Chapter 1: Open Your Stomach

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“It’s as cold as an ice cellar down here. How dare they tell me to deliver the food?”

“I wonder who is locked up here? I can’t believe that they haven’t starved to death already with only a bowl of porridge that looks like clear water every day.”

“Hey, are you dead yet? Eat.”

The large iron door was banged on. Shen Xiaoxiao subconsciously knitted her eyebrows and slowly climbed out from the corner. She grabbed the bowl next to her that already had a big hole in it and stood up, moving toward the door step by step.

A small window at the bottom of the metal door opened with a “clang”.

Shen Xiaoxiao subconsciously turned her head to avoid the small amount of light that came in. After 10 years in a dark room and 10 years of being accompanied by darkness, her vision had gradually deteriorated.

She could not adapt to the light and could not avoid it in time.

“Oh my god, this is too smelly. This smell is too pungent.”

Was it smelly? Shen Xiaoxiao turned her head to look at the small dark room. She did not think it was smelly. For the past ten years, this smell had accompanied her every day. She had long gotten used to it.

An iron ladle with a spoonful of porridge with only a few grains of rice was placed inside.

Clang!

The small window closed again. The dark room returned to darkness. The man who delivered the food left while cursing.

Shen Xiaoxiao held the bowl of cold soup and slowly walked back to the corner. Her limbs were getting weaker and weaker. It was probably winter, seeing as the dark room had been getting colder and colder recently. The shabby quilt on her body was covered in spots, and it was getting harder and harder to survive the winter in the north which was lower than -10 degrees Celsius.

She rubbed her aching limbs. The tendons of her hands and feet that had been torn off in the past would become sore in the winters.

But what was this pain?

She swallowed the bowl of cold porridge in small bites. Today, there was some sand in the porridge, and it hurt a little when she swallowed it.

She could not bear to spit it out, so she treated it as an extra mouthful of food.

She took her time to finish the small half bowl of porridge and slowly stood up. In order to maintain her strength and keep warm, she began to wander around the dark room that was only eight square meters. Otherwise, how would she survive this winter?

…

“What did you say? The key is in her throat?” A surprised female voice came from the side.

“Yes, we put a mini detector in the porridge she swallowed. Just now, we checked it very thoroughly.”

A white wedding dress, exquisite jewelry, and a beautiful face that made women feel ashamed of themselves when they looked at it. At this moment, she was tidying up her makeup in front of a mirror. When she heard the shocking news, she frowned slightly.

Even in her dreams, Liu Yufei would not have expected to hear such an answer. She had to admit that she wanted to praise her big sister for her hiding spot.

Not far away, the man in black bent his waist and occasionally raised his head to peek at the woman tidying up her makeup in front of the mirror. This lady of the Liu family was really beautiful. Her figure was really top-notch.

Liu Yufei saw the man’s every move in the mirror. She smiled contemptuously and deliberately pulled at her collar again.

The man in black could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva. The fire in his eyes seemed to deepen.

Liu Yufei saw his greedy look. Truly pathetic. She had seen too many men like this.

“Let’s go. It has been ten years. I should go and meet my nice Big Sister. I’m getting married today. I should inform her of such good news.”

…

“Big Sister, I’m here to see you.”

The large metal door creaked, and a thick layer of dust instantly covered the entire room. The pungent stench of urine in the room made everyone cover their noses and take a big step back.

For the first time in 10 years, the dark eight-square-meter room was displayed in front of everyone.

A woman curled up beside a haystack was wrapped in a layer of tattered cotton. Her hair was long and dirty. She was barefoot, and her entire body was black and dirty.

Liu Yufei walked gracefully with her hands covering her mouth as she slowly walked up to Shen Xiaoxiao, her white diamond-studded strapless wedding dress all pure and white. It was a stark contrast to the dirty and messy disheveled woman with long and messy hair in front of her.

One was bright and beautiful, while the other was downtrodden and dirty.

“Is everything ready? You swallowed something that shouldn’t be swallowed. Being the good sister I am, I’ll help open Big Sister’s stomach and clean it up bit by bit.”

This voice was so ear-piercing that even if she turned into ashes, Shen Xiaoxiao would definitely not be mistaken. It was her, that woman, Liu Yufei, her mother’s illegitimate daughter from an affair with the chauffeur.

She actually came in person. It had been ten years, and they had tried all means but still could not get the key they wanted from her. Was she finally unable to wait any longer and decided to personally come down?

But what did she mean when she said that just now? Swallowed something that shouldn’t be swallowed. Could it be that she had discovered something?

Could it be that they knew the key hiding the Shen family’s life-saving funds was hidden in her throat?

Impossible! How could they know? In order to protect this key, she had not spoken a single word for 10 years, not even making a single sound. Even if the key had grown into her flesh, even if she had been tortured to the point of unbearable pain, she had gritted her teeth and endured it. She had hoped that one day, she would be able to escape and use this wealth to make a comeback to take revenge.

But now, Liu Yufei said that she had found it? How was that possible?

“Hmph, Sister, look at your stupid expression. Did you think that you could hide from it by pretending to be deaf and dumb for 10 years? Was the bowl of porridge today delicious?

