Chapter 114 - 114: Never Learn to Accept Your Fate
Shen Wan raised her hand to hold down the hem of her dress, preventing it from riding up.
Suddenly, a warmth enveloped her shoulders as Zhou Chi’s coat was draped over her. “Hmm, just right.”
The coat was slightly long, reaching down to about one-third of Shen Wan’s thighs. Its edges had two neatly sewn lines, which conveniently intercepted and stabilized the billowing dress.
“Thank you.”
“Is the Shen family treating you poorly?” Zhou Chi suddenly spoke, turning to look at her. His pitch-black pupils were purer than the night sky itself.
“Why are you asking like this?”
“If they were treating you well, you wouldn’t be doing these things.”
Shen Wan paused her steps, turned, and gazed steadily at him. Her eyes seemed perpetually void of too much emotion, calm and indifferent.
Zhou Chi felt somewhat awkward but managed to conjure a reassuring smile tinged with embarrassment. “If you don’t like it, you don’t have to answer.”
Shen Wan withdrew her gaze and looked out at the river. Under the moonlight, ripples danced on the water’s surface, glistening. “This world isn’t just black and white, and the boundaries between right and wrong aren’t as clear-cut as one might imagine. Big fish eat small fish, and small fish eat shrimp. Darwin proposed the theory of evolution more than a hundred years ago. And all the fighting and competition ultimately boil down to surviving better, because in nature, only the fittest can continue to exist.”
Zhou Chi didn’t fully understand. In his view, in today’s society, the rich had their ways of leisure, and the poor had their ways of living; it wasn’t a matter of life and death. If it was just about survival and having enough to eat and wear, it was really quite straightforward.
Seemingly reading the confusion in his eyes, Shen Wan couldn’t help but smile faintly.
Her clear voice, carried by the night wind, floated in the air, giving off a sense of ethereality. “Let me give you an example. If you were born in the royal palace, would you want to be a palace maid or a princess?”
“Well… Isn’t that predetermined from birth? Can you choose?”
“Of course. Because royal blood runs in this person’s veins.”
Emperors had multiple palaces and numerous consorts, with countless beauties and children. Some children were born as favored princes or princesses, while others could only curl up in dark and damp corners, suffering from hunger and cold, like Shen Wan in her previous life.
She had lived through two lifetimes and learned countless things, but she could never accept her fate!
Why didn’t she have the things that Shen Ru and Shen Yan possessed?
In her previous life, Shen Wan could still console herself, thinking that it was because of her shady birth, being the child of a concubine, that she owed Yang Lan and her children. However, these weren’t reasons for them to take her life!
In this life, she wouldn’t let the blood-soaked tragedy happen again. If she wanted something, she would take it, and if there were enemies, she would seek revenge!
No matter how many stumbling blocks were on this path, Shen Wan would personally remove them one by one. If she couldn’t remove them, she would destroy them!
In a moment that might have been an illusion or his eyes playing tricks on him, Zhou Chi seemed to catch a glimpse of intense hatred and ambition surging in those usually placid eyes. But when he tried to look closer, he found nothing there; they were crystal clear, as transparent as the waters of a calm lake.
“Wan Wan…”
“I think I’ve always forgotten to tell you, my birth mother was the third party.” H 11
“Though my last name is Shen, I’m just a hidden illegitimate daughter.”
“I’m sorry.”
She, however, shrugged it off, her hand resting on the railing as she gazed into the distance. The sea breeze swept by, lifting her long hair.
“Paths have their ways, and people have their destinies, all of them are unique. Some things, from the very beginning of life, are destined for battles and struggles, regardless of reasons, have to give it their all…” Just to stay alive.
Zhou Chi fell momentarily speechless, unable to describe the peculiar feeling in his heart..