CHAPTER 850: CHAPTER 850: YU MEI’S END-1

Yu Lin froze. The words hit harder than anything else.

Holea walked past him and added softly, "Mother won’t speak to you anymore. And you won’t get help from any of us. We’re done."

Yu Lin tried to speak, but nothing came out.

"You can keep the mansion," Holea continued. "But don’t be too happy. The summoning circle created by your wife? It’s still there. It’ll stay dormant, until someone walks in again."

Yu Lin’s eyes widened. "No... no, I sold everything else to give Yu Mei a better life... the mansion is all I have left!"

Holea gave him a sharp look. "Then maybe you shouldn’t have played with dark magic in the first place."

She turned to leave, but paused.

"Oh, and one more thing. You asked where Yu Mei is?"

Yu Lin looked at her desperately.

"She’s paying for what she did," Holea said. "Serving her own punishment."

Yu Lin fell to his knees.

"I have nothing..." he whispered. "Nothing left... I won’t be able to live..."

Holea looked down at him one last time.

"You shouldn’t have lived in the first place," she said coldly. "Not with all the wrong you’ve done."

The sun was hot and high in the sky. Yu Mei stood in the middle of a muddy rice field. Her knees were soaked, and her arms were covered in dirt. She had been bending over since morning, planting rice saplings one by one.

Her back ached terribly.

She slowly stood up, trying to stretch a little, but before she could even straighten fully, a loud voice barked behind her.

"Keep working! No breaks!"

Yu Mei jumped in fear and turned around. Two tall bodyguards in black clothes stood a few steps away. Their faces were cold, and they didn’t even blink.

"I was just straightening up," Yu Mei said quickly, forcing a smile. "My back hurts too much. You guys are being too harsh..."

The bodyguards didn’t answer. They just kept staring at her with blank eyes.

Yu Mei clenched her fists. This isn’t fair, she thought. I was once the daughter of the powerful Yu family... even the Ou family treated me like their own! I had everything! Clothes, food, fame, money... Now I’m here, in this place, doing this... this dirty work!

She wanted to scream.

She wanted to cry.

She wanted to run.

But she didn’t. Because she knew... if she tried anything, they would punish her worse.

So, she bent back down and continued planting the rice. Each sapling stabbed the soil like a needle into her heart. The sun burned her skin, sweat dripped from her chin, and her knees hurt so much she wanted to collapse.

By the time she finished planting, it was already 5 p.m.

She took a deep breath, wiping her dirty face with her sleeve.

Just then, the bodyguard spoke again.

"You’re one hour behind. Now go help old Liu push his cart. After that, you need to clean Old Wang’s house."

Yu Mei stared at him in disbelief. Her hands were shaking. Her body felt like it would break apart.

"W-What...?" she whispered.

This... this is worse than a death sentence...

She wanted to run into the forest and disappear forever. Or even end it all. But just as that thought crossed her mind, the bodyguard’s sharp voice cut through the air again.

"If you even think of trying to kill yourself," he said coldly, "we’ll make sure you won’t sleep for even a second."

Yu Mei’s heart stopped. Her whole body shivered.

"I-I’m not resisting," she said quickly, forcing herself to smile again. "I’ve listened to everything you said. I’m doing all the work, right? Why are you still being so cruel to me?"

No reply.

The guards didn’t care.

Gritting her teeth, Yu Mei turned and walked toward old Liu, who was standing beside a heavy wooden cart filled with sacks of rice. He looked at her with tired eyes and pointed ahead.

"The house is two kilometers from here," he said.

Yu Mei’s eyes widened. Two kilometers?! She could barely walk, and now she had to push this heavy thing?

She grabbed the cart’s handle and started pushing. The wheels groaned, and the cart barely moved. She stumbled a little and looked back at the bodyguards.

"C...Can you help me? Just a little?" she asked, almost begging.

One of the guards narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "Ask again, and we’ll add another task."

That was it.

Yu Mei broke down.

