Su Li woke up and checked the time, then let out a cold snort. The sky was beginning to brighten. She composed herself, intending to rest for a few moments. Every day at seven o'clock, Auntie Lan would come punctually to wake her for breakfast. At the thought of Auntie Lan, a faint smile finally appeared on Su Li’s cold, frost-covered face.
Auntie Lan had been her mother’s personal maid, and after her mother passed away, it was Auntie Lan who had stayed by her side. In her previous life, Auntie Lan had been one of the few people Su Li could truly trust. Unfortunately, after she married Ji Qinchuan, she had wanted to bring Auntie Lan to live with her at the Ji Family, but her dreadful mother-in-law had adamantly refused. Back then, swayed by Ji Qinchuan’s honeyed words and relentless pestering, Su Li had been forced to let Auntie Lan return to the Su Family Ancestral Residence. Now, she realized that they had simply wanted to ensure she had no confidants around her.
Lying in bed, Su Li felt a sense of relief she had never known before. Looking back on her past life, she had rarely returned to her own home after getting married. For one thing, Ji Qinchuan had constantly filled her head with notions of the "Three Obediences and Four Virtues," telling her not to go back often, lest people gossip about him being a "kept man"—he claimed he didn't want to be misunderstood as someone who relied on his wife’s family. At the time, Su Li had truly believed he was good to her, and that he was hardworking and ambitious. Even though she had secretly resolved many troubles for him, she never mentioned it, all to preserve his fragile male ego.
Then there were her dreadful mother-in-law and her bizarre sister-in-law. Whenever Su Li thought about how she had groveled before that insufferable mother-in-law and cleaned up every mess for that ridiculous sister-in-law just for the sake of that wretched man, her blood would boil. A whole family of monsters. She had truly been blind back then, determined to be a "good wife." Not only had she been willing to dim her own light for her husband, but she had also spent ten years working herself to the bone as a virtuous wife and daughter-in-law for the Ji Family, enduring her mother-in-law’s mistreatment, her sister-in-law’s insults, and the exploitation of the entire household. And yet, she had never dreamed that the man sleeping beside her was nothing but an ungrateful, white-eyed wolf who not only schemed until her death but also harmed her unborn child.
In this life, Su Li would never allow such history to repeat itself.
In truth, there was another important reason they didn't want her returning to her maiden home: they wanted to use Li Wanyao and her mother to drive a wedge between Su Li and her father. And it had to be said, they had succeeded. Her father had originally been against the marriage to the Ji Family, doing everything in his power to stop it. Unfortunately, Su Li, then trapped in what she called love, refused to listen. Whether it was a match of equal status or marrying down, she had accepted it. Consequently, Father Su became completely disillusioned with his daughter. Because he did not look favorably upon the Ji Family, he refused to ever set foot in their home to avoid any association with them. Over time, this led to an increasingly strained relationship between Su Li and her father.
To Su Li, the rift between her and her father was a case of "ice three feet thick, not formed in a single day." Deep down, she resented her father—yes, resented him—and the root of it was her mother. Every time she thought of her mother, Su Li’s heart felt as if it were being sliced by a knife.
"Mom, you were so young, and I was so little. Why did you leave me? And why did you walk away so ruthlessly?"
In her memories, her mother had a graceful figure, eyes like the autumn waters, and lips that needed no rouge—a refined young lady of a prominent family who carried herself with a gentle, noble air. She had always spoken softly, and Su Li could never recall seeing her lose her temper. Yet, this beautiful woman had committed suicide by taking sleeping pills when Su Li was ten. This remained a knot in Su Li’s heart that she could never untangle.
As a child, starting from the age of three, Su Li had lived at the Su Family Ancestral Residence, where Elder Su personally tutored her, and she only returned home for one day on weekends. Though life at the ancestral residence was dull and monotonous, Su Li had diligently followed her grandfather’s teachings and tackled all her courses. She would, like any other child, look forward to the weekends and the ice cream cake her mother would make.
Then, on the day she turned ten, while Su Li was practicing horseback riding on the estate grounds, a servant rushed over to tell her that her grandfather wanted her to return home immediately—something had happened to her mother. Su Li didn't dare to delay for a single second. She rushed home in a panic, only to be hit with devastating news the moment she entered the door: her mother had committed suicide by taking a large dose of sleeping pills. Hearing this, Su Li felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She couldn't believe her ears; her head buzzed, and she nearly collapsed. She screamed at her father, asking why, what on earth had happened, and why her mother, who had been fine, would take her own life. However, her grief-stricken father only opened his mouth and said nothing.
Su Li wept bitterly at the funeral. She felt hate, she felt resentment, and she couldn't believe her mother had left without saying a single word to her. Because her departure had been so sudden, she demanded a judicial investigation into the cause of her mother’s death. But according to the forensic examiner, her mother’s death was indeed natural. Her mother’s passing always felt suspicious, yet her father remained silent. No matter how much Su Li pressed him later, no matter how hysterically she cried, her father never said a word.
From that day on, an irreparable rift grew between father and daughter. Her father never mentioned her mother again, and Su Li refused to communicate with him. Harboring her resentment, she moved out of the Su Family Villa entirely and went to live at the Su Family Ancestral Residence. She only returned after her eighteenth birthday, following her grandfather’s death. Though Father Su would visit her a few times a year, the stubborn Su Li always avoided him. She was waiting—waiting for her father to give her an explanation. As a daughter, she felt she had to do something for her mother; she couldn't let her leave this world in such an unclear way.
Haha... the irony was that after waiting for two years, what she ultimately received was the news of her father’s remarriage. Upon hearing it, Su Li broke down on the spot. Only twelve years old, she ran to Cangming Mountain and cried out at the top of her lungs: "Mom, why? Why did you have to leave me? Don't you know that after you left, I had no home?"
At the time, she had wanted to run back and confront her father, but in the end, she didn't. She knew then that she could never change her father’s mind, nor could she stop anything. Her mother’s passing dealt a massive blow to Su Li. From then on, her temperament changed drastically; she became quiet, and the smile vanished from her face. Aside from the mandatory high-society banquets her grandfather insisted she attend each year, she essentially never reached out to anyone in the outside world, nor did she care to engage with those so-called socialites.
She wondered if her father, in her previous life, had been able to bear the blow of knowing his only daughter had died in an accident. At this thought, an urgent impulse to see her father welled up in Su Li’s heart.
"Knock, knock, knock. Young Miss, it’s time to eat."
Auntie Lan’s voice came from outside.
Hearing it, Su Li snapped her eyes open, using her slightly lowered eyelids to mask all the hatred and madness in her gaze. A strange, excited smile tugged at her lips as she whispered, "Ji Qinchuan, Li Wanyao, just you wait."
"Come in," Su Li said calmly.
Auntie Lan entered upon hearing the instruction. Su Li watched her quietly, her face betraying no emotion, though her heart was surging with excitement. Seeing Auntie Lan after so long, Su Li found herself momentarily at a loss for words.