Shen Xiangwan shut her eyes in despair and bit her lower lip hard to prevent herself from screaming and jumping out.
"Haha, it looks like someone’s not willing to give in unless she gets her punishment."
"Squeak, squeak..."
Suddenly, two mice squeaked from afar. The sound of someone’s footsteps rushing quickly accompanied by whispering voices approached them.
"Quick, hurry up. If we were to be a little bit late, the Ruyi cakes will be sold out."
"Yes, hurry up."
The cruel boy glanced at the corpse on the ground and snorted. He leaped forward and disappeared into the alley.
"Ah! Someone’s dead! Someone’s dead..."
Shen Xiangwan quietly crawled out of the garbage dump amidst the chaotic screams. She peered from afar, and felt a wave of nausea as saw the boy who she had helped to bandage was covered in blood.
Especially on the legs. She couldn't bear to look at the sight of the insects crawling all over his legs.
Without daring to look more, she left quickly.
Her supervisors frowned at the sight of her bringing the pastry back with dirt all over her body. Even Ruyi expressed dissatisfaction with her appearance.
"Wanwan, you are too dirty! I hope you didn’t spoil the Lady’s cakes."
Shen Xiangwan grinned ruefully, "Sister Ruyi, please forgive me. I was afraid that I would be late, so I chose to use a shortcut. I was in a hurry, and I was not lucky. I ran into a mad dog and it frightened me, so I fell into the garbage dump. I had already washed my hands on the side of the road. Although my body was dirty, the snack was not contaminated. Good sister, please put up a good word for me in front of the Lady."
She pouted and batted her eyelashes at Ruyi with an apologetic look. Ruyi pinched her nose and waved dismissively. "Okay, okay, you hurry up to take a bath and change your clothes. Your smell is really killing me."
Shen Xiangwan grinned in mischief, "Ah, it really smells bad. Let me smell it—" She raised her hand and deliberately waved it in front of Ruyi's face.
Ruyi was annoyed. "Hurry up! Your attitude is getting worse and worse."
"Alright sister, I'll change and return."
Shen Xiangwan hurriedly turned around and left, but when she was already quite far away, Ruyi chided, "Hurry up, the Lady has a guest coming over today."
Shen Xiangwan entered her room and immediately set up a bath. As she was soaking in the tub, she realized that her body was cold.
The tragic sight of the boy lying on the ground appeared in front of her as she closed her eyes.
Even the horrifying wails of the boy were vivid.
"No, don't think about it anymore..." she whispered to herself.
Even though she knew that the real world was cruel and dark, she was still instinctively afraid of it.
She finally cleaned herself up with a huge effort.
Looking at her chubby face reflected in the water, she comforted herself.
"Wanwan, don't be afraid. Not everyone is like that demon."
When she returned to the Lady’s courtyard, she heard warm laughter coming out from the room. Looks like the Lady’s old friend came to visit her.
"Little Zuo, if you don't want to stay in this courtyard, you can go and take a walk outside by yourself."
"Okay, Aunt Qing."
Shen Xiangwan stood at the entrance of the courtyard, a sense of cold fear washed over her as she heard the voice.
It was the exact same voice that she had heard this morning. Absolutely—it was impossible for her to mistaken the voice!
"Xiaowan, invite Master Zhuo to go outside for a walk."
She hurriedly lowered her head. She responded softly, unwilling to look at the boy closely.
Ruyi stole a glance at this remarkable young teen coyly, and reminded Shen Xiangwan a few things to take note of before she left the courtyard with her face flushed red.
Shen Xiangwan quietly raised her head to look at the young teen, and she was taken aback by his appearance. She thought that a teenager who laughed so cruelly and tortured people would be ugly, or at least, looked ordinary.
But in fact, she was wrong. He had a friendly grin on his face, and although he was young, he had outstanding facial features. No man in the mansion was as graceful and elegant as the boy, and his gestures were noble and charming...
No wonder Ruyi blushed so hard when she saw him. It seemed like Ruyi was attracted by this boy.
How could anyone ever loathe such an approachable and elegant young man?
The boy glanced over at her, as if he had noticed her attention.
Her heart thumped in terror as their eyes met, and she quickly lowered her head, faking a look of embarrassment.
However, she didn’t manage to hide her pale face from him.
He narrowed his eyes and approached her step by step.
"Wan Er?"
Her heart beat faster.
"Dear Master, let's go this way."
She was panicking inside. She did not want to associate herself with this murderous person.
However, he grabbed her little arm as soon as she turned around.
Her heart beat wildly against her chest when his cheerful gaze met hers.
He tilted her chin and inched closer towards her. "You were out… today!"
The sun shone brightly on him. His face was elegant with a hint of shyness, but she was cold in fear.
She clenched her fingers forcibly and slapped his hand away. "You are unreasonable. Although… Although you are my Lady’s guest, you can't make advances at me because of my good looks. Even though I am a servant... I would still never let someone abuse me like that."
The boy raised his eyebrows in astonishment. He did not expect her to mistook his interrogation as him trying to flirt with her.
He took a step back, straightened his body and sized her up. "You are saying that I am flirting with you?"
Shen Xiangwan took a deep breath. "Weren’t you? Look at your frivolous behavior, you think you are noble, but God knows how bad you are."
Feng Zhuoqing looked the girl in front of him up and down.
Her small face was round and chubby, a pair of almond-shaped eyes glared at him, and her small mouth was red. Her small body was also chubby, slightly fleshier than the other servant girls who wanted to be thin and beautiful.
The way she stared at him made him feel inexplicably better. He laughed, "Do you think I would fancy you? Tsk, you little fat pig."
Shen Xiangwan grinded her teeth hatefully, "I’m not a fat pig! No one is as good-looking as me. Sister Ruyi praised me for being so good-looking, and the Lady also said that I was... not bad looking. You are truly unreasonable. First you molested me, and now you mock me—"
She stopped herself at that moment. Her round eyes glared at him angrily as she stomped her feet and turned to ignore him who was standing behind her. However, she rubbed her face nervously under the pretense of throwing a tantrum. She prayed silently that her act would convince him.
It was probably because she was so sweet, that Feng Zhuoqing didn't doubt her. Instead, he grasped her hand and yanked her forward.
Because she had a chubby face, the boy would occasionally stretch his hands out to pinch her little cheeks when he felt like it.
Although she was used to many people in the manor pinching her fat cheeks, she couldn’t help but wipe her face quickly after he pinched her cheeks.
"Please, girls and boys older than seven years of age cannot even sit on the same seat. You touched and pinched me like this, how can I find a husband in the future?" Shen Xiangwan blurted. It wasn’t her fault that she grew to have a chubby face. She usually ate more than the other servant girls. She was always starving at night, and she would feel uncomfortable if she didn't eat anything. When she was serving Steward Zhou, she gained a lot of weight due to the supplements she ate there. It wasn’t her fault to be chubby, she didn’t deserve to be pinched by this evil young man!
She felt wronged.