Chapter 1 Two Stabs
"Rules of The Docks. Do not harm the old, the weak, women, or children."
Mu Qing stood one-ninety and looked down at me.
He used to speak to me on his knees.
This time he stood straight. His presence felt oppressive.
He did not drop his gaze. He kept shifting his weight.
"Xu Xin is my sister. Our relationship could not be made public. Using you as a shield before was all my idea.
"I have wronged you. If the gold is not enough to cool you down, punish me too. I do not care.
"But Xu Xin is innocent. You had no right to sink her into the sea.
"Do you know how close she was to dying when I pulled her out?"
I looked at him in silence and thought of Xu Xin's words.
In my head I saw myself using punishment to keep him in front of me.
Then the picture of him going back and wrapping himself around Xu Xin the moment he was gone.
My voice came out very light, with a faint shake.
"What. You came in this hard to settle the score. You want to beat me to vent for her?"
I smashed the dog collar carved with his name into him.
"One trip out and you turned into a Mad Dog? Forgot who the owner is?"
"I have not forgotten. As long as you do not go too far, I will not stand against you."
Mu Qing tore the Split Agreement to pieces. His face went dark.
"The sinking can be dropped.
"But Xu Xin's Bracelet is gone. You will go into the sea yourself, fish it back, and return it to her. That will count as your sincerity in making amends."
I felt like I was hearing the joke of the century.
"And if I say no?"
His face tightened. He pulled out a dagger and drove it hard into himself.
Blood spilled everywhere.
I let my face go cold.
"You are using your life to threaten me?"
Mu Qing's lips went white. He stabbed himself again and stared straight at me.
He always had a way to get a grip on me.
After my Parents died, he was the one who stayed with me until today.
He seemed sure I would not have the heart to let him die.
But what right did he have to think I would take this kind of threat?
I clenched my palms until they hurt and smiled through my teeth.
"Fine. Die here today. I will throw you out for a Sea Burial!"
The words had barely left my mouth when Mu Qing passed out.
I looked at the face that used to flush red if I came even a little closer.
I remembered how moved he got when he served me, swearing he would never let me down in this life.
Now he had told me I had only been a shield.
I shut my eyes hard.
"Carry him to my private clinic."
I only went over after I finished my work.
The person on the bed was Xu Xin.
"Mu Qing, you are so smart. Now I can enjoy the best care at The Docks. The child will be born safe.
"But you are hurt this badly. Are you really all right? Haigu is too cruel."
Mu Qing looked extremely weak, but he touched Xu Xin's head in a gentle way.
"Do not worry.
"The Docks has shown me kindness. I can die for her. But I have to live for you."
I listened to the two of them talk.
I looked at my phone. Xu Xin had added me and sent screenshots at once.
The screenshots were the good-mornings and good-nights I had sent Mu Qing every day for the past half year.
Mixed in were "I miss you" and "Come back soon."
Mu Qing had not replied once.
【人人都说穆青是你的忠犬,我看你是他的舔狗才对。】
【不过也多亏海姑会调教,穆青饭和爱都做得很好呢。】
She sent a few more photos.
【穆青带给我的嫁衣,听说还是你亲手缝制的,那我就高兴地收下咯。】
That was the one I had sewn for my wedding with Mu Qing.
Who did Xu Xin think she was? Even if I did not want it anymore, she was not fit to sicken me with it.
I called my men and told them to get the clothes back.
I had just given the order when the door in front of me opened.
Mu Qing's eyes met mine.
The next second his thick arm slammed onto the doorframe and blocked me from going in.
His expression looked a little panicked.
I had not said a thing, but he looked worried sick.
"Is that Haigu? Mu Qing, we live under someone else's roof. Just lower your head."
The moment Xu Xin spoke, Mu Qing dropped his arm.
Her gentle face showed. The provocation in her eyes would not stop.
"Did Haigu come to bring me the Bracelet?
"I said it was fine, but Mu Qing insisted on demanding an explanation from you. He even said that even if you meant to kill, he would still get the Bracelet back. I really could not stop him. Sorry for the trouble."
Every line of hers pointed to how much Mu Qing valued her.
Even I had to line up behind that.
Where did she get the guts to provoke me like this?
My scalp went tight. I could not hold the calm look. It collapsed.
"Xu Xin feels unwell because of you. Her staying here to keep the pregnancy is part of your amends too."
I figured he had seen how bad my face looked. He seemed afraid I would strike.
Mu Qing shifted another step and blocked the doorway. His expression looked complicated.
"That Bracelet was braided by her Parents with their own hands. Handmade things carry a lot of feeling. Do you not understand that?"
I smiled.
"I do not understand. Then how much do you understand, handing my Wedding Dress to someone else?"
Mu Qing's face went stiff, a rare look. He lowered his head and said nothing.
Right then my man came in holding the Wedding Dress they had taken back.
"Haigu, we have it. We will iron it and put it away at once."
I waved it off.
"The dead cannot come back. Give it a Sea Burial."
Mu Qing had no reaction to the Wedding Dress.
But his face suddenly tightened. He grabbed my man's throat and stared hard.
"This Gold Bullet. How is it on you?
"If your hands are not clean, I will chop them off for Haigu."
That bullet had been taken out of Mu Qing.
Years ago he took a shot for me. Blood would not stop. He almost died.
I cried outside the ward until I could barely breathe.
When they pushed him out his face was dead white, but he still held up the bullet and smiled.
"Haigu, let me, Mu Qing, cash in a favor this once.
"Will you be with me?"
I said yes.
I had the bullet plated in gold and made into a necklace. I never took it off.
The man being choked looked scared stupid.
"Haigu wanted to throw it away. I saw gold so I asked for it. She gave it to me like it was nothing.
"It did not look like anything important."
"Of course it is important!"
Mu Qing exploded. The veins on his forehead jumped.
Xu Xin had gotten out of bed at some point. She hooked her arm through Mu Qing's and spoke very softly.
"This bullet is your token of love, is it not. Haigu gave it away this easily. She does not take my Bracelet to heart either.
"Haigu really is just like you said, Mu Qing. She jinxed her father and mother to death. Born with a mother and raised with none. A cold-blooded bitch."
I felt the blood in my body freeze.
I met Xu Xin's calm smile.
My eyes went scarlet. I let out a "ha," slapped Mu Qing's face aside, and pinched Xu Xin's chin with the other hand.
Before either of them could react.
I had already drawn a knife and cut a slit across Xu Xin's mouth.
Blood ran down my hand.
Xu Xin's scream was especially sharp.
"Haigu!"
Mu Qing clenched his teeth, pulled a gun, and aimed it at me.
"Xu Xin is only blunt. She did not mean anything else.
"But you keep breaking The Docks Rules again and again. Are you not afraid everyone will go cold?"
Blunt?
Did not mean anything else?
I looked at him and tugged the corner of my mouth in a sarcastic pull.
Back then he had been proving himself to me and struck blindly. He killed the wrong person.
To protect him I knelt in public, slapped my own face, and cursed myself as a little beast who jinxed her father and mother to death.
For ten full days. By the time I went home my eyes were already empty.
Mu Qing held me and cried hard, staying by the bed day and night to soothe me.
"Their matter has nothing to do with you. You are not unlucky at all!
"You are the light of my life. You are the most beautiful thing in the world."
From then on, the words "jinxed to death" were his minefield.
Whoever brought them up ended up dead or hurt.