Su Jiyai calmly looked at Su Rong, her eyes sharp like cold blades.
"Since you troubled so much during my childhood years," she said slowly, her voice steady but full of sternness, "then today, I will make sure you are punished properly."
The words fell into the air like thunder.
The crowd suddenly erupted with cheers.
"Yes! Boss Su is right!"
"She deserves it!"
"This is the justice we waited for!"
People clapped, shouted, and even stomped their feet. Their voices carried across the reception room, filling Su Rong’s ears with dread.
Su Rong’s whole body trembled. Her face turned pale, and she pressed her forehead to the ground again.
"No! Please, Boss Su! I beg you, don’t make it too harsh! I... I can clean! Yes, if you want, I’ll clean the whole base. I’ll scrub every floor and every wall! Please, just give a lighter punishnt!"
Her words were desperate. She only said it to show she was willing, but the mont it left her mouth, she regretted it deeply.
Su Jiyai paused, her expression unreadable.
"A good punishnt," she finally said with a faint nod.
Su Rong’s heart skipped a beat. She lifted her head in horror. "Wait... wait, no, I didn’t an..."
But before she could finish, Su Jiyai’s calm, clear voice echoed again.
"From now on, every month, you will clean the entire base ten tis."
Gasps filled the crowd. So people chuckled, others nodded.
"Boss Su is truly lenient."
"Yes, it’s not even enough compared to what she did."
"She’s still too soft-hearted."
The crowd murmured their approval, but Su Rong’s eyes widened in terror. She knew sothing the others didn’t.
Cleaning the whole base wasn’t a small task. The base was massive, full of halls, warehouses, markets, and gardens.
Just cleaning it once took nearly five days if she worked without rest. To do it ten tis in a single month...
Her lips trembled as she stamred, "B-but... thirty days aren’t enough... I... I can’t do it..."
Her heart raced as a mory slamd into her mind.
Back then, she had once forced Su Jiyai to clean the entire apartnt over twenty tis in one single day.
She rembered standing there, smirking, saying the dust was still there.
At that ti, Su Jiyai had held her stomach, groaning because it was her period, but Su Rong never cared. She laughed at her pain.
Now, as she herself was on her period, her body aching, she finally understood how cruel it had been.
Tears stread down her face. "Boss Su, I beg you! Please reconsider! I can’t... I truly can’t..."
But Su Jiyai’s eyes were calm, like still water.
"If you can’t do it, then it is your mistake," she said. "Then you should prepare for a harsher punishnt. Or worse... you will be kicked out of the base entirely."
The word "kicked out" echoed in Su Rong’s mind like a hamr.
Her body froze.
Hope Base was not like the outside world.
Out there, it was nearly impossible to survive. Other bases were weak now, falling apart because people were migrating here.
Food and supplies outside were expensive beyond reason. If she were thrown out, she would surely die.
Her lips shook as she scread, "No! Please! Don’t kick out! I’ll do it! I’ll clean! I’ll do it as many tis as you ask, just please, let stay!"
She pressed her forehead to the ground again, sobbing, her voice hoarse from crying.
Su Jiyai finally nodded.
"If that is your decision," she said, "then I will give you the chance to reform."
The crowd murmured again. So looked satisfied, others sneered at Su Rong, but no one argued with Boss Su’s judgnt.
Just then, a loud, sharp voice cut through the air.
"You’re being arrogant!"
Everyone turned at once.
A boy of thirteen stood there, his face red with anger, his eyes burning. It was Su Han.
Su Rong’s heart dropped. She closed her eyes in dismay.
That stupid brother of hers. Couldn’t he see the danger? Couldn’t he see how serious this was? Why did he have to open his mouth now?
Sure enough, all the base mbers turned their heads and pointed at him.
"I’ve never seen a child so arrogant."
"He needs to be taught a lesson."
"This family is rotten to the core."
Su Han ignored them all. He walked proudly up to Su Jiyai, his chin lifted, his chest puffed out like he was untouchable.
