Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

When Fang said this, she still had a smile on her face, as gentle as if she were coaxing a child to take medicine, but the meaning behind that smile was already cutting to the bone.

Xi Yueli sat in the chair, waiting for Fang to finish speaking the last word before slowly raising her eyes. Sunlight shone from behind her, making her appear backlit, and her expression was obscured by shadows.

But when she spoke, her voice carried a thin, chilling veil: "Has Mother finished speaking?"

Fang raised an eyebrow slightly.

"What is Mother trying to tell me about Father forcing you to marry?" Xi Yueli leaned back in her chair, her hands folded on her knees, her posture relaxed as if she had just watched a not-so-interesting play.

"Is Mother trying to say that Father was attracted to your face back then, so he'll soften his heart because of your looks now?"

"But Mother, you were just released from confinement. Your makeup was redone, your hair was freshly combed, and there were red marks left by the white silk ribbon—" She raised her finger and pointed to Fang's neck.

"You covered it with rouge, but look, there's still a mark showing at the collar. You think you can convince me that you value your position more than your father's reputation and face, just because of that mark?"

"As for being kicked out—" Xi Yueli suddenly laughed, a laugh that made the hairs on Fang's back stand on end.

"Mother, I'm really curious to see how you plan to kick me out. Last time you took me to the estate, Prince Chen untied the ropes for me in the back alley."

"Last night you had a Taoist priest exorcise my spirit, and the chair Prince Chen sat in the ancestral hall isn't even cold yet. Today you say you want me kicked out—Mother, before you take action, you'd better think about whether His Highness Prince Chen will happen to pass by again."

When she said "just happened to be passing by," her tone carried an almost deliberate nonchalance.

Fang's fingertips were already clenched tightly in her sleeve. Prince Chen, she remembered clearly the back of that big Buddha statue in the ancestral hall last night, watching the whole thing from behind, and there was not a trace of a joke in his eyes.

"Mother," Xi Yueli suddenly stood up, took two steps forward, and stood in front of Fang Shi.

She was half a head shorter than Fang Shi and as thin as a bamboo branch that would break at the slightest touch. But when she stood in front of Fang Shi, the imposing aura that emanated from her very bones made Fang Shi subconsciously lean back.

"You said your father forced you into marriage, you said you've been in this position for over a decade, you said you can't move." Xi Yueli bent down slightly to look Fang Shi in the eye, her almond-shaped eyes clear as day in the sunlight.

"Then bring it on. Whether you drug me, hire a Taoist priest, or whatever you do, I'll take it."

"I'm a person who," she straightened up, looking down at Fang, "has a bad memory, but the scars on my body will remember who did what to me."

Fang looked up at her, and the sunlight poured down from behind Xi Yueli, completely casting her thin shadow on Fang.

Fang suddenly felt short of breath. This sickly man, who used to cower in a corner and not dare to say a word, now stood in front of her as if he were a completely different person.

"Good, very good." Fang stood up. The pear soup in the bowl had gone cold. She picked it up and splashed it on the ground. The white porcelain bowl slammed onto the table with a crisp sound.

"Li'er, I'm making this clear today: only one of us can survive."

She turned and walked out, her steps quick and steady, but she tripped on the threshold at the courtyard gate and nearly fell. When the maidservant tried to catch her, she shook off the maidservant's hand and gritted her teeth, spitting out two words: "What are you helping me up for!"

Xi Yuefu was waiting outside the courtyard gate when she saw her mother come out with a livid face. She went up to her and asked, "Mother, what did she say? Did she give in?"

Fang didn't answer, but instead gripped her daughter's wrist and walked quickly forward. As they passed through the moon gate, Xi Yuefu struggled slightly, turned back, and cursed in the direction of Jinxian Courtyard: "Xi Yueli, you'll die a horrible death! You're a madwoman! You—"

A crisp "snap" sounded.

Xi Yuefu covered her face, looking at Fang Shi in disbelief.

Fang's hand was still raised in mid-air, her palm red, as she had used all her strength to slap him.

"Shut up!" Fang's voice was extremely low, her eyes red-rimmed. "You think she's not keeping an eye on us enough? What are you yelling for? Have you forgotten when she scratched your face with that twig?"

Xi Yuefu covered her face, tears streaming down her face, but the cry in her throat was forcibly suppressed.

She remembered the bloody gash on her face that stretched from her cheekbone to her jaw, and the icy coldness in Xi Yueli's eyes as she stood in the courtyard with a withered branch. Suddenly, she shivered and couldn't say a word.

The mother and daughter hurried back to the courtyard one after the other. Fang closed the door and chased all the maids out.

She sat in front of the dressing table, looking at her face in the mirror—a face with exquisite makeup but unable to conceal the fierceness in her eyes—and slowly raised her hand to touch the white silk mark on her neck, which was covered by rouge.

Then she pulled open the hidden compartment at the bottom of the dressing table and took out a small cloth bag.

Unfolded, inside is a polished black iron plaque. The plaque is unmarked except for a very faint "Dark" character engraved in one corner.

She held the iron plaque in her palm for a long time, until her knuckles turned white.

"Xi Yueli," she stared at herself in the mirror, her lips moving, her voice barely audible, "you forced me to do this."

That night, Fang's personal maid, Zhang, went out of the back gate of the Xi residence and turned into a dark alley without any lights.

Behind a half-open wooden door deep in the alley, someone took the black metal plaque she handed over and asked, "Who is it? What's the price?"

Zhang lowered her voice and said, "The eldest daughter of the Xi family, a sickly woman, please be clean and leave no trace. The price is negotiable."

There was a moment of silence inside the door, then a hoarse voice came through the crack: "Three days."

Zhang nodded, turned and disappeared into the night.

She was walking in a hurry and didn't notice that on the roof ridge opposite the alley entrance, there was a very faint dark figure lying between the tiles, taking in the whole scene of the black iron token being handed out.

The next morning, Xi Yueli was tidying up her things in the room, writing them down to prevent anything from being missing or forgotten after she fell ill.

Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over me, and it felt like a folded piece of paper had been stuffed into my vision.

The note was illusory, impossible to grasp or touch, yet the words on it floated clearly in the center of my vision, the strokes scribbled, as if it were intelligence intercepted from some dark place.

"Fu requested an audience with Deng Yanzhi, but Deng refused to see her."

The image flashed for less than two breaths before disappearing. Xi Yueli leaned against the edge of the table to catch her breath, a thin layer of cold sweat on her forehead.

She couldn't remember where she had seen the note before, nor could she recall when anyone had handed her something like it. But she had a firm conviction that it was real.

Sure enough, just after dinner, Qingdai brought in hot water from outside, put down the copper kettle, and whispered in her mistress's ear.

"Miss, guess what? The second young lady left the manor this morning to find Young Master Deng, but she was blocked at the gate and not even allowed to enter."

"A steward from the Deng family came out and said, 'Our young master said that once the engagement is called off, it is called off. He has no further dealings with the Xi family. Please, Second Miss, have some self-respect.'"

As Qingdai spoke, she gestured animatedly, her eyebrows dancing with excitement: "The Second Miss cried for almost half an hour at the back gate of the Deng residence. The maids couldn't drag her away, and in the end, it was Zhang Mama who rushed over and carried her back."

Upon hearing this, Xi Yueli felt a slight tug at her heartstrings. She had already learned about Xi Yuefu's matter at noon, before she had even been taken back to the Xi residence. It was as if someone had been giving her advance notice.