Ten Rules to Bind Her Heart - Chapter 66
“Mr. Shen… gave you a… gun?”
Auntie Mei’s gaze moved back and forth between Xia Zhiyao’s harmless little face and the cold, lethal weapon.
She knew it had to be a real gun.
Mr. Shen was so busy every day. When would he have found the time to buy a fake one just to amuse a child?
But had he… truly… given a real gun to this young girl?
“Mm.”
Xia Zhiyao nodded. Hurrying to reassure Auntie Mei, she added, “But don’t be afraid. There aren’t any bullets in it. It’s unloaded. Mr. Shen only gave it to me to play with.”
Only after hearing that the gun contained no bullets did Auntie Mei’s heart settle back into her chest.
She walked over, set the tray on the desk, and released a long breath. Stealing another sidelong glance at the gun, she said with complicated feeling, “Honestly, Mr. Shen… Who gives a young lady something like this? Other bosses keep… ahem, they give their girls jewelry, handbags, and diamonds. Mr. Shen goes and hands you a lump of iron.”
Auntie Mei continued muttering as she tidied the table, her tone carrying genuine affection for Xia Zhiyao.
“It may be nothing but an empty shell, but it’s still a deadly weapon. Miss Xia, a delicate young lady like you must be careful playing with it.”
“I like it.”
Xia Zhiyao wrapped her hand around the grip. Its reassuring weight made her feel grounded.
She looked up, eyes shining.
“I think it’s beautiful.”
And besides…
“Oh, Auntie Mei, Mr. Shen took me to the range downstairs today.”
Unable to resist sharing her glorious achievement, Xia Zhiyao flushed with excitement.
“The first time I fired live ammunition, I scored a perfect ten! Right in the bull’s-eye!”
She drew a circle with her index finger, her entire face crying, Praise me! Hurry and praise me!
Auntie Mei’s heart softened at her innocent, praise-seeking expression. How could she possibly scold the girl for playing with something dangerous now?
She was only nineteen—an age when she should still have been acting spoiled in her parents’ arms. Instead, she had been brought to this man-eating place.
It was rare enough to see her smile so sincerely.
“Yes, yes. Miss Xia is the most impressive of all.”
Auntie Mei shook her head with a fond smile.
“Not only is our Miss Xia beautiful, she’s a sharpshooter too.”
Xia Zhiyao looked rather pleased with herself.
“Mr. Shen praised me too. He said I had good luck, and that I was talented, so he gave me this gun.”
“Did he?” Auntie Mei asked in surprise. “Mr. Shen rarely praises anyone.”
Despite her praise, unease still beat at Auntie Mei’s heart.
“I’ve been here for years, listening to those soldiers fire their guns outside every day. It used to make my heart leap into my throat. I’ve gradually grown accustomed to the sound, but if you asked me to touch one of these things, my hands would still shake.”
“You look so delicate, Miss Xia, but you have quite a lot of courage.”
Embarrassed, Xia Zhiyao stuck out her tongue.
“I was scared too, actually. But with Mr. Shen beside me… I-I didn’t dare be scared.”
After all, nothing was more frightening than Shen Yu.
If she failed to shoot properly, she would be whipped.
And it really hurt!
She was too embarrassed to say any of that aloud.
Auntie Mei waited until Xia Zhiyao had finished the bird’s-nest congee. Before leaving, she could not help looking back at the gun one more time. She seemed about to say something, but in the end merely sighed.
“Get some rest, Miss Xia. And that gun… put it farther away when you sleep, or it’ll dig into you.”
“I will. Good night, Auntie Mei.”
The door closed, and the room fell quiet once more.
Fed and refreshed, Xia Zhiyao felt more awake than ever.
She remembered Shen Yu saying that he would test her stance tonight.
She had better practice now. If she could not perform it properly later, she would certainly be beaten.
Picking up the PPK, she walked to the full-length mirror.
The girl in the reflection wore a dark-green uniform bearing the black-and-gold wolf insignia. Her long hair hung loose, and her skin glowed white beneath the lights.
She suddenly remembered the James Bond films she had seen. The Bond girls always wore sexy evening gowns with holsters strapped to their thighs. They looked beautiful and formidable all at once.
Imitating a female agent from the movies, she stood side-on and held the gun in both hands. Then she spun sharply, fixed the imaginary enemy with what she believed was a piercing stare, and barked, “Don’t move! I’m Agent 007… no, I’m the assassin codenamed Peacock. I have all of you surrounded!”
With an unloaded gun in hand, she grandly performed a series of tactical maneuvers she had invented on the spot.
“You there! Drop your weapon!”
She rolled sideways behind the sofa and struck its back with a thud. Ignoring the pain, she scrambled up and struck another heroic pose.
Only her little head and the black muzzle emerged as she squinted one eye and aimed at the coat rack by the door.
“I bet there aren’t any bullets in your gun.”
“Ha! I was right!”
“Bang!” she supplied aloud.
“Target eliminated.” Xia Zhiyao proudly blew away imaginary smoke, the corners of her mouth lifting.
The next second, she broke character first. A giggle escaped her, and her grip slipped. The gun nearly landed on the top of her foot.
“Ah…”
Xia Zhiyao fumbled to catch it. Emerging from behind the sofa, she looked at the small, slender girl in the mirror, all bluster and no substance, and felt her cheeks burn.
Some female agent. She could not even hold a gun steady.
Deflated, she lowered the hand holding it.
But then…
She raised the gun again and studied herself through the sights.
The sensation from the range—that moment when her heart had clenched as she squeezed the trigger—seemed to linger in her fingertip.
It was the taste of power.
Within this absolute domain under Shen Yu’s control, this was the only strength that belonged to her, the only strength she could hold in her own hands.
However slight it was. Even if the gun was nothing but an empty shell.
When she grew tired of playing, Xia Zhiyao carefully set the gun on the desk.
She glanced at the clock on the wall.
Eleven thirty.
“Shen Yu…”
She whispered his name.
At the range that afternoon, the raw strength and control he had projected from directly behind her had left her terrified, yet strangely breathless.
He was a demon. He had saved her, but he was also the one holding her prisoner here.
And yet, in a terrifying land crawling with wolves, the gun that gave her her one small measure of security had come from him.
“Why isn’t he back yet?”
Normally, he would have returned by now.
The man’s schedule might be irregular, but whenever he was at the base, even if it was the middle of the night, he would come back to this room, pull her out from beneath the covers, and devise endless new ways to torment her.
Why had he not come tonight?
Xia Zhiyao lay across the desk and idly leafed through her copy of Jane’s Defence Weekly, but not a word registered.
The human mind was a strange thing.
When he was here, she was terrified. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into a crack in the floor, praying that he would finish quickly and let her go.
Yet now that he had not come, the empty room filled her with unease.
Where had he gone? Had he gone to fight?
Could he have been injured?
He might be as strong as a monster, but he was still made of flesh and blood. Bullets had no eyes.
The more she thought, the more frightened Xia Zhiyao became. An image rose unbidden in her mind: Shen Yu lying in the rain forest, covered in blood.
“Pah, pah, pah! Xia Zhiyao, why are you thinking about him?”
She shook her head violently, trying to cast out those terrifying thoughts.
But she still could not help thinking that he was the Demon King. How could the Demon King possibly die? Other people should be afraid of him.
She feared the things he did to her and his volatile temper.
She feared his punishments and his whip.
But compared with fear of the unknown, the suffocating pressure of having him at her side had somehow become something solid she could lean on.
This Stockholm syndrome–like dependence made her ashamed.
And yet she could not resist it.
