I've been bullied and humiliated for thirteen years; when I wake up, I'll be bloodthirsty.

Chapter 5 Kneeling

Sheng Yunzhu's lips moved, her face deathly pale.

Just then, a servant's voice came from the courtyard, "Fifth Young Master!"

Sheng Yunzhu stared intently at Lu Yangyang, then suddenly raised her hand and slapped herself hard across the face. She covered her face, took two steps back, and the moment Fifth Young Master Sheng Junye stepped in, she cried out to Lu Yangyang, "Sister, I know I've wronged you. I'll accept your beatings and scoldings. I just came to deliver something to you. Why are you humiliating me like this?"

Sheng Junye hurriedly pulled Sheng Yunzhu back, glanced at her swollen face, and angrily pointed at Lu Yangyang, shouting, "You ugly monster, how dare you hit my sister?"

"puff--"

Lu Yangyang laughed out loud, rubbed her wrists, and stood up.

He walked towards the two of them.

"What are you doing?" Sheng Junye took a step forward, firmly blocking Sheng Yunzhu behind him.

The boy, who was just over ten years old, was already almost as tall as Sheng Yunzhu, while Lu Yangyang, the malnourished little dwarf, looked even younger than him.

Sheng Junye looked at the thin, dark-skinned girl in front of him, clenched his fists, and felt a mix of nervousness and indescribable complexity.

Lu Yangyang picked up a teacup from the table and smashed it on the ground, shattering it into pieces.

Sheng Junye instinctively opened his arms and tightly protected Sheng Yunzhu.

Lu Yangyang bent down and picked up a piece of porcelain.

Then he grabbed Sheng Junye by the collar, lifted him up, and threw him out the door.

"what--"

"what--"

One was Sheng Junye's cry of pain, and the other was Sheng Yunzhu's scream.

Lu Yangyang grabbed Sheng Yunzhu's chin, and Sheng Yunzhu immediately became so frightened that her legs went weak and she knelt on the ground.

Sheng Junye, who had been thrown outside the door, hurriedly got up and shouted at Lu Yangyang, "What, what are you trying to do?"

Lu Yangyang had already pressed the porcelain shard in her hand against Sheng Yunzhu's face. The shard was pressed against Sheng Yunzhu's fair skin, and it seemed that the slightest movement could cut Sheng Yunzhu's face.

Sheng Yunzhu was so frightened that her eyes widened and tears welled up in them, but she forgot to let them fall for a moment.

"What are you doing? Didn't you say I hit her?" Lu Yangyang said to Sheng Junye, who was getting up and walking over, "Then you two siblings should take a good look. If I, Lu Yangyang, wanted to hit someone, how could a slap be enough? My face was ruined by your own grandmother. If I wanted to hurt you, I would at least have to slash your face to pieces, wouldn't I?"

"You, you stop right now! Otherwise I'll tell my mother and get rid of you..." Sheng Junye was so shocked by Lu Yangyang's fierce demeanor, which didn't seem like she was bluffing at all, that he stopped in his tracks and became somewhat incoherent.

"Hurry up! If you don't kick me out today, I'll slash her face and break your legs! Do you know how I survived when I was thrown into the mountains as a child? There are wolves and wild boars in the mountains, and if you're unlucky, you might even encounter bears. I had to run faster than them and strike harder than they could bite their prey's neck in order to survive."

"And all of this is thanks to your wonderful older sister."

“So…” Lu Yangyang lowered her head, looking into Sheng Yunzhu’s fearful and jealous eyes, and traced the shape of the corner of her eye with a porcelain shard: “So now you know how to beg for forgiveness and admit your mistakes, don’t you dare!”

"what--"

Sheng Yunzhu screamed, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted completely.

Sheng Junye stared intently at Lu Yangyang, swallowing hard.

Lu Yangyang released the unconscious Sheng Yunzhu and fanned herself with her hand: "Disgusting, you peed your pants so easily. Looks like you've really done a lot of bad things!"

Sheng Junye subconsciously looked down at himself, then his gaze fell on the unconscious Sheng Yunzhu. His face flushed red, and he pointed at Lu Yangyang: "You, you..."

“Little stutterer, drag your useless sister away. Remember this: if you ever want to step into my door again, you’ll have to kneel down.”

"Get out of here!"

Sheng Junye was so angry that his teeth chattered. In all his life, he had never suffered such humiliation. If it were before, he would have rushed forward without a care in the world. But at this moment, he looked at Lu Yangyang as if she were a ferocious beast or a demon that had crawled out of hell.

In just a short period of time, less than an hour in total, Lu Yangyang shattered all his previous understanding.

His steps were unsteady, and he didn't even know how he called for someone to take Sheng Yunzhu away, and he followed them out on his own.

After the two left, the surroundings finally quieted down. Lu Yangyang stretched and yawned. After several days of fussing, she was exhausted.

“Aunt, Miss…” a trembling voice sounded from behind Lu Yangyang.

Lu Yangyang turned her head and saw a chubby little girl huddled in the corner. She looked like a plump white steamed bun, round and plump, making everyone who saw her hungry.

