The Tycoon's Mysterious Darling Wife
Chapter 112. Dream, Past 2 (Second Update)

Chapter 112: 112. Dream, Past 2 (Second Update)

When she woke up in the morning, the young girl still hadn’t awakened, maintaining the position from last night. It was bright daylight outside, and the girl’s injuries were more visible than the night before; her body was covered with blue and purple marks, especially beneath her, where a large stain of blood was evident.

Shen Qinglan screamed in fear, and a burst of cursing came from outside the door, "What are you yelling for, scaring souls this early in the morning?"

Soon, the door was opened, and a woman walked in. Seeing the scene inside, she frowned, "This damned Lao San, I told him to be gentle, and now he’s caused this mess."

She glanced at Shen Qinglan, "Stay put, and if you dare to run, I’ll beat you until you look like her, got it?"

Shen Qinglan nodded fearfully, and only then did the woman seem satisfied, casting a disgusted look at the little girl before walking out.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed when a person who looked like a doctor came in and took the girl away.

The woman came in to clean up the bloodstains on the floor, casually throwing Shen Qinglan a steamed bun.

"When is this one being sent off?" A man with a weasel-like face came in, and Shen Qinglan recognized him at once as the person who had kidnapped her.

The woman followed, "The boss said the buyer has been found, it will be in the next few days."

The weasel-faced man nodded and warned the woman, "Keep an eye on Lao San, the price is good, the boss has already received a deposit, so don’t let Lao San mess it up."

The woman nodded, "I understand, I’ll watch him."

The weasel-faced man, satisfied, left. Shen Qinglan hid in a corner, hugged her knees, bowed her head, and dared not move.

She saw the young girl again two days later.

For those two days, since Shen Qinglan was alone in the room and obedient, not crying or making noise, since she had kept quiet from the start, the woman’s supervision of her relaxed somewhat, even leaving the door unlocked once, simply closed.

That day, the door was again left unlocked; seeing the woman had not returned, Shen Qinglan quietly walked to the door, opened it, and did not immediately go out but instead cautiously peeked out her head to make sure nobody was there before daring to step out.

She was in a large courtyard with very high walls—at least, they seemed impossibly high to Shen Qinglan at the time, not visible from edge to edge, only a patch of sky above her head. The weather was good that day, the sunlight bright and cheery.

Carefully, she moved her feet, looking for an exit, when suddenly she heard an indistinct chatter of voices.

Compelled as if by some ghostly force, her steps that were headed forward turned instead toward the direction of the voices.

The noise came from a room with the door wide open; Shen Qinglan moved to the edge of the door and carefully looked inside.

There were three people inside: the woman, the weasel-faced man, and the one that looked like a doctor, and another one on the floor, the girl.

The three were all focused on the girl; none had noticed Shen Qinglan.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" the woman frowned.

The weasel-faced man looked impatient, "What else can we do? She was average-looking to begin with, and now Lao San has... who would buy her? Now someone is willing to take her, shouldn’t we strike while the iron is hot?"

The woman seemed to have a hard time with the idea, "It’s just begging; there’s no need to cripple her. We should..."

The weasel-faced man cut her off, "Don’t forget what we do here. Talking to me about conscience now, you don’t find that funny?"

The woman said, "That’s not what I meant. I mean, can’t we just send her to them directly and let them do it themselves? For us to do it... after all, we’ve never done this before."

The man glared at the woman with impatience, "If it weren’t for the high price, do you think I’d want to do this? The person’s already been drugged, let’s get on with it." Then he turned to the doctor-like man.

The doctor-man nodded, picked up a cleaver from the side, the blade shiny and sharp. He walked over to the girl, lifted her clothing to reveal her arms, and with a swift motion, her hands were severed from her body, blood spraying and spilling everywhere. The girl screamed in agony.

The woman seemed unable to watch the scene unfold, turned away, and in doing so, saw Shen Qinglan at the door.

Shen Qinglan stared in shock at the scene before her, so frightened that she forgot to scream.

In her vision were the girl’s severed hands and the blood that spread across the floor, reaching all the way to where Shen Qinglan stood.

By then, the other people had noticed Shen Qinglan. The weasel-faced man slapped the woman’s face, "Didn’t I tell you to lock the door? How did she get out? Take her away, now."

The doctor-man glanced at Shen Qinglan and continued working on the girl’s wounds without saying a word.

The woman, not daring to speak after being slapped, picked up Shen Qinglan and left.

Shen Qinglan’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

That night, Shen Qinglan developed a high fever and fell into unconsciousness.

In her delirium, she seemed to hear people talking.

"What do we do now that she’s seen it?" said a man’s voice.

"She’s young; she’ll forget soon. I think we should just let it be."

"Let it be? What if she remembers? I think we’d be better off finishing her off," said another man’s voice.

"Finishing her off, easy for you to say. This one’s already been paid a deposit for. Do you think we can afford to mess with those kinds of people?"

"So, what do we do now?"

"It doesn’t matter anymore; isn’t she supposed to be taken out of the country? Whether she can ever come back is uncertain. Even if she knows, what can she do? We’ll send her off tomorrow; we can’t stay here either. After she’s gone, we need to leave immediately."

None of the others objected, and several people walked out.

In a daze, Shen Qinglan felt herself being carried onto a car, which drove for a long time before stopping, then she was carried by another person for a while and then put into another vehicle.

After several transfers, when Shen Qinglan came to, she found herself confined in a small, dark room with a group of other children, both boys and girls.

This room was different from the previous one; it rocked, sometimes quite violently.

Shen Qinglan would later learn that what she thought was a small, dark room was actually a ship’s cabin.

And the place she was about to be taken to was a presence even more terrifying than Hell, filled with bloodshed and brutality, that kind of heartless cruelty etched into the very bones of Shen Qinglan, never to be forgotten in her lifetime.

Shen Qinglan jerked awake, startled from her dream, her breath heavier, her heart still beating violently.

She touched the spot over her heart; it was still beating, which meant she was still alive.