Madam Lu and the others were taken to a guest room and settled in. As soon as the maid who led the way left, she couldn’t help turning on Zhou Xiuer with a torrent of curses.

"Truly eye‑opening. Your aunt has really grown capable, hasn’t she? So vicious, so heartless, watching kin die and refusing to save them. That’s her own elder brother, how can she be this cruel?"

Xiuxiu stepped forward and clapped a hand over her mouth, snapping in a panic, "Ma, I’m begging you, have a little mercy and just shut up, will you? Do you have to feel satisfied only when we get thrown out? In this freezing weather, we don’t have a single piece of Silver on us, no relatives, no one to turn to. That’s a dead end."

Madam Lu shivered, but kept a hard mouth. "Would she dare? She’s not afraid of retribution... She doesn’t dare, if she’s really that ruthless, I’ll hang myself right here and we’ll all go down together."

"Times have changed. What would Auntie not dare to do? She even had the guts to divorce Lord Wu, what wouldn’t she dare? You saw how tough she was today. Did you ever imagine she could be so ruthless before?" Xiuxiu gave a cold laugh. "Now there’s nothing she lacks. Whose face does she still need to watch? Yours, Ma?"

Madam Lu’s face darkened, and she slapped Xiuxiu’s shoulder. "You damned girl, you’ve turned against me! Just whose side are you on? You’re doing that thing—boosting outsiders’ spirit while crushing your own."

Xiuxiu was so angry she laughed. "Spirit? What spirit do we have left to talk about? We slunk out of Huaan with our tails between our legs, living day by day not knowing if we’d see tomorrow, suffering so much we nearly lost our lives just to get here. And you’re talking to me about spirit? This ’go down together’ you talk about—before enough power, what right do you have to talk about going down together? You still don’t know the full story of what happened to Father and them? Could you go down together with Ma Datou?"

Madam Lu looked embarrassed. "That’s different..."

"What’s different?" Xiuxiu shot back. "Didn’t you see how many people Auntie has around her? Look at this whole estate, so many people, and Wufu knows so many nobles and powerful people. If she really wanted to have us quietly killed off, who would know what happened? If she said we were swindlers, there’d be plenty of people who’d believe it."

Madam Lu’s face went deathly pale.

Xiuxiu sat down with a bitter smile. "Ma, commoners can’t fight officials, the poor can’t fight the rich. We’ve got nothing. How could we ever fight them?"

Madam Lu fell silent, her shoulders slumping in defeat.

Xiuxiu glanced at her, then added, "Ma, there was one thing Auntie said that was right."

"What?"

"We’ve been away from Huaan for so long now. Can Father and the others really hold out?"

"You damned girl, what do you mean by that?" Madam Lu’s voice turned shrill. "Are you cursing your father and them to die? That’s your own father. How can you be so heartless?"

"I’m not cursing him, I’m just scared. Father and the others were the backbone of the family, but what have they done? Didn’t Father take a mistress behind your back? Don’t you hate him for that? If Auntie is right, and even if we rescued him he still wouldn’t change his ways, wouldn’t he just drag us womenfolk down with him again? Ma, Yongyong and I are still young, you have to think for us too."

Madam Lu never expected her to think this way, and stared at her, her gaze going blank.

Xiuxiu steeled herself, bit her lip, and said, "Ma, I’m scared. I don’t want to go on living those days of constant fear. I’d rather be a beast of burden for Auntie, fawning on her like a dog, keeping my head down. As long as she finds me a decent match and marries me off, that’ll be enough. And you too, Ma... if Father really does... you can just raise Yongyong well. That’s another way out."

Slap!

"You wretched thing!" Madam Lu swung a slap at her. "How did I give birth to such a heartless, ungrateful creature?"

Xiuxiu didn’t fight back. She lowered her head and toyed with the purse at her waist. "Ma, if a person doesn’t look out for themselves, heaven and earth will destroy them."

Madam Lu felt as if she’d fallen into an ice cellar, staring at her like she was a stranger, disbelief filling her eyes.