Chapter 7
Chapter 7
The overcast skies that had loomed over Jinling for half a month finally unleashed a relentless torrential rain.
The heavens were dark and somber, with black clouds pressing down upon the city like a heavy shroud.
Even the fine mist of rain seemed infused with the scent of death, weighing so heavily on the heart that it became difficult to breathe.
Xu Xingzhou had eventually fallen asleep in Liu Xiaoxiao’s courtyard.
Liu Xiaoxiao rose, feeling smug. She hadn’t slept well, as she kept hearing the sound of galloping hooves.
But in this heavy rain, where could the sound of horses come from? Especially around the Marquis Manor.
A servant woman came to report cautiously, her face bright with joy.
“Madam, there hasn’t been any movement from the side courtyard for half a month.”
Liu Xiaoxiao arched an eyebrow, looking at the vibrant red polish on her fingernails. A smirk curled her lips.
“A good death. Currently, the Marquis’s heart and eyes are entirely focused on the birth of our little heir. If she had died any slower and crossed paths with my son’s birth, it would have been truly unlucky.”
“What ‘Marchioness’? She was nothing more than this. Everything I, Liu Xiaoxiao, want, I can eventually strip away from her, can’t I?”
She had once lived in the brothels, a place of all walks of life where fish and dragons mixed. What methods had she not used? What kind of man had she not seen?
A sheltered daughter of a noble family could never be her match.
Only Xu Xingzhou truly believed she was fragile, helpless, and pitiable.
“Now it’s perfect. She’s dead, and the people sent to deal with that little brat should have arrived by now. This vast Marquis Manor back residence will all be mine in the future!”
Her laughter rang out like silver bells, but it made the servants beneath her feel a chill. They could only force fawning smiles and echo her sentiments.
Liu Xiaoxiao didn’t care. She simply watched the pouring rain and complained.
“I’m supposed to go out and relax tomorrow. Why won’t this rain just stop?”
As she spoke, her voice suddenly cut off. She looked toward the door in stunned silence.
Then, she screamed in panic.
“You little brat! Shouldn’t you be dead?! Is your ghost refusing to move on, coming here to haunt me?! A ghost! There’s a ghost!”
Her face paled with terror.
Her reaction caused the servants to look over in a panic as well.
It was no wonder she thought it was a ghost.
Across from them, in front of the Marquis Manor’s gates, separated by the torrential rain, stood the child who was supposed to have never returned. She stood there properly, her face clean. Looking further up…
One could see a hand covered in thick calluses holding her. The hem of the person’s robe was stained with blood, their feet were caked in mud, and a blade hung at their waist. Their tall, straight figure exerted an oppressive pressure like a god or a demon. Behind them, iron horses neighed, and an oil-paper umbrella obscured the newcomer’s face.
Only the heavy iron armor they wore rang out with each strike of the raindrops, a sound that made one’s heart leap with fear.
They looked like a vengeful spirit that had silently slipped into Jinling City under the cover of the rain!
Liu Xiaoxiao nearly collapsed to the ground. If she hadn’t heard Suisui snap at her, she might have died of fright.
“Bad person! I’m here to get my mother! I’m not a little brat!”
Her confidante, the servant woman, hurriedly comforted her: “She’s alive, Madam! She’s alive!”
Since she was alive, there was nothing to fear.
Liu Xiaoxiao’s expression shifted almost instantly. Humiliated by being toyed with, her embarrassment turned into a murderous rage. A venomous glint flashed in her eyes.
“You little brat! You dare play tricks on me! You’re actually not dead! You’re just as hard to kill as your sickly mother!”
She was lightheaded with rage, unable to accept that her plan had failed.
She knew she couldn’t let this brat return. Even if she did, she couldn’t let Xu Xingzhou run into her.
Otherwise, now that the sickly woman was dead, Xu Xingzhou would surely be filled with guilt and protect the girl at all times. If that happened, killing this brat would be as difficult as ascending to heaven!
Ignoring all etiquette and rules, she rushed into the rain, raising her hand to seize Suisui by the throat.
“At such a young age, you dared to run off with an old man! Such a disgraceful act has already spread throughout Jinling. You have disgraced our family and brought shame to the Marquis Manor! Today, as your stepmother, I must strangle you to death on the spot to uphold the family law!”
She spoke with high-sounding words, but as her fingers were about to reach Suisui’s neck, she let out a hideous laugh.
“Little brat, you think you can fight me? Go die with your useless mother!”
The rain soaked her through, her face twisting like a malevolent spirit.
The servant woman rushed up behind her, trying to hold an umbrella over her.
In the next second, a dull thud echoed! Liu Xiaoxiao’s figure was sent flying by a straight kick, crashing into the servant woman!
The servant panicked: “Madam! Madam!”
She hadn’t forgotten that Liu Xiaoxiao was still pregnant!
A cry of pain rang out. The servant woman only felt that today’s rain was strangely hot as it flowed into her mouth, carrying a heavy, metallic saltiness.
Wait, metallic saltiness!
She hurriedly wiped her face and screamed in terror. Her vision was filled with blood red!
That was the heir the Marquis had anticipated for years! If anything went wrong, what would happen?!
She scrambled to check Liu Xiaoxiao’s lower body. Although there was some blood, it didn’t look like a miscarriage. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Then she suddenly remembered: if Liu Xiaoxiao wasn’t bleeding heavily from below, where did the blood splattered on her come from?!
That question didn’t trouble her for long.
Because she felt a fair, slender finger.
With one look at such a finger, one would know it belonged to a pair of beautiful, delicate hands.
Even Xu Xingzhou had first noticed Liu Xiaoxiao because of these hands.
But now, the finger had rolled right up to her hand.
Boom!
A crack of thunder and a flash of lightning illuminated the rainy night like broad daylight for a fleeting moment.
She finally saw the scene before her clearly.
Liu Xiaoxiao was wailing piteously, rolling on the ground in agony as she stared at her hands. All ten of her fingers had been sliced off cleanly!
“My hands! My hands!”
The person under the umbrella had already unsheathed the long blade at their waist, and it was dripping with fresh blood!
A cold, indifferent face stared back, eyes not even blinking.
The servant woman felt like she was going mad: “How dare you… How dare you harm the Marchioness and the future heir?!”
The newcomer raised a foot and stepped on her chest, pinning her down firmly. The Deputy General holding the umbrella had already covered the young girl’s eyes.
The person held the blade with both hands, looking down at the servant woman beneath them.
The servants of the Marquis Manor, having heard the commotion, came rushing over.
There was a sickening squelch.
The long blade plunged into the woman’s throat.
Blood splattered everywhere.
The servant woman, who had been so arrogant and overbearing just moments ago, was like a slaughtered chicken in her hands-silent and lifeless.
Droplets of blood sprayed across the newcomer’s face. Amidst the torrential rain and thunder, she looked up.
She tossed the head aside.
She flicked her blade, wiping away the blood with her arm, and began dragging the wailing Liu Xiaoxiao. Countless iron cavalrymen, blades in hand, swarmed into the Marquis Manor behind her. Her voice was very calm.
“The Zhenbei Lin’an Song Army is conducting business. Those who block our path, those who interfere, and those who resist… kill them all without mercy.”
“My name is Song Yunying. Tell that dog Xu Xingzhou to crawl over here and meet his death.”