Ten Years
Just before sunset, Yu Linlang, the best little girl in the world, stepped into the Jade Mansion—only to be caught by Madam Hu, who was guarding the door.
"Oh, my dear girl! You're back!" Madam Hu patted her legs and ran forward, welcoming her warmly.
Yu Linlang watched her act with an expressionless face, her gaze calm as still water.
"Madam has been waiting for you in Yuchunyuan for a long time," Madam Hu leaned in, her voice dripping with concern. "Miss, why are you so late? I'm telling you, Madam is in a terrible mood today. You must be careful."
Yu Linlang raised an eyebrow. "When is she not angry?"
"Oh, girl, that's true," Madam Hu sighed. "But last night, you came home too late, and Madam was furious. You know the rules of our mansion—girls must return on time."
Madam Hu followed Yu Linlang, chattering all the way. After a few steps, she realized something was wrong. "Miss, where are you going?"
"I'm going back to wash up," Yu Linlang said calmly. "It's not that urgent, anyway. I'm a little hungry—I'll ask the kitchen to send some porridge and vegetables."
What a joke. Huo clearly wanted to cause trouble for her. Was she supposed to face her empty-stomached?
Madam Hu stood there with her mouth agape as Yu Linlang shut the east wing door right in front of her.
By the time Yu Linlang had washed up and slowly finished half a bowl of porridge, half an hour had passed.
The sky had already turned dark.
Under the Yuchun Garden
The servants in Xiaozhuangzi had long been beaten to the ground, their bodies covered in bruises. None of them had the strength to move.
Madam Zhao rushed into the main house, her expression grim. "Madam, I've questioned them all. They're scrambling to confess. It turns out that under Madam Lu's orders, they've been embezzling money for years."
She took a deep breath before continuing, "A total of 1,400 taels. Miss Linlang was missing for ten years. Since she returned two years ago, Madam Lu has ordered them to give her only 20 taels a year—an insultingly small sum."
"Out of the 1,400 taels, Madam Lu and her eldest daughter-in-law took 900 for themselves. The rest was divided among Gao and the others."
Madam Zhao clenched her teeth. "It's outrageous! Miss Linlang never once complained about these wicked servants."
Huo gripped her handkerchief tightly, her heart aching.
"I thought Madam Hu deducted her allowance because the servants in the village thought she was young and took a little for themselves. But this... this is practically everything!"
Huo's face twisted with rage. "I had no idea they dared to be this bold!"
"Yes, yes," Madam Zhao nodded, trying to comfort her. "Madam never intended for Miss Linlang to suffer. And Miss Linlang is smart—she surely understands that this wasn't your doing."
Huo pressed a hand to her chest, struggling to breathe. "Where is she? Hasn't she returned yet? Did she go to the prince's mansion today?"
Before Huo could finish complaining, Yu Linlang entered the inner courtyard of Yuchunyuan through the central corridor.
After washing, her skin was fresh and radiant, her ordinary little face glowing. But it was her eyes—deep and bright as the stars—that captivated everyone.
The servants, battered and weak, struggled to lift their heads. Their gazes met hers.
Yu Linlang smiled faintly. "Ah... So it's finally out in the open."
"I didn't expect it to be revealed so soon." She tilted her head, then stepped forward toward the inner room.
"Yu Linlang! You—"
Madam Lu reached out, trying to grab her skirt, but Yu Linlang stepped on her hand, pressing down hard.
Still smiling, she leaned in. "What did I say the day I returned? It's not that I wouldn't seek justice—just that the time hadn't come yet."
"You all owe me, and I always collect my debts."
She stepped on Madam Lu's hand even harder. "Touching you would dirty my hands. But see? I didn't even have to lift a finger—retribution came on its own."
Madam Lu's face contorted in pain, her mouth opening as if to scream, but no sound came out.
Yu Linlang leaned closer, her voice as light as a whisper in the wind. "Lu, do you remember what I said? Your family... will never meet a good end."
"Yu Linlang has been waiting for you in the afterlife for so long. She must be thrilled."
"Imagine how she would smile, watching you struggle and suffer."
"Your son will be a slave for life, never escaping his fate. And your daughter? No longer a fake noble lady under your protection—what will she become? A servant? A prostitute? Maybe she'll never escape misery for the rest of her days."
Madam Lu's face twisted even further. She tried to curse Yu Linlang, but her throat closed up, suffocating the words.
Yu Linlang chuckled. "Guess where Huo Jinxiu will sell you?"
"I bet your entire family will be scattered and sold separately. How pitiful. You won't even get to die together."
"This is all your retribution—so take your time suffering."
She gently brushed back a strand of her hair, then turned and left.
Madam Lu collapsed to the ground, unable to tell if the liquid beneath her was blood or sweat. A deep, suffocating panic took root in her heart.
Yu Linlang walked away without looking back. She had worn a faint smile when she entered, but now her face was cold, devoid of warmth.
Inside the Main Room
Huo Jinxiu sat at the head of the room, watching Yu Linlang with complicated eyes.
"You... Where have you been for the past ten years? What have you been doing?" Her voice trembled. "Do you realize you're a daughter of the Yu family? How could you—"
"Mother, don't get so angry," Yu Pianpian interrupted, gently patting her back. "Let's just ask her clearly."
She turned to Yu Linlang. "Sister Linlang, Mother already knows that in the past twelve years, you only spent two in the village. The rest of the time… you were missing."
Madam Lu had said that during those two years, Yu Linlang often disappeared.
"Where did you go? Don't you know how much Mother worried about you?"
Ten Years…
Yu Linlang's gaze drifted forward, as if piercing through the corridor, back into the past.
She saw a frail child, little more than skin and bones, being shoved out the door into the snow.
Crying.
Begging.
"Mother, Mama, I was wrong..."
But the door never opened.
She saw herself, just a child, falling into a pit filled with venomous snakes, crawling in terror.
She saw her own reflection in the mirror—her tiny body covered in scars.
At three years old, she had already learned what it meant to be alone.
Even then, she had never questioned it.
Why did the other children in the village have parents, but she did not?
Why was she abandoned?
She didn't understand.
She couldn't understand.
She had simply accepted it.
Accepted that she was born to be lonely.
That this was her fate.
"Ten years."
Yu Linlang whispered to herself.
"And you dare ask me now?"
"Now that you finally care about what I went through?"
She lifted her head, her eyes icy cold.
"You are not worthy of being a mother."