Caring is not an advantage

Qing Shan gazed at that bottle with melancholy. Up until the end, this was her bad habit. She did not try to resist. Qing Shan never put up any fight against things which she had deemed set. For her, it was better to go with the flow. At some point, she also knew that this was her fatal flaw.

She wasn't really this distant and detached when she was young. It was the contrary. She tried hard to belong with her family. Qing Shan had tried to like and get along with her aunt and half-sister. She had a bunch of close girlfriends as well. But in the end, despite everything, she ended up alone. Her father focused on his other daughter, who was more coquettish and on his only son. He doted on his new wife endlessly to forget that whom he lost. She was left out. Her so-called girlfriends were only there because of her status as the Yan Family's big miss. So when they noticed that Xiaoyi had more of the Yan Family Head's attention, they also left her alone.

With that, Qing Shan concluded that no matter what effort she put into, it will only be useless. Caring was not an advantage. It gave her no benefit at all.

'Maybe I really am just a coward.'

Qing Shan chided herself at this thought. Thinking about it however, it was this detached personality that had caused a certain demon to be attracted to her. Zi Jue, 31st Family Head of the Zi Clan. Emperor of City Z. No one could match him in terms of power, money, status, and even looks. Although he possesses a face that could cause the downfall of an entire nation, his sadistic and power tripping tendencies could cause an even bloodier tragedy. He was a devil incarnate, one that smiles sweetly as he kills.

They met at a party of one of the prominent families. She didn't have any plans to attend that party, but Xiaoyi pestered Father Yan for her to go. She was made into a wallflower, a foil, a backdrop to make Xiaoyi shine that night and hopefully catch the eyes of the infamous Zi Jue.

Unfortunately, it was her, the wallflower who the devil took an interest to despite Qing Shan's shabby gown and bare face. A week later, unbeknownst to her family, she was suddenly whisked away to Ying Yue Garden and confined there by the damned smiling devil.

She became a bird trapped in an elaborate, golden cage. Zi Jue provided her everything, as well as a certain degree of freedom. After all, it was only her first year in university. Qing Shan tried to flee once but it failed miserably. It also made Zi Jue a lot more guarded. She didn't try anymore after that. She knew it was futile. Thus, Qing Shan became more withdrawn. She stopped going to school, and just stayed in that beautiful prison like a doll in a luxurious doll house. Treating everyone in the place coldly, speaking only when she was spoken to. The more she was like a puppet, the more Zi Jue tried to elicit a reaction from her. He tried every means possible. Both good ones and bad once. But it was like hitting cotton. In the end, he set free thinking that that would make her become human again. Qing Shan jeered at this vain attempt of his.

Qing Shan wondered how Zi Jue would react when she died. She laughed at herself internally at this thought. He had already ceased to care long ago.

"Do you really think Zi Jue would succumb to your daughter just as my father did to you? I wish her all the luck in the world then. She would need every single bit of it to have that smiling devil in her hands. I sincerely advice that she does not bite off more than she could chew."

Zhao Ming Hua's gaze turned ferocious. She walked closer to her and grabbed hold of her neck.

"You bitch! Even if you are lucky to have gotten Zi Jue, you didn't last long enough to enjoy it anyway. I really wonder what he saw in you, you slutty trash."

The hand on her neck tightened even more. Qing Shan wanted to claw at it but she was too weak to do so. Although the poison that Zhao Ming Hua first gave her was intercepted, she still hadn't recovered from it and was still weak.