Don't mess with that Miao boy, he's sickly and perverted.

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out outside the door.

"Ouyang, you old dog, come out and kowtow to the workers who were unjustly killed!"

"Let him taste what it's like to be buried underground and roasted!"

Those who profit from human suffering will die a horrible death!

"..."

Ouyang Rui clenched his fists and listened quietly, unable to refute a single word.

After his father was seriously injured and bedridden, the steward had already explained everything about the mine to him. The miners who had been rescued by Ji Fangshi had thoroughly exposed the evil deeds of the Ouyang family. And the prefect, who had received plenty of benefits from his father in the past, had not yet sent any officials to arrest anyone.

For the past few days, people have been coming to the mansion every day to shout insults, throw rotten eggs and vegetable leaves, and curse his father to die soon.

Chai Xiaomi looked at him, unsure of what to say.

Ouyang Huai is indeed a bad person, but it is undeniable that he is a good father, so good that he raised his son to be so naive and ignorant of the ways of the world.

But is he really that naive?

Even the most naive person isn't a fool. As an adult with normal thinking abilities, no matter how carefree one's life may be, one will always hear gossip. How could one be completely oblivious to the actions of one's family members under one's roof?

While Ouyang Huai might have kept the mineral vein a secret, his skillful and cruel abuse in bed was clearly not a first-time occurrence.

"Your dad seems to have a particular fondness for young girls?"

Faced with Xiaomi's sudden question, Ouyang Rui was stunned.

He pursed his lips, as if he had guessed what she meant.

He was vaguely aware of his father's sexual quirks, but as a son, he couldn't speak up, much less restrain him. His mother used to argue with his father frequently, but gradually, the arguments became less frequent, and her gaze towards him lost its intensity.

Later, his mother devoted all her attention to him, and when she occasionally went crazy, it was because she missed her younger sister too much.

"What are you talking about, Xiaomi..." Ouyang Rui forced an awkward smile. "My father never took a concubine; he only had my mother as his legal wife."

"Really?" Chai Xiaomi took out half of a dragon-patterned jade pendant, which she had specially asked Wu Li to steal from Liu Mama's room, and she would have to quietly put it back later. "Do you recognize this jade pendant?"

Ouyang Rui's pupils constricted sharply, his voice suddenly changed, and he asked excitedly, "This! Where did you get this jade pendant!?"

"Six months ago, a young musician was forcibly carried into a room by a drunk Ouyang Huai. This jade pendant fell off her."

Ouyang Rui was so shocked he couldn't speak for a long time. His eyes were bloodshot, and even the flesh on his face was trembling: "What do you mean?! You mean, my sister... she was... she was..."

He lunged forward, trying to grab Xiaomi's shoulders, but before his hand could even touch her, he felt a sharp pain. Several small pebbles flew out from nowhere and hit the back of his hand precisely. The pain made him pull his hand back abruptly, and he could only ask anxiously, "Is she hurt? Where is she now?"

Chai Xiaomi deliberately didn't make her point clear, and didn't mention that Xiangyun had been shielded from disaster by Hongxiao. She simply said coldly, "You should know better than I how ruthless your father is at destroying women, shouldn't you?"

"She's dead."

Those 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 and continued talking.

"You always turn a blind eye to your father's actions and never once thought of admonishing him."

"If you had known about the mine issue from the beginning, would you have stood up to stop your father?"

Ouyang Rui's lips moved slightly: "I..."

Chai Xiaomi's words were like a thorn, accurately tearing away his last veil of pretense.

He won't.

Even if he knew, he would probably choose to play dumb and maintain a facade of peace. That was his father, that was his home, that was the source of his comfortable life. What right did he have to break off relations?

"Don't think that because your father did everything, it has nothing to do with you. When you comfortably enjoy everything he has given you, you are already involved. Your indifference makes you his accomplice."

"If only you had advised me sooner, if only you had stood up even once—"

"Those poor people won't die in vain."

"And your sister, perhaps, will have a different ending."

Another round of cursing came from outside the door, mixed with the muffled thud of rotten vegetable leaves hitting the door panel.

Ouyang Rui stood there, like a piece of dead wood struck by lightning.

You'll never know pain until you get slapped in the face.

The cries of those people were far less impactful than the words "sister".

At the same moment, far away, someone was listening to all of this.

Inside the main courtyard.

Ouyang Huai, who had woken up two days ago, was breathing weakly and had just drunk the medicine prescribed by the doctor. But now, the medicine mixed with blood and foam came out of his throat and splattered on the brocade quilt, staining it a striking dark red.

His eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaved violently, and his ten fingers dug so hard into the bed that his knuckles turned bluish-white.

A tiny worm was creeping into his ear.

He heard every word of Chai Xiaomi and Ouyang Rui's conversation.

He wanted to shout, but no sound came out; he wanted to move, but he couldn't budge an inch. Those words were like a red-hot iron, pressing down on his heart again and again, scalding through the most unsightly layer of flesh.

Overwhelmed with grief and shock, he couldn't even shed tears, only managing to squeeze out hoarse gasps from his torn throat: "Erbao... Father was wrong... Father deserves to die..."

Overwhelmed by anger, a mouthful of blood surged up, silencing all sound.

He died with his eyes open, in agony.

The last breath hung in his throat; he couldn't swallow it, nor could he spit it out.

His eyes remained closed for a long time.

*

"Young Master! Young Master!! The...the Master..."

The butler stumbled in, his face ashen, and he could barely speak.

Ouyang Rui felt a buzzing in his head, as if something had snapped.

He stood there stunned for a moment, his eyes vacant, then he didn't care about anything else and ran towards the main courtyard.

He had walked this road for over twenty years, but now it felt strangely unfamiliar, and he almost tripped over the threshold.

Chai Xiaomi watched his staggering figure.

His expression was complicated.

She knew that Ouyang Huai had overheard their entire conversation.

Because the Gu worm near his ear was placed there by Wu Li at her request.

As she left Qianwu Town, she still couldn't swallow her anger over Hongxiao.

But even though he swallowed his anger, he didn't feel as relieved as he had imagined.

Chai Xiaomi slowly raised her eyes, looking at the person who had appeared beside her at some point. "Wouldn't this count as murder?"

Wu Li looked down at her, her clear black and white eyes swirling with complex emotions—relief, unease, and a hint of bewilderment, like a child who had done something wrong and was coming back for the first time to demand an explanation.

He suddenly found her incredibly adorable.

Like a kitten that has only eaten a small fish, but runs in front of a wicked ghost with a lot of blood on his hands, asking in fear: Am I a bad guy?

He reached out and pinched her cheek; the touch under his fingertips was incredibly soft.

"This is nothing," he said lazily, but his eyes held a smile. "If you're interested in learning, I can teach you. The most interesting way to play is not to kill them at first, but to watch them beg for mercy little by little, and gradually become desperate. Their expressions are particularly interesting."

Chai Xiaomi's face instantly turned serious. "You dare try something like this on me?"

He pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head, his laughter muffled in his chest, making her back tingle slightly.

"Just kidding, I was just kidding."