Chapter 39: Tears

Tonight, He Rou didn’t know how she got through it.

After satisfying Luo Yun’s twisted tastes and washing her own clothes (the proper kind of laundry),

the exhaustion from her body made her doze off in the bathroom.

When she woke up again, it was midnight.

The villa’s heating system was good, but for some out-of-the-way places, especially the servants’ living area, its coverage wasn’t that great.

Because the dirty clothes were so filthy, they couldn’t go in the washing machine—only handwashing would do.

When He Rou woke up, she was leaning against the wall, sitting on a stool.

In the basin in front of her were her own clothes.

She didn’t know what time it was, and she was both cold and sleepy.

The clothes were washed, but she hadn’t hung them up yet.

“Ugh…”

When He Rou tried to stand up, her body was both numb and sore.

Numb from holding the same position for too long, sore from the day’s ordeals.

She didn’t have much time to recover; it was too cold here.

After casually hanging her clothes in some spot, she trotted away from there toward her own room.

Luo Yun hadn’t asked her to sleep over, so this time of night was her own.

“Bam—”

Just two steps in, the pain in her knee made her lose her balance and fall to the floor.

“Ow ow ow! It hurts… it hurts…”

He Rou lay flat on the floor, eyes squeezed shut.

The pain in her body, the cold around her—her tears fell unbidden.

“It hurts… it hurts…”

Even after the pain from the fall subsided, she kept crying.

She seemed to cry even harder than before.

“Wah… it hurts…”

She stayed motionless like that—she didn’t force herself up, didn’t wipe away her tears, didn’t do anything.

But her small body kept trembling.

“Boo hoo…”

He Rou wanted to get up, to go to a warm, soft room and sleep in a soft bed, but for some reason, her body wouldn’t move.

She felt like she had experienced this feeling before.

That time, she had been very, very hungry…

And this time?

‘It hurts so much, it’s so cold, so painful… and so unfair…’

Her uncontrollable sobbing grew more intense, but she still didn’t dare cry out loud.

It was the middle of the night—it wouldn’t be good if she woke Luo Yun.

“Grandma…”

He Rou’s vision was already blurred by tears.

All she could see were distorted shapes of objects.

But among them, she seemed to vaguely make out Grandma’s shape.

She was still so kind, still so… loving.

No matter how hard she tried, she could never get her parents’ love.

As for Luo Yun’s friendship—maybe it had never existed from the start.

Now she was in so much pain, so broken.

She had already endured so much unfairness, so why was it still like this?

This didn’t feel good at all.

He Rou’s immediate thought was to get up and go to sleep.

But… those humiliations and pains in her mind emerged like a movie, all at once.

The distorted scenes before her eyes, colored by her mind and emotions, turned terrifying.

Grandma crushed under rubble, her parents’ indifference to her, Luo Yun’s mother taking such good care of her and how she was burned alive…

They all surfaced one by one…

Luo Yun’s hatred for her, the three years she had worked here, the way she had seen Luo Yun treat her…

Thoughts of death flooded her mind.

But…

In front of her, all the memory scenes—many people slowly faded away, leaving only one woman.

That woman was so beautiful.

Yet at the same time, so ugly.

Luo Yun’s mother…

She was He Rou’s savior, and also the source of Luo Yun’s cruel abuse toward her.

He Rou truly didn’t know what to do.

From the countryside to the city,

she had always been that little girl who liked to catch fish in the river, run through the wheat fields, and fall asleep listening to Grandma’s stories at night.

But now, those were nothing but a pipe dream.

The girl lying on the ground sobbed.

After who knows how long, it seemed she had comforted herself.

In any case, she dragged her tired body back to her feet.

The wound on her knee had opened a little more from the fall.

The red wound wasn’t very conspicuous here.

But the pain was something she could truly feel.

He Rou looked at her leg.

“So tired…”

She wiped away her tears and limped to her room.

From under the bed, she took out the first-aid kit she always used and applied medicine to herself.

…

Tonight’s sleep, for some reason, was very comfortable.

Probably because she had let it all out before bed.

In any case, when He Rou woke up, she felt refreshed—as if all the grievances from the night before had disappeared.

She even felt that she lived for Luo Yun’s sake.

In one night, He Rou’s spirit and thoughts seemed to have undergone a sudden shift.

It was Saturday.

She absolutely couldn’t disturb Luo Yun.

But she still had to make breakfast.

The wound on her leg was slowly healing.

Under the veil, it itched, but because it itched, He Rou felt a little reassured.

She put on her clothes and left the room.

When walking through the hallway, she was always cautious.

It was 7:00 AM now.

Luo Yun’s room was very quiet.

For a professional maid, this time would definitely mean losing her perfect attendance bonus, but her master was the only one, and she still wasn’t awake.

So her next tasks just had to be done quickly.

Make breakfast, clean up, tidy things away…

She kept busy until after nine, but there was still no movement from Luo Yun’s room.

With nothing to do, He Rou sat on the sofa and thought about tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Luo Yun had said she wanted to go on a trip.

She didn’t know the destination.

But as a maid, she had to prepare everything in advance.

After resting a bit, He Rou stood up from the sofa again.

She didn’t have a phone, so she didn’t know exactly what to prepare.

Well… she’d just prepare whatever came to mind.

She thought back to the knowledge she had learned before.

While thinking, He Rou headed toward the storage room.

“Backpack, flashlight, lighter…”

He Rou didn’t know if she was picking the right things, but based on her current understanding, these were the only things she could think of.

However…

While preparing these, there was a constant dripping sound from somewhere, which annoyed her.

After she packed everything she could think of, she lay down on the floor and stared at the ceiling.

The persistent dripping sound irritated her.

So she wanted to find out where the problem was.

Even though she wasn’t a plumber, spotting problems and solving them was part of the job.

But no matter how long she looked, she didn’t see any water falling.

Instead, her cheeks and temples were wet.

Puzzled, she touched her face.

Only then did she realize she had been crying.

He Rou found it strange. Why was she crying?

Wasn’t today just an ordinary day?