The Eighth Blood Orange

The moment she touched down, Shen Qiancheng ripped off her silk eye mask, feeling a force still tugging at her hand. She raised her right hand—a gleaming silver handcuff was locked around her slender wrist. She tilted her head, propped her cheek on her hand, and said, "Su Tongqin, undo this for me!"

Su Tongqin, dressed in a black suit, sat beside Shen Qiancheng, a matching silver cuff on her own wrist.

The two of them were linked by a single pair of handcuffs...

"No," Su Tongqin said coldly, "Until you step through the Shen family's front door, I'm fully responsible for your safety. If you run off to a place like that again, I won't come a second time."

Shen Qiancheng had changed into a dark green uniform dress, the lace collar setting off her fair skin and beauty.

She frowned instinctively and tugged at her right hand. "Since I came back with you, I'm not going to run."

Su Tongqin let out a derisive laugh. "You'd be better off running and not coming back. I don't want someone like you as my sister-in-law."

"Ha," Shen Qiancheng snorted coldly, her long-suppressed resentment no longer concealed. "As if I'm dying to call you sister. Who cares about your scumbag of a brother? Only your Su family treats garbage like treasure."

Su Tongqin said nothing, rose swiftly with her long legs, and dragged Shen Qiancheng toward the cabin door.

Shen Qiancheng deeply regretted not learning martial arts as a child. Face to face with Su Tongqin, all she could do was vent verbally; physically, she was completely at the other's mercy.

After getting off the plane, without even a moment to catch her breath, Shen Qiancheng was driven by Su Tongqin to the Shen estate on the outskirts.

Su Tongqin found Shen Qiancheng irritating—setting aside their past grudge—Shen Qiancheng was vicious, cunning, sharp-tongued, and mean; there was simply nothing to like about her.

Su Tongqin was the first to oppose Shen Qiancheng entering the Su family. So when she found Shen Qiancheng through the bracelet, she hid it from the Su family and went to meet her. In essence, she was warning Shen Qiancheng to run—far away, as far as possible.

Who would have thought Shen Qiancheng would insist on coming back with her.

Su Tongqin's head ached. Her car weaved through traffic, and she failed to notice a vehicle darting out from the left front, charging at them with ferocious intent and clear aim.

Su Tongqin yanked the steering wheel, veering the car off course and scraping past the oncoming vehicle.

The screech of metal against metal was piercing. Shen Qiancheng, in the passenger seat, raised an eyebrow. "Su, your driving is superb. You might not get me to the Shen estate, but you'll deliver me straight to the underworld."

Su Tongqin's foot hit the brake, still shaken, barely catching her breath when she saw in the rearview mirror that the other car, having failed to ram them, had turned around and was charging at their rear.

"Shut up," Su Tongqin floored the accelerator. "Who else have you provoked lately? You've barely been back in Tang City, and someone already wants you dead!"

Shen Qiancheng said nonchalantly, "That's not certain. Maybe it's one of your Su family's enemies. Don't blame everything on me!"

Su Tongqin spun the wheel, slammed the gas, and swerved left and right, trying to shake the car behind that was desperate to kill both her and Shen Qiancheng.

Shen Qiancheng looked back at the bright red sports car and felt it looked very familiar.

Annoying!

Shen Qiancheng leaned over and grabbed the steering wheel from Su Tongqin.

Su Tongqin's eyes widened. "Are you crazy?!"

Shen Qiancheng stared ahead, resolute. "He wants to ram us, so let him. Let him hit."

Su Tongqin thought Shen Qiancheng was still that same unhinged Shen Qiancheng. If she actually listened to her, the two of them would be corpses in no time.

Su Tongqin reached to regain control, but Shen Qiancheng disrupted her direction. Caught off guard, the wheel was wrenched a full turn to the right, the car veered, and slammed hard into the guardrail.

The moment the airbag deployed, the car behind smashed into theirs as intended.

Another bang. Shen Qiancheng smiled eerily, the corners of her eyes lifted, blood covering her arm and face. "Your dear brother doesn't even care about his own sister."

Like a lunatic... no, she was a lunatic.

That's what Su Tongqin thought.

The ambulance arrived quickly. Shen Qiancheng had hit the railing on the right side, and she was bleeding all over, especially her leg, which was soaked in blood.

As she was carried on a stretcher into the ambulance, Shen Qiancheng looked at the sky—blue with white clouds, bright sunshine—yet she felt cold all over.

After all, she had willingly returned to the cage she had once escaped.

Su Tongqin's injuries were light; she walked into the ambulance, and the driver of the other car came along too.

Su Tongqin sighed deeply. "Little brother, you've caused trouble again."

In a private VIP hospital room, Shen Qiancheng was once again in the shell of the Shen family's eldest daughter, enjoying top-tier service. She lay in a bed far more comfortable than the village chief's, leg and foot in casts, hoisted high, wearing a pink hospital gown, idly eating fruit while scrolling on her phone.

A glaring headline caught her eye—"Shocking! Shen Family's Eldest Daughter Courageously Saves Fiancé Under Car!"

Who the hell came up with such an insane headline?!

A photo of Shen Qiancheng and Su Zeye getting into ambulances one after another had a huge pink heart Photoshopped over it.

...She hadn't even been in the same ambulance as Su Zeye. Screw you!

Frustrated, Shen Qiancheng tossed her phone aside, fuming to herself.

The door opened, and Shen Qiancheng took a glance, then turned her back.

Su Tongqin, having had her wounds bandaged and checked out fine, dragged Su Zeye up with her.

Su Tongqin set down what she was carrying and asked with concern, "How are you? Feeling better?"

This gentle, concerned Su Tongqin was like a mammoth to Shen Qiancheng. She eyed her warily—she actually preferred the arrogant, unyielding Su Tongqin.

