Chapter 9: Lowly Yet Resilient

Duan Yubai’s expression shifted from impatience to fury.

Yet Su Nuo could not stop; she continued to retch. She hadn't eaten anything the day before, so now, only bitter bile came up. Duan Yubai did not release his grip on her arm. Her limb was so thin that it felt as if a little extra pressure would snap it. Duan Yubai could no longer recall the last time he had held her arm like this, but in his memory, she had never been this frail.

"I'm sorry!"

Hearing those three words from Su Nuo again pushed Duan Yubai into a rage. He flung her arm away with force.

"That is enough! Isn't this little act of yours finished yet? Do you honestly expect the entire family to play along with your charade just to satisfy you?"

"Su Nuo, enough is enough!"

Su Nuo, already devoid of strength, spun from the force of his shove and collided with the cabinets. A piercing pain radiated from her forehead, but she dared not collapse. Instead, she fell to her knees in front of Duan Yubai. Ceramic shards on the floor pierced her palms, and blood began to trickle slowly from her hands. Yet, she seemed oblivious to the pain, continuing to repeat her apologies.

Everything was her fault; they were right. She should have died in that grim, terrifying compound rather than returning to bring them misfortune. But she only wanted to survive. Was there something wrong with wanting to live? She had long since lost her parents, with only the inheritance her mother left behind as a tether to her memory. She didn't want to die; she wanted to live.

But living was so exhausting.

Drip.

A tear fell onto the back of her hand, soaking into the needle marks left there. The sting flared, yet she remained kneeling, much like a dying kitten.

Duan Yubai grabbed her by the collar with resentment, hoisting the featherweight Su Nuo into the air. He threw her back into the utility room and slammed the door shut.

"Clean this up."

He tossed the order to the servant and strode upstairs. Before long, the sound of water running came from the second floor—Duan Yubai was taking a shower. Su Nuo’s room was situated just below his, and she could hear it clearly. She sat on the floor, dazed, and slowly closed her eyes.

Duan Yubai hated her, of course. From the very beginning, he had always hated her. She was like a persistent nuisance he could never shake from his life. The term "a plaster that won't come off" was the most fitting description for her.

She wiped her mouth with her sleeve and looked up at the dim, cramped room. It was only meant to be a temporary space for her, furnished with nothing but a makeshift mattress.

If Chi Ling hadn't brought her a blanket yesterday, she wouldn't even have had that. Naturally, the utility room had no private bathroom. Survival instinct drove her to open the medical kit once more to treat the wounds on her hands before she crawled back onto the mattress.

She didn't know when she drifted off to sleep. Before she did, she thought to herself that since she hadn't listened to Duan Yubai today, she would certainly go hungry. It was a pity that the Duan household had no dirt or rats for her to feed on.

It was afternoon by the time Su Nuo opened her eyes. Her stomach was aching terribly, but she dared not leave the room. In the compound, she could relieve herself anywhere, but this was the Duan household. If she made a mess, they would surely be furious. At the thought of Duan Yubai’s disgusted expression, pain surged through her entire body. He had always been disgusted by her; only she had naively believed that if she offered her true heart, she could eventually move him.

Su Nuo sniffled and slowly pulled herself up to the door. She pressed her ear against it for a while, and once she was certain the servants were not nearby, she cracked the door open. Seeing that the coast was clear, she ran to the guest bathroom as fast as she could.

The pain in her lower abdomen was becoming unbearable. Her period, which hadn't arrived in months, had suddenly started. She used to suffer from dysmenorrhea, and in the past, she would have acted spoiled and sweet, letting Mother Duan coddle her and making Duan Yubai buy her gifts to cope. But in this moment, she only felt a cold sweat and the sensation of her teeth clenched shut.

She was dirty, and with her period, she was even filthier. If they found out, they would only view her with more contempt and might even throw her out onto the street. Without the protection of the Duan family, what would become of her? The mere thought of being dragged back to the compound left her trembling with cold.

The next second, she fell headlong, collapsing hard onto the bathroom floor. Before she lost consciousness, she seemed to see a familiar figure. The person called her "Young Miss."

It was Chi Ling.

The corners of Su Nuo’s mouth curved slightly. As long as it wasn't the Duan family, as long as it wasn't Duan Yubai, it was fine.

Su Nuo fell into a long dream. In the dream, Mother Duan and Father Duan still cherished her. She was still that little girl who loved to act spoiled around Duan Yubai. To make him look at her more, she would go to any lengths. Then, she heard Duan Yubai’s cold voice:

"Oh."

Again, that "oh"... When he received the ransom call from the kidnappers, he had only said "oh," and nothing more. She had been kidnapped, and he hadn't cared at all.

Perhaps, to him, it would have been better if she had died. But the people in the compound used to say she was "lowly and hard to kill." In her dream, she was tortured repeatedly, living a life worse than death, yet she simply could not die. She dreamt of the scene of her escape. She kept running forward, not daring to stop, because waiting for her if she stopped would be a life even harder to bear than death.

"Why didn't you just die there? Why did you come back?"

Duan Yubai’s vicious voice rang out, and Su Nuo sat up with a start.

Cold sweat had soaked through her clothes. Beneath her was no longer the thin mattress, but a folding bed. The moment she sat up, the frame creaked. Smelling a familiar scent, she turned her head mechanically, her instinct to retch rising.

It was Duan Yubai!

He stood silently by the door, watching her with cold indifference.

"Try retching again, and see what happens."

Hearing his words, Su Nuo quickly clamped her mouth shut, struggling desperately to calm herself down. After a long silence, she finally opened her mouth.

"I won't bother with an apology. The act is over, right?"

Duan Yubai’s voice was devoid of inflection, as if he were discussing something trivial. "Who are you putting on this show for now? Are you hoping to drag the entire Duan Corporation down with you? Does this house lack food or clothes for you? Your affectations truly disgust me."

Thud!

A mobile phone was tossed next to Su Nuo. Seeing the familiar charm on it, Su Nuo felt a sudden urge to cry. It was from a time she had pestered Duan Yubai into taking her to a temple fair, demanding he give her a gift; he had bought it casually from a street stall. Seven or eight years had passed, and though she had changed phones countless times, she had always kept this charm. It was an ugly shade of pink, made of cheap plastic, and worth nothing.

Just like her.

Once the surface glamour faded, nothing remained but the filth beneath.

"Thank you," Su Nuo whispered.

Duan Yubai said nothing more and walked straight out of the utility room that irritated him so much. The moment he left, he quickly loosened his tie.

This damn woman—she was truly capable of enduring anything! He would see just how long she could keep up this act!