Volume One, Chapter 16: She Truly Dares!

Since the day Cheng Xi forbade the Four-Eyed Fox from eating the contents of the jar, he had been avoiding her and refused to interact with her.

Cheng Xi didn’t mind; after all, he was still just a young fox with a childlike nature.

Cheng Xi finally enjoyed a few peaceful days, but the Four-Eyed Fox grew restless. He looked at Baohua and asked, “Isn’t she in a hurry to repair her body? At this rate, she won’t live much longer.”

Baohua was sweeping the backyard and turned to smile at him. “Xi Xi hasn’t accepted you; she hasn’t even named you. You’re not her fox, so why worry about her fate?”

Over the past few days, Baohua and the Four-Eyed Fox often bickered, their words becoming sharper, frequently striking at the fox’s heart.

The Four-Eyed Fox was left speechless.

Baohua’s broom swept the ground, scattering dust all over the Four-Eyed Fox, making him even angrier.

Yesterday, Cheng Xi had tended to Baohua’s wounds, but today Baohua lay languidly on a lounge chair, soaking up the sun.

The shop door opened quietly. Without opening her eyes, Cheng Xi asked, “What do you want to buy?”

“Cheng Xi.”

Hearing that voice, Cheng Xi slowly opened her eyes. Cheng Yunjian?

“What are you doing here?” Cheng Xi did not get up; her simple white dress trailing on the ground, her expression indifferent.

“I don’t know where to go. I just wandered and ended up here.” Cheng Yunjian sat on a low stool by the door, his long legs bent, looking quite pitiful.

Cheng Xi said nothing, realizing the truth was out.

“I’m going to Qinghe Academy. Do you want to come with me?”

Cheng Xi thought Cheng family members were truly abnormal. “Given our relationship, don’t you find that question strange?”

“You already know, right? I’m not Father’s son.”

Cheng Xi saw that Cheng Yunjian was about to break down; the boy’s resilience was weak. Could he not bear it?

“I’m still Cheng Zhouxing’s legitimate daughter, yet I was schemed out of the family by you all.”

“I didn’t scheme against you, but it doesn’t matter now. Karma is relentless. Father wants to divorce Mother, Grandmother fell ill from anger, Feng Lan protected Mother and got slapped by Father—the whole household is in chaos.”

Cheng Yunjian looked at the sky outside in confusion; overnight, his home was gone.

Suddenly, he thought of Cheng Xi, still a young girl who had gone to the village alone three years ago. Was she as heartbroken back then?

“Sorry.”

Cheng Xi looked at Cheng Yunjian, remembering how, when she exposed the Cheng family’s true colors at the Cheng estate, he was utterly shocked and unaware.

Cheng Xi was annoyed; she no longer wanted anything to do with the Cheng family, yet one after another, they kept coming to her.

“You all making a mess like this is, frankly, satisfying, but that’s all it is.” Cheng Xi frowned. “Cheng Yunjian, whose son you are doesn’t matter to me.”

“Doesn’t matter?” Cheng Yunjian murmured. He thought Cheng Xi would be glad to see him like this. Though she said it was satisfying, her face showed no schadenfreude.

“Brother!”

Cheng Fenglan burst in. “What are you doing here? Come to watch Cheng Xi embarrass herself?” Then she turned to Cheng Xi, her eyes brimming with hatred. “Now you’re proud? It must be your doing, right?”

“Fenglan!” Cheng Yunjian grabbed his sister’s arm. “Don’t take it out on others. This has nothing to do with Cheng Xi.”

Cheng Fenglan’s eyes were like walnuts, her right cheek slightly swollen and tinged with purple. Cheng Xi noticed the severity of the slap.

“How can it have nothing to do with her? She hates us—hates that we took everything from her. She’s out for revenge!” Fenglan pulled away from her brother, stepping forward to glare at Cheng Xi. “How could Jiang Boyu deliver Father’s message without reason? It must have been your doing. Cheng Xi, why are you always haunting us?”

Cheng Xi’s expression turned icy cold. She sneered at Fenglan, “You, a daughter born of infidelity, what right do you have to shout in front of me, the legitimate wife’s true daughter?”

“I’m not illegitimate! It’s Father who had feelings for my mother first. Your mother snatched Father away.”

“Smack!” Cheng Xi slapped her hard. “Cheng Fenglan, it’s rare to see someone so shameless. You don’t resent Father for marrying another for wealth and status. You don’t blame your mother’s incompetence for not marrying Cheng Zhouxing properly as the principal wife. Instead, you blame the most innocent person. You and your mother are like rats in a gutter—hiding from the light, selfish and self-deserving!”

Cheng Fenglan covered her face, glaring fiercely at Cheng Xi. “I won’t let you have your way! Father will always be my father, Mother will always be my mother, and you’ll remain the unwanted outcast abandoned by the Cheng family!”

Fenglan turned and ran out. Cheng Yunjian failed to stop her and gave Cheng Xi an apologetic look before following after.

“Bad luck!” Cheng Xi’s good mood was thoroughly ruined.

If they kept coming around like this every few days, how was she supposed to live?

Cheng Xi seriously began considering leaving. The matter with the Four-Eyed Fox remained unresolved, but she had to settle this first.

That meant she had to find Li Zhi’an.

Li Zhi’an had gone to Qinghe Academy.

Then she would go to Qinghe Academy.

Cheng Xi told Baohua to pack up, then went next door to ask if the neighbor wanted to buy her shop. Since she was leaving, she had no intention of coming back.

The neighbor’s shopkeeper immediately asked the owner and bought the shop.

The shop was neither large nor small; the price offered was fair.

Cheng Xi took the money to the old street and bought a century-old soul-igniting incense stick, then rode a carriage to her biological mother’s grave.

From afar, she saw someone squatting by the grave. As she got closer, she recognized Cheng Zhouxing.

“Xi Xi, why are you here?” Cheng Zhouxing hadn’t expected to see her here, his expression momentarily embarrassed and uneasy as he stood up.

“I came to say goodbye to my mother.”

“Goodbye? Where are you going?”

“What business is that of yours?” Cheng Xi’s face was cold. “Mr. Cheng, your two children came to my shop this morning. Though not your biological offspring, you raised them. You should discipline them well and stop causing trouble for others.”

Cheng Zhouxing’s face flushed red as he gritted his teeth. “They’re not my children, and I won’t care about them anymore.”

Cheng Xi didn’t believe him. A man like Cheng Zhouxing prioritized interests above all. What Fenglan said earlier showed there were ways to make him change his mind.

But none of this mattered to her; they could make a mess as they pleased, as long as it didn’t reach her doorstep.

Seeing Cheng Xi’s cold face, Cheng Zhouxing felt shame, guilt, and helplessness. “Xi Xi, you are my only bloodline. Father has wronged you. This is a family heirloom passed down through generations of the Cheng family. Today, at your mother’s grave, I entrust it to you!”

Cheng Zhouxing took out a piece of jade from his chest pocket, shaped like a black dragon. Each scale on the jade carving was lifelike, and upon closer look, it seemed to shimmer with mist.

Cheng Xi suddenly turned sharply, her sharp gaze fixed on the dragon scale jade. How could the Cheng family possess something cursed?