Xiao Zhiren was stunned to his place with the gun in his hand that he had snatched from Ling Qiaolian's hands. He didn't even realize when the trigger was pulled in their own struggle. He felt his feet were stuck to the ground as he looked over to Ru's side with a horrified look.
"Xiao Xue!!"
Ru only heard the shout from behind her but had no clue what was going on. And when that name rang in her mind, it seemed to have transported her mind to a dream she had seen. Only now she knew that the dream was indeed just a twisted reflection of her future. In the dream, the man who stabbed her with a sword was Xiao Zhiren. And while she jumped off the cliff, someone had called out, 'Xiao Xue' with the same tone. At that time, she had been wondering who was Xiao Xue. Now she could only laugh at herself knowing that her full name was, Ximen XiaoXue.
She only registered the world around her when the clang of metal against metal buzzed right behind her.
Ru turned around to see her handsome little brother, Xia Haoran with his back towards her as he observed his sword's sleek body and nodded, "It didn't scar my lovely lotus."
Ru's brows twitched when she heard the name he used to call his sword. She really wanted to smack his head but couldn't do so. One; she couldn't bring herself to hurt him. Two; he inherited his naming sense from her. So, technically she was the one to blame here.
"I told you to stay out of it," said Ru with a harsh tone. She clearly had advised him to not get involved in this fight yet he brought his little subordinates with him who were now dealing with those living corpses that Ru was wasting time on. But since he went against her words, she really wanted to teach him a lesson!
Xia Haoran sounded quite casual as he tilted his head to glance at her saying, "I came to save my brother."
Ru's brows knitted up as she looked down at the bullet that had been shot at her. It was lying quite a distance from her. When she looked up she saw the gun in Xiao Zhiren's hand who was trembling from head to toe in disbelief. He had really thought he would lose Ru but he didn't know where that black robes youngster flown in from but with just one swish of his exquisite looking sword, he managed to disrupt the bullet's trajectory.
But before he could heave a sigh of relief, he had noticed the way Ru's eyes narrowed in on the gun in his hands.
"Hahaha!" Ling Qiaolian laughed hysterically as she said, "Indeed, Xia Xue's daughter is so pitiful. Even she is not loved. How tragic that the one you loved dearly is now trying to kill you."
When all fails, we try to grasp even the straws along with ourselves. That was exactly Ling Qiaolian's strategy. She had finally been scared of Ru. She always knew Ru was a danger that's why back then she gave up on trying to control her and settled on killing her instead. But she survived. And now, she was even worse than she was ten years ago. If back then Ling Qiaolian saw a devil in her, now she could actually see the grim reaper. Because everything that Ru touched was meant to wither under her touch.
Since she was scared witless and had no way out. The only thing she wanted was to destroy Ru along with herself. If she couldn't kill her than she'd resort to destroying her mentally. And that's exactly why she incited Ru's fury. She made it seem like Ru was unloved and even Xiao Zhiren didn't reciprocate her feelings. And instead was willing to kill her.
Ling Qiaolian felt like if Ru would kill Xiao Zhiren, he'd become her destruction on its own.
"Doesn't she talk too much?" It wasn't a question, it was a statement from Xia Haoran. "And I really don't like the way she is talking to you."
Ru smiled at her little brother and snatched a shuriken from his belt. When she aimed it towards Xiao Zhiren, he wanted to shake his head to let her know that she misunderstood. However, she didn't give him a chance as the shuriken left her hand and whooshed towards him. Xiao Zhiren instinctively closed his eyes but...
Shuriken only grazed past his earlobe before hitting the bullseye.
"AH!"
Xiao Zhiren's body shook when he heard the shrilly scream and whipped his head around to look at Ling Qiaolian's whose shoulder was the real aim. When he turned to look back at Ru, he could clearly see a tinge of disappointment in her green eyes.
"Are you okay?" Rong asked her when he came around looking at her up and down.
"I'm fine," she answered distractedly with her eyes still stuck on Xiao Zhiren's face. "But don't call me Xiao Xue again." Rong pressed his lips together before nodding his head.
Then she patted Xia Haoran's shoulder and said, "If you don't like her voice, get rid of it."
Xia Haoran faintly smiled, "Gladly."
Rong looked at Ru with wide eyes as he questioned, "You're really gonna let Ranran do this bloody task?" Ru knew what he meant. She had raised Xia Haoran as a very pampered younger brother. She would never allow him to do anything dirty. If it was to get sullied, she was enough to do it alone.
"Don't worry, big brother. He isn't the same Haoran anymore."
Rong also knew that. When they left the Clan's premises, Xia Haoran was just a sweet and innocent boy. But after his two brothers left him alone, he had to grow up before he was meant to. He had to become mature to take the positions that Ru and Rong left behind.
Turning to look at Zhang Han and Xiao Zhiyuan, she asked, "Are those two okay?"
"They are fine," answered Rong. "The drug hadn't reached the heart. They both are safe now."
Ru felt eased up to hear that. Then she looked towards her little brother who didn't even flinch before cutting that woman's venomous tongue.
Xia Haoran dragged that woman to Ru's feet again. He lifted his sleeves to wipe her face carefully making Ru smile at his gestures. Oh, she thought wrong. This one was still her little brother, nothing really changed about him. Then he asked, "Ruru, what are you gonna do to her?"
Ru patted his head before crouching down to look at Ling Qiaolian. Lifting her chin with her hand, she said, "What do you say? What would you like? Do you want me to chop you up and cook a hearty meal?" Ru shook her head on her own, "Nah! I might choke to death with such a slice of poisonous meat. It won't be fun."
"Quit playing around already," urged Rong who was really impatient now.
Even Xia Haoran nodded his head, "It's already late. I got tired of waiting for you all that's why I came inside to look for you."
Ru jutted her bottom lip out adorably cupping her face with her hands as she complained, "How unfair! No one is letting me even have fun now." Rolling her eyes, she clapped her hands joyfully, "Ah-ha! I know what I'm gonna do! This Young Master is sentencing you to Lingchi![1]"
"No!"
Ru's face darkened as she looked up at Xiao Zhiren who had abruptly come to stop her. Seriously, didn't he know she hated it when someone interrupted her fun?
[1] 'Lingchi': translated variously as the slow process, the lingering death, or slow slicing, and also known as death by a thousand cuts, was a form of torture and execution used in China from roughly 900 CE until it was banned in 1905.