7 Chapter 007 The Body is Quite Honest

Xu Chaomu wandered around the Shen Family villa, and eventually, she got lost. All she could see in front of her were rows of houses and tall flowering shrubs and trees.

"Where is everyone? How come there's not a soul in sight…" Xu Chaomu began to panic as she walked around without spotting a single person.

Xu Chaomu finally revealed her true nature as a person with a poor sense of direction.

"Brother Shen Chi, Auntie Zhou..." As the sky darkened, she was completely clueless about where she had run off to.

While she was looking up at the sky, she fell into the swimming pool behind her with a "plop"!

"Ah! Help! Someone save me!"

She cried out loudly as she flailed her arms and legs, beating the water desperately.

She didn't want to die yet; she hadn't accomplished all of her life goals! If she died now, wouldn't that be letting Shen Chi off easy?

As she was wailing desperately, a dark figure quickly jumped into the pool, splashing water everywhere. The figure swam a few strokes and grabbed Xu Chaomu, who was in the center of the pool.

Xu Chaomu, sinking fast, saw a lifeline and clung to the dark figure's waist without a second thought, gripping tightly with her small hands.

Shen Chi's face was covered with an exasperated expression. He tried to pry Xu Chaomu's hands off, but they were stickier than glue and clung to him.

He stood still in the pool where the water only reached his chest.

"Help! I don't want to die... I'm still young... I have a bright future ahead of me, a future full of promise, a thousand miles of it... I..."

"If you don't let go of me now, I'll throw you out to feed the dogs!"

Shen Chi was furious. The girl was burying her head in his neck as if she wanted to attach her entire body to his.

Even though it was winter and they were wearing many layers, Shen Chi had never been embraced by a girl like this!

"No, no, I won't let go. I don't want to die! Brother Shen Chi is out to kill..."

Xu Chaomu cried, tears streaming down like rain, holding on even tighter. This time, she jumped onto Shen Chi, her legs wrapping around him as well.

"Who'd you learn this from? Get off me now!" Shen Chi was at a loss for what to do with her.

"Don't kill me, and I'll get off..." Xu Chaomu dared not lift her head and stayed buried in his neck.

"Cut the nonsense, get off me!"

"Okay." Xu Chaomu started to tentatively lower one leg, but being the scaredy-cat she was, she hooked it back onto Shen Chi as soon as she let it down halfway.

"No, no, I can't do it; I'll drown. I mean, since I'm going to die anyway, you might as well kill me. I've heard the headmistress say that to die under the peony flowers is to be a ghost..."

Splash!

With a loud noise, Shen Chi, without saying another word, roughly tossed Xu Chaomu off himself and back into the pool!

With a girl like this, violence was the only way!

"Help... help... Brother Shen Chi... save me..."

Xu Chaomu swallowed a few mouthfuls of water, using all her strength in a desperate struggle, trying hard to cling to Shen Chi's clothes.

Water splashed everywhere, splattering onto Shen Chi's face.

Regardless, Shen Chi remained indifferent. Just as Xu Chaomu was slowly sinking and thought she was about to die at Shen Chi's hands, suddenly, her foot touched the soft bottom of the pool.

The bottom of the pool was like it was paved with fine sand. She quickly stabilized herself on one foot and then placed the other on top.

Once she was fully standing, she realized that the water only came up to her chin.

Then, she saw deep disdain in Shen Chi's eyes.

"You get scared like this by a shallow pool; how useless!" Shen Chi said dismissively and turned to walk away.

"Wait for me! How did you find me? Have you been secretly following me? Do you really care about me that much? Tsk tsk, I would have never guessed; you really do care about me that much..."

"Xu Chaomu, my mother said that the dog keeper is not around; she told me to find you. You'd better hurry up and come back with me," Shen Chi said without looking back as he walked towards a door after getting out of the pool.

"You deny it with your words, but your actions speak the truth!"