“In that porridge was a mini detector I specially prepared for you! People should use their brains. Otherwise, they can only be like how you are now, Sister – waiting to have your stomach cut, opened, and disemboweled!”

So that was how it was. This woman, this damn woman.

She opened her mouth and suddenly realized that her vocal cords had long been destroyed after not speaking for 10 years. She could not utter a single syllable. She could only open her mouth wide and look angrily at the beautiful woman in front of her. Was she wearing a wedding dress?

Even though the blinding light made her eyes hurt as if they were being pricked, she did not blink. She wanted to clearly see her sister who she had not seen for ten years.

“What? You can’t speak? Hahaha, you are as stupid as ever. With your brain, even if the Shen family had not been taken over by our Liu family, it would have been destroyed by you sooner or later.”

“Oh, look at my memory. I almost forgot. Sister, you see the wedding dress on me, right? Today, A-Li and I are getting married. It’s a pity that Sister can’t drink our wedding wine.”

Liu Yufei spoke as she adjusted the hem of her dress in a somewhat ostentatious manner. She looked at the woman in front of her with an arrogant expression.

Getting married? She’s actually getting married to Pei Li?

Pei Li was her fiancé, Shen Xiaoxiao’s fiancé. He was the husband that the Shen family had chosen for her since she was young.

But now, he actually wanted to marry Liu Yufei?

Who was Liu Yufei? She was just the vile spawn of a good mother who had an affair with a chauffeur. Was she even worthy?

However, it was this vile spawn who had taken away all the things that belonged to her.

That’s right, she should have known that Pei Li, this jackal, was exactly the same as Liu Yufei. Back then, they had long been in cahoots with each other, but they had pretended to be affectionate in front of her. Weren’t their intentions also related to the Shen family’s businesses?

As expected, with the Liu family and the Pei family joining hands, how could an orphan like her be their match? Bit by bit, they had transferred out the shares in her hands.

How did that man treat her when he saw that she no longer had any value?

He drugged her and sent her to the bed of those scoundrels of his. Even now, she still remembers what he had said:

“Shen Xiaoxiao, you’re a woman who is about to be wed but you’ve long been toyed with by others overseas. Now, you’re pretending to be a virtuous woman in front of me?”

“Shen Xiaoxiao, do you think I care to touch you? If it weren’t for the fact that you’re proactive in bed, and for free at that, if you were to kneel down and beg me, I wouldn’t even look at you.”

“So what if I let you accompany them now? Aren’t you used to doing these things? Bring out your best ability to serve them. What a sl*t…”

She hated that man as much as she loved him.

Yes, she, Shen Xiaoxiao, had indeed been an escort for three years when she was abroad, but who had caused all this? Who had caused all this?

She was the sole heir of the Shen Enterprise, but before her father and grandfather’s bodies were even cold, her biological mother and that adulterer of hers, Liu Yufei’s father, Liu Qianmin, had sold her abroad when she was only six years old under the guise of studying.

At six years old, she was struggling to survive among a group of girls who were much older than her. When she was cold, she could only snatch other people’s clothes and wear them. When she was hungry, she would snatch the food from other people’s mouths. At the time, she still foolishly thought that she was simply unlucky to have been abducted and sold to this place.

Therefore, even after she had experienced a ten-year boxing career and three years of physical torture, when her grandfather’s trusted aide found her, the first thing she said was:

“Did Mom send you to find me?”

Even now, she could still remember the stiff expression on the old man’s face.

She was stupid. She was really stupid. Her whole life had been a tragedy, a tragedy. She had been sold, yet she still had to help others count their money.

They were clearly a family of snakes and scorpions, yet she had been sold again and again for those so-called “family ties.” First, it was her life, then her shares in the Shen family. Until bit by bit, she was no longer useful. It was not until they were ready to deal with her like they did her father and grandfather that she was awoken by her Third Uncle who had brought her back that year.

But she woke up too late. She thought that she could flip the cards by relying on the life-saving funds secretly passed down by the Shen family, but in the end, it was just wishful thinking. Before she could make a move, her Third Uncle was killed by them, and she was locked in this secret prison for 10 years.

During these 10 years, they had repeatedly asked her to hand over the keys to the life-saving funds. Shen Xiaoxiao knew that as long as she handed it over, what awaited her was the underground reunion of their Shen family.

She could not die. She definitely could not die in such a humiliating manner. She wanted revenge. She wanted to live. She wanted to walk out of this place alive.

Therefore, she was ruthless to herself. She was really ruthless. She would rather destroy her vocal cords and not be able to speak for the rest of her life, as long as it meant that crucial key could be placed in her throat.

But now, now, they knew the whereabouts of this key that was related to her fate. She had never felt so helpless before. Ten years of perseverance all collapsed at this moment.

Could it be that she, Shen Xiaoxiao, was really a joke in this life? A big joke?

No. Even if she, Shen Xiaoxiao, could only live such a miserable life, she would definitely not be reduced to a stepping stone for the Liu family to enjoy wealth and prosperity.

Didn’t they want the key? Well, ten years ago she had the ability to hide it in a place they couldn’t find, and now, ten years later, she also had the ability to make them beg for it. To. No. Avail.