Tears streamed down her face. Her shoulders shook as she cried silently. Her heart felt like it had been shattered into pieces.

But she couldn’t stop.

No one would let her rest.

So she cried... and pushed the cart anyway.

When she was done with that, she dragged her feet to old Wang’s home and started cleaning. Her hands were numb. Her legs felt like stone. Her head throbbed.

It was already dark when she returned to the small wooden hut she now called her "home."

She had to cook for herself. The food was tasteless, plain rice with a few bitter vegetables. Before, she wouldn’t have even touched something like this.

But on her second day here, no one gave her food at all. She fainted from hunger... and no one cared.

That day, she realized: ’If I don’t eat, if I don’t work, I’ll die. And no one will save me.’

So now, even if the food was awful, she forced it down. Bite after bite. Swallowing tears with every chew.

She sat quietly after finishing her meal, staring at the wooden walls around her.

Her hands were cut. Her feet were blistered. Her back screamed in pain.

But deep in her heart, one small hope still remained.

’Maybe... just maybe... my real mother will come for me.’

That thought was the only thing that kept her alive.

......

Yu Mei could hardly contain her excitement.

That night, after another long day of work, she sat by the tiny window of her wooden hut, hugging her knees to her chest, staring out at the moonlit field. Her body ached all over.

Her fingers were sore and blistered, her eyes heavy from no sleep the night before.

But none of that mattered.

Because he was coming.

Young Master Meng, the powerful, handsome heir of the Meng family.

The same man who once trusted her when she was in Ou Xiaoxiao’s body.

She had contacted him a few days ago, using the old hidden number she had saved as Ou Xiaoxiao. She told him she had a dangerous secret about the Ou family. Something so big... it could destroy them.

And it worked.

She got a reply.

"He’s coming to see me," she whispered to herself, her lips curling into a proud little smile. "Once he knows the truth, he’ll save me. He’ll get me out of here. I’ll be rich again. Powerful again. And the Ou family will pay for what they did to me."

The next afternoon, she was told to stay near the village gate.

And at last, he arrived.

A black car pulled up near the edge of the village. Out stepped a tall man in a black suit. His expression was cold, but his appearance was sharp and clean.

Yu Mei’s eyes lit up. She ran forward quickly, her worn shoes kicking up dust.

"Woods!" she called out with a smile, as if she had known him all her life. "Woods, it’s me! Tell Young Master Meng I’m here!"

The bodyguard, Woods, stopped and looked at her strangely.

"...Who are you?" he asked, frowning. "And where’s Ou Xiaoxiao?"

Yu Mei’s smile twitched slightly. Her heart skipped a beat.

She quickly adjusted herself. "Ah... she couldn’t come. I’m someone very close to her. I came to deliver her message."

Woods blinked slowly, his frown deepening. "...A message?"

"Yes!" Yu Mei said quickly.

"You must listen carefully. The Ou family’s real daughter isn’t their real daughter at all! She’s been possessed by another soul, someone else is inside her body!"

Woods raised his eyebrows. He didn’t say anything, just stared at her blankly.

"I’m the real Ou Xiaoxiao," Yu Mei said in a firm voice, stepping forward.

"It’s me. I’m stuck in this body. But if you help me switch back, I’ll give you confidential secrets about the Ou family. Everything, documents, names, deals, they’ll all be yours."

There was a pause.

Then Woods let out a tired sigh and pressed the earpiece in his right ear.

"Sir," he said, "there’s no sign of Ou Xiaoxiao. Just a strange girl saying she’s someone else and talking about souls switching bodies. Honestly... she sounds crazy."

Yu Mei gasped. "No, I’m not crazy! I’m telling the truth! If you don’t believe me, you can investigate. Please! Just listen..."

But Woods had already turned away.

He whispered again into the earpiece. "Permission to leave?"

"Yes," came the reply from the other side.

Without another word, Woods gave her one last glance, then walked back to the car.

Yu Mei ran after him. "Wait! I’m Ou Xiaoxiao! You can’t just leave! I’m telling the truth!"