Chapter 1

Chapter 1

By the time Steward Sun arrived with his men, I had just finished disposing of the scholar’s body.

I groaned inwardly. I had meant to handle the young lady’s elopement in private, but somehow the household had found out anyway.

When I hurried back, the young lady was in the middle of a standoff with Steward Sun.

She held a gold hairpin to her throat, her eyes pleading yet stubborn. “I’ll go back with you, but you mustn’t make things difficult for Liu Lang…”

Even now, she was still thinking of her beloved.

Steward Sun nodded and agreed.

Only then did the young lady lower the hairpin weakly. It was as if her soul had been drained from her, leaving only despair and pain.

On the carriage ride back, she sobbed until she could barely speak. “I only want to be with the person I love. What did I do wrong?”

I sighed, not knowing how to comfort her. “My lady, what’s so good about Young Master Liu?”

He was poor and fickle besides.

The young lady looked at me with reddened eyes, full of misery. “He’s different from everyone else.”

I tucked the bloodstained corner of my dress farther inside. He was different, all right. His blood stank worse than most.

“Liu Lang loves me more than anyone. He said he wanted only me, for all our lives!”

I rolled my eyes. Half an hour ago, that same Liu Lang had been secretly holding me in his arms, saying he loved me most. His sleazy eyes had raked over me with filthy intent as he told me that after he married my lady, he would take me as his concubine too.

“Liu Lang may not come from a good family, but he’s learned and talented. He’ll definitely make something of himself.”

As the young lady recounted the scholar’s virtues, she also condemned the Marquis and his wife for being stubborn and old-fashioned.

I felt no sympathy whatsoever. I only thought the Marquis and his wife had fed her too well.

It was not until we reached the gates of the marquis’s estate that she recovered a little of her senses. She grabbed my hand and spoke in a trembling voice. “Shuangjiang, after we go back, if my mother punishes you because I ran away, put all the blame on me.”

The young lady was clearly terrified, yet she still remembered to protect me. She was kind, really. Just hopelessly lovesick.

She might want to live a hard life, but I certainly did not.

So, to keep her from making an even bigger mistake, I had no choice but to kill that scholar surnamed Liu.

I was born rotten. Ruthless and vicious, willing to do whatever it took to get what I wanted.

Before I turned five, I was a little beggar, begging on the streets, bullied by old beggars, fighting stray dogs for food.

Back then, I had only one thought: survive.

When I was six, an old monkey trainer took me in. He told me to call him Father. He fed me and bought me new clothes.

I was grateful. At last, I had family. I had a home.

Until the old man told me to strip naked in front of him so he could examine my body.

He touched me. Kissed me…

I ran away many times, but each time he caught me and dragged me back. Then came the punches and kicks.

As he beat me, he roared, “I’ve treated you so well, and you still dare to run?

“You women are all born wanton. You can’t be treated kindly at all…”

His face was twisted with rage, his voice hoarse from screaming.

That was when I knew only one of us could live.