The guard at the gate was a boy in his teens. Upon hearing my order, he immediately dashed upstairs.
Moments later, he came down with two adjutants.
"Madam, what are your orders?" the older adjutant asked with a smile.
I opened the half - foot - long small box on my lap. Inside were neatly arranged rows of small gold bars. I casually grabbed a few and handed them to him. "You two can go and take a rest. Use this money to buy some drinks."
"We were ordered by the military commander to watch Miss Lin," the adjutant said somewhat sheepishly as he took the gold bars and stuffed them into his pocket. "We can't leave until the people from the orphanage have identified her."
"That man just said that as long as we spend twenty silver dollars, it won't be Miss Lin. It's no longer your business," I said truthfully. After all, it was just the lives of three children. Lin Shuya could afford the money.
The two adjutants exchanged a look. "Thank you for the reward, Madam."
They saluted me and left the mansion happily.
I also took a gold bar and gave it to the young guard who had helped me deliver the message. The boy looked utterly incredulous. He probably had never seen gold before. He couldn't help but put it in his mouth and take a hard bite.
I was amused by his childish act. "Go on, go back to your post. This gold can be exchanged for thirty silver dollars. Spend it carefully and don't let anyone cheat you."
"No, no!" The guard stuffed the gold bar into his pocket and waved his hand seriously. "That man who went upstairs is not a good guy. I have to protect you. I'll detain him when he comes out!"
"Thank you!" I waved back at him with a smile. "Go ahead. That man won't be coming out."
"Eh?!" A look of confusion flashed across the guard's face as he glanced at the half - open window on the second floor.
From the window came Lin Shuya's coquettish laughter and the man's low moans.
The guard's face instantly turned red. Perhaps it was only then that he understood what I meant.
I made a "shh" gesture at him and then waved my hand. The young guard dashed out like a startled rabbit.
"Miss... Miss Lin..." My ears were sharp. I heard the man's rough gasps interspersed with intermittent words. "I'll... I'll bring kids to you every day from now on..."
"Who wants your kids!" Lin Shuya's voice was so seductive that it made men's blood boil. "I'll pick them myself. Wouldn't that be more to my liking?"
"Uh..." The man's voice paused. "Then... Miss Lin asked me to come up..."
"I asked you to come up because I wanted a man!" Lin Shuya's voice became even more seductive. It made my heart flutter. I just reached out to cover my ears when a man's shrill scream came through. Although it was heart - rending, the sound was like that of a chicken with its neck wrung. All the sound was stuck in his throat.
Sure enough, as I had expected, Lin Shuya had her finger injured by me. If it were treated and recovered normally, it would probably take several months. With her spoiled and arrogant nature, how could she not take a shortcut?
The reason I called the two adjutants down was actually to prevent Lin Shuya from harming them.
As for this man from the orphanage, he deserved to die.
He was both greedy and lecherous. For such a guy to have survived until now in this chaotic world was already a miracle.
I calmly sat on the lounge chair and read my book. From the open window upstairs came the sounds of tearing and chewing, like a starving jackal finally finding a delicious meal.
"... Help... help me..." At first, I could faintly hear the man's screams. But after I turned a few pages of my book, it became completely quiet upstairs.
After a while, Lin Shuya's voice suddenly came from upstairs. "Du Xinghe, do you want to come and have a taste?"
I looked up and saw Lin Shuya still propping herself on the window lattice, smiling at me. If it weren't for the bright red blood on her chin, no one could have imagined what this woman had just done.
"I think it's dirty," I closed the book and looked up coldly. "You killed that man to prevent your evil deeds in the orphanage from being exposed, right?"
"Hehe... What a joke!" Lin Shuya smiled coquettishly. "If I really did it, would I be afraid? I hate people who slander me the most... This man was just asking for death by trying to blackmail me. Can he blame me?"
"Blackmail you?" I was a bit surprised.
"I said that I didn't eat those kids yesterday. Do you believe me?" Lin Shuya licked the trace of blood on the corner of her lips.
"No!" I shook my head firmly.
"I didn't sleep at home last night, but I wasn't at the orphanage either..." Lin Shuya tugged at her collar, revealing a section of her fair neck. "A Chen doesn't want me. I have to find someone else to relieve my frustration!"
My face suddenly turned red. I instantly understood why she had tried so hard to conceal her whereabouts in front of Si Jiangchen.
"Du Xinghe, I've given up!" Lin Shuya looked dejected. "A Chen doesn't like me. No matter how I seduce him, he only sees me as his elder sister... I know I'm of low birth and not worthy of him. I'm not even qualified to be his concubine..."
"So, it's already a great deal for you to be his adoptive elder sister!" I thought this woman was too greedy. She always wanted Si Jiangchen's whole heart.
"Yes... I've actually had a good life!" Lin Shuya sighed. "At least I could get out of the brothel and stop doing prostitution. I can be like a rich lady with servants at my beck and call. Sometimes, I always wonder if this is just a beautiful dream. When I wake up, I'll still be in that shabby room with a stinky - sweating customer on top of me!"
I frowned. I didn't know why she suddenly told me all this.
Did she want me to sympathize with her or help her cover up the fact that she had eaten someone in the small building?
"Can you do me a favor?" Lin Shuya pulled the curtain and wiped her mouth. "It's all because you broke my finger that I suddenly had the desire to eat people... And you didn't stop this man from going upstairs. So... You're my accomplice!"
"So what?" I thought Lin Shuya was a bit ridiculous. She actually wanted to threaten me.
"So, help me dispose of what's left of this man. Don't let A Chen see it!" Lin Shuya said triumphantly. "Otherwise, I'll say that you deliberately let this man into my room to rape me and I killed him in self - defense... You're the mistress of the house, and you even sent away the two adjutants who were supposed to protect me!"
"Lin Shuya, you're really shameless." I slowly shook my head. I didn't know what kind of life this woman had lived before, but she seemed to have taken shamelessness and lying as her means of survival.
"Yes, if you want to have dignity, you can't survive in this world!" Lin Shuya said triumphantly, beckoning to me. "Hurry up and come up to help me deal with this man... A Chen will be unhappy if he sees this!"