For a mont, Yu Shishi thought she was hallucinating.
Otherwise, how could such a horrifying statent surface during this cozy coffee break?
Chang Ming observed Yu Shishi’s expression—first, she froze, then the color drained from her face in an instant, as if detergent had been poured into greasy water, vanishing visibly fast.
Her pallid complexion made her already poor state appear even more ghastly, like a heroine who had stumbled out of a horror movie.
Her lips trembled slightly before she managed to force what she must have believed was a natural smile. "Chang Ming? Did you just ask sothing?"
Chang Ming had been scrutinizing every flicker of emotion on Yu Shishi’s face since he spoke. Her reaction erased even the slightest possibility that he might have misjudged.
Yet, not a trace of this realization showed on his face.
Instead, he wore an expression even more puzzled than hers. "Your sister told to ask you. She said you’d have sothing to tell if I did."
As he spoke, he handed her the freshly brewed coffee.
Then, he added, "Is it sothing important? Maybe related to ?"
Yu Shishi accepted the cup, but the warmth from it didn’t reach her heart.
Chang Ming’s answer made sense. For that brief mont, she had lost her composure, but the ntion of her sister snapped her back to reality.
Of course. Who else could it be? Who else would have noticed the irregularities?
But how? Even in her past life, Chang Ming’s parents had died. Why would her sister suspect anything?
Right now, Yu Shishi’s wariness toward her sister far outweighed her fear of Chang Ming.
Seeing Chang Ming still watching her expectantly, Yu Shishi took a sip of coffee to buy ti, her mind racing for a way to divert the conversation.
She didn’t notice the faint, strange bitterness in the coffee.
Between sips, she scrambled for a plausible topic.
"My sister told you to ask? Maybe she ant sothing from before we went to the orphanage?"
"I don’t rember anything from back then, so I’m not sure what she—"
Mid-sentence, her head grew heavy, her consciousness slipping away.
Before she could finish, she slumped forward onto the table.
Ti blurred. Yu Shishi woke to a biting chill.
At first, she thought she’d left the air conditioning too low before bed.
But the next second, awareness returned, and she felt the tight restraints binding her.
Her eyes flew open. She was seated on an uncomfortable tal chair, its uneven surface digging into her. Her hands were tied behind her back, her body secured with ropes.
Just as panic surged, Chang Ming stepped into view.
Instinctively, she relaxed—until she registered his calm, unbothered deanor.
If he wasn’t in danger, why was she tied up? Who had done this?
Terror gripped her. "Ch-Chang Ming?"
He glanced at her, his smile gentle.
"You’re awake? Faster than I expected. Though I did use a conservative dose to avoid ruining the coffee’s flavor."
As he spoke, he adjusted a cara, his movents casual, as if setting up for a group photo at a casual gathering.
Yu Shishi’s fear spiked. "Wh-what are you talking about? What dose? You drugged the coffee?"
Only now did she recall the odd aftertaste, but her mind had been too preoccupied to notice.
Ignoring her question, Chang Ming finished with the cara and approached her.
"Tell ," he said, "why did you intercept my parents’ call?"
Yu Shishi’s heart pounded, but she feigned ignorance. "What call? I don’t know what you’re talking about."
The mont the words left her mouth, cold tal touched her arm—then searing pain, followed by wet warmth.
She scread. A thin, precise cut split her skin. Not deep, but agonizing, blood welling up to soak her sleeve.
Chang Ming stood nearby, a sharp surgical blade glinting in his hand, its edge stained red.
Yu Shishi stared at him in horror, as if seeing a monster.
He wiped the blade calmly. "This is a scalpel. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle. A wound like this won’t kill you, even after thousands of cuts."
"I have all the ti in the world."
Tears stread down Yu Shishi’s face. "Chang Ming, what’s wrong with you? Did my sister say sothing to you?"
"She’s lying! Why does everyone always believe her over ?" Her voice cracked with genuine anguish, her sobs raw and broken.
Then she rembered—the threatening text she’d received, followed imdiately by Chang Ming’s call.
The pieces clicked. Her sister, manipulating her for gain, would stop at nothing to control how she handled the four of them. That text must have been her doing.
Desperate, Yu Shishi grasped at this lifeline.
"She planned this! She threatened before—you can check!"
"Now she has money, power, and that person helping her. She can fra for anything!"
"I thought even if everyone else turned on , you would stand by ."
But Chang Ming didn’t react with anger or agitation.
Instead, he smirked, his eyes glinting. "That threatening text? Oh, I know about it."
Hope flickered in Yu Shishi’s eyes—until he continued.
"It seed too bizarre. How could one sentence from her make you avoid like the plague? So I read it over and over."
He leaned in, his gaze locking onto hers. "So tell , why?"
"Why would a single vague ssage terrify you so much you couldn’t even answer my calls?"
