A delicate fragrance lingered in the rear chamber.
Baihuaxiu had just finished dressing, an elegant, understated palace gown falling to her ankles, a book in her hand.
Her eldest son was just over ten, with a fine layer of gray fur on his forehead. He stammered through his recitation, stealing occasional glances at his mother's expression.
Her younger son, about eight or nine, lay sprawled over the desk, playing with a bluestone brush washer. A wave of his little hand sent several drops of clear water splashing toward the hem of Baihuaxiu's gown.
She jerked her legs back, recoiling as though from snakes and scorpions. Her eyes held not a trace of maternal warmth, only impenetrable indifference.
It was disgust for these two "bastard spawn."
Beneath the desk, the toes of her embroidered shoes tapped the bluestone tiles now and then.
Had that Elder Pig delivered the letter yet? Would Father send someone to rescue me?
Boom!
A savage force kicked the stone door to pieces.
Baihuaxiu shuddered, and the book fell from her hand.
Baleful qi churned beyond the doorway. Kui Mulang had not even maintained his handsome human guise. Wearing his eerie blue-green demon face, brows knotted and eyes blazing, he strode into the room through clenched teeth.
Baihuaxiu forced down the violent trembling in her heart and rose.
She tugged at her stiff lips, forcing out the same meek smile she always wore, and stepped forward to greet him:
"My husband, what has troubled you so?"
"Pah!"
Kui Mulang spat out an angry curse.
"You dog-hearted whore! You have no human decency!"
He advanced step by step, his enormous body trapping her entirely in his shadow:
"In the thirteen years since I brought you here, I have never uttered a single harsh word to you! You wear