Chapter 4: Happy New Year!

Some truths, once understood, are paradise; once misunderstood, hell.------------------------------------------

Lu Huaining held her icy hand and slowly guided it toward his most vulnerable place. “Xue Zuining, don’t you enjoy the feeling of being the executioner? Don’t you love the taste of blood on your hands? Come on, do it. Just a little pressure, and you can vent all your hatred, you can taste that intoxicating rush again…”

He watched the tremor in her eyes. So she was afraid of killing too. Then why could this cruel woman treat their child so mercilessly?

“Let me go…” Xue Zuining stared at the man’s extreme expression and movements, trying to break free, but he held her fast.

“Scared now? Haven’t you already tasted the flavor of revenge?” Lu Huaining could feel the cold blade of the dagger slicing through the fabric and resting against his skin. In a gentle voice, he asked her, “Do you need my help?”

Bright red blood began to spread across the white shirt, little by little, swelling in her terrified eyes until it became a vortex of crimson. She looked down at her own hands; though they were clean, they seemed to reek of blood. She let out a shrill scream as cold tears slid drop by drop from the corners of her eyes.

The man’s rough fingertips wiped away her tears. “Xue Zuining, tell me, you regret it.” Otherwise, why would she be crying?

“I don’t regret it.” Xue Zuining laughed, tears flying from her eyes. “I will never regret it... never!”

“You’re lying.” Lu Huaining brushed his tear-wet fingertip over her pale, chilled lips. “Have you tasted the flavor of regret?”

“That’s enough, you madman!” Xue Zuining, with the desperate resolve to die together with him, shoved this madman away. When she stood, she realized how unsteady her steps were. “I’m telling you, that child never should have come into this world. It was destined to be nothing but a humiliation, a bastard! You already forced my mother to atone with the finality of death, so what right do you have to drag my child down with her? What right do you have to make it live under other people’s pointing fingers...”

“Smack!”

The furious blow from the man, fierce and merciless, sent her entire body crashing back onto the sofa. Lu Huaining gripped her cheeks. “Take back what you just said, or I will strangle you myself!” Bastard—how dare she use such filthy words to describe his child? This executioner, this cruel woman, what right did she have!

The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, making Xue Zuining frown faintly in discomfort. Yet she casually wiped away the blood at the corner of her lips, her gaze carrying a trace of mockery. “I already gave you a chance. It was you who didn’t dare to strike. But it’s not too late to change your mind now!”

“Dong, dong, dong...” From the clock tower came the final chimes of the year, mingling with the crackle of firecrackers welcoming the New Year.

Xue Zuining drew a hard breath and stood up. She snatched the photograph from the coffee table and waved it at the man, whose eyes had turned red. With a cold laugh, she said, “Wasn’t it my gift you wanted? Look carefully, Lu Huaining. This is the gift I’m giving you. Do you like it?”

Lu Huaining watched her step by step draw near, the photograph in her hand. He staggered back a little, only to trip against the sofa. His heart felt drained, exhausted to the point that the fatigue of all the rushing about and the weariness of the journey, previously ignored, came roaring up at once, pressing down on him until he could barely breathe. He sat there, watching Xue Zuining look down at him from above, holding a sheet of paper as though declaring her victory, a victory bought at equal cost in blood.

And her next move shocked and humiliated him even more. She casually tore the photograph in her hand into fragments, as though ripping his heart apart with it, then scattered the pieces over his head like a shower of heavenly blossoms. Before he could recover and flare up in fury, she spoke first. At the twelfth toll of the bell, she lowered her head with a smile and offered her blessing.

“Lu Huaining, Happy New Year.”