Crimson Instinct

Chapter 195: Her life in the Zhang residence (2)

Time: 1:22 PM. Eleven hours and eight minutes remaining.

*Bai Li*

"You know what Zhang Chao said when I ran into his room, crying and screaming to tell him that Ning killed Mom?"

I said, "With your tone, I can say that he must be very thrilled."

Her voice got low as she spoke, "The news didn't even twitch a single muscle on his face. The only thing that he uttered was 'That's unfortunate.' And I was just standing there looking at him, shocked. That was it, and then he went back to reading the morning newspaper again as if it was so insignificant not worth his time."

She laughed. "His wife died in the dead of night by her own cold-blooded daughter who slit her throat, and his reaction was 'That's unfortunate.' That's when I realized why Ning is the way she is. Why she bonded with Zhang Chao over the years. She got her messed up head from him."

I remembered how Kang Yuan had said that mental conditions could be hereditary that were passed through genes. That could be one of the reasons why some may be born with warped thinking or brain.

I said, "And then Zhang Chao faked her accident with that innocent driver to hide her murder."

There was a pause, and then I heard her voice as if she was in a little shock. "Zhang Chao actually confessed that?"

"Of course, by saying that he didn't want people to know that you are crazy and treat you differently."

Silence. Then she burst out in laughter.

"He is one bastard, isn't he? Scared of people treating me differently? Isn't he the one who did that because I was sane?"

"I kept on screaming for days that Ning killed Mom, but it all turned to deaf ears. Nobody listened to me. Nobody bothered with me, and that's when they started to torture me. Mom wasn't there anymore to protect me, so it's like they got free reigns. The biggest source of terror was, of course, Ning."

"This went on for a few months when one day, there came doctors in the house. Guess what for whom?"

I said nothing.

"Guess why he brought the doctors?"

Liao Huifang softly said from my side, "He told the doctors that you killed Zhang Qiuyue."

"Oohh this girl is smart. I like you."

I sensed Zhu Yusheng shift in his seat, but he didn't get up.

I whispered. "Did he move?"

"He just scooted a little closer to Zhang Xiulan and is holding her hand now," Liao Huifang spoke in a low voice.

"I see"

"Zhang Xiulan too...she is looking as if she is strong and unaffected, but I can see her shoulders slightly trembling. She is not crying, but I can see the corner of her eyes is damp. I feel terrible for her Bai Li"

I faintly smiled. 

"It is not easy to recall the hell one has lived and gone through, no matter how tough or strong you have become."

I turned my head her way and slowly asked, "What did the doctors do?"

Zhang Xiulan chuckled, which sounded sad and painful, and once again, I felt just how many wounds she might have got in that hell.

"You should ask what they didn't do."

I waited. I heard her taking a long and deep breath.

"They didn't even treat me as a human, much less a child at that. I was locked up in a different room after Mom's murder by Zhang Chao. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere. The doctors came every day and tried to force me to confess that I killed Mom. They pretended to care about me and said that they understood my state of mind and weren't judging me for murdering her. They just wanted acceptance from me so that they can 'help' me to change myself."

"I cried a lot. I screamed a lot. I yelled until my throat became sore and hurt. They used all sorts of methods for me to 'confess.' Injections that made me dizzy. I don't know what the hell they used to drug me with. Shock treatment where they used to pin all wires and tubes on my body. They did that for the entire day. They cuffed my hands and feet with shackles so that I didn't move."

I shut my eyes. I felt every fiber in my body tense and contract in response to the volcano that was about to burst. My feet were trembling, and I just wanted to get up and barge into Zhang Ning's place and beat the shit out of her.

"As if that wasn't enough during the whole day, Ning used to come during the night to have some of her 'own' fun with me. I was shackled to the bed. So, she was free to hit and beat me, pull my hair, stab me with needles, etc etc etc. She put dead cockroaches in my food that the maids used to bring for me. And then she giggled and laughed. I remember I had slept hungry for many nights straight. The next day the doctors came again and the cycle continued."

"By the time I turned a teenager, I was already a mad and psycho girl in everyone's eyes. Even the maids and butlers used to look at me with disgust. All those years...I didn't even know what was happening to me. The medicines, the shock, the torture, everything made me question if I was even alive anymore."

I heard Liao Huifang gasp and sniffle. 

"I am sorry"

"Why are you, sorry? Don't be."

I asked, "Why did he send you to Scotland?"

"Because as I grew older, I resisted more. Even the drugs weren't working on me, no matter how much the doctors increased the dosages. I got used to the electric currents coursing through my body that it stopped hurting anymore. I got numb to all the pain, and that increased the strength in me to oppose."

"Zhang Chao found it harder to deal with me. Guess the doctors also told him that. That's when he decided to send me abroad. I had overheard some maids talking that he was afraid I would break free and spill out all the beans. So, abroad was a safe option where nobody knew me. And that was what I wanted."

"You wanted to go abroad by your choice? I thought you were forced." Liao Huifang asked.

"I wanted to be out of the Zhang residence. I didn't care how. Of course, he had his eyes on me but being away from that hell gave me the freedom to move and act even if it wasn't much. That was enough for me to start my revenge. Ning protested that she didn't want me to leave," she chuckled, "Such a lovely sisterly bond. She didn't want me to go so that she doesn't lose her toy."

"But Zhang Chao still went ahead with it."

"Why not? He is a politician first. He cares about his career and the seat on which he is sticking his ass. He doesn't want to lose it. So, he came to me and smiled and said, 'Xiulan, I am doing this for your own good. The doctors believe that you will recover faster with the treatment abroad.' And I inwardly laughed at his stupidity because he fell in my plan. I won for the first time!"

"And you met Zhu Yusheng there?"

"A stroke of luck. Even the heavens were with me. He belongs to the Yi family, the biggest rival of the Zhang family in politics. I was free from the Zhang residence, but I had no power. Zhu Yusheng gave me that."

"Is that so?"

I heard Zhu Yusheng speak, "I hate Yi Xiaosi, but that doesn't mean that he hates me. After all, I am the son of the woman he actually loved. He wants to disclose my identity and recognize me as his son, but not so soon. I was sent to Scotland so that nobody gets a whiff about me until he was ready."

I raised my brow. "I see. He didn't give you the public status, but in exchange, he gave you some authority and power that you could use abroad if you needed. It was his guilt that made him do that."

"Pretty much."

Zhang Xiulan said, "We got to know each other and we had the same goal. To avenge our mother's deaths. So, we joined hands. He suppressed all my movements and news to Zhang Chao. Zhang Chao still got the information about me but only what I wanted him to know so that he didn't take me out of Scotland."

"I waited for six years for my revenge. My years in the Zhang residence had taken a serious toll on my health. I was impatient to kill Ning, but Zhu Yusheng said that I had become too weak. I was against the Zhang family, too powerful and influential. I was not ready to fight back."

"All those drugs and medicines had weakened my body, and I had to get real treatment to flush out all the effects. I trained hard in martial arts to become strong, and Zhu Yusheng helped me every step of my way, from treatment to learning how to fight to make myself capable of having my revenge. And then, I returned to make the murderers pay."