Reborn to Redeem: Their Abusive Love-Chapter 118: The reply letter with a sweet fishy smell

At this moment, dawn had not yet broken, and the full moon, dragging its tattered light, was pushed into a layer of thin clouds.

Xu Si grabbed the memorial portrait and let out a faint snicker. Her rosy lips were whitened by teeth marks. With the slightest pressure, her soft, white teeth could draw tiny beads of blood, dense and sweetly pungent.

The sensation of stinging pain vanished into her nerves, leaving her mind surprisingly clear.

As she looked at the keen eyes in the portrait, she began to recall many things.

To be precise, it concerned a particular incident on a particular day.

That year, Hong Kong Island didn’t have the Triad Society yet.

The Xu Family also hadn’t reached its current pinnacle of success.

She witnessed her father carry her mother into another person’s room. The moment he came out and closed the door, a second voice from inside—base and sordid—struck her soul.

In that instant, she was still ignorant, not understanding what such sounds meant, her heart unusually calm.

Clutching the little cat she had caught to her chest, she hid behind a stone carving, even naively hoping to play hide and seek with her reticent father.

The times that followed were also very peaceful.

Peaceful until her mother came out of the room in tears.

She remembered: the wind that poured from the room that day was bitter.

Her mother discovered her.

Panicking, her mother covered Xu Si’s mouth, leading her away from that place in a stumbling rush, up to the rooftop conservatory.

It was that night as well.

The mother who loved her most held her face, tenderly kissed her warm forehead, wiping away her tears while smiling as she said,

"Asi, remember this, people change. You must live well, act as if you know nothing. Never speak of what happened today; don’t even tell your father you were here. You have to grow up strong, earn his trust, let him coach you, accept all that he gives you. You must become the sole owner of this family and take what is rightfully yours."

"Your father has only you as his child; the future of the Xu Family is yours and yours alone."

"Doesn’t my Asi wish to become a businessperson? Then learn from your father. My Asi will become the most formidable businessperson on Hong Kong Island."

She remembered.

That night, her mother’s hair was soft, her face was soft, her lips were soft, and her fingertips were soft. The words she spoke were like honey-coated cotton.

And it was that same night.

After kissing every part of her cheek, her mother resolutely pushed her away and, with an ashen face, fell from the top floor.

Her mother’s pale, smiling face was imprinted in Xu Si’s eyes.

Twisted in posture, limbs scattered, she looked nothing like Mrs. Xu.

Her last memory of that day was the tears on the ground, the hot milk on the bedside table, the white cat in her arms, and the cat’s sharp claws piercing her skin. It was also the news that her mother, who had committed suicide, had supposedly died from illness.

From then on, Xu Si was never soft again. Her character became as rigid as the thorns on a rose. She never cried and never took a single step back when faced with adversity. Her actions were wild and ruthless; she always put her interests first.

They all said she was the craziest and most illustrious heiress on Hong Kong Island.

...

The Phoenix Tree had rough, rugged bark. Each horn-shaped brown fruit that fell to the ground shattered the velvet petals of roses, creating the most grating noise.

Xu Si raised an eyebrow and tossed a tissue at the portrait’s face. The dense sound of the paper’s collision echoed in the bleak, empty space. Her red, bare ankles were cold, stimulating, and sexy.

She dragged a baseball bat out from behind the door.

And promptly smashed everything in the room to pieces.

Including that portrait.

Shards of glass splintered, wounding her arm.

Blood flowed down.

Xu Si, utterly indifferent, stepped on the broken glass, her hands propping up the baseball bat, laughing so hard her waist bent at an angle.

"Old man, you’re lucky you got an incurable disease. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t have let you go see Mom this quickly."

She completely ignored the wounds on her body.

She trampled the memorial portrait underfoot.

Behind the portrait were many photos of men and women embracing.

Glancing at them, the smile on her cold, haughty face faded. Her gaze turned solemn with a hint of frost, the corners of her upturned eyes reddening. Bloodshot lines threaded through the whites of her eyes, and her voice was as deep as the sea, as if she were talking to herself.

"If you’re dead, then be dead, but don’t leave behind any bastards. The Xu Family has me, and that’s enough. Any extras, I’ll send to join you."

Suddenly, the sound of faint footsteps came from the corridor. They stopped at the door, the person not daring to enter.

Xu Si’s eyes were half-closed as she cynically regarded those shameful photos. A faint smile seemed to flicker across her rose-colored lips before she lay back down on the single-seater sofa.

She curled up and rested for a long time.

The fog was thick and the rain plentiful. After midnight, it started to pour again.

Only after the bloodstains on her body had dried and turned black, and her skin felt the chill, did she impatiently kick away the baseball bat on the floor and walk towards the door step by step.

Her fair and delicate fingers turned the doorknob.

Butler Ge stood affectionately outside in the corridor, gazing at her with concern. "Miss."

Xu Si’s smile was radiant. "Butler Ge, why are you back? Didn’t I tell you to get some rest? Isn’t the resort hotel fun?"

"It’s wonderful. A place arranged by Miss could never be bad," Butler Ge said, his composure unruffled as he looked at the blood on her without a hint of surprise. "But there was too much commotion at home today. I need to stay by your side, Miss."

He was the most loyal and unwavering old butler.

Different from Anshi, who obeyed Father Xu’s orders.

He bore witness to all of Xu Si’s insane secrets that no one else knew.

"Butler Ge," Xu Si called, her voice calm. Then, she cracked a radiant smile. "I’ll take care of your retirement in the future."

"Yes."

Butler Ge squinted, unperturbed by honor or disgrace, his hands covered in white gloves. He took a clean handkerchief from his breast pocket and knelt to wipe the fingerprints off the baseball bat.

"Miss, you should rest now. I’ve instructed the servants to stay on the first floor; no one will come up. I will clean up here by myself."

Xu Si nodded slightly, her brows relaxing a bit as she walked down the steps, her gait graceful and enchanting. Her exposed white skin was marred with scars and bloodstains. Her demeanor was coldly magnificent, possessing a sinister yet noble sensuality.

She occasionally looked out through the wrought iron window.

She was like a wild rose filled with hard thorns and poison.

"It’s raining again," she murmured softly.

Barefoot, Xu Si stepped on the carpet, suddenly paused, then changed direction and walked into Pei Zhen’s former room.

She smelled the lingering scent—an aggressive yet comforting fragrance.

The corners of her lips instinctively flattened into a straight line.

At last, she was able to restrain her smile.

The craziness, like an emotion that could destroy everything, slowly calmed.

She leaned silently against the door for a while, then entered the room, checked the windows, and hesitated for two seconds before picking up his book.

Pei Zhen was an adult now; he could accept anything.

But this book... it was somewhat out of line. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

She locked the black leather book in the desk drawer. Her gaze lowered, she suddenly caught sight of the letter on the desk.

The old English handwriting on it was still very clear.

[I am rebellious, longing for a wild rose until my eyes wither.]

Her gaze continued downward to a line of fresh handwriting.