My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

They were two people completely shrouded in black, tall with broad shoulders and thick backs, yet their steps were extremely light. When they stepped into the nearly knee-deep water, they only created tiny ripples, making almost no sound.

He wore a black coat over a straw raincoat, which was covered with rainwater and mud. The brown straw was swollen from being soaked in water, and strands of murky water dripped down from it.

The brim of his straw hat was pulled down very low, shrouding his entire face in shadow, revealing only a pair of sinister eyes.

Rainwater trickled down the edge of the straw hat, weaving a fine curtain of water.

A chilling gaze peeked out from behind the curtain of water, like four dark, flickering flames in the darkness, moving through the rain before finally settling on the two huddled figures, one large and one small.

They exchanged a glance, one of them nodded slightly, and then silently bent down and approached Shu Rou.

The rain suddenly intensified, and the raindrops pounded on the broken door above, making a dull, dense thud, like someone repeatedly striking a drum with a hammer.

The wind rushed in from the alley entrance, howling as it squeezed through the narrow passage, carrying the scent of rain and the stench of rotting garbage, making one feel nauseous.

When Shu Jingwei woke up hungry in the middle of the night, she smelled this stench, and a wave of acid churned up in her stomach, burning her throat with a bitter taste.

She smacked her lips, her tongue tasting the rainwater mixed with the rusty flavor of the broken skin in her mouth.

Just as she was about to change her position to continue sleeping, she suddenly felt that something was wrong.

It was an inexplicable intuition, like a cold needle piercing down her spine from the back of her neck, making the hairs on her body stand on end.

Even the rhythm of the rain in the alley seemed to have changed.

The previously chaotic sound of rain seemed to have acquired a certain regularity; something was moving, slowly approaching...

She didn't open her eyes abruptly, but secretly lifted her eyelids a crack and looked out through the gap.

But he met Shu Rou's wide-eyed stare.

In an instant, Shu Jingwei's heart felt like it had been squeezed tightly, almost jumping out of her throat.

She quickly bit her tongue to stop herself from making a sound, her teeth sinking into her tongue flesh, and she immediately tasted an even stronger rusty flavor.

Shu Rou was being dragged out by a tall, dark figure who covered her mouth.

The man's hand gripped her chin like an iron clamp, so tightly that it distorted half of her face, rendering her unable to make a sound.

Rainwater splashed on Shu Rou's face, mingling with her tears of fear, and flowed down her rough, large hand.

Another dark figure grabbed her wrists and ankles with both hands, one in front and one behind, lifting her up in mid-air like a pig.

The soaking wet rags clung to Shu Rou's body, dripping water incessantly, and the shape of each rib on her back was clearly protruding.

Shu Rou was just a thin child under four years old. After this period of begging, she had almost lost all the flesh on her body.

The limbs looked like a thin layer of skin wrapped directly over the bones, as thin as withered tree branches that could break at any moment.

The man in black could grip her wrists and ankles tightly with one hand, his fingers even extending beyond their overlap.

She tried with all her might to kick and twist, her feet flailing wildly in the air, but it was like an ant trying to shake a tree; she couldn't break free at all.

His mouth was also tightly covered, and his cries for help were muffled by the large hand, leaving him only able to make muffled sounds.

The sound was too faint in the torrential rain and before it could travel far before being swallowed by the rain and torn to pieces by the wind.

Shu Rou noticed that Shu Jingwei had secretly opened her eyes.

The person still sitting on the mat against the wall, his eyes narrowed to slits, reflected the faint light of the rain, and looked directly into her eyes.

Her eyes widened instantly, her pupils contracted sharply, as if a drowning person had seen the last piece of driftwood and immediately became agitated, struggling even more fiercely.

The small body swayed desperately in the air, its thin back arching and falling under the control of the man in black, like a fish nailed to a chopping board.

Ignoring the purplish-blue marks already formed on her wrists from the straps, Shu Rou desperately turned her face toward Shu Jingwei.

The delicate veins on his neck bulged out from the exertion, stretching from his ears all the way to his collarbone, like a string about to snap.

A pleading gaze pierced through the rain and landed heavily on Shu Jingwei's face, burning hot with intense heat.

The raindrops falling from the edge of the door formed semi-transparent curtains between them. Shu Rou's gaze was cut off intermittently as she looked through these curtains, but the warmth within was not extinguished in the slightest.

Those eyes seemed to be saying: Save me! Mother, save me!

A faint glimmer of hope remained in her eyes.

That was something that Shu Rou had spent a very long time piecing together after being abandoned in the palace last time.

It's as thin as the first layer of ice that forms on the surface of a puddle in winter—transparent, fragile, and easily cracked by the wind.

Shu Jingwei stiffened almost imperceptibly.

She could feel every muscle in her body tense up in that instant, her heart pounded in her chest, making her ribs ache slightly before finally settling back down.

Without making a sound, Shu Jingwei closed the gap again, cutting off Shu Rou's last glance.

The moment her eyelids closed, she could even feel the weight of those two gazes falling on her eyelids.

But she didn't dare to move.

She simply remained in that curled-up position against the wall.

My shoulder blade pressed against the cold wall, which was pitted and uneven from the rain, and the pebbles were hard and cold against my bones.

The water stains on the wall seeped over, soaking her back and making her clothes wet and cold, instantly raising goosebumps on her back.

But she was completely unaware and remained motionless.

He even deliberately slowed his breathing, making the rise and fall of his chest gentle and even, as if he were in a deep sleep and had not woken up from beginning to end.

Rou'er, don't blame your mother for being heartless.

She is disabled, with only one hand and one foot intact, and she can't even stand steadily.

What can you use to save them? Pounce on them and bite them? You'd probably get slapped into the puddle before you even touch their clothes.

Shu Rou is just a little girl; she might have some value if captured. But she's a disfigured cripple. If they get angry, they might just stab her to death, and she'll have nowhere to cry.

And...and...

Her thoughts wandered to this point.

Maybe they're from a good family.

Yes, maybe some wealthy family needed a maid, took a fancy to Shu Rou, and brought her back to raise.

Wouldn't that allow her to live a good life?

No more scavenging for food in this garbage dump every day, no more getting caught in the rain and freezing cold, I can wear clean clothes, eat hot meals, and sleep in a soft bed...