Volume One, Chapter Three: Wanting to Kill This Worthless Scoundrel

The man's voice was terrifying. Instinctively, Li Qiuning, delicate as a kitten, feared him. The damp, chilling wind lashed her face, rousing her from confusion. She hurriedly fumbled to remove his jacket. "I... I'm not going anywhere, Ninth Master. Please take off your coat quickly—I'm sorry, I've dirtied it."

Qin Zhan's face darkened as he saw her suppressing her fear, forcing herself to approach him. "Who taught you how to undress a man?" he demanded.

Li Qiuning froze, her hand caught as she touched him. She explained innocently, "No one... If clothes are dirty, shouldn't we just take them off and change into clean ones?"

"Ninth Master, I really only wanted to help you change," she added, proper and well-behaved, without a single thought of overstepping. She was sincere, as transparent as a glass bead, utterly without malice.

Struggling to withdraw her hand, she found his grip impossibly strong. Her eyes grew slightly red, gazing pitifully at the invincible Ninth Master.

Qin Zhan, stirred by the spring-like radiance in her eyes, felt his heart surge. At last, he carelessly removed his vest and turned away.

Li Qiuning was left outside, surrounded by tall, burly men. Wrapped in Ninth Master's suit jacket, she watched quietly as the man on the ground clung to life.

In her past life, she had desperately tried to help him escape, believing she was awaited by the wedding of her dreams. Unexpectedly, Shang Lu betrayed her, announcing at their engagement that she had forced him to marry her by bearing his child.

He went further, declaring the child in her womb could not possibly be his, and that her marrying into the Shang family was a disgrace to their name.

He had shamed her.

In public, she was ruthlessly humiliated, overnight becoming a pariah—an outcast everyone despised.

She braced herself with an umbrella, stepping into the rain, trudging through muddy grass. This was the road she had come.

"Li Qiuning, what do you mean... cough, cough!" Shang Lu, not knowing what had happened, was truly crippled; his plans no longer mattered.

At this moment, he genuinely wished to kill her. Why did she stand by, watching him beaten, wasn't she madly in love with him? Hadn't she said she'd do anything to marry him?

A wretch remains a wretch, a filthy woman ruined by men!

Li Qiuning looked at him coldly, pressing her foot hard onto his hand, listening to his anguished cries, feeling a small measure of resentment fade within her.

"Shang Lu, we grew up together. Before Li Qingran returned, I thought I was the happiest person. In just over a year, you've become like this. What did I ever do to wrong you?"

"I can't remember what happened three months ago or who was with me... But you insisted on taking responsibility, you said we should get engaged. I thought you finally turned back to me, but you were only playing with me."

"You deceived my sincerity, my passion, my unconditional devotion. You got what you wanted, and I ended up discarded, like a dead cat in the gutter?"

These were words she had never dared say, for fear of upsetting Shang Lu. But now, Shang Lu was nothing more than a corpse on the ground—garbage.

She no longer cared.

Shang Lu, his face smeared with mud, stared at her in disbelief. "What are you saying? How could I ever deceive you? We've known each other so long, how can you not trust me? What does any of this have to do with Qingran? I only ever saw her as a sister."

"Ning Ning... has someone said something to you? How could you believe such nonsense? When your reputation was ruined, I was the one who insisted on marrying you!"

"Do you know what others called me? I didn't care. I just knew I couldn't let the one I love suffer. Even after what happened that night, I didn't blame you..."

Li Qiuning snatched a stick from the bodyguard and struck him forcefully in the face. "You dare pretend to be devoted."

"Shang Lu, it was you who handed me that drugged wine. You led those men to me. It was all your doing!"

"All you! I hate you!"

Her heart felt lighter after saying these words, and a smile of relief spread across her face as she looked at his pathetic state and threw away the stick.

She wanted to kill this wretched man, but she couldn't.

She couldn't cause trouble for Ninth Master.

Unable to hold on, Shang Lu passed out from his injuries.

The bodyguards, having received instructions, dragged him away.

Upstairs.

Qin Zhan stood behind the vast floor-to-ceiling window, watching everything below.

He had changed clothes; the white shirt he wore now made him appear even more distinguished and elegant, his figure slender and refined.

"Ninth Master, shall we send Young Master Shang back to the Shang family?" Secretary Zhang asked.

"Should we keep him here for dinner, then?" Qin Zhan's tone was cold. The law had saved Shang Lu's life; he disdained killing to vent his anger.

After all, making someone wish for death was far more cruel than simply ending their life.

Secretary Zhang hurried off to carry out his orders.

Li Qiuning's dress was soaked; she was led, dazed, into a room where an opened wardrobe revealed the latest styles.

Looking at the exquisite, expensive dresses, her fingers paused on a white gown.

She reflected that, ever since her true identity had been exposed, she no longer had the right to wear custom-made clothes. All privileges and honors had been stripped away, and she was merely an impostor.

A woman so reviled that standing beside Li Qingran meant enduring insults; the Li family blamed her for letting Li Qingran wander lost, blamed her for keeping them separated for over twenty years.

She owed Li Qingran, debts she could never fully repay, and so bore countless accusations, even losing her life in the end.

...

"None of these appeal to you?" Qin Zhan appeared behind her as if conjured by a spirit.

His gaze lingered on her neck, then her profile, finally settling on her hesitant hand resting on the gown.

Li Qiuning jumped in surprise, her heart racing wildly. "No, it's just... Ninth Master, you went to such trouble to buy me so many new dresses in such a short time."

Once, this kind of attentive care had come from the Li family; she had been their beloved daughter, now she was a nuisance, an obstacle between them and their real daughter.

Yet it wasn't her fault that the fates of two girls had been swapped—it was the adoptive father's doing.

But she had to bear the consequences, told she owed Li Qingran and must pay.

So her childhood friends, her companions, all were taken from her.

"Don't catch cold while pregnant. Wear this one; white suits you," Qin Zhan said, taking the dress for her.

His fingers gently brushed her damp hair, the gesture unusually tender.

Li Qiuning didn't notice; she wasn't particular about what to wear. "Alright. Whatever Ninth Master likes, I'll wear."

She smiled, turning to bathe and change.

Qin Zhan's fingers lightly touched where he'd stroked her hair—the woman's unintentional smile was the first she'd ever given him.