Forgotten Legend of the Bloodied Flower

*Warning: the previous chapter, this chapter, and the next chapter are not suitable for children below the age of 13. Also, Nan Xin's actions will make many of you uncomfortable, so you can skip the chapter if you don't really want to know. It's another action that challenges one's bottom line and morality (>.<). Please don't think of it as something normal people will do. This story is completely fiction. Readers' discretion is necessary.*

Back then, she wanted to teach her daughter that one had to be ready to do anything in this harsh world.

Even if it might sound cruel or anything, they had to be able to do it if it was the only price for their survival.

"Yes, do you have an idea?"

"Mhm."

Nan Xin turned to look at her mother and smiled sweetly. Her face still looked quite horrible because of the scars, but dimples formed on her cheek when she was smiling. It made her look like a sweet girl.

In this dark and damp room, her appearance seemed to be inconsistent with her surrounding. The place looked gloomy, yet she was still smiling and laughing as if there was nothing wrong.

She looked like she was still the young miss.

And not the prisoner who was about to be sentenced.

"Let's get out of here, Mother."

"How?" Concubine Mei's eyes shone.

"It's really easy."

Nan Xin walked towards the nearby table. There was a candle stick with the candle stationed there. She silently removed the candle and looked at the sharp end of the candle stick. It was made to be sharp in order to make sure that the candle would be able to hold onto the stick.

This was a rather old design, but Nan Shu Cheng had one. The reason was simply because he found the design rather interesting, even though it was useless. However, Nan Xin picked it up for another reason.

This was the old room that hadn't been used for so many years. When Nan Xin saw that candlestick, she knew that the guards must be using it for convenience's sake because they were too lazy to find others from other residences.

Anyway, they would only be staying in this room for one night.

No one cared about them.

Nan Xin looked at the swaying fire on the candlestick in front of her as her smile turned wider, yet her eyes turned colder.

"Nan Xin?" Concubine Mei was confused when she saw her daughter walk toward the table and hold the stick.

Thunk!

The candle in Nan Xin's hand was dropped to the ground. With the building made out of wood, it easily caught fire. She looked at the fire with a smiling face as if it was not dangerous at all and instead something fun for children.

"KYaaaaaaaaaaaa! Fire!" Concubine Mei screamed in panic.

She looked at her daughter with reproach because she felt that Nan Xin was going crazy. But with the sudden change of treatment that occurred for the past few days, who among them could actually stay sane?

However, she didn't want to die yet.

Nan Xin watched as her mother rushed over, trying to stop the fire from spreading. She moved to the side, watching everything calmly. Her hand picked up the candlestick and there was a ruthless and determined glint within her eyes.

When her mother was close, she plunged the candle stick in her hand toward her mother's neck.

Stab!

"Nan Xin, you…." Concubine Mei's eyes widened in disbelief when she was about to ask about the fire.

She was about to ask when she saw her daughter stabbing the candlestick toward her neck, preventing her from screaming and yelling any longer.

Blood splattered on the ground.

Nan Xin's eyes were cold as she watched her own mother fall to the ground while the fire spread. She could hear the people outside were frantically trying to stop the fire by fetching water.

Her hands were trembling because of the action that she had done, but she herself had already told herself that this was the only possible for her to escape from this place. There was no other option.

If she wanted to survive, she had to be ready to do anything.

That was what her mother always told her.

Nan Xin knew that if she stayed here any longer, she would end up either being killed, exiled, or even sold to others. She didn't want to experience any of that, so she had to escape from here.

And Nan Family's Residence was a place she was familiar with.

There were some routes that these guards wouldn't know, so Nan Xin knew that she could only take her action from here.

The fire spread.

And her mother was still looking at her with disbelief in her eyes.

However, she didn't care and slowly walked to the side of the door, waiting for it to open. The guards would never let them die without having instruction from the higher-ups, so they will definitely open the door.

The temperature in the room had risen, but Nan Xin's eyes were terrifyingly cold. In order to survive, this was the only method.

Her trembling hands slowly stopped.

She had calmed herself down.

It was unknown whether the cold-blood temperament could be inherited because her own grandfather and half siblings were all cold-blooded in the face of death. They had killed so many people, but that naturally didn't include their relatives.

After all, they still have their bottom line.

But Nan Xin seemed to choose to break this so called bottom line morality if it meant that she could survive and live well.

Not far from her, Concubine Mei was still lying on the ground as blood splattered on the ground. Even until the very end, she could not believe that the very person who would put her in this situation would be her own daughter.

Was it wrong for her to teach her daughter so?

In order to survive, one had to be ready to do anything.

That was the sentence that Concubine Mei relied on in order to be able to survive, as it had been taught to her by her mother. Being born as a woman with a low position and a family that only wanted to squeeze her value, Concubine Mei had always been ready to do anything in order to make sure that she would be able to survive.

She wanted to live well.

So she knew that she was never an innocent woman.

A lot of people had died at her hands. During the time she competed with her sisters in order to win their parent's affection and many others, how many servants had died in her hands?

Concubine Mei couldn't count it.

And when she was in Nan Shu Cheng's Residence, countless servants died during her confrontation with Qu Fei Jiao.

She wanted to live.

So the only way possible was by letting these servants die. That way, they could take the blame while she was still 'clean.'

Her hands had never been clean.

Too many people's blood had been spilled by her during the battle with Qu Fei Jiao. She knew that there would be time for her to die and it might not even be a normal death considering how many people she had killed in order to survive.

But not even in the wildest dream would Concubine Mei think that her own daughter didn't have any bottom line when she did things.

Even if Nan Xin faced her closest relative, she had no qualms about raising her hand.

What a daughter she had raised.

Concubine Mei felt that she had made the biggest mistake in her life. For the sake of living, Nan Xin would not even hesitate to kill the very person who taught her everything.

At this moment, Concubine Mei felt that she should have killed Nan Xin earlier.

That way, she would never end up in this situation.

Concubine Mei silently cursed inside her heart as she closed her eyes while her mouth uttered gargle sound.

'Nan Xin, I curse you to live a miserable life without anyone to rely on with all my blood and my entire life.'

Bang!

The door was forced open and the servants rushed inside to extinguish the fire. When they saw Concubine Mei in dying condition on the ground, they screamed for help.

It was chaotic.

Nan Xin watched the chaos and silently slipped out by taking one of the baskets that the servant left when they bent over to look at Concubine Mei. With the basket in hand, she looked like one of the few maidservants who helped out with the fire.

As she headed out, Nan Xin rushed out of her quarter and headed to the back. She was very familiar with this route because she had gone out a few times in the past with her mother in order to buy some supplies. Since Madam Qu didn't give them enough, they often had to scramble on their own.

This route proved to be useful.