Just then, a sudden commotion erupted outside the door.
"Ouyang, you old dog, come out and kowtow to the workers who died unjustly!"
"Let him taste what it's like to be buried and roasted alive!"
"Those who feast on human misery will die a miserable death!"
"..."
Ouyang Rui clenched his fists, listening silently, unable to utter a single word in rebuttal.
After his father was severely injured and bedridden, the steward had explained everything about the mine to Ouyang Rui in full detail. The miners that Master Ji had rescued home had spilled all of the Ouyang family's misdeeds. Meanwhile, the county magistrate, who had long accepted bribes from Ouyang Rui's father, had yet to send officials to make an arrest.
So for the past few days, people had been gathering at the mansion gate every day, hurling insults, throwing rotten eggs and spoiled vegetable leaves, and cursing his father to hurry up and die.
Chai Xiaomi watched him, momentarily at a loss for words.
Ouyang Huai was indeed a wicked man, but there was no denying he was a good father—so good that he had raised his son to be such an innocent, sheltered fool.
But was he truly that naive?
Even a fool wasn’t an idiot. As an adult with normal reasoning, no matter how carefree his life, he would inevitably hear gossip. How could he be completely oblivious to what his family members were doing under the same roof?
Perhaps Ouyang Huai had kept the mine matter a secret, but his habitual cruelty and abuse in the bedroom was clearly not his first offense.
"Your father seems to have a special fondness for young girls?"
At Chai Xiaomi's unexpected question, Ouyang Rui was momentarily stunned.
He pressed his lips together, seeming to grasp her implication.
Though he vaguely knew about his father's perverse preferences, as a son, he couldn't speak of it, much less intervene. His mother used to quarrel with his father constantly, but eventually, the arguments grew rarer, and the look in her eyes when she regarded his father became utterly lifeless.
Later on, his mother devoted all her attention to him, and occasionally, when she lost her mind, it was because she missed his sister too much.
"What are you talking about, Xiaomi..." Ouyang Rui forced an awkward smile. "My father never even took a concubine—he only had my mother as his lawful wife."
"Is that so?" Chai Xiaomi pulled out half a dragon-patterned jade pendant. She had specifically asked Wu Li to steal it from Madam Liu's room and would have to quietly return it later. "Then do you recognize this pendant?"
Ouyang Rui's pupils shrank. His voice suddenly changed pitch as he asked excitedly, "This! Where did you get this pendant?!"
"Half a year ago, a very young female entertainer was forcibly carried into Ouyang Huai's room while he was drunk. This pendant fell off her body."
Ouyang Rui was stunned speechless. His eyes bloodshot, even the flesh on his face trembling, he said, "What do you mean?! Are you saying my sister... she... by my father..."
He lunged forward, trying to grab Chai Xiaomi's shoulders, but before his hand could touch her, a sharp sting hit him. Several small pebbles flew from nowhere, striking the back of his hand precisely, forcing him to jerk it back in pain. He asked urgently, "Was she hurt? Where is she now?"
Chai Xiaomi deliberately didn't make things clear, nor did she mention how Hongxiao had shielded Xiangyun from harm. She only said coldly, "You should know better than I how ruthlessly your father destroys flowers, shouldn't you?"
"She's dead."
Three words, like three nails, pinned Ouyang Rui to the spot.
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Chai Xiaomi didn't stop. She continued.
"You turned a blind eye to everything your father did. You never once had the faintest intention to admonish him."
"If the mine matter hadn't blown up in front of you today, but had come to your attention earlier, would you have stepped forward to stop your father?"
Ouyang Rui's lips trembled. "I..."
Chai Xiaomi's words were like a thorn, precisely peeling away his last layer of cover.
He wouldn't have.
Even if he had known, he probably would have chosen to play dumb and maintain the surface calm. That was his father. That was his home. That was the source of his comfortable life. What standing did he have to tear it all apart?
"Don't think that just because your father did all these things, you have nothing to do with it. The moment you felt entitled to enjoy everything he gave you, you were already in the game. Your indifference made you his accomplice."
"If you had admonished him sooner, if you had stood up even once—"
"Those poor souls wouldn't have died without knowing why."
"And your sister might have had a different fate."
Outside, another round of curses erupted, the thud of rotten vegetables hitting the door panel mingling with the noise.
Ouyang Rui stood there, like a piece of dead wood struck by lightning.
A slap never stings until it lands on your own face.
The cries and wails of those people were far less impactful than the two words "my sister."
At the same time, far away, someone was listening to all of this.
Inside the main courtyard.
Ouyang Huai, who had woken up two days earlier, was barely breathing. He had just drunk the medicinal soup prescribed by the doctor. But now, the medicine mixed with bloody spittle choked out of his throat, splattering onto the brocade quilt and staining it into patches of dark red.
His eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently, his ten fingers digging into the bedboard until his knuckles turned pale white.
A tiny gu worm was lurking inside his ear.
The entire conversation between Chai Xiaomi and Ouyang Rui poured into his ears, word for word.
He wanted to shout, but no sound came out. He wanted to move, but couldn't stir an inch. Those words were like red-hot branding irons, pressing one after another into his heart, searing through the most shameful layer of his flesh.
He was so grief-stricken and shocked that he couldn't even shed tears. Only a hoarse wheeze squeezed out of his torn throat: "My little treasure... Dad was wrong... Dad deserves to die..."
A rush of anger overwhelmed him. A mouthful of turbid blood surged upward, choking off all sound.
With his eyes wide open, he died in agony.
His last breath hung at the threshold of his throat, unable to swallow it down, unable to spit it out.
His eyes, for a long time, refused to close.
"Young master! Young master!! The old... old master..."
The steward staggered over, his face deathly pale, unable to form a clear sentence.
A buzzing sound filled Ouyang Rui's head, as if something inside him had snapped.
He stood frozen, his eyes vacant for a moment. Then, without another thought, he turned and sprinted toward the main courtyard.
He had walked this path for over twenty years, but now it felt foreign, so much so that he nearly tripped over the threshold.
Chai Xiaomi watched his stumbling retreat.
Her expression was complicated.
She knew that Ouyang Huai had heard every word of their conversation.
Because the gu worm at his ear was something she had asked Wu Li to place.
Before leaving Thousand Mist Town, she simply couldn't swallow the anger over Hongxiao's fate.
But now that she had vented that anger, her heart didn't feel as triumphant as she had imagined.
Chai Xiaomi slowly raised her eyes to look at the person who had appeared beside her without her noticing. "Does this count as me killing someone?"
Wu Li looked down at her. In those clear black-and-white eyes, a tangled storm of emotions churned—relief, unease, and a touch of inexplicable bewilderment, like a child who had done something wrong, asking for judgment for the first time.
He suddenly found her utterly adorable.
Like a little kitten that had only nibbled on a small fish, yet ran to a murderer steeped in blood and guilt, trembling with fear as she asked, "Am I a bad person?"
He reached out and pinched her cheek, the skin beneath his fingers impossibly soft.
"This is nothing," he said lazily, though amusement flickered in his eyes. "If you're interested in learning, I could teach you. The most amusing way is to not go for the kill at first—watch the other person beg bit by bit, despair bit by bit. The look on their face is absolutely priceless."
Chai Xiaomi's face instantly turned stern. "If you ever try any nonsense like that with me, just try it."
He pulled her into his arms in one swift motion, his chin resting on the top of her head, a low laugh rumbling in his chest that vibrated faintly against her back.
"I'm just teasing you. I was only joking."
