"Hit! Hit them hard for me! Kill those shameless dog men!"

The capital of Zhuque, night has deepened.

Lanterns illuminated the long street, like countless stars falling into the gently flowing moat.

Lady Xia Yunhe, the second miss of General Zhongwu's Mansion, along with a dozen servants in uniform attire, cornered a pair of men at an alleyway entrance and beat them up, attracting a crowd of onlookers.

The man on the ground was torn to shreds, his body covered in wounds. He had already died and lay lifelessly on one side, a gaping hole where his mouth once was.

That was just now, in order to protect his son, he was struck through and through by Xia Yunhe's palm!

"Xia Chenyan, you shameless thing!"

"You had an affair with your married cousin in the past and were driven out of the Xia family, a disgrace. Now, Grandmother has overlooked the past and helped you find a good family. You are wearing the dowry and running away with this scoundrel!"

"If I hadn't found out early, you would have run away! How will Grandma face the Wang family then? You heartless wretch, today I shall kill you and cleanse our Xia family!"

Xia Yunhe cursed incessantly, heaping insult upon insult on the person being beaten.

"This is Xia San Miss, the one who had an affair with her cousin! Her reputation was ruined long ago, everyone knows about it!"

"Right, right, offering tributes and almost got beaten to death! Now learning to elope like others? Hmph! The Xia family shouldn't have kept this troublemaker back then, should have thrown him in a pigsty long ago!"

"Such people, living is a waste of our Zhuque's food, polluting our air, and dragging down our overall moral level! Damn them!"

The onlookers pointed at each other.

"Besides the crime, what fear is there of words? If you want my life, kill me; but Brother Jiang is innocent!" Xia Chenyan painfully collapsed before Young Master Qing, tears streaming like a broken string of beads.

She was about the same age as Xia Yunhe, but her face looked haggard and worn. She didn't look like a girl in her early twenties at all. There was a large scar on her face, still fresh and bloody, with the shape of a "thief" visible within it.

Having already lost all those he cherished, Jiang Cheng is now the only one left. To protect him, even he has...

What a hate!

"Ugh!"

His anger reached its peak, and he violently spat out a mouthful of saliva.

"Innocent? You really think I don't know anything! You think, why did I bring people to block you tonight, and dare to do it on the street? Opposing His Royal Highness Rong Wang, I think you guys are just tired of living!" Xia Yunhe leaned close to Xia Chenyan, her voice low, a murderous gleam in her eyes.

This little wretch, she used to have a fox-like face that attracted bees and butterflies! Now her face is branded with iron, and her right hand is broken, she's completely crippled, yet she can still attract men for this?

It's really annoying!

Xia Yunhe was angry, so she raised her riding crop and lashed out at Xia Chenyan.

Skin splitting!

Xia Chenyan was knocked to the ground, covered in blood and bruises. She stared wide-eyed at the person in front of her.

"How did you know..."

How could Xia Yunhe know that they were going to expose Rong Wang's crimes today?

Seeing Xia Chenyan's face change suddenly, Xia Yunhe felt a headache coming on. She said with sympathy, "Don't you understand yet? That girl you considered your sister has always been one of us! You fool!"

Xia Chenyan's heart turned cold.

原来是……

"Every single one of your people is dying, all because you are so stupid! So incompetent!" Xia Yunhe lashed out at Xia Chenyan with her whip, watching the latter struggle in pain with a grotesque expression of delight.

"Die, you wretch! Your elder brother, younger brother, the Jiang family father and son, and all those fools who thought they could help you are waiting for you in hell!"

While committing murder in public is a serious crime, Xia Chenyan had already committed theft and was forced into servitude. Now, she's also being accused of elopement. Even if Xia Yunhe killed her, she wouldn't face any consequences.

Xia Chenyan gritted her teeth, suppressing a moan. But the excess loss still made her body ice cold, shivering with the chill.

That was the chill that came from the bone marrow.

Faces of the departed appear before my eyes.

"I died so miserably! Chenyan, avenge me!"

"Chenyan! Avenge us!"

Revenge...

Xia Chenyan lay on the ground, clutching Xia Yunhe's ankle and sobbing, "I won't let you go even as a ghost... I will kill all of you, kill you all... revenge..."

Xia Yunhe kicked Xia Chenyan several times, but she couldn't kick her away. Both her and her shoes were soiled, so angry that she kicked Xia Chenyan's jaw with one foot.

A few silver teeth were broken.

Summer smoke rolled away, the sounds around her faded, and her vision blurred…

Across the street, there was a loud and bustling celebration with drums and gongs.

On the bustling street, crowds gathered around a palanquin carried by eight men as it passed by.

"Regent... Regent..." Xia Chenyan's eyes were dazed, and with great difficulty, she reached out towards the direction of the throng of shadows, crawling forward bit by bit.

"Thinking of going to the Regent to complain?" Xia Yunhe stomped on Xia Chenyan's back.

Summer smoke continuously seeped out, increasingly forming a stream.

The dream, everything, all that mattered. Eight years of hard work, the result was right there, yet it felt just out of reach.

Having lost everything, he was still defeated.

How could you possibly face those people down below?

No! I refuse to give up!

Tears blurred my vision, and a heart-wrenching pain raged wildly inside me.

Boom—

Flash floods and thunderstorms raged.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, Xia Chenyan, who was lying in bed, was jolted awake. She gasped for air and sat up abruptly, her entire body drenched in cold sweat.

The 1469th time.

The same nightmare, has been haunting me for ten years, playing out a thousand times.

In a past life, it was like a dream. I was publicly humiliated and harmed by my own cousin. Before and after, the lives of all those I cared about were also entangled in this.

For eight years, I was displaced and trampled upon in the dust. It was a period saturated with blood, brimming with both treachery and hatred!

I thought my life would end in that bloody Mid-Autumn Festival, but when I opened my eyes again, I was back eighteen years ago, at the age of six.

In this life, I swear to protect the weak and kill my enemies!