Chapter Seven: Confession

  The journey is not far, just a few steps back to my yard. Although it's just a wall apart, it's a world of difference. Her side is bustling with noise, while my side can even hear the sound of a single mosquito flying by.

  Zhou Murang was actually sitting on the stone bench in my courtyard, still holding his treasured item. Seeing me return, he surprisingly put on a resentful and embarrassed expression, looking at me coldly and letting out a heavy hum.

  What the hell, is there no justice? Why did your sister scold you and then come to scold me? Your business has nothing to do with me. I pretended not to see him and walked back to my room. When I reached the door, I heard his angry roar again, "Umanya, do you really hate me that much?"

  When did I say that I hate him? This guy has split personality and persecution complex, too lazy to bother with him.

  The more I ignored him, the angrier he became. He strode up to me in quick steps and suddenly my heart skipped a beat - being killed by a madman wouldn't even be worth avenging. What's more, his family background was such that I, a weak woman with no ability to fight back, couldn't do anything about it. But still, I couldn't just let him hit me, could I? What to do, what to do... Who knew he would slam his treasured possession into my hands and storm off in anger.

  What a freak! He's really a freak!

  After dinner, I snuggle up at home and study these treasures carefully.

  Honestly, from a modern person's perspective, these books, except for that album, are not as exciting as I imagined, but rather have more intimate scenes and more detailed descriptions.

  Alas, poor ancient people. If I had known they liked this sort of thing, I would have brought Director Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution". Compared to the original novel's subtle and understated tone, the movie's sex scenes are truly vivid. I wonder if there would be a market for it if I translated that movie into text and sold it here? If it really became popular, what title would the ancients give me - "The Queen of Banned Books" or "The Shameless Empress"?

  Just as I was studying my business plan, the door suddenly rang, and I felt that the guy didn't just want to knock on the door, but planned to knock it off. In order not to cause greater losses, I opened the door.

  Zhou Murang, apart from him, who else would come to this girl's room in the middle of the night and cause trouble? I opened the door and let him in without paying attention to him. He was drunk all over, his face red, probably having had too much to drink with some other girl and using the momentum to cause trouble here.

  As soon as he entered the house, he began to mutter the same lines, at first vaguely, I couldn't hear clearly, after repeating several times, I heard clearly, "You've all changed, why are you treating me like this?"

  I said, "Sir, apart from me, there's also that unfortunate guy who's been bothered by you?"

  He just talks about himself and ignores my questions.

  Since there's no other choice, talking more is useless. I helped him sit down and sat beside him, watching the drunkard go crazy. In my entire life, I've never seen a drunkard go crazy at such close distance before?

  He muttered for a long time, some of which I couldn't hear clearly, and some of which I could: "You left, why did you change, Little Smoke is going to enter the palace, she's changed, don't you see?"

  Hearing this, I thought he was talking to me and responded with a "oh" sound, but unexpectedly, he mentioned another name, Ashan.

  Who is Ashan? The girl from Zui Feng Lou? Is she gone? Where did she go? What's her relationship with Mu Yan, why did she leave, and what changed about her?

  Then, I heard, "Xiao Ya, are you angry with me?"

  "My instinctive answer was 'no'."

  Actually, apart from his occasional lewd appearance being annoying, he's generally a pretty good-looking guy and I'm particularly lenient towards good-looking guys. Although I don't know what exactly happened between him and Umanya herself, that night when he confessed, I could tell he genuinely liked Umanya, and letting her into the palace was an inevitable choice; in the end, it was for her own good, and he was willing to be a bad person for her sake.

  He still ignored me and continued talking, what he said next was extremely shocking, so shocking that our relationship changed from then on.

  "He said, 'Xiao Ya, go into the palace, here... I can't protect you...'"

  "Xiao Ya, hurry up, Zhou Renzhi is coming, it's a disaster, hurry up."

  Is he scolding his uncle who flatters and fawns on him every day? Did I hear that wrong?

  "Xiao Ya, Old Zhou wants you, did you know?"

  I don't know, of course I didn't know. No wonder that old man was so enthusiastic towards me. It turns out I'm not a private-born daughter, but his unfulfilled little lover. This old turtle egg, dead pervert, thinks he's beautiful. I like uncle, but I have no interest in grandpa.

  "Xiao Ya, you look just like that glamorous woman."

  "Xiao Ya, it turns out she is your mother."

  "Xiao Ya, hurry up, wait for me, I'll wait for you."

  "Ashan, sorry, Xiaoyan has changed, sorry, sorry."

  He sobbed and his shoulders shook convulsively, it was clear that he was crying.

  Although Zhou Murang's words were unclear and his logic was confusing, with my own IQ plus rich imagination, how could I not understand the inside story?

  That Mr. Zhou seemed to have a soft spot for my mother, but she ended up marrying a poor man, which is my father. He thought he could show off his successful persona and make my mother regret it. However, by the time he came, only I was left alive. Because I looked somewhat like my mother, he took pity on me and raised me in his estate, taking good care of me. After I grew up, he adopted me as his own.

  "Hum, this is truly a shameless plan. Does he think he's Yin Liu Xia? Even if he were, I'm not Yang Bu Kuai, and I don't have the heart to engage in an illicit romance with him."

  As for Ah Shan, it should be Zhou Mu Yan's late husband He Yuan Shan. They must have been close friends, and his own sister married a good friend, thinking that from then on they could live a happy life. Who knew that things would change, everything changed.

  He was crying like a child who couldn't find his way home, crying so sadly that it was heartbreaking.

  Wait until he cried himself to sleep, the wine fumes rose, I helped him onto my bed and let him rest well, while I could only make do with a night on what seemed like a sofa.

  The sky was bright, and Jade called me to get up as usual. But when I entered the room, I saw that the person lying on the bed was not myself. I was startled and shouted, knocking over the water for washing my face. I quickly whispered to her, pulling her aside to try to explain, but she looked at me with a smile all over her face, saying I didn't need to explain anything. I knew what she meant, so I hastily said no, and she smiled silently and left.