One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

52

Shi Yi had already guessed this was what he would say.

She remained silent.

Zhousheng Chen possibly was feeling truly guilty then and did not continue to expound on his words, instead asking, "Were you ever scared?"

She nodded slightly.

The time she was most terrified was the gun battle in a foreign country. The smoke of the guns had saturated the air. It was a scene she had never before had to face. As for the remaining incidents, she had been isolated from the truth of the situation. To her, Wuzhen was the place where the most wonderful memories belonging to her and Zhousheng Chen had occurred. And as for that first time, when she had fallen into the water, nobody could have suspected that it had all been a ploy...

Only that last time, the one that had caused Zhousheng Chen to take her and leave the Zhou manor, had she truly been frightened.

He had not been by her side, but she had felt pain so great she thought she was going to die.

......

"If I had told you everything, you would have realized that, from the very first day you came to the Zhou family, this place was the most vile place in the world. The people here, each harbours his own dark schemes and each has his own secrets...

Falling into a moment of silence, Zhousheng Chen halted his steps and turned to face her.

He was much taller than her, and from her angle, he, naturally, was standing against the light. His eyes and his outline gave her a sense of peacefulness. Even with his back to the sun, he still did not radiate any sense of gloominess.

Shi Yi was waiting for him to continue.

Zhousheng Chen, however, all of a sudden remembered their first, real date.

That day, she had looked him over with an expression of marvel as she circled him with a smile. In a tone of great admiration, she had told him, "Your appearance today is very befitting of your name."

Zhousheng Chen.

In her heart, this name seemed to be perfection.

He remembered, on that gambling ship ten years ago, after his mother had died, Xiao Ren had laid there in his arms, crying himself to sleep, then awakening only to cry again, saying over and over that he would seek vengeance. Later, Xiao Ren grew up, and he understood the truth behind what had happened, that after his mother's identity as a spy had been found out by the family clan, it was merely the fear of facing the family's cruel, merciless methods of punishments that had forced her to choose a brutal method of suicide... Xiao Ren no longer made mention of seeking revenge anymore, and aisde from being somewhat withdrawn in personality, he seemed to have long forgotten about his mother's incident.

Because Xiao Ren understood one principle:

It was very difficult for those of the Zhou family to have their lives taken by outsiders. The only people who could provide a true threat to them were their closest family.

Zhousheng Chen.

There was no beauty in this name. It merely represented all different forms of danger.

"All along, I have not wanted to clearly tell you about the things in the Zhou family because..."

At the end of the mountain road, leaves suddenly could be seen swirling up.

He halted his words.

Twenty-odd people appeared in their sight and formed two orderly lines as they walked down from the mountain, all the while sweeping away fallen leaves. They all belonged to the Zhou family.