Reborn to Redeem: Their Abusive Love
Chapter 21: Rainy Night Rhapsody

Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Rainy Night Rhapsody

Speaking of such experiences, there was no sense of loss or panic in the young man’s indifferent grey eyes, which was quite unusual.

Xu Si’s red lips pursed slightly, and she simply remained silent, her long lashes fluttering lightly as she gazed into the distance. Her stare seemed a silent form of comfort.

A long time passed before she finally said, "Then you should keep it."

"No, Auntie. It might belong to someone else, so I shouldn’t keep it. I’ll take it around tomorrow to ask in the neighborhood and see if anyone has lost a kitten." Pei Zhen’s eyes held their usual smile as he hugged the kitten tightly, yet with precisely the right amount of force.

It was as if he hadn’t noticed Xu Si’s aloofness at all; he even deliberately sat a bit farther away without his expression changing.

His twinkling eyes secretly concealed all his secrets.

So she was afraid of cats.

Catching this movement from the corner of her eye, Xu Si breathed a sigh of relief.

The evening breeze carried a faint scent of flowers.

The sky had turned an eerie ink-blue, with a few stars suspended in the deep night, like distant rivers winding across the heavens.

Resting her chin in one hand, Xu Si suddenly found Pei Zhen’s voice very pleasant. With some leisure time, she asked, "Azhen, can you sing?"

"Yes." Pei Zhen slightly slowed his hand movements, neither modest nor boastful, only asking her, "Auntie, what would you like to hear?"

Xu Si took a sip of clear tea. "Anything is fine."

Pei Zhen lowered his head, his fingertips gently resting on the kitten’s head. The silent evening breeze coiled around his sleeves as his low, lazy voice rose. He sang a Cantonese song, his pronunciation and articulation so precise it seemed impossible for someone who had lived overseas for years.

Yet, he managed it perfectly.

"Tides ebb and flow, the moon cold, the wind sharp with frost,"

"The wild rain’s caprice, the wildflower’s subtle fragrance."

"Accompanying my nocturnal reveries, I realize there’s no need for undue stress."

It was indeed very pleasant to listen to, and the lyrics suited the moment perfectly.

So pleasant, in fact, that Xu Si was slightly surprised.

She looked at the young man, trying to find a flaw in him with her naked eye, but found none.

Feeling a sense of helplessness, she propped up her chin and asked, "Did you formally study it?"

Pei Zhen, unsure what she was referring to, still answered with a smile, "I studied vocal music, and I studied Cantonese."

Xu Si’s lips curved into a smile. "You are very impressive."

She also felt that maybe this kind of life wasn’t so bad.

In her previous life, she had been solitary and aloof. After her work was done, she could only feel endless loneliness in her frigid living space.

Even without a blood tie, having an obedient family member by her side... seemed rather nice.

As the mesmerizing colors of the night deepened, her fatigue dissipated, and Xu Si said softly, "Azhen, stay with me always."

Pei Zhen was taken aback for a moment, then smiled gently. "I will always be here, unless Auntie asks me to leave."

Xu Si shook her head. "I won’t let you go, as long as you are obedient."

Pei Zhen’s voice always carried a hint of a smile, not overly enthusiastic, yet with a subtly perceptible seriousness. "As long as I am obedient, Auntie will never leave me?"

Xu Si nodded. "Correct."

The young man’s withered heart began to show signs of revival. In addition to gratitude, he felt a new glimmer of hope.

"Is this a promise, Auntie?"

Xu Si nodded. "Yes, a promise. Don’t you believe it?"

An unkept promise is no different from a lie.

Pei Zhen generally didn’t trust anyone’s promises, but Xu Si gave him a good feeling—good enough that he was willing to believe her, even if it might be a lie.

He smiled, his radiance outshining the bright moon. "I believe you."

At the end of November, the winter rain continued, unabated and unrestrained.