"You should stay within your limit," he said loudly. "Who are you to give orders to my sister?"
The courtyard fell silent for a second. Then, laughter exploded.
"Pfft... he really said that?"
"This boy is still a child. He doesn’t understand how the world works."
"Hah, ignorant brat."
Others shook their heads, half angry, half amused.
Su Jiyai’s eyes fell on Su Han, steady and unshaken.
"You are her brother, aren’t you?" she asked calmly.
Su Han crossed his arms and nodded proudly. "Yes, I am! So what? If you want to punish soone, punish instead. But don’t dare to treat my sister like this!"
His words sounded brave, but to the crowd, they were nothing but foolishness.
Soone shouted, "You’re still sucking milk from a bottle, yet you talk big!"
Another laughed, "Go ho, little boy, this is not a playground."
But Su Han didn’t back down. His face was flushed red, but his voice grew louder.
"You all are cowards! You cheer for Boss Su because she has power now! If she didn’t, you would be stepping on her just like before!"
The crowd went wild at his words.
"What did he say?"
"Is he insulting us?"
"Disrespectful brat! He doesn’t deserve to stay here either!"
Su Rong’s face turned ashen. She grabbed Su Han’s arm desperately, her voice trembling.
"Su Han, stop! Please, don’t say another word!"
But Su Han shook her off roughly.
"No! I won’t stop! Sister, you cry too much! Why are you bowing to her like she’s a queen? You are not wrong! You don’t need to beg her! This base doesn’t belong to her alone!"
The crowd roared with anger.
"Unbelievable!"
"He dares to talk like that to Boss Su?"
"Soone should shut his mouth before he causes more trouble."
Su Rong’s whole body trembled. She wanted to faint. She wanted to slap her brother, to gag him, to drag him away before he destroyed everything.
But it was too late.
The crowd was already boiling, their eyes blazing with fury.
Su Jiyai, however, stayed calm. She stood there, her hands folded behind her back, watching Su Han with eyes that were sharp but strangely steady.
Finally, she spoke.
"Little brother," she said softly, but her voice carried across the entire courtyard, silencing everyone again, "you say I am arrogant. You say I have no right to command your sister. Then tell ... when your sister forced to scrub floors over twenty tis in a day, when she starved so she could eat my food, when she laughed while I slept freezing on the balcony, was that not arrogance?"
Her voice grew colder, heavier.
"Was it not arrogance when your family treated like dirt, just because I was weak? Was it not arrogance when you thought I would never rise above you?"
The crowd was dead silent.
Su Han chuckled, his voice cold and sharp. "That’s very different," he said. "After all, you were nothing but a slave in our family."
The words dropped like stones into a silent pond. The entire base went quiet. No one laughed. No one clapped. Every pair of eyes locked on Su Han in disbelief.
A murmur finally rose among the people.
"Slave...?"
"Did he just say... slave?"
"What does he an by that?"
The whispers grew louder, and soon anger began to burn in the crowd’s eyes.
One man pointed directly at Su Han. "You brat! Do you even know what you’re saying? Boss Su was never your slave!"
Another woman’s face twisted in disgust. "To think you would even call her that! You’re crossing the line!"
Others nodded quickly, their voices overlapping.
"Too much!"
"He’s spitting poison!"
"This boy doesn’t know his place."
But Su Han only smirked. He crossed his arms like he was proud of himself.
"Don’t act like you don’t know," he said.
"Everyone here pretends to respect her now, but back then, she was just a weak girl living under our roof. She cleaned, cooked, and followed orders. She was no different from a slave."
Gasps filled the air again. Faces turned red with anger. So even looked like they wanted to slap him right there.
Su Rong, pale as paper, suddenly shouted in panic.
"No! No, I don’t have a brother! I never agreed with those words! He doesn’t speak for !"
But Su Han only chuckled at her. "Stop acting so submissive, Sister. Don’t pretend you’re not part of it. You know it’s true."
Su Rong shook her head violently, tears spilling from her eyes. "I swear! I never thought of her like that! Please, believe !"
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