"Xu Shiyan, how could you be here?!"
At the moment she clearly saw the person blocking her path, Shen Wan was stunned.
Three years had passed, yet Xu Shiyan's face was even more breathtaking than before, making it impossible to look away.
Back when they were in school, Xu Shiyan had seduced the campus heartthrob on more than one occasion—otherwise, how could she have ended up abandoned by everyone?
Didn't Xu Nuo say she had already sent this bitch to Qiongzhou Island? How had she managed to come back now?
The malice of jealousy and hatred within Shen Wan was practically overflowing.
Xu Shiyan wore a blank expression, too lazy to waste words with her. She bent down and helped Auntie Zhang to her feet.
"Uncle Zhang asked me to come and pick you up."
"......It's him?"
Auntie Zhang's eyes were swimming with tears as she looked at Xu Shiyan in disbelief, instantly choked with sobs.
"Stop right there!"
Shen Wan stepped forward to block the two of them.
"Xu Shiyan, by what right are you taking my people away? Did you have my permission?"
Xu Shiyan glanced at her, her tone casual and indifferent.
" Weren't you the one trying to chase her out? As for who she chooses to leave with, that has nothing to do with you anymore."
Shen Wan refused to let the matter drop, stubbornly blocking their only way forward.
"This is my home, not a place you can come and go from as you please. She is my servant, and of course I am responsible for her personal safety!"
Shen Wan probably didn't care about Auntie Zhang's personal safety at all; she was purely trying to make things difficult for Xu Shiyan.
Xu Shiyan's patience was wearing thin. Her brow furrowed slightly, a terrifying flash of murderous intent crossing her eyes. She reached out and grabbed the collar of Shen Wan's shirt, fixing a steady, unblinking gaze on her.
"I advise you not to block my path. The debts from the past up to now, I will settle with you one by one—there's no need to be in such a rush to court death."
The Shen Wan of the past had been obedient and naive, doing nothing but crying to others when she felt wronged.
Yet at this moment, Xu Shiyan's eyes looked like those of a bloodthirsty beast locked onto its prey, sending a chill straight down the spine.
Shen Wan was too frightened to move a muscle.
Xu Shiyan successfully brought Auntie Zhang away, calling a cab to return to the villa.
Auntie Zhang was dressed in simple, filthy clothes. She was wasted away to a skeleton, her eye sockets deeply sunken, while old and new injuries crisscrossed her arms and legs in a shocking display.
Yet even at this point, the very first question she asked was about Uncle Zhang's current situation.
"How has A-ming been living out there all these years? Wasn't he sentenced to thirteen years? Why, after waiting so long, hasn't he gotten out of prison?"
Xu Shiyan took out the medicated ointment she carried with her. Without the slightest squeamishness about the dirt on Auntie Zhang, she applied the ointment while answering.
"You don't need to worry so much. Uncle Zhang is very safe right now. He felt that having a criminal record would only drag you down, and on top of that, certain people refused to let him go and secretly had him sent to Qiongzhou Island. Unfortunately, those people underestimated Uncle Zhang's survival skills."
Hearing the words "Qiongzhou Island," Auntie Zhang's expression froze, and she choked back a sob.
"In a place like that... how has he managed to survive all these years?"
Xu Shiyan's eyes darkened for a fraction of a second.
Yet in just a single second, they cleared once more. Her gaze grew resolute and fierce, a towering ambition seeming to rise from the ground deep within her eyes.
"One day, I will make those people experience that exact same feeling."
"You're right."
Auntie Zhang lifted her sleeve and fiercely wiped the tear tracks from her face, her gaze turning resolute in an instant.
"Self-pity is useless. Only by making them pay the price can we obtain the justice we deserve!"
She truly was one of the top ten national elites from a dozen years ago; her self-regulation skills were indeed extraordinary.
Uncle Zhang and Auntie Zhang had been born in an orphanage, growing up together as childhood sweethearts and supporting one another from a young age. Their intelligence surpassed ordinary people, and they had scored fifth and eighth in the country respectively on the national entrance examinations.
The two of them could have had bright and brilliant lives, had those lives not been utterly destroyed by someone else.
Xu Shiyan had tried probing Uncle Zhang on several occasions, asking just what kind of person had bullied and assaulted Auntie Zhang back then.
Yet Uncle Zhang refused to say, stating only that he had never regretted slashing that scum a dozen times.
Xu Shiyan guessed that this person was likely some untouchable heavyweight in Shengjing.
Otherwise, even after Uncle Zhang went inside, Auntie Zhang wouldn't have had her educational records from middle school all the way through her doctorate erased, reducing her to working as a menial servant at the bottom of the Shen family.
Xu Shiyan settled Auntie Zhang into the villa and even hired a professional business management tutor to help Auntie Zhang recover the learning abilities she had once lost.
The company Aunt Qing had left behind still needed a strong assistant.
Having arranged everything, Xu Shiyan headed out, planning to pick up some daily necessities for Auntie Zhang.
"Where is the doctor? Still not here yet?"
A familiar voice suddenly reached her ears—a low, magnetic tone laced with impatience and anxiety.
Following the sound, Xu Shiyan turned her head, and a tall, slender figure came into view.
Bo Jinke.
At that moment, Bo Jinke was sitting inside a car with the door wide open. A man lay unconscious in the passenger seat, his face tinged with a sickly green.
Their eyes met in mid-air.
Bo Jinke's deep pupils narrowed slightly, looking somewhat guarded as if wondering why she would appear here.
With complete composure, Xu Shiyan walked straight up to them, lowering her gaze to inspect the man as her delicate brows furrowed slightly.
"Purple lips, greenish complexion—classic symptoms of poisoning."
Bo Jinke's gaze was dark and unblinking as he stared at Xu Shiyan. A slow, mocking curve touched the corner of his lips, his tone giving away neither pleasure nor anger.
"You even know how to diagnose by observation?"
Xu Shiyan smiled faintly.
"I wouldn't call it a formal diagnosis. I just happened to have a friend who enjoys studying pharmacology, so I picked up a thing or two. If Mr. Bo trusts me, why not let me give it a try?"
Bo Jinke looked into Xu Shiyan's eyes.
Her bright pupils were shining, her brows curving into crescents when she smiled, making her look like a little fox up to no good.
The doctor was still on the way, but this fellow's condition probably wouldn't hold out until then.
Hesitating for a few seconds, Bo Jinke spread his hands.
"Go ahead."
Receiving permission, Xu Shiyan nodded, her smile fading.
She removed the necklace from her neck, opened the antidote pill hidden inside the pendant, pried the man's mouth open, and fed him the medicine. Then, from the lining of the boots she was wearing, she retrieved a miniature acupuncture pouch.
Her slender, flawless fingers pulled out a single needle and drove it straight into an acupressure point on the man's head.
The entire sequence of movements flowed in one smooth motion, with a terrifying level of proficiency.
Bo Jinke's gaze grew sharp.
No one who survived Qiongzhou Island was a simple character.
Anyone who carried antidote pills on them at all times was either a desperado, an assassin, or a person in high authority forced to constantly guard against danger.
Which category did Xu Shiyan fall into?
At that moment, curiosity scratched at Bo Jinke's heart like a cat's paw.
Following the medication and acupuncture, the man's complexion gradually returned to normal after a few minutes.
"Cough, cough..."
With a few heavy coughs, the man slowly regained consciousness.
As he opened his eyes, an otherworldly, stunningly ethereal face came into view.
The man blinked, nearly thinking he had arrived in heaven.
"Who are you? ......Ah!"
A leather-shod foot kicked him sharply in the shin, and the man gasped in pain, instantly snapping back to reality.