Nian Zhen

"..."

Hui Yin didn't know if Ninghong was joking or not. Judging by her expression, she didn't seem to be.

"Miss Nian?" repeated Hui Yin. "Nian Zhen of the Nian family?"

Ninghong shook her head. "I don't know a Nian Zhen, but I know a bit about the Nian family."

Odd. It was weird enough that Lu Shen apparently didn't marry Nian Zhen, but for the housemaids to not even know her...did Nian Zhen go back to abroad again?

"Then what happened to the Nian family?" asked Hui Yin.

"The Nians were pretty much what the whole country talked about several years ago. They were a very powerful family, only second to the boss' in power. But in one stroke of bad luck, their wealth and power had been stripped away to nothing due to accusations of fraud and embezzlement. They were also involved in shady dealings with the underworld, causing their consumers to boycott. As if that's not enough, their old man was also filed with sexual harassment done to his secretary and had to pay several million to settle the shareholder claims."

Ninghong then gestured for Hui Yin to come closer and whispered in a conspirational voice, "I heard his wife committed suicide because she couldn't handle the public humiliation."

Hui Yin went cold. Such a fast collapse of the Nians, she was afraid that there was someone pulling the strings from behind the scenes. And who else could do this but the only person above them in power? How did the Nians offend Lu Shen so badly that he was so ruthless in pulling them down to bankruptcy?

"Do you know what happened to their daughter?"

After all, Ninghong might not know Nian Zhen in name, but she must have heard about the only daughter of the Nian family.

As expected, Ninghong nodded. "I heard she was abducted by an underworld gang because of her father's illegal dealings. They found her body in the Chaobai river, chopped to pieces and put in separate containers. She was even cruelly tortured before they killed her."

Such a miserable way to die...Hui Yin was sure that Lu Shen had a hand in it too. If he pushed her parents to such a desperate situation, he would naturally cut weeds and eliminate the roots. If Hui Yin's corpse had undergone a post mortem exam, then it was likely that he knew she was pregnant.

Even though she was not loved, but still, it was his child...not even Lu Shen, probably even Lu Yongzheng and Madam Lu became angry when they knew that their grandson had perished. As to how Lu Shen knew that Nian Zhen was the culprit...is there anything else this man could not know if he fully investigated it?

Thinking how efficient and ruthless Lu Shen was in dealing with the people who angered him, Hui Yin couldn't help but admire her brother. For him to go against such an opponent, it was indeed a smart move to peek out of his turtle shell only when the coast was clear.

It was an admiration that lasted for only a brief second. Remembering how he didn't hesitate in shooting her and Lu Shen, deep inside her heart, Hui Yin began resenting Hui Jinhai. Why is the Wen family so special to him, that he could prioritize them over his blood-related sister?

After a quick shower and another change into a new uniform, Hui Yin and Ninghong went to eat their dinner inside the mansion.

There was a separate dining room for the house helpers, albeit smaller than the one Hui Yin was used to. Old Meng Guang began harping on Hui Yin again when she spotted her, and Hui Yin had to reassure this old woman several times that all the bathrooms she cleaned were spotless.

"Huian, sit here!"

As Hui Yin was looking for a place to sit because Ninghong had left her to go beside the maid she recognized as someone called Xinyu by Bao Bai, a happy voice called her over.

It came from a slightly chubby girl with rosy cheeks who looked to be only in her early twenties. She was chewing on a bun while she waved at Hui Yin. Hui Yin smiled as she walked over and sat down.

"I heard Meng Guang punished you by making you clean all the bathrooms. You must be so hungry."

"I am," Hui Yin readily admitted. She was starving.

Without any shyness in her expression, Hui Yin helped herself to four servings of the chicken garlic soup and some cifantuan. Only when her belly was slightly bulging did she stop.

The girl whose name Hui Yin still didn't know laughed at her. "Look how much you ate! You must have drained a lot of energy. Do you want my small bread? I have an extra here."

Feeling sleepy because of her full stomach, Hui Yin politely declined her offer. Her limbs were leaden, her eyelids heavy. After an exhausting day, including that confrontation with her brother, Hui Yin simply wanted to lie on a soft bed and rest.

"Do we still have work to do after dinner?" she asked.

The girl shook her head and gently nudged her shoulder. "You're falling asleep on your feet. You should go back to the quarters. I don't think we have anything else to do after dinner."

Hui Yin rubbed her eyes and nodded, before blearily walking out of the kitchen. She took out the hairpin in her hair and let her hair fall into a loose wave over her shoulders. The hair ornament always seemed to find its way to her. Hui Yin was glad that she couldn't lose it.

She passed by the pool and saw a solitary figure leaning over the balcony above it. She raised her head only to see the smoke swirling upwards from his cigarette.

Hui Yin shook her head.

"Bad habit."

She went inside the quarters and fell onto the bed without even taking off her shoes.

The moment her eyes closed, Hui Yin immediately sank into comforting darkness.