Hidden Shadow – CH 004

Chapter Four: A Heartbreaking Past

“Fourteenth Young Lady, Lady Yan will be having dinner with you.” Wen-Cui’s gentle demeanor remained unchanged, her stance in front of the door unwavering.

Mei Jiu had no choice but to retreat inside.

An Jiu sensed her grievance and sadness, but instead of offering comfort, she snapped, “Give me a break! It’s nothing!”

Mei Jiu thought angrily, “Are you trying to kill me?! Can I not even be sad?!”

“Then tell me, what’s there to be upset about?” An Jiu, after all, was a professionally trained individual, adept at controlling her emotions; she could be calm and collected if she wanted to.

Mei Jiu was surprised to find that An Jiu could hear what she was thinking.

An Jiu’s tone was not kind, but Mei Jiu desperately wanted to confide in someone, so she remained silent, silently repeating in her mind, “I thought I’d see my father when I got home, but who knew he was already gone?”

An Jiu immediately received a memory about a man; it turned out that Mei Jiu had to recall a certain memory for her to receive it. “Ha, you have quite the leisurely mood. Why are you not grateful you survived? You only see the hardships, not the good fortune, and you even make a big deal out of it. What’s the point of living? Besides, how many times did you even see that man? He’s dead, so what? It’s not a big deal.” An Jiu could not understand her reason for being sad.

Mei Jiu retorted, “What do you know?! Although I did not spend much time with my father, he was still my biological father. Blood ties are important; how can I not care! If he were your father, would you still be talking like this?!”

“I am trying to comfort you, can you not tell?” An Jiu was annoyed. She had hardly ever comforted anyone in her life. “If you were not useful, I would not even want to waste bullets shooting a coward like you! I do not know anything about blood relatives; I only remember that when I was twelve, the first person I killed was my father.”

“You…why did you kill him?” Mei Jiu felt a chill run down her spine. Heavens, this ghost was so vicious even as a human, and now as a ghost… She shuddered, afraid to think any further.

“He was a physician, a habitual domestic abuser, obsessed with drug research, and even secretly used my mother to experiment on his newly developed dangerous drugs. My mother died because of it, and he did not even face legal consequences! So I killed him.”

Afterwards, An Jiu was imprisoned in a juvenile detention center. After six months, someone got her released and provided her with a comfortable life, even getting her into a competitive archery team. Those were some of the few happy times in her life since her mother’s death, but a life of utter darkness began from then on.

The criminal organization targeted the violent genes in her blood, inherited from the man she called “Father.” Over time, as she took more and more lives, she gradually became numb to love and hate. She did not hate her father, nor did she feel any affection for him.

An Jiu calmly recounted this harrowing past, but it terrified Mei Jiu, turning her lips white.

An Jiu realized her attempts to comfort her seemed to have the opposite effect and became very dissatisfied. “Hey! Do not be nervous!”

“You are not human!” Mei Jiu cried out in terror.

An Jiu said, “I do not need you to remind me.”

She was now merely a wisp of soul residing in someone else’s body; she could not truly be considered a human anymore.

Mei Jiu stopped speaking, silently shrinking into the corner of the bed, burying her head between her legs, trembling all over.

She finally endured until dinnertime. When Mei Jiu saw Mei Yanran, tears streamed down her face. An Jiu was speechless, afraid that saying another word would frighten the girl into fainting, so she could only silently savor the fragrance and warmth emanating from that woman’s embrace.

This time, unlike when she held hands with Ah Shun and she felt repulsed, she actually felt a little comfortable, as if… this was the safest place in the world.

“My child, do not be afraid.” Mei Yanran gently patted her back. “As long as your mother is here, I will never let you suffer.”

“Mother,” Mei Jiu choked, wanting to tell Mei Yanran about the terrifying ghost residing within her body, yet worried about harming her mother, she could only hold back.

Dinner consisted only of Mei Yanran, her daughter, and Ah Shun.

Influenced by An Jiu, Mei Jiu began to eat and drink voraciously as soon as she sat down at the table, behaving like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world. In contrast, Ah Shun ate quietly and slowly, appearing more like a refined young lady.

Startled, Mei Jiu momentarily forgot everything else. It was only after several glances from Ah Shun that she remembered her promise from that morning.

After the meal, she found an opportunity to whisper it to Mei Yanran.

Mei Yanran, a woman of experience, saw through Ah Shun’s cunning and disliked her. However, she knew the Mei family could not hide anything from her anyway; it would be exposed eventually, so why should she bear her daughter’s resentment? Therefore, she readily agreed.

Relieved, Mei Jiu happily told Ah Shun.

As dusk fell, Mei Jiu was exhausted. After the maid made her bed, she fell asleep immediately.

She slept soundly through the night.

The next day, just as dawn broke, Wen-Cui urged Mei Jiu to get up. “Go early so the Old Madam will not feel neglected. Besides, after seeing the Old Madam of Bixiang Residence, you still need to pay your respects to the Old Madam of Shayun Residence. This round trip will take until after noon.” Mei Jiu did not have the habit of sleeping in, so upon hearing Wen-Cui’s words, she quickly got out of bed and let the maidservants help her wash up.

An Jiu looked at the transformed young girl in the mirror, almost dazzled! Her features were exquisitely beautiful; she wore a light blue dress, the wide collar unable to conceal her slender neck, the ribbons of her dress cascading down, the ends tied with a circular white jade ring, and her long black hair half-draped, half-tied, exuding a unique, clean elegance amidst her youthful innocence, like a crane gracefully gliding by the water.

An Jiu could not help but acknowledge, “Gold and jade on the outside, tattered cotton inside.”

Mei Jiu was startled.

Wen-Cui did not miss Mei Jiu’s momentary panic and asked softly, “What’s wrong, Young Lady? Are you unhappy with your outfit?”

“No, no,” Mei Jiu denied repeatedly.

Wen-Cui did not press further, but she wondered why someone would be frightened by themselves. Or… be amazed by their own beauty?

Mei Jiu froze, only slowly relaxing when she stepped into the sunlight: Ghosts were afraid of sunlight, were they not?

Meanwhile, An Jiu was busy admiring the scenery in the courtyard, having no time to concern herself with the young girl’s thoughts.

The Mei Mansion was large, filled with trees as far as the eye could see, with the corners of houses swaying in the breeze.

It was the height of autumn, and withered leaves swirled down like butterflies.

A gentle breeze passed, and a rain of fallen leaves began to trickle in the woods.

“Is Mother not going?” Mei Jiu asked.

An Jiu had not had enough of looking around when her gaze suddenly shifted away. She huffed a few times in dissatisfaction, startling Mei Jiu into a stumble.

“Fourteenth Young Lady, be careful,” Wen-Cui said, supporting her. “If Lady Yan is not going, Fifteenth Young Lady will go with you. Let’s go to the ferry and wait for her.”

“Ferry?” Mei Jiu was shocked. Her family even had a ferry!

It was not far from Yuwei Residence to the ferry. Passing through a forest path, the view suddenly opened up before her. The morning sun had not yet risen, and the vast lake was shrouded in mist, water and sky merging into one. Through the veil of haze, verdant islands could be vaguely seen. A pine-wood ferry extended into the lake, with several small boats moored beside it.

Ah Shun and her maid were already waiting at the ferry. She wore a light pink cross-collar ruqun, her phoenix eyes slightly raised; she was indeed a beauty.