Someone stealthily slipped into the kitchen. After furtively moving about for a while, they exited, climbed the carpeted stairs, and grasped the handle to Xu Si’s room. Using an unknown key—CLICK—the door opened. A figure quietly entered and dropped a pill into Xu Si’s water glass.

Then, they tiptoed back out.

「The next morning.」

When Xu Si awoke, she stared at the water glass on her bedside table, lost in thought.

After her rebirth, she was a light sleeper; the slightest noise was enough to wake her.

Therefore, the Xu Family didn’t require anyone to keep watch at night, nor was anyone permitted to walk around on her floor.

Last night, a shadowy figure had come. She hadn’t seen it clearly, but she could detect the unique fragrance of a woman’s perfume. It wasn’t deliberately sprayed but rather the lingering scent from someone who paid meticulous attention to such details, a trace remaining on the hem of their clothes.

She swirled the water in the glass, especially curious about what that person had put into it.

She called Anshi early in the morning and had him take the glass of water to researchers at the hospital.

The response came quickly. Anshi’s voice over the phone was hoarse and devoid of emotion, his words somewhat stiff. "The doctor said it’s a potent sleeping pill from abroad, one that can make people sleep very soundly."

"Is that all?" Xu Si raised an eyebrow.

The person who had put the pill in her water had done nothing else afterward. Did they merely want her to sleep well?

"However, taking too much of this drug can lead to prolonged sleep, frequent dreams, and mental fogginess."

And what happens after the mental fogginess sets in?

Anshi didn’t dare to elaborate, but in any case, it couldn’t be considered poison, leaving no incriminating evidence.

Xu Si suspected their plan was one of two things: either they wanted her to develop problems so that group could seize the opportunity to "help" her, showering her with "familial affection"...

Or, more maliciously, they were waiting for her to develop problems, then find some opportune moment to eliminate her discreetly. That way, the Xu Family inheritance would pass to her uncle’s family.

Beyond that, there seemed to be no other reason.

In her previous life, she had also experienced periods of mental fogginess. Such methods were very much in her second uncle’s style. Perhaps because she had been more compliant back then, offering her uncles some benefits and a glimmer of hope, they hadn’t felt the need to proceed to more drastic measures.

The struggles among powerful families have always been bloody throughout history.

In this era, the rule of law couldn’t restrain many people.

Personalities differed, and methods varied endlessly, all for the sake of inheritance. Sometimes, basic humanity was cast aside. Whenever the head of a powerful family died, a few unlucky souls who shouldn’t have perished would inevitably be dragged down to the grave as collateral damage.

Either by accident or by assassination.

Those heirs who survived all shared one common trait: their dark eyes, even in broad daylight, seemed to glint with a predatory red light, much like wolves that prey on their own kind.

The Xu Family was relatively fortunate. Thanks to Mr. Xu having only one child, Xu Si, Xu Zhiqiang couldn’t overtly seize the inheritance and had to resort to clandestine plots and assassination attempts.

Their ambitions were already glaringly obvious by this point.

Xu Si sneered, considering her timing. "Two weeks," she said to Anshi over the phone. "Have the kidnappers prepare the boat tickets. I want to see them making headlines in December."

She was neither merciful nor cruel.

If Xu Zhiqiang hadn’t returned to the country, she might have let it slide.

But since he had returned and still harbored such malicious intent, this matter couldn’t be simply dropped.

The day Butler Ge learned of this incident, a cleaning servant was quietly dismissed, and a dozen more security guards appeared outside the residence.

This unusual development made Xu Zhiqiang very uneasy.

The drugging might have been discovered.

Xu Zhi’an, her third uncle who had always maintained a low profile, suddenly made a move. He stood at the door with his luggage, stating that he had finished preparing his new accommodations and wished to move out.

Xu Si made a show of trying to persuade him to stay, but couldn’t prevent his departure. It seemed he had sensed something amiss and wanted to ensure his own safety by distancing himself.

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