The continuous insults from Huo Qixiao and Wang Bingchang, coupled with being stared at as if she were merchandise, left Su Cuiling with a sense of humiliation, as if she had been stripped bare and paraded in public.
What was even more unbearable was being criticized to her face, compared to someone she detested, and by someone she cared about and liked.
Under such circumstances, even Su Ling'er, who had long learned to endure and yield, found her anger about to spiral out of control.
Despite the presence of two grown men assessing and insulting her, Su Ling'er, who already harbored deep hatred for Su Muqing, naturally blamed all the humiliation and embarrassment she was experiencing on Su Muqing, believing it was all her fault.
It was unclear what Su Cuiling was thinking, or if she dared to express it. Regardless, her face showed no trace of resentment towards Huo Qixiao or Wang Bingchang.
However, at that moment, Su Ling'er's mind was churning with another startling speculation.
As if she had thought of something terrible and deeply upsetting, Su Cuiling looked at Wang Bingchang with a hesitant gaze. Her first look conveyed a mix of grievance, unwillingness, defeat, and even a touch of coquettishness and petulance.
Her final, desolate, and resentful look was like the emotional release of a woman who has just realized she's been deceived, filled with both sadness and pain.
It wasn't entirely Su Cuiling's fault for displaying such an expression. After all, before this day, she had never imagined things would turn out this way.
She had also never expected that the man she had admired for three years, whom she always believed to be a normal man who liked women and a bit of beauty, would actually be abnormal!
Thinking of this, Su Cuiling felt her heart shatter.
She had previously held onto the fantasy that if she were to follow Wang Bingchang, even if she couldn't be his legitimate wife, with her shrewdness and tactics, she could still win him over and become a favored concubine.
After all, from the very beginning, Su Cuiling's feelings towards Wang Bingchang were different.
She recalled the time in the arena when she and Su Chenshi were struck by lightning together, but her injuries were exceptionally severe. Her entire scalp was scorched, making her appearance quite ghastly.
Yet, despite her tragic state, Su Muqing had instigated Su Minghui and the others to cruelly expel her from the village, abandoning her among the human traffickers and leaving her to fend for herself.
And her parents! Those incompetent and heartless wolf-like parents. Not only did they not say a single word in her defense from beginning to end, but when they left, they didn't even look back at her. They only helped the rambling old hag and left as if she were no longer their daughter.
With natural disasters causing widespread famine and refugees everywhere struggling for food, she, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl with injuries, was like a plump piece of meat placed before a beast.
Su Cuiling could never forget how many men and women around her sat at a distance, staring at her with those covetous green eyes.
They seemed to be considering whether to wait for her last breath before consuming her, or to cook and eat her immediately. So, after regaining some strength, she didn't dare to flee rashly. Su Cuiling was certain that if she had tried to escape then, she would have been beaten to death and dragged away to be cooked.
Thus, she later managed to find a sharp dagger from a nearby steward, clutching it protectively amidst the half-dead men, guarding herself against the "hungry dogs" staring at her, waiting for her to give up her last breath.
Su Cuiling thought that if it weren't for the fact that the human traffickers who dealt in girls were also severely injured and too preoccupied to notice her, and moreover, her appearance at the time was so hideous that it failed to arouse interest.
The most crucial point was that it was a clear sunny day, yet they were inexplicably struck by lightning. Perhaps because of this, other refugees considered Su Cuiling an ill omen, fearing bad luck if they touched her.
Therefore, those people neither insulted her to vent their lust nor immediately cooked and ate her. She had thus temporarily escaped disaster and managed to survive.
Otherwise, given Su Cuiling's physical condition at the time, even with a dagger in her possession, if the other party had truly intended to kill her, she wouldn't have lasted long.
Perhaps everyone who narrowly escapes death believes it to be fate, and that their survival is meant for a better life.
At least that's how Su Cuiling truly felt!
Because just when she thought she would perish in that filthy and dark place, a man like a heavenly deity suddenly appeared before her – it was Wang Bingchang!
Although Wang Bingchang hadn't spoken a word to Su Cuiling at the time, he eventually rescued her and arranged for her to stay in the wealthy residence in Suining Prefecture.
He provided Su Cuiling with a life she had never dared to dream of before. Over the following year, Wang Bingchang also hired many tutors to meticulously cultivate her skills.
During this period, Su Cuiling gradually recovered from her injuries and had the opportunity to formally learn skills such as Guqin, Go, calligraphy, painting, singing, and dancing.
Although her learning period was short, the results were quite impressive. While she couldn't compare to young ladies who had been learning since childhood, in the context of Ping'an Town's Houxi Village, or even the entire Changyuan County, she could be considered a talented woman.
It was precisely because Wang Bingchang had saved her life and later cultivated and meticulously nurtured her that Su Cuiling mistakenly believed he was paving the way for her.
After all, her identity as a peasant girl, a refugee abandoned by her family, did not match Wang Bingchang's status, so she thought these preparations were for his eventual marriage to her.
Furthermore, it was because Wang Bingchang was the one who pulled her out of the abyss and rescued her from dire circumstances when she was at her most desperate and helpless.
That is why, after all that had happened, Su Cuiling naturally considered herself Wang Bingchang's woman and mentally regarded him as her own possession.
Even when Su Cuiling heard that Wang Bingchang intended to use her in a honey trap, asking her to sell her body to seduce Huo Qiyuan, she harbored no complaints.
In fact, Su Cuiling even felt that being useful to Wang Bingchang and sharing his burdens was something to be proud of.
Because no matter how many women were in Wang Bingchang's inner court, he treated her differently from the others.