Chapter 2 – Escape from the Basement

Sang Feiyu held her breath as Tao Ronggui’s hand trembled violently while supporting her.

Both of them instinctively looked upward—no one was in sight. But the next second, the voice of her aunt, Liu Ying, floated down: “Did I drop one of my earrings in the basement?”

Tao Ronggui’s eyes widened in panic. He quickly shoved Sang Feiyu back into the basement. She cooperated, lying on the ground and grabbing the rope beside her to loosely wrap around her hands and feet, pretending to still be tied up.

“Mom, why are you back?” Tao Ronggui forced a grin as he ascended the stairs.

Liu Ying jumped. “What are you doing here?”

He lowered his voice. “Dad and big brother roughed her up earlier today. I thought I’d pretend to be kind and bring her some food to see if she’ll talk.”

“And? What’s the situation?” Liu Ying asked urgently.

“She finally started to talk. I think we might be getting somewhere.”

Liu Ying urged him, “Then work harder and get it done tomorrow!”

“There aren’t many boat tickets left to Hong Kong—we need to buy them early!”

And those antiques, paintings, jewelry, and jade couldn’t be carried easily—they still needed time to convert them into cash and gold bars.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Then Tao Ronggui changed his tone, “Mom, could you not tell Dad and big brother just yet?”

“I’m afraid if it doesn’t work, they’ll be disappointed.”

Liu Ying readily agreed. “Alright. Be gentle with her—girls like sweet talk.”

After watching his mother leave, the heavy weight in Tao Ronggui’s heart eased slightly.

He waited a while longer. Once he was sure no one else was home, he turned around to find Sang Feiyu—

Bang!

He was struck on the head with a rod, collapsing onto the same bloodstained iron bar that had once been used to beat Sang Feiyu.

Worried he might not be fully unconscious, she gave him two more whacks just to be safe.

Afterward, she kicked him twice—no response.

Then, moving with practiced familiarity, she went upstairs.

This Western-style house was where she had lived as a child. Later, her paternal grandparents brought her uncle’s family to Yangcheng and insisted on living with them.

Her grandparents and uncle’s family were rural bumpkins with terrible living habits. Her mother couldn’t bear living under the same roof with them, but since they were her husband’s family, she compromised by purchasing another Western-style house, where their small family of three had lived ever since.

Over the years, her grandparents repeatedly asked her father to transfer the house deed to her uncle, but he always refused.

The deed to this house was still under her father’s name.

Her uncle and cousin had both joined her parents’ Cantonese restaurant business, but neither of them was entrusted with real responsibility.

Her uncle had only completed primary school, and despite working for years, had only earned a minor management position.

Her cousin had a college degree, but her father claimed he was unfit and refused to assign him any core management role.

So the cousin could only trail behind her uncle, acting as his assistant.

Her uncle earned slightly above average; her cousin’s salary was barely that of a temp.

Even though their grandparents often secretly gave them money, her uncle’s family still lived on a tight budget.

Because of that, her grandparents—instigated by her uncle and aunt—frequently caused trouble.

Unfortunately for them, Sang Feiyu’s father didn’t buy any of it. He simply sent the elderly couple back to the countryside for retirement.

He even warned them that if they dared come back causing trouble again, he would cut ties and they wouldn’t get a single cent from him for their retirement.

When the grandparents accused him of being ungrateful, her father counted off the facts on his fingers.

They may have given birth to him, but they never fed him a full meal.

At five, he was already working in the fields. At fifteen, they sent him to work in illegal coal mines, and all his meager wages went straight to them.

They raised him for fifteen years—he supported them for another fifteen.

For over a decade, he gave them a wealthy material life.

So he knew in his heart—he was not ungrateful.

When her uncle realized the grandparents couldn’t change her father’s mind, he started scheming in secret.

He used his status as the “eldest brother” to bully employees, even skimming from their salaries.

When word eventually reached her father, he exploded with rage.

Her uncle and aunt knelt before him, begging for forgiveness.

Her father made her uncle start again from the bottom and docked his wages to repay the wronged workers.

After that, her uncle and aunt no longer dared to act up.

Until last month—her father suddenly died in a car accident.

Her uncle claimed that as a girl, Sang Feiyu couldn’t manage the inheritance and demanded she hand it over for safekeeping.

Her cousin called her useless and insisted he was the rightful heir.

Her aunt cursed her to die a horrible death, and her older and younger cousins openly wished for her demise.

If not for the fact that her father had anticipated something like this and packed up everything in advance, dismissing the staff and shutting down the restaurant, the ownership and inheritance would’ve already been taken by them.

After handling her father’s funeral affairs, she had originally planned to leave for Hong Kong—but the night before her departure, she was kidnapped and imprisoned by her uncle’s family.

Pulling herself from her thoughts, Sang Feiyu dared not exit through the front door. She turned to head toward the backyard.

Just then, a soft, delicate voice floated from the garden. “Brother Ronghua, when you go to the Beautiful Country, can you take me with you?”

Tao Ronghua didn’t agree. “Boat tickets to Hong Kong are over 10,000 now, and the plane tickets to the Beautiful Country? Don’t even ask.”

“Ruan Xi, can’t your family find a way to get more money?”

Sang Feiyu’s eyes instantly narrowed, startled by what she’d just heard.

Ruan Xi was her classmate—her family ran a Xiguan ceramics business and was well-off.

There was no way they couldn’t afford a boat ticket. The only possibility was that her stepmother had been whispering poison into her father’s ear, persuading him to abandon his own daughter.

Their conversation came in bits and pieces—

“Brother Ronghua, if you help me get to Hong Kong, I’ll do anything you want.”

“If you stay with me just for one night… maybe I’ll consider it.”

Then came certain indecent sounds—Sang Feiyu was so shocked her jaw could fit a whole egg. The daughter of a wealthy ceramics merchant was willingly giving herself away just for a boat ticket?

Seeing that they were about to come inside, Sang Feiyu had no choice but to hide.

The room she slipped into happened to be her uncle and aunt’s bedroom.

Her aunt was the kind of person who hated walking even a step more than necessary, so she had insisted on setting their bedroom on the first floor.

Elsewhere, just as Tao Ronghua was indulging in pleasure, he caught a glimpse of the slightly ajar door to his parents’ room.

Pushing aside the woman in his arms, he crept over cautiously—