Bai Liu (6)’s eyes stopped on the doll in Liu Jiayi’s arms. His breathing paused slightly and his Adam’s apple moved up and down due to his rapid heartbeat and breathing. It turned out that this was the feeling of fear when death was so close. Bai Liu (6) thought about it for a moment. It wasn’t as scary as he thought.

Liu Jiayi’s voice was very low. She lowered her head and stroked the doll in her arms, almost talking to herself.

“Do you know why the medieval witches made voodoo dolls? When they start to curse and love a person, they will make a doll of that person, hoping that the doll can contain the person’s soul. This way, the person they hate can die in a nasty manner while the person they like can stay by their side forever.”

Bai Liu (6) retreated to the edge of the wall and his expression was still calm. “What is the difference between your approach and Bai Liu’s approach?”

Liu Jiayi was silent for a long time. Then she cocked her head, blinked and smiled happily. “In essence, there is nothing. I am also a very disgusting existence and I deserve not to be treated well by my brother.”

“However, Liu Huai has given everything for you. You got what you want.” Bai Liu (6)’s breathing was very light and his toes were pressed against the wall as he looked at Liu Jiayi, whose face was right in front of his. “You got what you want. What else are you not satisfied with?”

Liu Jiayi finally raised her head with a casual and indifferent expression. Her foggy eyes were set in an immature and emotionless face. There was a type of strange and sad contradiction. Her lips curved and she looked like a well-behaved child who didn’t understand anything. Meanwhile, she spoke in a faint and airy manner. “It is because I never dared to really believe in my brother. I refused to believe him so I didn’t get him.”

Liu Jiayi’s eyes reflected the small Bai Liu (6). It was a foggy texture like a soul that had left its shell and imprinted on her eyes.

“My brother is a cowardly man. He won’t dare give everything for me.”

“Betrayal is his bad habit. He is a cowardly, habitual offender.”

Bai Liu (6) looked at Liu Jiayi and remembered everything Bai Liu had told him about Liu Huai. Indeed, Liu Huai seemed accustomed to betraying others, from Mu Sicheng to Puppet Zhang… if betrayal and cowardice were a bad habit then the person who suffered most from this habit must be the one who was always with him.

Bai Liu (6) suddenly understood something as he looked at Liu Jiayi “When did Liu Huai betray you?”

The smile on Liu Jiayi’s face finally disappeared as she stared straight at Bai Liu (6).

“When did he… betray me?” She smiled with a laugh. “You might as well ask when he stopped betraying me.”

Everyone would talk to her in that disgusting tone.

[The child of close relatives, can she have any intelligence?]

[Sure enough, she is blind and a female. Why don’t you get rid of her?]

[…My mother said such inbred children can’t get on the family household book at all. You can’t even go to school. Your brother said he would cure your eyes and send you to study to let you go to university. Haha, how funny!]

That man would punch and kick her when drunk. He would slap her in the face and force her to fish in the pond when she was only a few years old. He fiercely said she wasn’t allowed to come up unless she caught a lot of fish.

It was so cold in the pond. When she was only a few years old, she stepped in the water and it seemed to go up to her throat. It was full of mud and water. The fish in it were like the limbs of a dead person. They swam around her but were difficult to catch.

She was like her deceased mother who was trapped in the pond and never allowed to come up. Liu Jiayi would never get enough fish to satisfy this man. She knew he wanted to drown her, who was a useless child who wasted food.

It was like the way he drowned her sister and her mother.

In Liu Huai’s absence, Liu Jiayi would hide in the chicken shed or pigsty during school time. She stayed with animals or hid in the closet or under the bed to prevent the man from finding her when he was angry about something unknown.

Most of the time, she hid well and it was fine. However, she had to remain vigilant at all times or she would be caught by the man grabbing her hair. He would whip her with a bamboo stick covered with water or pull her to the pond to catch fish.

In Liu Jiayi’s memories, she hid in all the dark places in the house, quietly holding her knees and counting the passage of time. When Liu Huai came home from school, she could feel the coldness of night in the countryside, soaking through her skin into her heart.

Sometimes she would cry uncontrollably or scream like a person with a mental disability, a madman or a psychopath. She hit the animals locked up with her as if she could vent the resentment and pain in her heart.

She never dared to let Liu Huai see this side of her. In front of Liu Huai, she was always meek, well-behaved, innocent and knew nothing. She would raise her head and smile sweetly at Liu Huai who returned from school.

