Jiang Nian remembered that Si Boye had tentatively asked her about the scar on her back before.
At the time, she was more wary than trusting of the man in front of her, so she directly avoided the question.
Si Boye did not ask any further questions.
He said he would tell her when she wanted to.
Tonight, the night is deep and dark outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Inside the spacious villa, the living room was quiet.
Jiang Nian took a deep breath and said, "That man... is my adoptive father."
"Foster father?" A look of surprise flashed in Si Boye's eyes.
When they first met, Si Boye had investigated Jiang Nian.
However, the girl's whereabouts and experiences during the ten years from age seven to seventeen are completely blank.
Could it be that the girl has been living with this adoptive father for the past ten years?
“Yes,” Jiang Nian lowered her eyes, “My mother passed away shortly after I was born.”
“Jiang Sheng left me at my cousin’s house in Yao County and came to Jiangcheng to marry Chen Fulan. He never asked whether I was alive or dead.”
“My cousin would take out her frustrations on me when she was down on her life, so I was abused when I was a child.”
With just a few words, the girl reopened the wounds of her childhood.
Yet it seemed as if he were narrating something commonplace, his expression calm and indifferent.
Jiang Nianyue spoke so casually, yet Si Boye's heart felt as if it were being squeezed tightly.
So this is her past?
His precious daughter, whom he cherished and gave the most wonderful things in the world, was treated this way in the past when he was not involved, when she was still a weak child.
"When I was seven years old, I went up the mountain to chop firewood and met an injured man."
“I hid him so he could escape the pursuit of a group of men in black. Later, his men came down, saw the bruises on my body, and asked me if I wanted to go with him.”
“I said I wanted to, but then I said I didn’t know if my cousin would agree. He asked me if my injuries were caused by my cousin and asked me to take him to my cousin’s place.”
"Then, right in front of me, he took the gun from his subordinate and calmly killed my aunt. He said, 'Now I don't have to worry about whether my aunt agrees or not.'"
"After that, his men cleaned up the body with practiced ease, as if nothing had happened. He told me not to worry and to just pretend that my aunt had died of illness."
"..."
Si Boye almost didn't react.
Back then, Niannian was just a seven-year-old girl.
This man actually shot and killed a seven-year-old girl right in front of her?
"That man left first. I thought he was just saying it casually and probably didn't care about me."
“But the next day someone came to pick me up, put me on a private plane, and took me to the United States, where I saw him again. From then on, he became my adoptive father.”
"He saw potential in me, so he explored my talents in many areas, such as fighting, murder, mathematics, computers, traditional Chinese medicine, and antique appraisal..."
"At the same time, he was also committed to shaping my character. He hoped that I would grow into a cold-blooded and indifferent leader like him and train me to be his successor."
Si Boye suddenly remembered what had happened before.
“You told me last time that you were afraid of the dark because you spent time in a room with a lot of dead people when you were a child, until you were no longer afraid of dead people.”
"Is this also part of his training for you?"
"Mm," Jiang Nian replied.
Si Boye has always thought he was quite abnormal.
But after hearing the girl's description, he felt that the man she was talking about was the real pervert.
This man didn't seem to treat the little girl he kept by his side as a child at all.
His gaze deepened: "Then the scar on your back, is it also because of him?"
“…No,” Jiang Nian paused, then subconsciously touched her shoulder, “those are scars I made myself with a branding iron.”
Si Boye's pupils contracted.
Jiang Nian said, "When I was in the United States, I didn't use the name Jiang Nian; I used his surname."
“On my back, there used to be his family mark and the English name he gave me.”
“Tattoos can’t be completely removed; no matter how good the technique, the marks will still be visible. So before returning to China, I used a soldering iron to remove, or rather, cover up, those marks.”
"Because I don't want to have any contact with him anymore."
I recall those large, indistinct scars that bulged on the back of the young girl, covering her shoulder blades and the surrounding area...
Si Boye couldn't even imagine how the girl, with her back to the mirror and holding a branding iron, would personally brand off her own tattoo.
I could only take a deep breath to keep myself calm.
"Since this person is so controlling of you, why would he let you come back?"
"...I killed him."
Jiang Nian raised her eyes. "From childhood to adulthood, I have never had any rebellious thoughts towards him."
“I am grateful to him for taking me away when I was at my weakest, and I am grateful for everything he has given me. So for the past ten years, whenever he asked me to do something, no matter how difficult it was, I would do it until he was satisfied. I firmly believe that all his control and teaching of me was for my own good.”
"Until six months ago, I discovered that his first friend was someone he had killed."
Si Boye's eyes widened in shock: "He killed your friend?"
"Yes. I always thought that the assassin I hired killed my friend. But in reality, the assassin was hired by my adoptive father."
"He achieved his goal. For many years afterward, I was alone and didn't want to or dare to have any close contact with anyone."
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