An Nuan arrived at the Shen family's residence.
The vast Shen manor was empty except for Xu Ruowei; not a single servant was present.
Yet, the more desolate it was, the more An Nuan felt that Xu Ruowei was plotting something sinister. She had suspected this before coming, but still, she had come.
An Nuan arrived without any hesitation. She looked at Xu Ruowei, who was seated on the sofa, and calmly said, "I'm here. Can I have my things back now?"
Xu Ruowei smiled, her eyes full of amusement as she looked at An Nuan. Her gaze held a hint of disdain as she said, "You don't seriously think I'd be so kind as to let you come here just to retrieve your belongings, do you? And that I wouldn't expect anything in return?"
"Of course not."
An Nuan spoke calmly, "After being manipulated by you so many times, I know you wouldn't have asked me here for no reason. There must be something else."
"There's definitely another reason."
Hearing An Nuan's answer, Xu Ruowei looked at the person before her with surprise.
"Since you already know why I asked you to come, why did you still obediently come?"
Why would she obediently come?
Wasn't her coming here exactly what Xu Ruowei wanted? Hadn't she painstakingly hidden her belongings just to see her appear here?
Now, to An Nuan, Xu Ruowei's question was utterly ridiculous.
She looked at Xu Ruowei with icy eyes and said with chilling clarity, "If I didn't come, wouldn't your plan fall apart?"
"Xu Ruowei, do you think I don't know what you're trying to do?"
"Knowing that, you still came," Xu Ruowei said with a light chuckle. "An Nuan, you're not just a little bit foolish."
She paid no attention to Xu Ruowei's taunts.
"Where are my things?"
Xu Ruowei stood up, her gaze falling on her freshly manicured nails. Seeing An Nuan's anxious expression, she smiled. After a long pause, she slowly said, "Those things? I threw them straight into the trash."
An Nuan's eyes turned red with fury as she glared at Xu Ruowei. How could she dare do such a thing?
Seeing An Nuan's reaction, Xu Ruowei showed no fear, as if she had anticipated it. She chuckled lightly, "You must hate me enough to want to destroy me, given that those things were probably more important to you than your own life."
"Tell me, how could you be so careless? If you had hidden them better, I wouldn't have found them, and they wouldn't have ended up in the trash."
She watched An Nuan's tightly clenched lips.
An Nuan didn't want to deal with the lunatic in front of her. She turned to leave, thinking she could still find them in the trash.
However, before she could make a move, Xu Ruowei's voice echoed from behind her again.
"Oh, right. If you go looking for them now, you probably won't find them."
An Nuan looked at Xu Ruowei in confusion.
Xu Ruowei continued to admire her fingernails. After a long moment, she said, "I had people watch until the suitcase was destroyed before I felt at ease."
An Nuan glared at her furiously.
"Tsk, tsk," Xu Ruowei said with a look of feigned helplessness. "I knew you wouldn't believe me."
"I anticipated this. So, I had someone record the whole process." As she spoke, she tossed her phone directly in front of An Nuan, having opened the video playback before doing so.
An Nuan initially didn't want to watch, but the suitcase in the video was indeed hers. While identical suitcases weren't unique, her suitcase had a charm Yun Xiu had given her hanging from it. She watched as the suitcase in the video was taken by the garbage truck to the landfill and destroyed.
The phone screen went completely black. But An Nuan remained lost in the scene she had just witnessed.
She truly had nothing left.
An Nuan's eyes, filled with bloodshot anger, fixed on Xu Ruowei.
This woman had destroyed her only hope.
She had already gotten the man she wanted. She had promised to disappear from his and Shen Xizhou's lives forever.
So why was she still tormenting her?
"Xu Ruowei, since there's nothing left in this world that I desire."
"Shen Xizhou said I should live in hell for all eternity. Then, I'll drag you down with me. Isn't that what revenge is?"
As An Nuan spoke, she took a step toward Xu Ruowei. At this moment, An Nuan no longer held back; her resolve was absolute.
"An Nuan, what are you doing? Don't do anything reckless. This is the Shen family. If you lay a hand on me, Shen Xizhou will find out, and your life will be in danger." Xu Ruowei looked at An Nuan, trembling all over.
She truly hadn't expected that such a small matter would enrage An Nuan to this extent.
An Nuan's current demeanor was one of desperation, ready to fight her to the death.
At this moment, she suddenly felt a pang of regret.
"An Nuan, aren't you afraid..."
An Nuan let out a cold laugh. "Afraid?"
"I have nothing left. Do you think I have anything to fear?"
Seeing Xu Ruowei's drastically changing expression, An Nuan chuckled. "You should be the one afraid now, not me."
"Aren't you afraid of Shen Xizhou?"
"Shen Xizhou?" An Nuan hesitated, but then quickly regained her composure and said calmly, "Even without this incident, Shen Xizhou has been humiliating and tormenting me.
"Adding this to the list makes no difference to me."
"As long as I'm alive, isn't that enough?"
"Oh, and perhaps I'll still be alive even if you're not."
An Nuan looked at Xu Ruowei, whose eyes were wide with shock. She laughed even more heartily, a light, chilling laugh. "Shen Xizhou said I would 'live a hundred years,' because he intends to torment me for all eternity."
"An Nuan, you madwoman, you're a lunatic."
An Nuan's gaze fell upon a fruit knife on the fruit platter. She picked it up and looked at Xu Ruowei with a ferocious expression.
A sinister smile crept across her lips. She pulled back her hair, exposing her forehead, and said like a demon, "This scar was caused by you."
She rolled up her sleeve, revealing numerous scars on her arm. "These too, are your masterpieces. You wouldn't have forgotten, would you?"
Xu Ruowei backed away continuously. Without paying attention to the sofa behind her, she tripped and fell onto it.
"An Nuan, calm down. I can explain, I..."
"Explain?" An Nuan laughed. "I remember you saying that only useless people explain things. What happened? Have you forgotten your own words so quickly? It seems your memory is a bit poor."
She lightly touched Xu Ruowei's cheek with the cold fruit knife. "Or perhaps, I should help you recall them.
"However, I'm afraid my hand might shake and accidentally ruin your pretty little face. That would be a shame." An Nuan said this with feigned distress.
"Ah... Ah..."
Xu Ruowei shrieked in terror.
"Shh." An Nuan placed a finger on her lips, gesturing for silence. She leaned close to Xu Ruowei's ear and said coldly, "If you scream again, my hand might just shake."