This was even if she had just climbed up from the mud-covered pond where she had been struggling all afternoon or if she had just strangled a goose 10 minutes earlier.

A bad child wasn’t loved. Liu Jiayi understood from an early age that all the emotions Liu Huai gave her were due to her disguised appearance. So she kept vigilant and didn’t want her true face to be pulled out by Liu Huai in the same way as that man when she hid under a bed or in a dark closet. She didn’t want to be whipped and questioned with disappointment.

Perhaps even if she showed her true face and stood in front of Liu Huai, this person would shrink back and not dare to look at her. It was because her brother was a man who was afraid to face the truth and was weak.

Memory and consciousness sank together into the muddy depths of darkness. Liu Jiayi stood in front of Bai Liu (6). Looking into Bai Liu (6)’s questioning dark eyes, Liu Jiayi felt as if she had returned to that broken house in the countryside.

She had just learned to hide under the bed and in the closet to escape the man’s drunken beatings. She only sneaked out after Liu Huai came back or after the man fell asleep and was snoring.

One day, it wasn’t known what happened but the man’s anger was particularly fierce. He went through all the cabinets for half a day looking for her, but he couldn’t find her. The man was still looking for her when Liu Huai came back from school.

There was the sound of broken bowls and chopsticks clattering on the ground. Liu Jiayi covered her mouth with her hands and didn’t dare breathe loudly. She held her breath and listened to the man’s insults.

“…Fuck, this bitch is becoming better at hiding! I can’t even fucking find something to pass the time. Liu Huai! Liu Huai, get out here for me!”

There was a clear slapping sound and a boy’s repressed cry of fear. The man cursed and gulped down two mouthfuls of wine. The sound of drinking seemed to pour into Liu Jiayi’s ears. Her breathing was rapid and a bitter taste started to appear in her mouth.

Then there was the process after drinking wine. The middle-aged man’s hands and feet fell on Liu Huai’s back with a fierce beating sound. Soon, Liu Huai’s trembling cries stopped.

“Fuck.” The man drunkenly cursed. “You are the only root of the Liu family and I don’t want to hit you. However, my hands are itchy after drinking and that bitch isn’t here. She can really hide and only comes out when you are here. I copied your voice to deceive her but she didn’t come out.”

“Go!” The man slurred his words as he kicked Liu Huai. “Trick out that bitch and I won’t hit you.”

Liu Jiayi waited a long time, so long she thought it was dawn. Then she heard Liu Huai’s sobbing and trembling voice calling out.

“Jiayi, Brother is back. You… would you like to come out?”

“Can you come out for a bit? Dad has gone outside! You can come out! No one will hit you!”

“You come out! Really… I am the only one here! I want to see you!”

Liu Jiayi was quiet for a long time. There was a ringing in her sensitive ears that she couldn’t understand. Then she trembled as she came out from under Liu Huai’s bed where she had hidden all day.

The man pulled her up by the hair and threw her toward the ground. He landed drunk slaps on her body. Then he whipped Liu Jiayi’s soft abdomen with a small whip the width of his thumb. Every time it fell down, Liu Huai would close his eyes and tremble.

However, Liu Huai didn’t dare step forward. He cowardly leaned back in the corner and silently waited for the end of this torture. After the torture ended, Liu Huai held the dying Liu Jiayi and cried. He said, “Brother will take you out. Brother will be admitted to a good university and take you out!”

“Help me bear it a few more times! Brother will definitely take you out! It is very soon! Very soon!”

Liu Jiayi just blankly opened her blind eyes, listening to his voice gradually become similar to the man’s voice. Liu Jiayi’s fingers curled up and slowly fell down.

“Okay, Jiayi will help Brother bear it.” She weakly and docilely replied. She knew that Liu Huai needed this shell of a ‘good sister’ to pacify his guilty heart.

Liu Huai, her older brother, was always so cowardly and didn’t dare resist. He betrayed her and deceived her. He stood by in the dark room as she crawled out for him, only to be beaten. He closed his eyes and didn’t dare look at all of it.

Her brother was a cowardly assassin through and through. He had no ability to harm others even with a weapon. However, the best thing she ever had in her life was such a cowardly brother.

Betrayal and doubts, they were truly a natural born brother and sister.

7th anniversary celebration event

Proofreader: Purichan

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