Seeing Lu Yangyang's gaze, the little girl tried to shrink her not-so-thin shoulders, her chubby hands gripping her sleeves tightly, and she trembled as she reminded her, "Miss, the Fifth, Fifth Young Master is the most favored in the family, and he has a... a bit of a temper. You've offended him..."

Before she finished speaking, Lu Yangyang knew what she meant.

Remind her that she has messed with someone she shouldn't mess with.

"What's your name? What are you doing here?" Lu Yangyang asked.

The young maid clearly hadn't expected Lu Yangyang to react this way. She paused for a moment before hurriedly replying, "This servant, this servant's name is Yuanxing, and I was sent here to serve you, Miss."

"Yuanxing?" Lu Yangyang looked at the round face, which resembled a white steamed bun, and thought to herself that the name was quite fitting.

She recalled that she didn't seem to have seen such a girl in her dream. After all, the dream was just a fleeting glimpse, and all she had to do was struggle to survive, which had exhausted all her strength. She probably wouldn't have noticed the people around her.

"Who sent you?" Lu Yangyang asked.

Yuanxing knelt down with a thud, making Lu Yangyang feel the floor in front of her shake.

She couldn't help but take another look at Yuanxing. This girl was really fat, probably three times as fat as her.

"Girl, please, please don't send me away. I, I am a servant, I can do the work..." Yuanxing was plump and fair-skinned, but she had a pair of round almond eyes. When she looked at Lu Yangyang pitifully, Lu Yangyang thought of the white and spotted piglets raised by the landlord in the village.

"Get up." Lu Yangyang didn't care who stayed behind. She was holding her breath and followed them back to the capital. In fact, she was just unwilling to accept it. She didn't believe that she would fall into such a state. She, Lu Yangyang, had to walk her own path.

"I'm hungry, take me to find something to eat," Lu Yangyang said.

Yuanxing hurriedly and clumsily got up, saying happily, "Miss, wait here. I'll go to the kitchen to get it for you. All our meals are brought back from the main kitchen. If you want a special meal, just give me some money."

"I don't have any money, so I'll just eat at the main kitchen." Lu Yangyang was penniless, and this was, after all, the Duke's mansion, which was better than what she ate in the village.

"Then please wait here, young lady, I'll be right back." Yuanxing happily took the food box and ran out.

While she was gone, Lu Yangyang took a look around her new house. If nothing unexpected happened, she would be living here for the next few years.

It was a bit out of the way, but the courtyard was quite large and the rooms were spacious. Lu Yangyang took a look around and was very satisfied. The bare courtyard could be tidied up later and some herbs could be planted.

Lu Yangyang was envisioning a wonderful life when she felt even hungrier.

She looked up at the darkening sky and couldn't help but mutter, "Why isn't Yuanxing back yet?"

Just then, Yuanxing came running back with a long face and panting. She took out the food box and opened it with a guilty look on her face: "Miss, they, they said that since you are a cousin, the masters of the mansion should come first. In the end, they only gave me a little bit, a little bit of cornbread and leftovers."

Yuanxing's eyes were red, making her look like a rabbit.

Lu Yangyang looked at the contents of the food box. There were two plates in total. One plate contained several steamed buns, and the other plate contained a mixture of vegetables and bones, which had long since lost their heat.

"Miss, I'm sorry, it's...it's my fault for being incompetent..." Yuanxing was almost crying with grievance.

Lu Yangyang ignored her and instead looked at the food box with a sneer, "A bunch of forgetful good-for-nothings!"

Lu Yangyang was very angry.

Life in the village was very difficult. She was only 3 years old when she was abandoned and had no ability to survive on her own. None of the families in the village were wealthy, so they couldn't possibly take her in. Giving her food from time to time was the best they could do for her.

With nowhere else to go, she had to squeeze into a thatched hut with the supposedly insane old woman at the end of the village to avoid freezing to death.

Later, when she grew a little older, she was able to go hunting with the village hunters and barely managed to exchange the small amount of prey she caught for food.

So let alone this plate of coarse grain buns and leftovers, when she was really hungry, she even used tree bark and cold winter snow water to fill her stomach.

But why should she suffer this injustice now?

Lu Yangyang closed the lid of the food box, picked it up, and walked out. "Lead the way, I'll go find them myself!"

“Miss, why don’t you go to Madam? Madam will definitely stand up for you. There’s still a long road ahead…” Yuanxing caught up with her, offering advice with concern, “After all, you are Madam’s… own flesh and blood.”

She spoke the last four words very softly.

Even though today's family reunion did not follow the original story prepared by the Duke's mansion, that the Duchess gave birth to twins, almost everyone in the mansion knew about it when the matter came to light, and of course they knew Lu Yangyang's true identity.

Lu Yangyang is the legitimate daughter of the eldest branch of the Duke's mansion.

That high and mighty, radiant Sheng Yunzhu was nothing more than the daughter of a servant.

Yuanxing felt that as long as Lu Yangyang went to see Lady Lan, the Duchess, all the problems would be solved.

