The night was exceptionally silent within the Sun Estate, to which Sun Mingai had been long accustomed. Ever since the old man died and Sun Feiyan moved out of the mansion, she'd dismissed some servants; keeping only three maids and a driver on her call.
The dark spacious room at the Sun Estate was her bedroom. As she stepped dizzily inside, she flopped down on the soft bed with a light thud. She wondered how long she should endure her miserable life.
It seemed that, from the start, all routes would lead to her downfall. Her eyes were stung by tears. How did she end up like this anyway? She balled her hands into fists. She was powerless to do anything to change her fate now. This was way worse than being buried six feet under like her siblings, she chuckled to herself.
Her eyes landed on an old photo sitting on top of the bedside table. A photo of her and Sun Jinxiu a few months before an accident claimed his life. Shutting her eyes close, she cursed her fate.
Maybe if she hadn't lost him, she would have a different end. Looking at his smile, she felt it once more. The aching, crushing, and burning agony that he'd left her alone. If he and Shen Yi hadn't gone to visit her sister, she wouldn't lose him.
How could he just walk away from her life just like that? How could he just leave her to live in agony for the rest of her life?
The look in her eyes was the only indication of her soul-clenching agony as her heart sought to tear through her chest.
For the past year, she'd been like this. Waking everyday past lunch with a headache, drowning herself in alcohol throughout the day before retiring for the night, solemnly sitting on her bed staring at the photo again.
She wasn't expecting people to visit her or to check after her. After all, the Sun family was no more; and their influence had been long gone after Lu Xinyi acquired the company stealthily.
This was why she hadn't expected Feng Zexian's sudden visit after months of not hearing anything from the man.
Feng Zexian stormed inside the Sun Estate and found her at the balcony drinking again.
"So the Great Sun Mingai was reduced to an alcoholic woman? Did your niece really beat you for good?" He sneered at her.
Sun Mingai took a side glance at him and ignored his words.
"And here I thought Li Yuren had managed to kill you. Didn't know how you can escape from him for too long," she taunted back.
"Why did you let Qianyu die? If it wasn't for Zou Yin, my daughter wouldn't have been killed by Shen Yi?" Feng Zexian was seething in anger.
He wasn't aware that his daughter collaborated with Zou Yin to abduct Lu Xinyi together with Li Qiao and Sun Feiyan. However, the plan failed; and Shen Yi once again killed one of his offspring.
Sun Mingai turned to face him, half of her face covered by shadows.
"Isn't Zou Yin your responsibility? Zou Yin brought Qianyu into this mess! Now that Li Yuren has caught him, you won't even extend a hand to help him?"
The laughter from Sun Mingai that followed somewhat caught Feng Zexian off-guard. He didn't find anything amusing for her to act like this. His eyes sharpened as he regarded this mad woman.
"Why would I care about him? He was the one who'd betrayed me by embezzling money from our company while he was under my directives. Karma has bitten him too fast," Sun Mingai stated as she made her way back inside the living quarters and poured another glass of wine for herself.
Zou Yin was just a kid she'd met after a fateful encounter overseas. The man had insisted on being in her company and did the dirty works for her in return. Sun Mingai had never acknowledged him as her child at all.
A child? She, a mother? Sun Mingai had lost all her chances of love and family when she lost Shen Jinxiu.
The grim look on Feng Zexian's face worsened. He shouldn't have agreed to cooperate with this woman at all.
"As for your daughter's death, there's no one to blame but herself. Who told her that it would be easy to subdue a man like Shen Yi? Why blame me for her ignorance? Such a pretty face with an empty head. Don't go around blaming people for her stupidity," she snapped back.
Feng Zexian couldn't control his rage anymore and strode towards Sun Mingai, squeezing her throat painfully. The glass on her hand fell down on the marble floor and broke at the impact.
"You dare to insult my daughter in front of me? Sun Mingai, you are really one of a kind!" He growled right on her face, but she wasn't perturbed with his actions at all. She didn't even flinch as he pinned her to the wall behind her.
The hold on her neck tightened, but Sun Mingai's mocking grin never faltered. She looked at Feng Zexian with eyes filled with ridicule.
"You want to kill me?" she asked amusedly. She had nothing to lose anymore except for her pathetic life. Dying by Feng Zexian's hand didn't sound so bad for her at all. "Please do so. I'll be waiting for you in hell if such a thing exists in the afterlife." She laughed maniacally.
The old man looked at him confusedly, thinking that she was really losing her mind like everyone claimed.
"You are crazy." He pushed her away from him and stepped back. Seeing her like this, it must be she'd already given up in taking revenge on Lu Xinyi and just wasting her time in this deserted place.
It was really stupidity on his part to visit this woman. What was he expecting from her anyway? Sun Mingai had never been stable in the first place. She couldn't even control her Zou Yin. This woman had lost everything and wasn't afraid of death anymore. If he would be bold to say, it must be what she'd been yearning to happen.
"Do you know why you could never win against Li Yuren, much more against Shen Yi?" she taunted. Sun Mingai didn't let him respond to her question and continued, "It's because they have someone to protect while you haven't. A person who has someone to look after would jump forward even in the pits of hell just to save that person. You and your children will never understand any of these." She chuckled to herself before staggering back at the side table where her alcohol was.
"And you know these because?" It was Feng Zexian's turn to mock her. For someone who'd been scheming after her sisters, Sun Mingai was such a hypocrite in his opinion.
Sun Mingai shrugged and down her drink in one go before laughing right on his face. He would never understand… he'd never understand the pain of being a failure like her.