"Not good at all! Not one bit better!" Shen Qiancheng's face was grim, her voice icy. "Hurry up and cancel the engagement. If I marry into your family, within two hours your brother will kill me!"

Su Tongqin had forced herself to ask with a smile, but after being mocked so sharply, she couldn't keep up the pretense. Given they were already bitter enemies, her face darkened like the bottom of a pot.

Su Zeye, who had been silent, looked up and said, "Shen Qiancheng, you're damn hard to kill!"

Su Zeye cut in sharply, "Wait outside. I have something to say to Miss Shen."

Su Tongqin took the out, left the room, and shut the door.

Only Shen Qiancheng and Su Zeye remained. Shen Qiancheng was wary of anyone as crazy as herself.

Shen Qiancheng spread her hands. "So, tell me—how do you want to call off the engagement?"

Su Zeye gave a nasty smile. "I've changed my mind. I don't want to break it off."

The roses on the bedside table bloomed luridly, soft, fresh petals still holding morning dew.

Shen Qiancheng, in her pink uniform, slowly smiled, her face as lovely as a peach blossom. "Su Zeye, I still don't get it. Are they blind? How can you compare to me? You're just trash!"

Su Zeye hadn't wanted to visit Shen Qiancheng anyway. In her presence, he was always dogged by bad luck—two months ago, that woman with an angel's face and a snake's heart had dropped him from a hot air balloon, and he'd only been discharged from the hospital a few days ago.

He'd come today to laugh at her, but who would've thought that even with a broken bone and stuck in bed, she still looked down on him.

Furious, Su Zeye punched her elevated, casted leg, eyes wide. "Shen Qiancheng, what are you so high and mighty about? Marry me, and I'll make your life a living hell, torturing you for eternity."

Ha, who's scared?

Shen Qiancheng curled her lip in a contemptuous smile, like a maxed-out boss looking at a newbie, and said, "Jile Paradise? Where are you planning to take me? Or are you going to build me a new one? I prefer new places—I wouldn't get used to one someone else has used or lived in. You need to hurry up and build it. I have too many enemies. If you want to kill me, you might not even get a spot in line, and you'll be fretting like a dog."

Su Zeye's eyes widened further at her words, and he reached out to grab her.

"Shen Qiancheng, I'll kill you right now!"

His eyes blazing with fury, Su Zeye grabbed her shoulders and started to lift her off the bed to throw her to the floor.

"Don't move," Shen Qiancheng said, her voice like a demon from hell. Su Zeye actually froze, still glaring as if wanting to devour her.

After all, with a fruit knife pressed to his neck, even the Emperor would back down.

Su Zeye stiffened his neck and forced out through clenched teeth, "Just try it! The Su family won't let you get away with it!"

Shen Qiancheng sneered. "You little punk, acting tough because you've got backers. If I wanted to kill you, why wait until now? I'd have done it on June 10th."

The blade gleamed like a mirror, reflecting Su Zeye's panicked expression. "If you don't kill me, I'll kill you!"

Shen Qiancheng: "Do you dare?"

With that, her hand moved, slicing a thin line of blood across Su Zeye's face.

"This knife wound is my apology for you ramming me," Shen Qiancheng lowered the knife and patted Su Zeye's cheek. "Fine, we won't break the engagement. Better than letting you loose on the market to prey on others."

Su Zeye was momentarily stunned. He suddenly realized that the Shen Qiancheng of before had been holding back; now she was crazy enough to make one's hair stand on end.

"Go home with your sister." Shen Qiancheng set down the fruit knife and looked up at the door—only to see Shi Jianren.

Well, well, the three of them came in one car?

Su Zeye, face cold and bleeding, didn't even glance at Shi Jianren, who was trying to cozy up.

Shen Qiancheng fiddled with the fruit knife, her beautiful brows and eyes smiling but without a trace of joy.

Shi Jianren, in a crisp suit with his hair slicked back, approached the bed with an air of righteousness.

Shen Qiancheng couldn't be bothered to pay attention; her eyes were fixed on the knife. "Father, you must be so busy. You only found time to see me now?"

Shi Jianren's displeasure was apparent—pure disgust. He'd nearly let this girl slip away.

"Why not just obediently marry into the Su family and be a good young mistress?"

Shi Jianren asked with deep pain, but Shen Qiancheng answered bluntly: "No! If you want to, you marry him. I never said I wanted to be the Su family's young mistress."

Shi Jianren stood up in anger, pointing at Shen Qiancheng. "Say that again!"

Shen Qiancheng replied, "Good words aren't said twice!"

Shi Jianren wished he could kill Shen Qiancheng on the spot, but...

He took a deep breath. "The Su family is very angry, so you'll need to go abroad for a while..."

Shen Qiancheng curled her lips, cutting him off. "To make room for the real Shen Qiancheng?"

Shi Jianren froze.

Shen Qiancheng continued, "You deliberately left the paternity test somewhere so obvious—only a blind person would miss it. And when you found out I'd disappeared, only to appear beside Liao Xue, you must have been terrified I'd kill her, right?"

Word by word, Shen Qiancheng laid bare Shi Jianren's thoughts—everything he had been thinking.

Shen Qiancheng met Shi Jianren's eyes, her smile slowly fading. Her face turned cold. "I'm dangerous but outstanding. She's docile but too naive. I'm better suited than her to be the Shen family's daughter and marry into the Su family as their young mistress. I can marry Su Zeye, but on one condition: from now on, the Shen family will have only one daughter—me. You will never, ever acknowledge her again."

The next day, the entertainment tabloids ran a fresh headline—"Young Master Su Visits Fiancée, Cuts His Cheek While Peeling Her an Apple."