1 The Woman in the Cellar

Why? Why did they have to betray her? Is it that she was not good enough to them? A faint giggle escaped her blistered lips. It was quite funny to her, that she'd tried her all for them, yet they turned around to stab her in the back. She cursed herself for being so stupid. Stupid enough to believe that that man's love for her was unconditional, that the very sister whom she cherished and treated like a glass vase would, just for power and riches, leave her for dead.

In a dimly lit cellar the woman was settled on the floor wearing worn clothes, tangled hair and black skin. Luminous eyes peered through her knotted hair into the darkness not focusing on anything, her face devoid of emotion. 'Is this my retribution?' she reflected. She knew she was a ruthless woman, maybe God was at his wits end with her. Of course, she perceived that sooner or later she would suffer under the hands of her enemies, yet, she could not have anticipated that the ones who caused her downfallwere the very ones she held dearly in her heart.

Who would have thought that one of the most envied women of K country would fall to such a level. Someone who was so high up in the heavens, had fallen flat into the mud, and she most likely would never be able to get back up, both literally and figuratively. They had maimed her, a slight move of her body and she would be afflicted with pain. In the room the steely scent of blood transfused and her mangled and torn skin drooled with thick blood, but this didn't seem to faze her.

She entered deep into her mind considering her life, the life that changed when she was fifteen. Her parents had died in a car accident and her sister who was over indulged since young was not well versed in business, therefore, she stepped forward and ruthlessly cut off the paths of her father's, and her enemies. She was able to establish a good balance and by the time she was twenty one years old she had pushed the company into the top ten most accomplished businesses in K country and that was when she met that man, Chang Biming.

He was so different from other men, she had scrutinized at that time, and her sister had "gotten along" with him. Who knew, privately they were so much more to each other. She wondered when all the scheming had begun, maybe when she was first introduced to him, or was it that her sister had planned from way before that?

Her vision blurred, pulling her out of her thoughts. Her time was near; she felt her life seeping out of her just like her blood. "So... this is my end?" a gravelly voice sounded out from the woman. Her vacant gaze became monstrous, she wasn't willing. She didn't want them to have a happy ending, nor did she want them to live, she had suffered too many grievances that even with her existence hanging by a thin thread she deliberated on how she would have made them pay, made them wish for death.

Unfortunately, she knew that her wish would not come true, but, it still pleased her to think about so much so, a gentle smile came to her lips and her eyes became placid. It was at this moment, her consciousness faded and a cold corpse was left, a soft smile plastered on its face. It was quite ironic that such a well known woman, younger sister of Zhen Hui, Zhen Qing who was so accomplished and talented died in a little vault without anyone to grieve for her departure.