Yu Shishi sobbed. "I told you! I was exhausted that day, too tired to talk. It had nothing to do with the text—I barely even noticed it!"
Chang Ming chuckled, shaking his head, his eyes bright with amusent.
He echoed Pei Ying’s words almost verbatim: "How did a liar as sloppy as you ever fool before?"
A text she claid to have ignored, yet she could recall its contents perfectly now and match it to his accusation?
Yu Shishi shattered. She’d never believed herself inferior to her sister in her past life.
Yet Jiang Liuxu called her stupid. Pei Ying called her stupid. Now even Chang Ming was saying it.
She shrieked, "What evidence do you have for all this? You all blindly believe my sister's words and pin the bla on —there must be proof, right?"
When it ca to Chang Ming, the lack of evidence was her greatest confidence.
But the mont the words left her mouth, a phone was thrown in front of her.
Chang Ming said, "Rember this?"
Seeing Yu Shishi's expression, he didn’t wait for her answer before nodding in understanding. "Seems like you don’t."
"This is the phone I used to call my parents on my eighth birthday."
Yu Shishi’s face paled.
Chang Ming smiled. "The maid said this phone was found under the sofa afterward and was left in my room. No one touched it since."
"So why are your fingerprints on it?"
Yu Shishi clenched her fingers. She never imagined this thing would still be preserved after all these years, and that Chang Ming would have the gall to check for fingerprints.
But she knew the root of it all lay with her sister. If she hadn’t spoken up, no one would have suspected a thing, let alone investigated.
Terror clawed at Yu Shishi, but she desperately tried to reassure herself.
So what if he knew? It didn’t prove anything.
Steeling herself, she retorted, "How would I know my fingerprints are on it? Maybe soone planted them there, or maybe I accidentally touched it at so point."
"But what does that even an?"
"Are you really going to hurt over so ridiculous question and flimsy evidence?"
"I’d rather you hand over to the police," Yu Shishi declared loudly. "Chang Ming, go ahead and call them. Whatever horrible cri you suspect of, I’ll submit to the investigation."
Chang Ming laughed at her righteous expression.
"Hahaha… Your sister wore the sa look when she spoke, but she couldn’t expose a thing."
Then his smile faded, his gaze fixed on her as he murmured, "So you thought I had the cara rolling to force a confession out of you?"
"I know the law can’t punish you. My parents’ deaths were ruled an accident. And you—no matter your motives, you weren’t guilty of a cri, especially since you were just a child back then."
"So I skipped the tedious steps. What I’m recording now is my suicide note."
"You’re just an afterthought."
Yu Shishi’s face twisted in horror. Even as he uttered such terrifying words, Chang Ming’s expression remained eerily calm.
Even Pei Ying had shown outright disgust when he learned the truth, but Chang Ming betrayed no overwhelming emotion.
He—he was already insane.
After stating his stance, Chang Ming sat back down.
"Last chance," he said. "Tell —why did you answer the phone?"
Yu Shishi’s voice trembled. "I—I didn’t—"
The mont she denied it, the blade flashed again.
Yu Shishi gasped. "I felt bad for you! I saw you crying after giving in and thought it shouldn’t be that way!"
"I didn’t know they’d get into an accident—ah!"
Chang Ming withdrew the knife expressionlessly.
But Yu Shishi stubbornly sobbed, "It’s true, I really didn’t know."
Chang Ming didn’t press further. Instead, he asked, "When I agreed to let my parents stay away, you were the only one who looked surprised."
"Why?"
Yu Shishi’s heart stopped. "I don’t—"
Before she could finish, the blade was on her again.
This ti, he didn’t make a quick, shallow cut. Instead, he dragged the knife slowly across her skin.
Yu Shishi broke out in cold sweat from the pain.
Desperate, she anded, "Maybe Pei Ying said sothing! I wasn’t surprised by you—"
Chang Ming didn’t stop. The red line on her skin continued to lengthen.
Yu Shishi cried, "Really, I don’t even rember what expression I made that day!"
"Really, really, really! Why won’t you believe ?"
Chang Ming’s movents halted abruptly. He tossed the scalpel onto a nearby tray.
Yu Shishi exhaled in relief—until he stood up and said, "Fine. If you insist on that answer, I’ll take your word for it."
Then he picked up a canister of gasoline and poured it over her.
His expression was almost tender, as if dousing a lover in fine wine. The pungent sll hit Yu Shishi, and she scread, "Chang Ming! What are you doing?!"
"Calm down!"
Chang Ming humd. "I am calm. Since there’s nothing left to ask, it’s ti for us to go."
He smiled. "Two lives—my parents’. Two repaynts—fair, don’t you think?"
"One for the one who caused their deaths. One for the disgraceful fool who mistook their killer for salvation."
"Neither of us deserves to live."
Seeing he was serious, Yu Shishi abandoned defiance, stalling for every second she could.
