Ten Rules to Bind Her Heart - Chapter 52
It was almost noon when Xia Zhiyao woke.
Heavy blackout curtains covered the windows, leaving the room so dim that she could not distinguish morning from evening.
The bed beside her had long since gone cold.
Out of habit, she extended a hand. Her fingertips touched the smooth black silk sheet.
Shen Yu never spent the night with her.
No matter how forceful he was during the night, he always quietly rose and left once exhaustion dragged her into deep sleep. It was as though an unmistakable boundary lay between them, permitting no unnecessary attachment.
Perhaps that was for the best.
Xia Zhiyao quietly exhaled in relief. Compared to Shen Yu while awake, brimming with suffocating pressure, his hard presence in the darkness somehow frightened her slightly less.
The red silk slip dress lay crumpled on the floor. The ribbon from its neckline had been untied and tossed near the corner of the bed, silently testifying to the chaos and humiliation of the night before.
**
She only had the vague impression that the violent aura Shen Yu used to keep everyone at a distance had softened compared to the previous times. It had not been quite as suffocating.
Perhaps… he had treated her more gently?
She did not know whether that was merely her imagination.
Lowering her eyes, she forced herself not to recall the humiliation and disorder of the night before, or the abject way she had begged him.
It was enough to remain alive.
After washing, Xia Zhiyao chose her loosest and most conservative white cotton dress, hiding every faint mark on her body.
Now, whenever she saw tight or brightly colored clothing, a visceral aversion rose within her and made her instinctively recoil.
Knock, knock.
Someone tapped at the door.
“Lunch is ready, Miss Xia.” It was Auntie Mei.
“Please come in, Auntie Mei,” Xia Zhiyao called.
Auntie Mei entered on time. Two young maids followed, one carrying a food box and the other a black lacquer tray.
Xia Zhiyao rose awkwardly. “Thank you, Auntie Mei.”
One glance at her pale face told Auntie Mei everything. She paused thoughtfully but quickly resumed her usual kindness. At her gesture, the maids arranged lunch on the table. Every dish was easy to digest.
“Mr. Shen gave instructions that your diet should remain light while you are unwell these next few days,” Auntie Mei relayed with a smile.
Xia Zhiyao nodded and obediently sat down to drink her congee.
The maid with the black lacquer tray stepped forward and gently placed it on the bedside table.
Three brand-new outfits were folded upon it.
Xia Zhiyao turned to look.
They were three crisply tailored dark green uniform dresses.
The stiff, durable material appeared to be some sort of military-grade blend, both wear-resistant and breathable.
The design resembled a modified military uniform. It had a standing collar, a fitted waist, and a skirt that fell just below the knees. It preserved feminine elegance while possessing an austere, untouchable severity.
Most striking was the area above the left breast pocket.
A wolf’s head thrown back in a howl had been embroidered there with muted gold thread.
It was Shen Yu’s personal insignia: Black Wolf.
Xia Zhiyao’s hand stopped with the spoon in midair, and her heart jumped.
“Auntie Mei, what is this?” She looked up.
“Mr. Shen ordered it.”
Auntie Mei briskly made the disordered bed as she spoke.
“He said that from today onward, if you wish to leave the white building and move around the base, you should put this on first.”
Xia Zhiyao set down her spoon and walked to the bed. Her fingertips lightly traced the cool embroidered emblem.
This was more than clothing.
On this strictly hierarchical base, clothes represented status.
Before, she had dressed like a pet. Her clothes could be stripped away at any moment, and she could be discarded just as easily.
But this uniform… bore his mark.
Did that mean she was no longer an undocumented stranger who could be disposed of at any time? Had she been incorporated into his system and recognized as someone beneath his protection?
She had seen this howling wolf emblem only on Shen Yu’s clothing.
The guards’ patches, Shen Yu’s and everyone else’s vehicles, and the base’s distinctive walls all bore Black Wolf emblems as well. But those seemed to depict the wolf’s head from the front, making them different from this one.
“I understand, Auntie Mei,” Xia Zhiyao said softly. “I’ll change in a moment.”
Just then—
Boom!
An enormous crash came from outside, making the floor shake beneath her feet. It was followed by the roar of heavy machinery and the splintering collapse of something massive.
Xia Zhiyao jumped.
“What happened? Are we under attack?”
She stared toward the window in terror. After the horrors of the greenhouse yesterday, every sudden sound left her like a startled bird.
Auntie Mei remained calm. She went to the window, glanced outside, and drew the gauze curtain.
“It’s all right, Miss Xia. Don’t be afraid. We aren’t under attack.”
She smiled.
“It’s the construction crew.”
“The construction crew?”
“Yes. Mr. Shen gave the order this morning to tear down the glass greenhouse in the back garden.”
Xia Zhiyao went rigid, her mind blank.
“Tear… tear it down?”
She turned in disbelief and looked toward the back garden through the window.
The greenhouse was not visible from here.
But she could imagine it—the private torture chamber filled with precious black roses, a place Ji Chen treasured above all else… simply being destroyed?
“Why?” she asked without thinking.
The place might have been terrifying, but it had existed on the base for a long time, clearly with Shen Yu’s tacit permission. Why would he suddenly demolish it without warning?
Could it be because… she had wandered inside yesterday?
Because she had seen something she should not, Shen Yu had decided to destroy the evidence to prevent his secret from escaping?
That had to be it. Otherwise, the timing was too perfect.
She entered yesterday, and today it was being demolished.
At the thought, Xia Zhiyao’s face turned deathly pale and cold spread through her body.
Yes. That had to be the reason.
Shen Yu despised anyone prying into his secrets. Although he had not killed her yesterday, was the destruction of the greenhouse also a warning?
A warning that in this home, even the place his younger brother loved most could be obliterated the instant it displeased him.
And people were worth far less.
“Who knows?”
Auntie Mei finished making the bed and directed the maids to clean the bathroom and the rest of the room.
“Perhaps he thought it reflected too much light, or perhaps the greenhouse attracted too many mosquitoes.
“In any case, Mr. Shen never needs a reason for what he does.”
Xia Zhiyao looked at the black-and-gold wolf emblem on the uniform and listened to the relentless crashes of demolition outside.
Boom. Boom.
After a long hesitation, she extended a trembling hand and slowly lifted the dark green uniform dress.
Her body shivered when her fingertips touched the fabric.
Whatever the reason,
she had to become more obedient and more careful.
Then… she would survive, wouldn’t she?