Xu Chaomu climbed triumphantly out of the pool, sneezing several times, and followed behind Shen Chi like a drowned rat.

She was in such a sorry state from falling into the water, yet the man in front seemed utterly unaffected, as elegant and noble as ever, as if nothing had happened.

Life is just so unfair… Achoo!

"Xu Chaomu, who did you learn all this from? Be more honest in the future!"

Shen Chi finally stopped in his tracks, glaring at her fiercely.

Now that she even knew such words, he couldn't help but wonder how she had grown up over these ten years.

"I'm always honest and straightforward, and I always speak the truth," Xu Chaomu muttered.

Of course, later on, someone eventually demonstrated to Xu Chaomu, through actions, what "verbal denial, physical honesty" meant, until a certain young woman, supporting her sore back, was too tired to get out of bed.

"You're skipping dinner tonight!" Shen Chi said coldly, Xu Chaomu was simply unreasonable and talking nonsense.

"Stingy…," Xu Chaomu complained, not convinced.

Shen Chi meant what he'd said, and that very evening, he locked up Xu Chaomu with his Tibetan Mastiff in a room, giving her nothing to eat.

"Achi, why are you angry? If you don't feed Chaomu, she will get hungry. At her age, she's still growing," Zhou Ran commented, noticing that the two seemed to have a falling out.

Several times during dinner, she wanted to call Xu Chaomu in, but Shen Chi just wouldn't budge.

"Hypocrisy," Shen Chi didn't speak, but Shen Cexian scoffed coldly at one side.

"Mom, I think she is wild. If we don't discipline her now, who knows, she might turn the Shen Family upside down in the future."

Shen Chi continued eating without lifting his head, and Zhou Ran didn't say anything more.

Xu Chaomu, on the other hand, suffered. Not being given food was one thing, but being locked up with a big dog—she wasn't a puppy!

The big dog looked much more formidable than her, but thankfully, it was chained. Still, Xu Chaomu shuddered with fear.

"Don't come any closer—I'm not tasty. If you want to eat someone, eat Shen Chi…"

The Tibetan Mastiff didn't pay any attention to her, lying down on one side and licking its own food.

Xu Chaomu started crying, feeling even less than a dog.

At least the dog had something to eat; she had nothing.

"Shen Chi, you big jerk... why won't you give me something to eat... I'll chop you into pieces to feed the dog…" she wiped away her tears.

Though the orphanage was dirty and messy, at least there was food, wasn't there?

She cried until she became tired, and watched as the sky outside the window slowly turned pitch black.

The wind made a soft noise against the window pane, and Xu Chaomu curled up into a ball, burying her head in her arms and fell asleep.

She dreamed a dream, returning to the recent fire.

The fire was fierce, turning the entire sky red.

She cried and shouted, wanting to rush in, because she knew her mother was still inside the inferno.

She was held back, tightly embraced by Uncle Mo from the neighbors, unable to move. With her ten-year-old eyes, she watched the fire consume everything, even the surrounding trees were burned to nothingness.

She smelled the charred odor, the choking smoke, and even the blood in the air.

How she wished for a heavy rain to fall from the sky at that time!

But it didn't come. The sky was filled with firelight, turning into blood-red mandalas.

Her eyes stung from the smoke, but she didn't even blink.

Several times, Uncle Mo tried to cover her eyes, but she used the strength of a ten-year-old to pry his hands away.

She watched with her own eyes as the fire burned away the last trace of her relatives…

With a dubious father and a tragically deceased mother, she had been a disaster since birth.

"I won't leave… I won't leave… I have to go in… Help... help…"

Uncle Mo began to drag her away forcefully; she was so young, he feared that the event would leave a shadow in her heart.

"I won't go… I don't want to leave… I don't want to..."

In her dream, she bit Uncle Mo's hand.

Suddenly, the fire, fanned by the wind, shifted direction, transforming into a fierce tiger, chasing after her from behind!

"Help… help!"