"No, go to the kitchen!" Lu Yangyang refused her outright.

Yuanxing was confused, but seeing Lu Yangyang's small but intimidating aura, she had no choice but to clumsily follow.

When the two of them went outside the kitchen, they heard lively chatter coming from inside.

An old woman was trying to curry favor with Sheng Yunzhu's maid, Diancui.

"Oh dear, Miss Diancui, you didn't see it. That chubby girl from that country bumpkin's courtyard waited here for almost half an hour, and all she took away were a few cornbread buns and a plate of chicken bones and vegetable scraps that we had left over. She even cried to us, complaining about how her daughter was. It was hilarious! If you ask me, that country girl probably hasn't even eaten cornbread buns before. Look at how dark and thin she is, like a mud monkey reincarnated. It's her good fortune that she can eat the leftovers from our Duke's mansion. Don't you think so?"

Diancui covered her mouth and chuckled twice: "Don't say that. Our young lady is the kindest-hearted one. If she heard this, she would feel sorry for that country girl and go ask if the young lady's bird's nest soup is ready. The young lady has been quite sad these past few days because of that girl's matter. She should be well nourished!"

"Alright, alright, I'll go get it right away. It's the finest bird's nest, only a pearl like our young lady deserves such a fine thing!" The old woman turned and went into the kitchen inside, flattering her.

Outside, Yuanxing's eyes were red with anger. "Miss, they... they've gone too far!"

"That's right! It's gone too far!"

Lu Yangyang shoved the food box into Yuanxing's arms, "Take it, and follow me."

He went straight into the kitchen.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" A janitor saw Lu Yangyang come in and hurriedly called out.

At this hour, it was time for everyone to come to the main kitchen to collect their evening meal. There were still quite a few maids and servants waiting outside the kitchen. When she called out, everyone's eyes fell on Lu Yangyang.

Ignoring everyone's gaze, Lu Yangyang asked Yuanxing, "Who gave you dinner just now?"

Yuanxing's chubby little finger pointed to the old woman who came out carrying the bird's nest soup: "That's her, Granny Yang."

Granny Yang had never met Lu Yangyang before, and the descriptions she had given to Diancui were all hearsay. Now, seeing Lu Yangyang's appearance, she burst out laughing: "It seems I wasn't wrong at all. This country bumpkin is indeed a mud monkey. Look at her, she's even worse than a beggar in the city. So dirty, yet she dares to come to the kitchen. The food here is for the masters of the mansion. This beggar might be carrying some disease. Get out of here quickly, don't make a mess of the place!"

The room erupted in laughter.

Immediately, someone chimed in, "That's right, that's right. I heard that kids in the countryside don't take a bath even once a year. Look at how dark her face is, she probably hasn't washed in ages. It's disgusting."

"Oh dear, what should we do? Our young master is a germaphobe. If he knew that someone like this had come to the kitchen, he probably wouldn't be able to eat."

Hearing everyone say this, Granny Yang became even more smug: "You filthy beggar, get out of here right now!"

Yuanxing's face flushed red with anger at their words. She stood in front of Lu Yangyang, pointing at them with a trembling finger: "You, you all..."

Lu Yangyang lightly pushed aside the round apricots, walked past her, and stopped in front of Granny Yang.

Lu Yangyang suffered from long-term malnutrition and was short, looking like a ten-year-old child. Compared to Granny Yang, who had a thick waist, round hips, and a face full of fat, she was a whole head shorter. When she stood in front of Granny Yang, the other woman looked at her with contempt and disdain.

When Granny Yang saw Lu Yangyang staring at her like a little wolf cub, she panicked for a moment, then scolded, "What? You little brat, you want to hit me? But let me tell you, what I'm holding in my hand is the blood swallow's nest that the Third Miss wanted. It's worth a thousand gold pieces. If you break it, I can't afford to pay for it even if I sell myself."

Lu Yangyang's lips curled up slightly.

Then he raised his hand, grabbed Granny Yang's wrist, and twisted it with a snap.

"Ah!" Granny Yang's fat body twisted into a bizarre posture in an instant, and with a shrill scream, she "thumped" down to her knees.

The bowl of bird's nest soup, which she considered priceless, rolled onto the ground and spilled everywhere.

Lu Yangyang grabbed Granny Yang's wrist with one hand, stepped on her back with the other, and waved to Yuan Xing: "Give me the food box."

Yuanxing was completely stunned. She hurriedly handed the food box to Lu Yangyang and cleverly opened the lid.

They took out the plate of cornbread and leftovers from inside.

Lu Yangyang picked up a cornbread and stuffed it directly into Granny Yang's mouth. "I'm not worthy, am I? If I'm not worthy, then you are. So today you'll eat every last drop of these leftovers from the Duke's mansion that you think you've gotten such good fortune from."

"Waaah," Granny Yang tried to retort, but with her mouth stuffed with steamed buns and tears streaming down her face, she couldn't utter a single word.

Just as she was forced to swallow one, another was shoved in. This time, Granny Yang couldn't even resist; she choked until her eyes rolled back.

"Stop! What are you all doing?"