"Smack!"
With the first lash, Xia Yuwei's scream tore through the roof.
Madam Xia slumped into a chair, tears streaming down her face, but dared not plead any further. She clenched her fingers tightly, her expression one of great pain.
White Fireflies counted the whips.
After the thirty lashes, Xia Yuwei slid to the ground like a rag doll, her fingertips still clenching spasmodically.
Xia Mingde wiped his hands, turned to Bai Ying, and forced a smile:
"Qingdai, are you satisfied with this?"
Bai Ying did not answer.
She watched as the maid tremblingly helped Xia Yuwei up, and watched as the once arrogant "younger sister" shakily picked up the freshly brewed tea and walked over.
"Sister, elder sister... please have some tea..."
Xia Yuwei's face was streaked with tears, but Bai Ying could clearly see it—
Beneath her lowered eyelashes, the resentment was even more intense than before.
Bai Ying smiled.
She slowly raised her hand and took the cup of tea.
The tea was warm, and a very thin layer of powder settled at the bottom of the cup. It was colorless and odorless, yet it was enough to attract extremely powerful monsters.
—It smells exactly the same as Xia Qingdai's.
Bai Ying had heard Xiao Tao say that Xia Qingdai went out very excitedly, saying she wanted to go out and admire the epiphyllum flowers.
Then, she never came back.
At that time, Xiao Tao asked her who she was going with, but Xia Qingdai didn't say. Now it seems that she went with Xia Yuwei.
It's likely that Xia Yuwei said something about wanting to reconcile with her, and that foolish girl believed it.
A hint of mockery flashed in Bai Ying's eyes as she tilted her head back and drank it all in one gulp.
Xia Qingdai must have drunk this tea and then been taken to the cliff by Xia Yuwei, where she was attacked by a monster and fell to the bottom of the cliff!
That damn bastard, he dared to use the same trick a second time!
Seeing that Bai Ying had finally drunk her tea, Xia Mingde's face broke into a satisfied smile. "Good! We're all family, as long as Qingdai doesn't hold it against us!"
Don't care?
Bai Ying gave a silent, cold laugh.
Of course she would care.
Not only would she hold a grudge, she would also make Xia Yuwei personally taste the bitter fruit of her own actions.
Doesn't she enjoy harming people? Then she'll make Xia Yuwei die through her own scheme!
"Oh, right..."
Xia Yuwei was startled when she suddenly heard Bai Ying's voice. Her face turned pale, and she stared intently at the empty glass in Bai Ying's hand, her eyes filled with both anticipation and fear. She was afraid that Bai Ying had discovered something.
Bai Ying simply looked at her calmly, a slight smile playing on her lips.
"My sister's tea tastes good."
Her voice was soft, but it relieved Xia Yuwei.
A cold glint flashed in Bai Ying's eyes, and her smile deepened.
only……
Some things are easy to swallow, but difficult to spit out...
"Since my sister has forgiven me..."
Xia Yuwei forced herself to stand up, but as she looked down, she quickly curled the corners of her lips into a smile.
"How about we go flower viewing tomorrow..." she said softly, but her eyes flashed with a venomous light. "I heard the night-blooming cereus on West Mountain will bloom tonight."
Bai Ying's eyes narrowed slightly, her long eyelashes casting a shadow in the candlelight.
It's flower viewing again.
"Okay!" Bai Ying suddenly broke into a bright smile.
Xia Yuwei finally breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"but......"
Hearing Bai Ying's slightly hesitant voice, Xia Yuwei suddenly looked up, afraid that she would change her mind.
“However,” Bai Ying said, “was my sister just punished? Can she still walk?” Bai Ying’s fingertips brushed against Xia Yuwei’s face almost imperceptibly, and a wisp of black energy silently slipped into it.
Xia Yuwei forced a smile and said, "I can walk, don't worry, sister. I'll wait for you at the front gate tomorrow at 5 PM."
—
Xia Yuwei stumbled back to her boudoir and slammed the carved wooden door shut with a deafening crash. She grabbed a celadon vase from the table and smashed it against the bronze mirror. Amidst the flying shards, she saw her own distorted face—her carefully maintained face was now streaked with tears, and blood was seeping from her back.
"Bitch! Bitch!" She ripped the bed curtains off frantically, her sharp fingernails tearing the brocade quilt to shreds. The whip marks on her back burned with pain, each movement feeling like a million poisonous ants gnawing at her. But the pain paled in comparison to the hatred in her heart—that wretched child who should have died at the bottom of the cliff, how dare she return in such glory?
"Xia Qingdai, go to hell!" She kicked over the dressing table, scattering pearls and jewels across the floor. Her狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) face was reflected in the shards of the bronze mirror, and for a moment it seemed to transform into Xia Qingdai's sneer.
"Miss..." The personal maid knelt trembling in the corner, "Your injuries..."
"Get out!" Xia Yuwei grabbed the rouge box and threw it at the maid, leaving a bloody mark on her forehead.
"Just a fool with amnesia..." she muttered to herself, her eyes flashing with malice. "She drank my tea and still dares to be arrogant..." Recalling Bai Ying's unsuspecting appearance as she drank the poisoned tea, a hint of pleasure finally appeared on her twisted face.
"Cui Liu!" Xia Yuwei suddenly shouted sharply, her voice as shrill as shattering porcelain, "Go and spread a message—tomorrow at dusk, Xia Qingdai, the eldest daughter of the Xia family, will be admiring the epiphyllum flowers in the Western Hills!"
The maid Cuiliu trembled, looking up in alarm: "Miss, how can a young lady of the house invite outsiders to admire flowers? If word gets out, it will surely damage her reputation..."
"Shut up!" Xia Yuwei slapped Cui Liu across the face with her backhand. With a crisp "smack," Cui Liu's cheek instantly swelled up, and a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. Xia Yuwei stared at the blood and found that the burning whip marks on her back didn't hurt so much anymore.
"How can such a wonderful play be without an audience?" She smiled sinisterly, her fingertips pinching Cui Liu's chin. "You'll do whatever I tell you to do. Or..." She leaned close to the maid's ear, her voice as soft as a viper's hiss, "...do you want to just die?"
Cui Liu was so frightened that she kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "This servant will do it right away! This servant will do it right away!"
After the maid stumbled away, Xia Yuwei slowly turned around and looked at her shattered reflection in the bronze mirror. The flickering candlelight illuminated her distorted face, making her look like a demon crawling back from hell.
"I want everyone to see..." she murmured, her fingertips tracing a bloody line across the mirror, "to see how their prized genius, whom they scramble to curry favor with, is torn to shreds by demonic beasts."
A bolt of lightning suddenly struck outside the window, its pale light illuminating the frenzied killing intent in her eyes.
"This time, I want to see those beasts..." She licked her chapped lips, her voice barely audible, "rip out their hearts and eat them, bite by bite."
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