tighter.

He lowered his head, his lips gently touching her temples, which were damp with cold sweat, and kissed her hair again and again with his warm breath.

He gently stroked her back with his large hand, feeling the girl trembling violently in his arms, touching her from the top of her head to her shoulders, repeating this over and over again.

"It's alright now, I'm here, don't be afraid, sister..."

The person in his arms was still trembling, tears soaking the front of his shirt, burning hot.

The man was so heartbroken that he wished he could go back to the past.

He had already guessed that his sister, whom he had been searching for in vain, was probably in the study.

If only he had known, he wouldn't have let Ruan Yi uncover the truth herself.

It's all his fault for reminding my sister of bad memories. She should only ever remember the good ones.

"Just remembering him is enough."