Chapter 7: Waiting for the Opportunity

Jumping off the carriage, fighting for her life, or screaming for help—Ding Xuewei did none of that. She simply moved through Auntie Zhang's vigilance, obediently following after arriving at the destination as they crossed the spacious front courtyard, bypassed the second courtyard filled with cries of begging, help, and the sound of whipping, passed through the third courtyard where young girls danced gracefully and posed for the instructors, and finally stepped into the quiet and tranquil fourth courtyard.

After Auntie Zhang entered the house, Ding Xuewei looked around brazenly, making no effort to restrain herself even when meeting the warning glares of the coach instructors.

When a young, voluptuous madam, dressed flamboyantly with a face caked in thick powder, swayed her snake-like waist out to inspect the newcomers, Ding Xuewei deliberately lifted her chin with pride.

"These two?"

The madam's enchanting gaze fell upon the Ding Xuewei sisters, her tone sickeningly sweet.

Auntie Zhang, who had maintained such a dignified posture in front of children like Ding Xuewei, had no dignity left at all when facing a madam twenty years her junior; her body, which had straightened upon entering the gates, curved even more deeply as the young madam asked her question.

"These two. The elder one isn't as pretty as the younger one, but she has the advantage of being clever and bright."

The madam's gaze lingered on Ding Xuewei's face for a minute before dropping down to rest on the back of Pandi's head.

At this moment, Pandi was clutching Ding Xuewei tightly in fear, her entire face buried against Ding Xuewei's chest.

Not wanting Pandi to suffer, she patted Pandi's shoulder soothingly: "Don't be afraid, this 'Beautiful Mother' doesn't look like she eats people."

Ding Xuewei took the initiative to make her sister turn her head to show her to the woman, and the madam's interest in her, which had originally been a mere one percent, immediately rose to two percent.

"Indeed, a clever one."

The madam seemed to quite like clever girls; after glancing at Pandi twice, she turned her gaze away.

The scenes that followed were not so pleasant. The obedient ones, out of fear, did not dare to lift their heads and inevitably received a few shouts; the disobedient ones, who refused to lift their heads to show themselves, were forcibly controlled by the instructors on the side, who aggressively hoisted their chins up.

Seeing how the girls in front were treated, the ones behind fared much better. However, out of the eleven girls who entered, including the Ding Xuewei sisters, only four were kept.

Under Auntie Zhang's "special care" of saying, *'This girl needs extra attention,'* the madam gave a single command: "Send those two to the second courtyard." The sisters were sent to the middle side-room of the western wing in the second courtyard.

Before entering the room, she handed over her bundle without struggling or refusing.

When the door creaked shut and was locked, the entire space fell into darkness. Pandi, who had been tense for a long time, could no longer suppress her emotions.

"Big sister~"

Only she knew how much regret filled Pandi's heart at this moment.

What would happen to children who were kidnapped—she had heard so much from Third Aunt!

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

In Pandi's mind, if she hadn't slipped, she and her big sister wouldn't have been washed away by the water, and naturally, they wouldn't have been abducted. Ding Xuewei, however, was thinking that since they had already experienced being kidnapped once today, once they escaped, there likely wouldn't be a second time waiting for them.

"Don't cry!" Holding Pandi, she leaned her mouth close to her ear and whispered, "Big sister has a way to escape."

Pandi hiccuped and looked up, her eyes full of disbelief.

They were locked up; how could they escape?

"Trust me."

Patting Pandi lightly, Ding Xuewei spoke with great certainty.

For some reason, looking at her so confident big sister, Pandi's heart actually wavered.

Seeing that she had stopped crying, Ding Xuewei pulled her toward the bed against the wall.

The room was not large, less than ten square meters. Aside from a small wooden bed measuring two meters long and one point two meters wide with a bundle of ragged bedding thrown on it, there was only a small table and bench set by the window.

Although the room had windows, they were nailed shut; forget opening them, one couldn't even get a breath of fresh air through them!

Tossing the ragged bedding from the bed onto the floor, Ding Xuewei lay down on the bed with Pandi.

"Sleep for a bit."

In this situation, how could Pandi sleep!

Patting her shoulder, the eyes-closed Ding Xuewei whispered, "We need to rest well before we run."

As if suddenly remembering something, the originally lying-flat Ding Xuewei moved around, fumbling for a while before pulling out the peanut candy she had hidden in her clothes last night.

It was the ninth month of the lunar calendar, a time that should have been for the "Autumn Tiger" harvest sun, but due to continuous heavy rain and cloudy days, the temperature had dropped, making it damp and cold. Even wearing warm clothes and a raincoat, one wouldn't feel hot. But while she wasn't hot and wasn't sweating, her outer coat was soaking wet.

When the candy pieces were pulled out, they were not only softened but also covered in a layer of fuzz from her thermal clothing.

In such circumstances, having something to eat was already quite good; Ding Xuewei shared the candy with Pandi without any disdain.

"Eat quickly."

Pandi: "..."

Blinking her innocent, large eyes, her face said, *I can't eat it.*

Ding Xuewei, who stuffed a piece of candy into her own mouth, mumbled, "If we don't have strength, we won't be able to run. If we get caught then, we'll really suffer!"

It was at this exact moment that a shrill cry of pain came from the adjacent room, followed immediately by the sound of whipping and coarse cursing.

Pandi, who just a second ago had believed in her big sister, was now completely unable to think.

From the man's words, it could be heard that the girl next door had been overconfident and tried to run away, only to fail and be punished.

Forcefully stuffing the candy into Pandi's mouth, Ding Xuewei chewed while adjusting her sleeping position. Amidst the woman's pleas and the man's curses, she murmured softly: "Before you are certain, do not make decisions recklessly. If today's suffering is unavoidable, endure it well and remember it well. When the day comes that you can fight back, and you are sure you can, then return everything you suffered today."

It wasn't that Ding Xuewei wanted to teach her to be ruthless, but rather that after experiencing today's ordeal, she was somewhat afraid—afraid that the changes in the plot caused by her arrival might affect this child, ultimately resulting in an ending where she lived while the child died!

Ding Xuewei's words were meant to tell Pandi to prioritize staying alive no matter what happened, but to the child, it sounded like she only wanted to run away if she had enough certainty.

Not wanting to be a burden, Pandi began to eat the candy, and after finishing it, she fell into a heavy, oblivious sleep.

Having been exhausted all day and having taken cold medicine three times, Ding Xuewei actually really wanted to sleep, but she didn't dare. Letting go of the sleeping Pandi, she crawled to the door and began searching.

Unfortunately, she looked up and down but simply could not find a single crack through which she could see the outside!

*

The rain these past few days seemed to follow a pattern: it would start sparsely every evening and stop before dawn the next day. Today, before being abducted, she had even prayed earnestly, hoping it wouldn't rain tonight.

Now, she began to worry—worrying that it wouldn't rain tonight.

The people in this courtyard had no humanity, but the surrounding houses were densely packed. She wanted to escape, but even if she wanted to, she didn't dare play with people's lives recklessly.

If it rained at night, she would start a fire. If it didn't, she would make some noise to attract people to open the door, and then seize the opportunity to move.

Compared to making noise to attract people, Ding Xuewei still preferred the idea of starting a fire.

(End of Chapter)