Ten Rules to Bind Her Heart - Chapter 48
The glass greenhouse was enormous, filled with lush, rare plants that Xia Zhiyao had never seen before.
Most striking of all was a large bed of black roses, beautiful and sinister.
Holding her breath, Xia Zhiyao crept along one side of the greenhouse. Through gaps in the dense foliage, she finally saw what was happening inside.
Her blood froze.
An ornate European-style iron table stood in the middle of the greenhouse.
It was covered with a pristine white lace cloth, on which sat an exquisite teacup and a pair of gleaming silver pruning shears.
Ji Chen sat beside the table.
Holding a cup of tea, he took an elegant sip. His charming, sunny smile had not changed.
Across from him, two bodyguards in black firmly restrained a man covered in blood.
The man had been forced to his knees, one arm stretched out and pinned flat against the table.
The little finger and ring finger on that hand were gone.
The wounds were a bloody mess, and drops of blood fell steadily into the pot of a black rose beneath the table.
The rose bloomed with an unnatural splendor. Its petals were as heavy as velvet, and it released a strange fragrance.
“Of all the things you could touch, why did you have to touch something belonging to my brother?”
Ji Chen sighed gently, as though whispering endearments to a lover.
“That batch of rare earths is Black Wolf’s lifeblood, and you still dared make a move on it? Isn’t that asking to die?”
“How much did Du Tuo pay you to risk your life like this?”
The man shook his head frantically.
“Young Master Ji… I was wrong… I swear I won’t do it again…”
“Don’t rush. Don’t rush.”
Ji Chen gently patted the man’s face.
“I’m an exceptionally reasonable person. Since your hand reached too far, it merely needs… a little pruning.”
The man convulsed in agony. Tears and mucus ran down his face as he repeatedly struck his head against the ground.
“Young Master Ji… I was wrong… I’m willing to die for my crime…”
“Please give me a quick death… I’m begging you…”
Ji Chen put down his teacup and picked up the bloodstained pruning shears.
He twirled them beautifully through his fingers, his voice gentle, as though soothing a lover.
“Shh.”
He held one finger to his lips.
“Don’t make so much noise. You’re frightening the flowers.”
“Do you know how difficult this Black Magic rose is to grow? It likes nothing more than fresh flesh and blood.”
Ji Chen sighed, looking deeply regretful.
“When you sold intelligence to Du Tuo behind my brother’s back and mine, did you never consider that you might end up feeding the flowers?”
“I…”
Snip.
The crisp sound came together with the man’s heart-rending scream.
His middle finger fell.
Ji Chen deftly picked up the severed finger with a pair of tweezers. Treating it like a precious work of art, he gently buried it in the black rose’s soil.
“This way, the nutrients stay balanced. Nothing beats high-quality phosphorus fertilizer.”
Still smiling, he picked up the white handkerchief beside him and wiped a speck of blood from the back of his hand.
In that grotesque scene, his smile was ten thousand times more terrifying than any vengeful ghost.
Xia Zhiyao clamped both hands over her mouth, desperately suppressing the scream about to burst free.
Her stomach churned. Her legs were so weak that she could barely stand.
Madman…
Monster…
Everyone here was insane!
She had believed Shen Yu was terrifying enough.
But Ji Chen… Moments ago, he had joked with her and taught her how to please Shen Yu.
Now he was smiling while cutting a man apart to feed his flowers.
By comparison, Shen Yu’s cruelty and violence almost seemed merciful.
At least Shen Yu’s punishments came with a clear price. His rules could be followed.
As Xia Zhiyao tried to retreat in terror, her foot accidentally struck a flowerpot.
Tap.
The sound was extremely faint.
But outside the greenhouse, where everything except the screams had been deathly still, it was painfully conspicuous.
The screams inside abruptly stopped.
The man pinned to the floor had fainted from the pain.
Ji Chen paused while wiping his hands.
He turned his head slightly. Through layers of glass and foliage, his smiling eyes locked onto the spot behind the banana leaves.
“Who’s there?”
His voice remained gentle, yet carried a chill that made one’s blood run cold.
Xia Zhiyao went rigid. She did not dare move.
Run? Escape was impossible.
The white building was some distance away. With a single order, Ji Chen’s bodyguards could seize her and turn her into fertilizer in an instant.
“Come out.”
Ji Chen put down the handkerchief and picked up the shears.
Xia Zhiyao closed her eyes in despair.
Trembling, she slowly edged out from behind the banana leaves.
Through the glass, she saw surprise flicker across Ji Chen’s face.
“Well, sister-in-law?”
The viciousness instantly vanished from Ji Chen’s face, and his careless smile returned.
He even waved the bloody shears at her in greeting.
“In the mood to appreciate the flowers, sister-in-law?”
Appreciate… the flowers?
Xia Zhiyao looked at the shears and felt a chill across her neck.
“I… I…”
Her teeth chattered. She could not form a complete sentence.
Ji Chen seemed to notice her fear.
He did not come outside. Instead, he pointed innocently through the glass at the unconscious man.
“Don’t be afraid. He’s only a thief. I’m fertilizing my flowers. It’s rather bloody—not suitable for children.”
He smiled brightly, like the friendly young man next door.
“You should hurry back, sister-in-law. There are lots of mosquitoes here. If my brother finds out you wandered off and saw something you shouldn’t, I’ll be scolded too.”
He waved at the bodyguards beside him.
They immediately dragged the bloodied man toward the rear of the greenhouse.
“Go on.”
Ji Chen waved at her.
“Remember to decide how you’ll thank my brother tonight.”
Xia Zhiyao fled in terror, not daring to remain another second.
She stumbled as she ran, as though a demon were chasing her.
Inside the greenhouse, Ji Chen watched the white figure flee and shook his head regretfully.
“Such a timid little thing.”
He tossed aside the shears and accepted a wet towel from a bodyguard, slowly wiping the blood from his hands.
“I should lock the door next time. If I frighten sister-in-law too badly, my brother will skin me alive.”
He glanced at the traitor who had fainted from the pain. His smile vanished, and his eyes turned cold.
“Throw him to the wolves on the back mountain. The flowers have eaten enough today.”
Xia Zhiyao ran all the way to her room. Only after slamming the door and sliding down it onto the floor did she dare gulp down air.
Her heart nearly burst from her chest.
Cold sweat soaked her back.
Too terrifying…
It was all too terrifying…
Ji Chen’s elegant smile and the bloody severed finger alternated endlessly in her mind.
At last, she understood.
There were no good people on this base.
Fangs hid behind every seemingly friendly smile.
She had once thought Shen Yu was a demon, Satan himself.
Now she understood that in this place that devoured people whole, Shen Yu was the only king of hell capable of controlling the legion of ghosts.
Shen Yu might be terrifying, but he followed rules.
His cruelty was overt and founded on order.
As long as she obeyed and followed his rules, at least… she would not inexplicably become fertilizer like that man.
Xia Zhiyao hugged her knees and buried her head in her arms, unable to stop trembling.
Before today, she had remained with Shen Yu to save her parents.
But now, she was genuinely afraid.
Only by remaining beneath that man’s wings and becoming his obedient pet could she survive this hell.
“I have to obey…”
she muttered brokenly.
“I have to satisfy him…”
She had to please Shen Yu.
No matter the method.
Even if it meant following Ji Chen’s absurd suggestion.
Because in this hell, Shen Yu’s side had somehow become the only safe place.
She rose, stretched out a trembling hand, and opened the wardrobe.