She shrieked, "I dread you’d keep pushing!"
Chang Ming paused.
Yu Shishi pressed on, "I dread you’d never agree to let them stay away, so when you gave in, I was shocked!"
Chang Ming leaned down, locking eyes with her. "That’s odd. Just a dream made you ddle?"
"We weren’t even close back then, were we?"
"ddling is one thing, but why delete the call log and hide the phone under the sofa to cover your tracks? If you thought you were doing good, why erase the evidence?"
"Unless you already knew it would lead to sothing terrible—my parents’ deaths."
His gaze burned into her, his eyes bloodshot like a demon with nothing left to lose.
"How did you know they’d die in a crash if they ca back?"
Yu Shishi’s teeth chattered. "I—I don’t—"
A flick—a fla appeared before her eyes as Chang Ming lit the lighter.
One touch, and she’d burn alive.
Survival instinct kicked in. Even if the truth damned her, she scread, "I dread it!"
"I dread you’d keep begging until they agreed to co back, and then they’d die in the crash!"
"What did I do wrong? It was bound to happen! Even if I hadn’t answered, your parents would’ve felt guilty and driven back in the rain anyway!"
"Why bla ? Haven’t you always been the one at fault?"
Her heart pounded. Yes—she wasn’t wrong.
In her past life, when Pei Ying brought her and her sister to Chang Ming’s ho, he had refused to relent. This ti, just because her sister wasn’t there, he’d reacted differently?
Were these n’s fates all ant to revolve around her sister’s existence? Yu Shishi refused to accept it. Reborn and favored by fate, this life was hers to claim as the heroine.
Her eyes glead with stubborn conviction.
But Chang Ming felt only icy dread. Once, he’d have dismissed dreams as nonsense.
Yet after Shen Ying’s uncanny, all-knowing taunts, he knew so things defied reason—and there was no arguing with them.
His voice trembled between sobs and laughter. "So, you already knew my parents would die in that car accident, but not only did you fail to warn or stop it—"
"You even corrected what you called 'what was ant to happen' when they managed to avoid death?"
Chang Ming grabbed Yu Shishi’s chin, forcing her face up with brutal force.
"What did you say to my parents? After answering that call, how much of my disappointnt, my grief, my agony over losing them did you pour into my mother’s ears to tear her heart apart?"
"ant to die? Who decided they were ant to die?"
His phone had already been flung aside, and he’d stord out of the banquet hall. No one would answer the following calls—his mother would naturally reach out to his brothers or the housekeeper.
Without his reckless interference, the adults would only advise them not to return.
His parents could have lived.
Chang Ming laughed, tears dripping onto Yu Shishi’s ashen face.
Finally, he asked, "All these years, every ti you comforted , every ti you sat with flipping through old photos of them, every ti you held through their death anniversaries—did you ever have nightmares?"
Yu Shishi couldn’t utter a single word.
Chang Ming continued, "You didn’t. Just like today, you ca to see as if nothing happened—no, even better than usual."
With that, he released her. "I don’t want to see your remorse. It’s worthless."
"Ti’s almost up. I doubt anyone can find us this quickly."
Chang Ming turned and addressed the cara again, leaving a final ssage for his brothers.
His last words: "I’m sorry. Maybe my very existence was a mistake."
"Without , you wouldn’t have lost Mom and Dad so soon, wouldn’t have had to shoulder the burden so abruptly, wouldn’t have been torn between hating or loving a brother like ."
He turned off the cara and placed it in the most visible spot in the basent.
Then he approached Yu Shishi. Her lips trembled, her face drained of color.
"Don’t—don’t co any closer—"
Chang Ming smiled. "Don’t worry. Starting a fire might burn my suicide note. I never planned to light one."
Instead, he carefully wiped the gasoline from Yu Shishi’s clothes, then picked up the knife nearby.
"The autopsy said my parents suffered for about five minutes before they died."
"We’ll only endure the sa. Five minutes. I promise."
Yu Shishi collapsed, wetting herself in terror.
Just as Chang Ming raised the blade, the phone on the table rang.
He walked over and picked it up. The caller ID surprised him. Under normal circumstances, he’d ignore it—but this was the person who had given him the warning. After a brief hesitation, he answered.
Shen Ying’s voice ca through. "Ready to do it?"
Chang Ming’s shock was unmistakable, though a mont later, it no longer seed so unbelievable.
The eerie nature of these sisters was beyond his concern. If Yu Shishi could foresee his parents’ death, predicting his suicide was trivial.
So he answered honestly, "Yeah. I’m about to go."
"Need sothing? If it’s doable now, na it. I’ve got nothing left to lose—I’m feeling generous."
Shen Ying replied, "How about putting down the knife and bringing my sister back?"
Chang Ming: "No."
Shen Ying: "Then pity your brothers. Their little brother gave them quite the gift on their parents’ death anniversary."
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