Chapter 48: Quite Surprising?

“She doesn’t need us to worry about her anymore.”

Ever since that incident with Chao Xi ten years ago, the Shen family had sent her away to the military academy. They only wanted her to one day possess enough strength to protect herself. That was when the old master of the Shen family realized that no matter how high their status, no matter how much they cherished Chao, none of it could guarantee that, should she ever leave their sight, there wouldn’t be danger lurking. Relying solely on themselves, on the Shen family’s power, could never safeguard her for a lifetime. She had to be able to shield her own life.

“You’re right, sir.” The butler smiled warmly, feeling gratified.

“And what about Miss Xin?” The old master finally lifted his gaze to the butler. “What do you think of her character?”

Ever since the accident on the way back from Sanqing Peak, the old master had arranged for Xin to stay at the Shen household. The people sent out to search for Chao Xi had quietly reported back to him. Xin, however, remained completely in the dark.

This butler had served the old master for decades; he saw things with a clarity few possessed. “Miss Xin may appear gentle and meek, always obedient and considerate before you, but there is desire in her eyes—ambition and discontent.”

If even the old butler could see it, how could the old master not?

He cradled his teacup, his thoughts drifting back many years. Xin was the granddaughter of one of his old subordinates. After that subordinate passed away, Xin lost her parents and grandfather—left an orphan. The old master, seeing her so young and helpless, with no one to care for her, brought her to the Shen family, treating her as his own granddaughter. The young masters of the family were equally kind, always protecting her. Even when Chao Xi was little, the old master had told her to treat Xin as kin.

Xin’s daily life in the Shen household—her food and shelter—was the same as Chao Xi's. The family had never wronged her. When Xin was reduced to an orphan in the welfare institution, it was the Shen family that took her in and vowed to raise her.

And yet, perhaps it was because of this that, at just seven years old, Xin began to long for what Chao Xi had—the old master’s protection, the young masters’ affection. Those things, she thought, shouldn’t belong to Chao Xi alone. It was envy and resentment that drove Xin to do what she did to Chao Xi.

The old master even wondered, had he not brought Xin into their home all those years ago, perhaps Chao Xi would never have suffered. She would not, at just seven, have endured such torment even under the watch of her grandfather and brothers.

But what was done was done. There was no changing the past.

“Yes.” After listening to the butler, the old master sighed, “She has ambition and discontent.”

Would a person so full of desire change just because the Shen family sent her abroad for ten years? Most likely, Xin would still, for the sake of gaining something, reach out to harm Chao Xi. Back then, Xin was young, and even after committing a grave wrong, he’d shown mercy for the sake of her late grandfather—giving her the greatest leniency. In the end, he merely sent her overseas, still providing the best education, money, and material comfort. The Shen family had truly done all they could for her.

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Meanwhile, Xin had been sent back to Birch Garden and waited, yet unease gnawed at her. She didn’t know if her anxiety stemmed from Chao Xi’s fall from the cliff—if she was truly dead—or if she was afraid Chao Xi had survived and would return. What would she do then?

“Miss Xin?”

One of the young maids assigned by the old master to care for her peered in, puzzled to see Xin so restless in the room. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, I’m fine…” The question pulled Xin abruptly from her thoughts. She shook her head quickly, her voice gentle as she looked at the maid.

Her quiet and ladylike demeanor tricked the maid into thinking she was easy to get along with. “I’m fine,” Xin repeated, clutching her clothes, though her words belied the tension within. On the road back to the capital from Sanqing Peak, the night she decided to go through with it and rid the Shen family of Chao Xi forever, she’d steeled herself. Yet now, with no news of Chao Xi at all, she was racked with anxiety. Alive or dead, a whole night had passed—there should have been some word by now.

No. She could not sit idly by. She had to see for herself.

“What did you say?!”

Chao Xi had returned?

“Yes, Miss Xin, our young lady came back last night.”

Birch Garden was vast, and Chao Xi’s return in the dead of night was hardly news that would spread to every corner. So Xin had no idea that Chao Xi had already come home the previous evening.

Xin’s face was a mask of shock, her expression frozen.

“Young miss!”

Suddenly, a voice shattered the quiet of Birch Garden.

The servants, seeing the young woman in the wheelchair pushed slowly into the garden by two maids, all greeted her with deference.

Xin’s eyes trembled—her body went rigid. She whirled around, only to see the girl in the wheelchair, clad in an ink-black dress, her gaze cold and distant.

Chao Xi’s brows were faintly furrowed. Her stunning, unadorned face, pale in the sunlight, carried a trace of sickliness—like a delicate beauty from a painting. She lifted her eyes lightly.

Within those calm, ink-wash eyes flickered a cold gleam. Her face, white as snow, showed no hint of a smile—her whole countenance as frigid as ice.

The temperature in the garden seemed to plummet.

At the very first sight of the girl in the wheelchair, Xin’s heart clenched as if in fright.

Chao Xi?!

She was really alive?

How could it be? She’d fallen from such a height—how could she have survived? How could she have come back unharmed?

When she’d first heard the servants say that Chao Xi had returned last night, Xin hadn’t believed it. But now, Chao Xi’s sudden appearance was like a bolt from the blue. With her standing right in front of her, Xin’s heart was seized by terror.

Impossible. She’d watched her fall with her own eyes. From a cliff so high—it couldn’t have been faked. How could she possibly still be alive?

For a moment, the expression on Xin’s face was a kaleidoscope of emotions.

Chao Xi said, “What’s wrong? Are you surprised to see me alive?”

Her voice was soft, her eyes holding a trace of a smile as she looked directly into Xin’s shocked gaze.