My hands were firmly pinned against the wall above my head by Si Jiangchen. With a sharp tug, he ripped open the cotton cloth covering my chest.
Instantly, a chill spread across my chest.
"You bastard! Let go of me!!"
In my seventeen years of life, I had never been so exposed in front of anyone. Shame, anger, and despair welled up inside me. I slammed my forehead into Si Jiangchen's chin!
"Thud!"
He was just about to draw a talisman on my chest with a vermilion brush in his right hand. Caught off guard, he was hit hard on the chin and let out a muffled groan, immediately loosening his grip.
Taking advantage of the moment when my hands were free, I pushed him away and ran towards the door.
"Du Xinghe..."
I could hear his furious growl behind me, but I didn't dare to look back. I clutched the torn front of my clothes and dashed downstairs as fast as I could.
"Ah?!"
The loud sound of my footsteps on the walnut - wood floor startled a woman named Shuya who was just about to go upstairs.
She was still wearing a figure - hugging cheongsam that accentuated her curves. The sky - blue twinkling satin made her complexion look fair and smooth.
"Where's the door?!" I asked as I rushed past her.
"The back door..." The woman pointed to the other side of the small building.
I ran towards it without looking back. I knew she wouldn't lie to me. She probably wanted me to get away from Si Jiangchen more than anyone else.
Just as I ran through a short corridor, I heard the woman behind me start to cry pitifully, "Jiangchen, that woman pushed me down. My... my leg, it hurts so much..."
Great! She was really a good ally! She knew how to use Si Jiangchen's pity for her to buy time for me.
Sure enough, Si Jiangchen's inquiring voice faintly reached my ears. By then, I had already pushed open the small door at the end of the corridor.
The sunlight outside, filtered through the leaves of several green trees, cast dappled light on the ground. I couldn't adjust to the sudden light and instinctively covered my eyes with my hand.
"Click!" "Click!"
"Bang!"
The chilling sound of gun bolts being pulled reached my ears, followed by a gunshot. It felt as if a huge hammer had suddenly struck my stomach. My internal organs seemed to be shattered.
"Damn it! That woman tricked me!!"
In my last moment of consciousness, I even cursed the woman named Shuya bitterly.
She must have known that there were armed soldiers at the back door, and she must have known the rule that anyone who tried to break into the back door would be shot. She pointed me to that back door not to let me out, but to kill me!
My consciousness was like a broken stone, constantly sinking into the dark abyss...
Countless fragments, like pieces burned by fire, were flickering with a dark red light deep in my memory.
"Xiaohe, this is the young master of the Si family. You should call him Brother Jiangchen..."
A fragment flashed by. I saw a winter scene with snow everywhere. The place was decorated with lanterns and red Spring Festival couplets were hung on the doors. My father, wearing a long robe and a mandarin jacket, was leading me, who looked only four or five years old, to greet others.
I couldn't see the faces of the others clearly, but I could see a tall and slender young man standing under the plum - blossom tree beside me. He was very cold and seemed to have a natural resistance to the excitement around him.
"Brother Jiangchen, you smell like plum blossoms."
At the age of four or five, with two small buns on my head, I reached out my hand to pull the young man without knowing any better. Unexpectedly, he was not used to being approached by others. When he pulled his hand out of mine, he used a bit of strength. I stumbled and fell into the snow, with my head and face covered in snowflakes.
"Sigh..." There was a soft sigh behind me, and then I was lifted up from the ground by a pair of slightly warm hands.
"Is your name Xiaohe?"
The young man had slightly slanted peach - blossom eyes, which were slightly squinted when he looked at me.
"Yes!" I nodded.
I saw him casually pick a small branch of plum blossoms from the tree. There were two blooming flowers and one in bud. He inserted it beside the small bun on my head. "Now Xiaohe also smells like plum blossoms..."
"Jiangchen... Brother...?!"
The dark red fragment suddenly drifted out of my sight. I continued to sink into the abyss, and then another flickering flame flashed before my eyes.
This time, I saw myself immersed in a small wooden bucket. My whole body's skin was terribly red from the medicinal water in the bucket.
"This time it should work."
I heard my father's voice, full of uncontrollable excitement.
"Yes, almost. This girl was born at the right time and has an evil bone. Using her to make the 'Immortal Bone' can make the person who gets her immortal..." This was the voice of an uncle from the clan.
"Then it's a loss for Xiaohe to marry into the Si family."
"What loss? First, let them be free bodyguards and protectors for our Du family for a few years! When the final medicinal person is made and Xiaohe eats it, we'll directly send her to the great president. Then the Du family will be the most powerful family in the world. We'll have power, influence, and so many ghost soldiers who are not afraid of pain or death. Maybe we can even become emperors! Hahaha..."
The laughter was sinister and low, like the life - taking voice of a ghost from hell. I looked around, trying to see if there was any memory I had forgotten.
Another fragment drifted by. Inside it was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. A little bald boy was desperately pulling me towards the outside of the city. Our faces and bodies were covered in bright red blood...
I reached out my hand to grab the fragment. Suddenly, my body was like a fish on a hook and was abruptly pulled out of the endless fragments in the abyss.
"Ugh..."
The closer I got to the dim white light above the sky, the more painful my body became. I couldn't help but groan.
"Xiaohe, wake up! Don't look anymore..."
I heard Granny Bai's kind voice coming from afar. "Looking at those things only adds to your troubles. It's most important to live a good life in the future!"
"It hurts so much... Granny Bai, my stomach hurts so much!!"
Without even opening my eyes, I cried from the pain.
I was most afraid of pain. The severe pain that felt like being run over by a hundred elephants made me reach out and grab the hand that was wiping the cold sweat off my forehead.
"Good child, it'll be over soon, it'll be over soon..."
While comforting me, Granny Bai seemed to be talking to someone else, "She can live without harming others. It's just... she'll have to suffer more!"
"Yes!"
A cold voice sounded above my head, and the strong smell of tobacco wafted into my nose.
"Cough... It stinks..."
I tried my best to frown.
Then, the choking smell quickly dissipated. Next, I heard Si Jiangchen's voice asking, "Wasn't it said that the 'Immortal Bone' won't be injured or die?!"
"Xiaohe is kind - hearted. She couldn't bear to eat Awen..."
Granny Bai sighed. "Mr. Si, please stop using the vermilion talismans to suppress Xiaohe. She's not a mindless corpse. She's a human..."