CHAPTER 427: CHAPTER 174: THE HINT

Failed Breakup

The sudden visit from Su Ziceng took Chang Chi by surprise, even Chang Mei had no idea where she settled down, but Su Ziceng somehow knew she lived here.

When Chang Chi left, she didn’t even take her luggage with her, everyone thought she went to seek refuge with her wealthy lover, including her mother, Chang Mei, but not Su Ziceng.

Dwarf Street in the Sixth District always emits a dirty odor, even in the early spring when everything is thriving, and when the scent of fresh grass hangs everywhere else, there are no exceptions here. The filthy smell lies buried under the soil, in every grain of stone and sand. Dirty water pools on the streets, and shoes change color almost immediately upon stepping in it. Staying in such a place for too long stains everything, including people.

"How did you know I’m here?" For Chang Chi, the most shocking person to come looking for her was Su Ziceng.

"I only recently found out about that incident," the incident Su Ziceng referred to was the drunkard whose hands and feet were chopped off. A significant part of the reason Chang Chi left the Su Family was because of this.

"No need to feign ignorance, don’t say this has nothing to do with you," Chang Chi’s scorn was met with no denial from Su Ziceng. The drunkard’s identity and address had been disclosed to Yan Wuxu by her, regardless of whether it was intentional or accidental, but the deed was done.

The streets of the Sixth District could not be thoroughly cleaned, but Chang Chi nevertheless laid some stones in front of the house, to elevate the road surface and help mask the stench from the dirty water on the street.

Su Ziceng stepped aside, intending to enter the house, "I’ll have someone send your luggage over later."

"Did you come here today just to play the saint? To let everyone know that I have no place to go, looking dejected?" Chang Chi blocked the door frame, stopping Su Ziceng from entering; this was her home, the last place she didn’t want Chang Chi to taint.

"Chang Chi, you love Hang Yishao more than I imagined," Su Ziceng said, witnessing a flash of pain in Chang Chi’s eyes. Taking advantage of her momentary lack of response, Su Ziceng pushed aside her hand and entered the small house.

The drunkard’s house was unexpectedly clean; all the old and worn-out furniture had been replaced. During the few days Chang Chi settled down, she cleaned up both inside and out, and even the threshold steps had been re-cemented to accommodate wheelchair access.

The drunkard had given up drinking, which was the cleanest Su Ziceng had seen him in all their meetings. His limbs were neatly severed, with a feeding bib wrapped around his chest. Seeing someone enter, the drunkard struggled to turn his face; his expression was serene upon seeing it was Su Ziceng.

"I don’t love him; I just enjoy competing with you. I’ve always been like this since we were young. Have you forgotten, Su Ziceng?" Chang Chi vehemently denied, refusing to admit the truth, as admitting made her feel more miserable. In the end, she would lose everything cleanly—family affection, love, everything.

"If that’s really the case, why didn’t you seek out Shang Yin? As far as I know, Shang Yin could provide you with a life of comfort not inferior to the Su Family," Su Ziceng, reborn, always felt that she could better discern the true nature of the people around her—Chang Mei’s, Chang Chi’s, Hang Yishao’s, those people she was once intimately familiar with. But after going back and forth, she discovered that each person had an essence she never knew before.

"I just didn’t want to follow in my mother’s footsteps and become someone else’s caged canary," Chang Chi still refused to acknowledge that she was a well-educated woman, and she could not share a man with women of low repute.

"Your mother was not someone’s caged canary," the drunkard spoke without the smell of alcohol, sounding unusually sober.

Su Ziceng and Chang Chi both turned their attention to the drunkard.

After his limbs were chopped off, together with the worms of alcohol deeply rooted in his soul, everything was purged, "She was never a canary." After he spoke, the drunkard fell silent again.

Su Ziceng remembered something; she had to verify a fact, whether or not Chang Chi was present, she had to ask. Approaching the drunkard, she looked at the man who was only as tall as a child in the wheelchair, knelt down, "Do you remember, you once said, who was responsible for my mother’s death? My mother is Qiao Chu."

"You look a lot like Qiao Chu," the drunkard replied out of context, muttering to himself.