Chapter 2 This Hand……Is Just the Deposit
Two months later, the capital city.
Separated by seven years of a past life, Wen Xueling stood once more outside the Prime Minister’s residence. In her previous life, she had believed that entering this gate would reunite her with her father and brothers, unaware it would plunge her into an abyss of endless suffering.
Tonight, however, was her stepmother’s birthday. Her scumbag father was throwing a grand celebration, with guests arriving in an unending stream. A crowd of commoners clamored at the entrance, eager to snatch auspicious silver coins. She stood amidst them, watching a handsome young man bustling about for the stepmother’s birthday. His words from her past life echoed in her ears:
“Mother is dead, why cling to the empty title of original wife? Clearly, you're just jealous of An’an’s status as the Prime Minister’s legitimate daughter!”
“A stepmother is still a mother! You truly are an ungrateful ingrate!”
The young man’s face was alight with joy. Those eyes, so strikingly similar to her own mother’s, upon seeing Wen Xueling, did not brim with the delight of a two-year reunion, but rather with a frown born of shock. This was none other than her fourth elder brother, Wen Jinli. Wen Xueling took in his furrowed brow, a slight curl forming on her lips. So glaring. It seemed her fourth brother’s heart had turned so early. No matter, they were about to be shamed.
Wen Jinli impatiently waved his hand, summoning a young attendant.
“Miss, our young master instructed me to take you to the back gate.”
Wen Xueling ignored the attendant, turning to leave.
“Ling'er—“
A voice, familiar yet strangely alien, carved a deep, bloody mark upon her heart, bridging past and present. Wen Xueling halted. Before she could turn around, Wen Jinli forcefully dragged her into a nearby alley. As if... she was something unspeakable, meant to be hidden from sight.
Wen Jinli eyed their surroundings warily, his tone curt. “How did you find this place?”
She looked up, a smile that didn't reach her eyes gracing her lips. “I came to find you all, Brother. Do you not welcome me?”
He cast a look of disdain at her coarse hemp clothing, then pulled her further into the alley. Frowning, he asked, “Where’s Mother?”
“At the inn.”
“Do I need to go and invite Mother over now? She misses you very much……”
Wen Jinli abruptly refused, his voice urgent: “No! Not now!”
She straightened the curve of her lips. He was actually so resistant. Realizing his tone was too harsh, Wen Jinli quickly tried to amend it. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll personally come to fetch you both.”
Suddenly, a call echoed from the alley entrance. It was Wen Jin’an’s voice.
A flash of worry crossed the young man’s face. He beckoned the attendant guarding the alley. “Send her back. Don’t let anyone see her.” Wen Xueling watched his anxious back as he hurried towards Wen Jin’an, a sight so familiar, overlapping with her past life.
At the alley entrance, Wen Jin’an was dressed in opulent clothes, her hair adorned with numerous hairpins. Many maids and guards trailed behind her. Seeing Wen Jinli, she pouted, complaining, “Fourth Brother, where did you go? An’an looked for you for ages.”
“There were many beggars seeking blessings tonight, so Brother worried they might disturb Mother’s peace and walked a little further away.”
“The night wind is chilly, and your body is frail, Brother will escort you back to the residence.” He glanced sidelong into the back alley, his voice exceptionally low, afraid Wen Xueling might overhear his words.
“Miss, I’ll escort you back to the inn... where is she?” The attendant couldn’t find her and stopped searching. “Never mind, she was just a beggar girl. I suppose she’s not important.”
Following her past life’s memory, Wen Xueling ascended to the highest point of the rock garden in the Prime Minister’s residence’s back courtyard. Coldly, she watched the joyous and harmonious scene in the main hall. The stepmother, surrounded by guests, wore a face full of smiles. Her scumbag father, her grandmother, and her fourth brother who had just abandoned her to rush back to the residence—all gathered around the stepmother.
“Mother, Eldest Brother couldn’t make it back from fighting sea pirates, so he specifically entrusted me to present this East Sea pearl as a birthday gift, wishing Mother eternal beauty, year after year.”
“You fear the cold in winter, so Third Brother sought out a magnificent fox fur coat with great expense, hoping Mother will no longer fear the chill this year.”
“I prepared a Western Regions hand-warming stone for Mother.”
Wen Xueling had lived with her four brothers for over a decade, yet she had never seen them prepare such thoughtful and expensive birthday gifts. The stepmother could barely hide the smile on her lips. “You are all so thoughtful. Haven’t Second and Third Brother returned yet?”
“Second Brother went to Duan Tou Mountain in Fuli Kingdom. There’s a thousand-year-old wild ginseng there. He said he wanted to gather it to stew soup for Mother's health. He was supposed to return today, but a rebellion broke out in Fuli Kingdom, so Third Brother went with the merchant convoy to pick him up.”
An icy chill enveloped Wen Xueling’s entire being. Her second and third brothers were twins. Third Brother was robust, but Second Brother had always been sickly. It was her mother who had nursed him day and night, even carrying him as she knelt and kowtowed three times and nine bows up the sacred mountain, enduring crippled legs to beg the Medical Saint to save him. Duan Tou Mountain, a place where even the miasma was highly poisonous, yet he entered it to gather wild ginseng for this stepmother!
The four brothers’ gifts brought great prestige to the stepmother, eliciting envy from all the guests. Wen Jin’an pouted childishly, “Fourth Brother, you’re all so biased! You gave Mother such precious and heartwarming birthday gifts. I don’t care, for my birthday this year, you must prepare gifts no less valuable than these!”
“Alright, alright, all the best things in the world must be given to our dear little sister,” Wen Jinli’s tone was full of doting affection.
Wen Xueling’s eyes grew even colder. For her mother’s birthday, they hadn’t even returned to offer a bowl of longevity noodles, let alone send a congratulatory letter. Could this woman’s actions truly outweigh the kindness of birth and upbringing?
Under the expectant gazes of the crowd, Wen Jinli opened a brocade box. He took out the East Sea pearl and a moonlight stone, placing them separately in his palm, silently awaiting the guests’ praise. Yet, before the triumphant smile could fully spread across his lips, a sharp arrow suddenly whistled through the air. The moonlight stone was shot to the ground, shattering into two halves. The East Sea pearl also fell, trampled by the startled and chaotic guests.
“Assassin!”
Wen Xueling narrowed her eyes, unhurried. Her gaze fixed on the brocade fox fur in a servant’s hand. With another arrow, she pierced it through and pinned it to a pillar. In the ensuing panic, someone knocked over the candlelight near the pillar. The fox fur instantly burst into flames. Servants quickly fetched water, but although the fire was extinguished, the precious brocade fox fur was ruined. The birthday banquet erupted into chaos.
Wen Jingshu stood in front of the stepmother, his hand protectively resting on her shoulder. “Guards! Escort the Madam away!”
A cold sneer played on Wen Xueling’s lips. She drew back her crossbow once more, her final arrow flying straight towards him. The arrow, with incredible speed, pierced through her scumbag father’s palm. Just as it was about to strike the stepmother’s shoulder, he forcefully pushed her away, making her dodge. She heard her fourth brother’s gasp, her stepsister’s cries……
Wen Xueling coldly observed the panic in the front hall. If she and her mother suffered, what right did they have to live well? In her past life, two lives were taken. She would make them repay their blood debt tenfold in this life, with unbearable pain.
This hand……is just the deposit.
Now, the real beginning.
From the front hall came Wen Jinli’s furious roar: “Guards! Catch the assassin—”
Guests scattered in all directions, leaving the birthday banquet in disarray. From the rock garden, Wen Xueling turned and leaped, unseen, unheard, as if she had never been there.
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