The tall and strong man slumped to the ground and stayed motionless, while the woman, seemingly not conscious of his death, kept stabbing his back, large amount of blood spurting to her hideous face.

An Rushuang sat beside the door, too weak to rise to her feet, in whose arms lying Zhao Xiaotao, her hot tears drenching An Rushuang's dress.

“What... happened?”

Zhao Xiaotao asked in her dull voice, hoping all of these to be her illusion...

An Rushuang lowered her head before murmuring, “Don't be afraid. Everything is Okay.” She held Xiaotao more fast, not wanting her to see the horrible scene.

“My lady!”

Hong Yu rushed to An Rushuang in panic before looking at her up and down, tears trailing down from her cheeks.

“My lady, are you all right? Have you been hurt somewhere?”

Looking up at her maid, An Rushuang shook her head in quietness. “I am all right. Please help me look after her for a while.”

After entrusting Zhao Xiaotao to Hong Yu, An Rushuang straightened herself up slowly by holding the door before approaching the woman clad in black step by step.

Seemingly in lunacy, she was still stabbing Zhao Laoda's badly mutilated back mercilessly, one strike after another! Besides resoluteness and decisiveness which had never appeared on her ugly face, there was also a streak of smile.

An Rushuang, still in slight dizziness, walked very slowly before she stood next to the woman in black, her nostrils filled with pungent smell of blood. “He has already died.” An Rushuang said calmly.

The woman in black gasped before turning to An Rushuang in smile, revealing her teeth hidden behind the deformed lips.

“No, far from enough.”

The sun was sinking. Sitting in the blood, the woman murmured while staring at the lingering golden sun, “At such an evening, he killed all my families before kidnapping me. I had been newly married for only three months. At that time, I really wanted to commit suicide...”

Looking at the man's corpse, An Rushuang finally realized that he was a bandit. No wonder she hated him that much.

“However, I was pregnant. Knowing it's my late husband's only heir, I decided to protect her with all my effort. It was beyond my expectation that the devil actually took advantage of my daughter to do evil things. I would rather kill us both then if I had known this earlier.”

The woman burst into laughter. Zhao Xiaotao got rid of Hong Yu before staggering to her mother and kneeling down. “Mum, what are you talking about... I can't understand...” She said in confusion.

The guards rushed in all of a sudden and besieged the woman with the flas.h.i.+ng long swords held in their hands.

Stroking Zhao Xiaotao's hair gently, the woman in black said in tender smile, “Xiaotao, your dad was a good man. You must take good care of yourself, since I can not longer accompany you.” The woman looked up at An Rushuang before imploring, “Lady, I don't ask you to look after her well, but hoping you to fulfill your promise, giving her a chance to live a normal life like other girls.”

She suddenly knelt down and kept kowtowing to An Rushuang, who held her up at once before whispering, “You are Xiaotao's mother. You shouldn't leave her to others. By the way, though you killed Zhao Laoda, since he was such an evil man, you may still have a chance to survive.”

The woman, seizing An Rushuang's hand firmly, insisted while shaking her head, “No, you must promise me. Just as you said earlier, as long as I saved your life, you would not mind Xiaotao's wrongdoing before. You mustn't break your promise!”

An Rushuang sighed lightly before stooping to whisper, “I will not. Since I have promised to give Xiaotao a chance, I will let her choose her own life.”

The woman let out a sigh in relief. She caught a glimpse of An Rushuang in grat.i.tude before turning to Zhao Xiaotao. “Set your mind at ease and follow her, understand? Never mention the past ever again.”

Zhao Xiaotao nodded in sob.

The sguards aside took of the handcuff anklet out, a wisp of coldness rising in their hearts when seeing the man's mutilated back and the nearly ruined scissors.

“Stop talking, stop talking, go with us as soon as possible!”

Fumbling out some scattered silver, An Rushuang gave them to the guard before saying, “The dead man was a bandit who kidnapped the woman and her daughter earlier. Please put in a good word for them before the officer. They really lived a hard life.”

Turning much kinder after getting the money, the soldiers still insisted, “Since she is a murderer, we must hand the case to the officer at the Shuntian Mansion. However, as I see it, there is no need for you to waste money on her. As cruel as she is, the officer may not spare her.”

A wisp of coldness rose in An Rushuang's heart. She turned to Zhao Laoda's body, frowning heavily.

“You only need to argue for her before the final judgement. Please lend a hand.”

An Rushuang stuffed several silver ingots into the guard's hand.

With a streak of smile on his face, the guard softened his tone, “As invalid as she is, there is no need for the handcuff and anklet. Just take her back to the government office like this.”

Zhao Laoda's body was carried away, merely leaving a pond of blood. Except for the pungent and disgusting smell lingering in the air, there seemed to be nothing left making one think of the incident once happening here.

Zhao Xiaotao followed theguards in tears to the end of the street, though driven away for several times, still refusing to leave until she was stopped by An Rushuang.

“Let's return and make a new plan. You can do nothing even following your mother to the prison.”

Zhao Xiaotao caught a glimpse of her in tears before nodding slowly.

*

At the An family.

As late as it was, there was still undercurrents roaring below the peaceful surface.

Beside the table on which laid the delicate dishes, madam Zhang and An Lingshan were sitting at the lower end in grievance.

“It seems that elder sister doesn't like the dishes I made...”An Lingshan sighed, lowering her head.

As soon as she finished speaking, the maid standing beside interrupted, “Today, the second Miss has been waiting outside the first Miss's door for two hours. The first Miss has promised to come...”

Upon seeing An Yipei's angry face, Lady An argued with a kind smile, “Rushuang will surely come. There must be something urgent.” She then urged her maid, Mo Zhu, “Go to Liuxi Pavilion, see if Rushuang has returned.”

An Yipei s.n.a.t.c.hed the tea cup nearby before smas.h.i.+ng it to the ground, which split into pieces at once!

“No need to check again! Since she has no respect for her parents, she doesn't need to visit me any longer in the future!”