Xu Fang immediately stood up. “Miss Luo.”

Luo Sheng walked over. “Has Miss Xu come to see Xu Xi?”

Though this niece appeared no different from an ordinary young lady of a great house, she possessed an inner strength beneath her gentle exterior.

Given yesterday’s circumstances, the Marquis of Changchun would certainly have confined Xu Fang and prevented her from leaving. Yet she had still managed to learn that Xu Xi was here—clearly, she had her own channels of information.

This alone made her far stronger than many delicate young ladies.

Luo Sheng felt both gratified and heartbroken.

When a young girl possessed such means, it was ultimately because no one protected her—she could only rely on herself.

Her eldest sister had been strong-willed and proud. If she knew that the pair of children she left behind had suffered endless torment and scheming, how heartbroken would she be?

But she had come now.

A cold gleam flashed in Luo Sheng’s eyes, though her face revealed nothing.

“I’ve seen him.” Xu Fang curtsied to Luo Sheng. “Thank you, Miss Luo, for extending a helping hand to my younger brother.”

Luo Sheng smiled. “I’m just glad Miss Xu isn’t angry with me for making him chop firewood.”

“How could I be? I’m grateful to Miss Luo—it’s not even enough time to thank you.” Speaking of Xu Xi, Xu Fang’s expression became complex. “He’s suffered too little hardship. He deserves this discipline.”

“Miss Xu doesn’t feel sorry for him?”

Xu Fang smiled bitterly. “Of course I feel sorry for him, but I’d rather watch him chop firewood for a lifetime than see him become a gambling addict.”

“Xu Xi has a good older sister.” As Luo Sheng spoke, she sat down and accepted the hot tea Kou’er offered, taking a sip.

Xu Fang looked at the young lady drinking tea.

Her skin was more lustrous than snow, her long hair black as a crow’s feathers. When she sat quietly drinking tea, those eyes were like deep pools, their depths impossible to fathom.

Luo Sheng raised her eyes. “Does Miss Xu have something else on her mind?”

Xu Fang bit her lip and said softly, “I wonder if Miss Luo would find it convenient to speak somewhere quiet?”

Luo Sheng looked at her, taking in the nervousness the other tried to conceal. She set down her teacup and stood up. “Please follow me, Miss Xu.”

Entering the rear courtyard, the young man was still chopping firewood, though his movements had grown sluggish.

In such cold weather, he had removed his thick outer garment, yet beads of sweat hung on his forehead.

This uninterrupted wood-chopping was too exhausting, and the overseer was utterly merciless. Xu Xi’s head felt heavy, completely oblivious to the people passing through the courtyard.

The western chamber had been arranged as a study, bright and spacious.

“Miss Xu, speak freely. Apart from you and me, no third person will hear.”

Xu Fang’s expression changed several times before she suddenly knelt down.

Luo Sheng raised an eyebrow slightly. “What is the meaning of this, Miss Xu?”

Xu Fang kowtowed firmly, then said with lowered head, “I have nowhere else to turn and wish to ask Miss Luo for help. But I know this request is too presumptuous, so I apologize to Miss Luo first.”

Luo Sheng did not reach out to help her up. Her tone was flat. “Miss Xu need not do this. You can speak directly about what help you need. If I can help and am willing to help, naturally I will. Otherwise, even if Miss Xu kowtows ten or eight times to me, it will be of no use.”

“I understand.” Xu Fang had no intention of using kowtows to force someone to help. She quickly stood up.

“Miss Xu, please sit and speak.”

Xu Fang nodded and sat down quietly.

Seeing that she did not speak immediately, Luo Sheng did not press her, simply lowering her eyes to sip her hot tea.

Wisps of white steam rose between the two women.

Xu Fang finally spoke. “Does Miss Luo detest my father and stepmother?”

Luo Sheng glanced at her and nodded frankly. “Yes.”

Xu Fang’s clenched fists tightened forcefully. She said softly, “I want revenge. I want my father and stepmother to receive their just deserts. Can Miss Luo help me?”

Just deserts.

When Luo Sheng heard these four words, her heart suddenly sank.

She had a premonition that she was about to hear something that would bring her no pleasure whatsoever.

“Tell me what you mean by ‘just deserts.'” Luo Sheng’s tone remained unruffled, as if she were merely a detached observer.

“Does Miss Luo know who my mother was?”

“I do. The Princess of Huayang.”

“Then does Miss Luo know how my mother died?”

Luo Sheng pressed her lips together, her tone calm. “I heard she died of illness. I’m not very clear on the details—I was still young at the time.”

At that time, Xu Fang had been less than six years old.

Moisture gleamed in Xu Fang’s eyes as she bit her lip. “My mother didn’t die of illness. She was smothered to death with a pillow by my father!”

The blue-and-white teacup suddenly tilted sharply, nearly falling, before being gripped firmly by those slender, pale fingers.

Luo Sheng’s voice was eerily calm. “Miss Xu, explain clearly, slowly.”

Xu Fang’s gaze grew distant as she sank into painful memories.

“I was still small then. I only knew that something had happened to my maternal family. Mother asked me if I would be willing to follow her if she took me away from the marquis’s manor. I said yes. But Father and the others refused to grant Mother a divorce. They posted many people to guard the courtyard gate and forbade Mother from leaving. That day, I missed Mother so much that I secretly slipped in…”

Xu Fang sank again into that nightmare from which she could never escape.

She was small and clever, and was fortunate enough to slip in unnoticed and see the mother she had been longing for day and night.

But the mother and daughter had not spoken for long when the servants standing guard outside announced that the marquis had arrived.

Mother hurriedly made her hide in the wardrobe.

Through the gap, she saw her father and the woman she called Cousin.

That was Father’s cousin, who later became her stepmother.

Mother asked coldly, “Why have you brought her here again?”

Father said with a smile, “To see you.”

Mother laughed coldly. “Have you pair of adulterous dogs come to watch me die? Don’t even think about it. I intend to live on, to outlast you both until your hair turns white, while you remain nothing but a pair of adulterous dogs who can’t be seen in public!”

Then came Father’s furious rebuke in his rage.

She had never known that her gentle, kind father had such a side. She could only huddle in the wardrobe, trembling.

But soon, something even more terrifying happened.

Father pushed Mother down onto the bed and picked up a soft pillow, pressing it over Mother’s face.

At that moment, she nearly cried out.

Though she was still small, she understood what Father’s action meant.

She saw Mother’s legs kicking continuously, violently at first, then slowing, until finally they hung down, motionless.

That woman said, “Cousin, she’s dead.”

Father said, “Good riddance. Refusing to divorce her was always about waiting for this day. Who knew no matter how we provoked her, it had no effect…”

That woman picked up something. “Cousin, look at this.”

It was a butterfly-shaped nine-ring puzzle that she often played with.

She had been casually holding the puzzle when she came to find Mother, and had accidentally dropped it when hurriedly hiding in the wardrobe.

Father took the puzzle, his expression changing. “Fang’er was here?”

Father looked around but did not discover her. He left hurriedly with that woman.

She hid in the wardrobe for a very long time, until the news of Mother’s passing spread and the courtyard fell into chaos. Only then did she manage to slip out.

Later, she saw Father.

The way Father looked at her was no longer gentle and kind, but very grave.

She did not understand what that gaze contained at the time, but instinctively sensed danger.

Father knew she had been present. He would kill her, just as he had killed Mother.