Crimson Instinct

Chapter 194: Her life in the Zhang residence (1)

*Bai Li*

"So, two heirs from rival parties joined their hands together to take revenge on their families," I said.

I heard Zhang Xiulan speak, "We are not any heirs from the Yi or Zhang family. We are only someone connected by the empathy of their mother's deaths. I want to destroy the Zhang family, and Yusheng wants to uproot the Yi family."

Liao Huifang spoke, "And you two met in Scotland?"

"Yes. As to why I was in Scotland, my dearest sister would have told you that already."

I felt the sarcasm in her tone.

"For psychiatric treatment, apparently."

Silence.

I asked, "What happened after Zhang Qiuyue's death?"

"Murder."

I got the cue.

"What happened after Zhang Qiuyue's murder?"

She chuckled, but it didn't feel like she was enjoying this. I sensed her sadness in it. I sensed the oppression that she must have gone through.

"Do you know how it feels to be treated like a psycho?"

I said nothing. 

"I should rephrase it. Do you know how it feels to be treated like a psycho when you are normal? And you shouldn't just ask what happened after Mom's murder. Even before it happened, our lives were nothing but hell."

I knew she wanted to say more. I waited.

"As far as I can remember, since the time I began to understand stuff, Ning did nothing but bully me. Pulling my hair, stealing my toys and ruining them, ordering me around bla bla. At first, it felt like it's any other elder sibling who bullies her younger one. But then it escalated one day. She killed the kitten that Mom bought for me."

I heard Liao Huifang say, "And Zhang Ning said that it was you who killed her kitten!"

"Hahaha. She reversed everything, didn't she? I was the perpetrator while she was the victim. It is the exact opposite. That kitten was the sweetest thing ever. And Ning killed it with her bare hands. I saw it happen with my own eyes."

I said, "In the garden where she had a creepy smile on her face."

"Wait, you saw my picture book?"

"I cannot see but Xin Lei and Liao Huifang did, and they said what they saw."

"Yes, we saw your picture book."

Zhang Xiulan said, "I thought they destroyed everything about me."

"They have your room locked up, and apart from some toys and other stuff, there was nothing."

"Ho~~~" she burst into laughter, "was she keeping it as a souvenir? You know, like a prize. Whatever, but yes, that was Zhang Ning."

"So, I was right, indeed."

"What do you mean?"

"When I heard Liao Huifang describing what you drew in the garden was the time when I first began to doubt Zhang Ning."

"Why?"

"Because if I imagine it right, then that picture could be only drawn by someone who was watching it happening from the sidelines. To draw yourself like that, I think it wasn't the case, especially if there was a creepy smile on the girl's face. I mean, you really cannot know your own expression that well. And if you were the killer and you drew yourself, then you would have drawn it as a normal smile, not a creepy one."

"Creepy is something defined as what 'others' think about you. Nobody thinks they are creepy themselves."

"I am impressed," Zhu Yusheng said.

I shrugged.

I heard Zhang Xiulan's voice. "You are right. Mom brought that kitten for me because she realized that Ning was careless. She had a tendency to break stuff and damage things, so she gave the responsibility to me. Partly, she brought the kitten because I like animals and partly because she wanted Ning to slowly learn to take care of others. Everything cannot be broken and destroyed."

She chuckled.

"Little did she know that it wasn't Ning's tendency to see things ruined. She was born with a messed up head. And she realized it too late when that kitten was dead. She understood that something was wrong with her."

"Then?"

"I remember how much I had cried that day. I went to Mom and broke down. She was horrified, and she immediately confronted Ning. She was just as shocked to see the kitten dead. At first, Ning denied a lot, but when I repeated what happened, she showed that sinister smile again."

"Ning said, "That kitten didn't come to me when I called it so many times. I got mad. Nobody says no to Zhang Ning. So, he had to die.""

I heard Liao Huifang gasp. "T-that is just horrible"

I let out a deep breath. I felt as if I just wanted to reach Zhang Ning at this moment and squeeze the life out of her. My hands were itching to grab her neck.

I could understand Zhang Xiulan's emotions because I have Cocoa in my life too. Brutality against animals is what I never tolerated, and it always boiled my blood in fury whenever I heard about people torturing and killing animals for fun.

"What happened then?"

She took a pause.

"That's when the arguments began between Mom and Zhang Chao. She wanted Zhang Ning to meet a specialist. She understood that something was very wrong and abnormal with her. She wasn't just damaging toys and stuff, but now she had killed a living and breathing animal. She killed somebody when she was just a child."

"But, Zhang Chao was against it. He shrugged off all the matters saying that she was just a kid and didn't know well. Mom knew that he was thinking about his political reputation and not about his daughter's well-being, which caused fights between them. She insisted a lot to show Zhang Ning to a doctor, but he didn't let her."

"So, she took a little part of the matter in her own hands. She tried to teach Ning the value of life, that bullying is bad, that hurting others was a terrible thing to do, but that made Ning even more frustrated with her. So, she bonded more with Zhang Chao because he didn't say the things that she didn't want to listen."

I slowly nodded my head. "So, your family got divided that way. You and Zhang Qiuyue on one side and Zhang Ning and Zhang Chao on the other side. That's what that drawing meant where you four were standing in it but had a line between you two sides."

"Yes. Things slowly got really bad. Mom was trying her best, but Ning was distancing herself more and more, and Zhang Chao was only adding more oil to the fire."

I sensed she snickered. "Ning completely misunderstood Mom. She treated her as an enemy who questioned how a mother could say that her own daughter was crazy? Mom was so cruel. She felt that Mom loved me more than her, and that escalated her violent behavior."

She chuckled. "Mom didn't love me more. It's because we both were sane, so we stood on the same side. It triggered her. She used to lock me in the room and order the staff not to give me any food and water. She used to make a mess of my room. She pushed me and made me fall and hurt myself so many times that I lost the count."

"Then, one day, Mom punished her because she hurt me with a knife. Mom got angry and locked her up to reflect on her mistake. When Mom released her, she suddenly acted obediently. She even apologized to me."

I squinted my gaze.

Zhang Xiulan burst into laughter, but once again, I felt the sorrow in her tone. I knew where this was heading.

"Mom was so happy...She thought that Ning was finally willing to change. She never apologized before, but that day she did. The next few days were peaceful. Or it seemed to be. She behaved like any normal kid. She stopped her violent behavior. She stopped bullying me. She listened to Mom, and Mom felt that Ning was slowly changing. Maybe it was just a phase that was wearing off."

Then there was silence for a long time.

I felt Liao Huifang was about to say something, but I pressed her hand and shook my head.

"Let her take her time," I whispered.

"En"

I heard her exhale, and she spoke, "One day, she asked to sleep with Mom. I never believed that she had truly changed. I was on guard and doubted her intentions and warned Mom not to agree. But, Mom was too happy to spend some time with her because they grew distant over the past few months. So, she wanted to bond with her."

"I said I would sleep with them, too, but Ning expertly convinced Mom that she wanted to be alone with her. I was helpless before Mom as she agreed. The next day, I saw her lying dead on the bed in the pool of her own blood, and eyes shut forever. Her throat was slit, and Ning wasn't anywhere, but I already realized what had happened."

"Stop it, Xiulan," I heard Zhu Yusheng speak. For the first time, I felt the strain in his voice.

"Let me say it, Yusheng. I am fine."

I said, "You must have confronted Ning and Zhang Chao with the truth."

"I did. And that's when living in the Zhang residence for me grew worse. It wasn't a home for me anymore. It was hell."