Qin Yuxi had just settled into her room when her eyes softened into a smile. The young maid who had carried her luggage stood waiting for further orders.
"Bring Luo Yanyan to me," Qin Yuxi instructed.
The maid bobbed her head and slipped out. Not long after, Luo Yanyan entered, bowing low.
"Miss," Luo Yanyan greeted.
Qin Yuxi's smile faded, replaced by a calm seriousness. "Speak."
Luo Yanyan leaned closer and gave her report in a low, practiced tone. She didn't falter, her words clipped and steady.
As she spoke, Yuxi's expression changed—at first still, then tightening slightly, her gaze lowering as if weighing each word. By the end, her fingers were tapping lightly against the carved armrest, her face unreadable.
When Luo Yanyan finished, silence hung for a beat.
"You may leave," Qin Yuxi said finally, her tone calm but laced with quiet authority. "And keep watch. If there are any changes, I want to know before anyone else."
Luo Yanyan bowed again and left.
As soon as the door closed, another servant hurried in. "Young Miss, Madam invites you to dine with her."
Qin Yuxi smoothed her sleeve and rose, her expression once more gentle, her eyes concealing all the shadows that had flickered there just moments before.
---
Meanwhile, Xi Jiayi pushed open the heavy doors of the Qin residence.
After days of being confined indoors, invisible in her own home and treated as little more than an unwelcome shadow, Xi Jiayi finally stepped out.
She needed air—anything to escape the suffocating walls of the Qin residence
Xi Jiayi had informed Butler Wen of her intention to go out. He immediately offered to send a car.
"No need," Xi Jiayi shook her head, "I'll walk."
Butler Wen frowned, but she did not give him room to argue. With a slight nod, she slipped past him and out into the open streets.
Outside, the city buzzed with voices and footsteps. Vendors called out, the smell of roasted chestnuts drifted in the wind, and children's laughter carried through the street.
Xi Jiayi's lips curved faintly. She recalled the letter she'd received yesterday from her Grandmaster. The familiar handwriting of her Grandmaster had been filled with admonishments.
"Too stubborn. Always keeping to yourself. You'll shrivel up before you even learn to laugh properly. Make some friends for once."
It had sounded like a nagging grandmother. Xi Jiayi had laughed softly when she read it, her heart warming and aching at the same time. She missed her Grandmaster.
But her steps slowed as old memories surfaced.
She remembered the first day she had arrived at the Qin family. She had been no more than seven years old.
Her first stepbrother, Qin Haoyu, had ignored her, his gaze distant and cold.
Her second stepbrother, Qin Yichen, had mocked her even then, sharp and cutting.
And the youngest stepbrother, Qin Jaohui, just five at the time, had burst into tears at the sight of her.
And her elder stepsister, Qin Yuxi… the only one who had smiled. A smile gentle and warm on the surface, yet hiding something deeper—something Jiayi had only come to realize much later.
Her father hadn't looked at her at all. Not once. His back had been her only welcome.
And Song Huifei— Xi Jiayi could almost understand her hatred. Her existence had broken the woman's perfect family. Xi Jiayi had stolen the peace she had cherished.
But for a girl who had grown up without love, even hatred had been something to cling to. At least it meant she belonged somewhere. At least she wasn't alone.
But then came the memory that always clawed at her.
The last day.
Her hands had been bloodied. A shard of broken glass clenched in her trembling palm. Just a few steps away, Qin Yuxi lay collapsed on the floor, unconscious, blood spilling beneath her.
The world had frozen in that moment.
Then came the sting of a slap—the first and only thing her father had ever given her.
He didn't even let her speak.
The sound had echoed louder in her memory than the shattering glass itself.
Xi Jiayi stopped in her tracks, her hand unconsciously curling into a fist at her side. Her eyes dimmed, haunted by the memory.
Suddenly—
A sharp, pitiful cry cut through the air.
"Please… let me go...!"
A woman's desperate voice rang from the alley ahead. The sound of begging, followed by a man's harsh growl.
The cry snapped Jiayi out of her thoughts.
Her eyes sharpened instantly.