"Pearls? They must be valuable," Bai Yan sat up with a bounce, urging Bai Qing to go with him. "Let's go take a look."
Bai Qing's lips curved upwards, her smile growing even more brilliant.
Of course, she would accompany him.
Bai Yan eagerly ran towards the reef, looking back to complain about Bai Qing's slowness, and quickly fell far behind.
Bai Qing gazed at Bai Yan's retreating back from afar, a sinister glint in her eyes. She walked leisurely behind Bai Yan, continuously counting.
Although the reef looked close, it took them half an hour to reach it. There were hardly any footprints here, only more crabs and insects than shells on the beach, rustling and making sounds by the rocks.
The waves rolled in from the sea, crashing onto the reef with a "whoosh," instantly soaking Bai Yan's pant legs. He didn't seem to mind, completely focused on sifting through the base of the reef. He found no shells or scallops, but disturbed a swarm of crabs that scattered in all directions.
Bai Qing scoffed derisively from her nose at Bai Yan's foolishness, sitting calmly on the reef.
She squinted at the sky, gray clouds drifting over, swallowing the blue of the sky, and the atmosphere quickly turned somber.
She had checked the weather forecast yesterday, predicting a thunderstorm today, and it was likely to start soon.
"There are no pearls here, you lied to me?" After walking so far and searching for so long, Bai Yan was filled with anger. He yelled at Bai Qing, his voice full of resentment, and reached out to hit her again.
Dark clouds churned in the sky, and the light dimmed, punctuated by rumbling thunder.
"Brother, it's about to rain, we should find a place to shelter," Bai Qing took a small step back from Bai Yan's movement, reminding him.
"Coming out to play and encountering rain, how unlucky!" Bai Yan only then noticed the gloomy sky. He spat, looking around at the bare beach and scattered reefs, unable to find a place to hide from the rain.
"Brother, there's a small cave over there, let's go there to take shelter. This rain should stop soon."
Bai Qing pointed casually towards a hidden cave not far away, which blended almost perfectly with the black rocks, making it hard to spot if one wasn't looking closely.
"Hey! There really is. We need to get there quickly." Seeing that the rain was about to fall, Bai Yan ran towards the small cave in a hurry.
By the time both of them had squeezed into the cave, the downpour began, the dry sand turning a dark brown as it was soaked, and the sea became a murky gray.
"Going out is like suffering. You didn't check the weather before leaving! It would have been better to just watch TV at home."
Bai Yan watched the rain intensify and incessantly complained to Bai Qing. He sat on a rock, suddenly feeling drowsy, and leaned against the cave wall behind him, letting out a big yawn.
Bai Qing, who had been silent, watched Bai Yan's every move. She smirked with success, approached Bai Yan step by step, her voice extremely gentle.
"No, I checked the weather forecast last night. This kind of weather is the most suitable."
Most suitable for sending you to your doom!
Bai Yan was stunned by Bai Qing's sudden assertiveness, then erupted in a torrent of curses.
"You bitch, did you deliberately want me to get rained on?"
Before he could finish speaking, Bai Yan felt a dizzy spell, and Bai Qing seemed to double in his vision. He shook his head hard in shock, but it only made his head ache more.
"Just wanting you to get rained on? That's too childish," Bai Qing couldn't help but laugh out loud. She boldly walked up to Bai Yan, looked down at him, and said fiercely, "What I want is your life!"
"What? You bitch, you actually want to kill me!" Bai Yan stumbled to his feet, leaning on the cave wall, and roared, intending to slap Bai Qing. His eyes turned red. "I'll beat you to death!"
Bai Qing stared at Bai Yan fearlessly, easily dodging his clumsy lunge. She smoothed her long hair and sneered.
"Beat me to death? With you like this now?" Bai Yan glared at Bai Qing with fierce eyes, the humiliation of the past replaying in his mind. She used all her strength and slapped him back, "How is it? Does being drugged feel unpleasant?"
Bai Yan was directly stunned to the ground, a bloody taste rising in his throat. He opened his mouth in pain, and blood gushed from his lips.
"Bitch, bitch... you actually drugged me, it's illegal to kill people!" Bai Yan staggered to his feet, his nostrils tingling, and two lines of blood dripped down. He reached to wipe it, but his palms and the back of his hands were covered in sticky fluid. He panicked and stumbled back to the ground, getting sand all over his hands.
No wonder Bai Qing hadn't eaten anything at first. Those poisonous foods were intended for his death all along!
"Oh, still worried about me? You have time for that, why not worry about yourself," Bai Qing crouched down slowly, watching him like a spectator, her expression vicious as she looked at Bai Yan's face.
"I've had enough of being treated as a breeding tool, beaten and cursed by you! One of us has to die!"
Bai Yan clutched his stomach in pain, his whole body feeling like it was burning, his internal organs aching. Yet, he stared at Bai Qing.
"My family treated you so well, sent you to school! And in the end, you want to kill me? I should have thrown you in the pig cage earlier!"
Seeing Bai Yan struggling to his death, Bai Qing burst into hysterical laughter, her eyes glistening slightly.
"Ask yourself, I deserve better. Do you think you do? I've hated you to the bone for a long time!"
"You woman, always dreaming of becoming a phoenix! Pfft, I should have strangled you long ago!" Bai Yan cursed and pointed at Bai Qing, his expression becoming more contorted as the drug took effect.
"Save your strength, you can only wait to die slowly now. Curse all you want, you'll never see tomorrow's sun again." Bai Qing was indifferent to Bai Yan's curses. She even sat beside him, leisurely waiting for him to die in agony.
The poison, she had specifically bought the most potent rat poison, very suitable for a rat from the gutter like him.
Finally, under Bai Qing's cold gaze, Bai Yan twitched his leg unconsciously, breathing out more than inhaling. He twisted his head with difficulty and muttered curses at Bai Qing.
Bai Qing could easily discern from his lip movements that these were the foul curses Bai Yan always used, calling people "bitch."
"So what if you die with regrets? I won't have to see a scumbag like you anymore." Bai Qing leisurely took out a tissue and kindly wiped Bai Yan's bloody face until it was clean. "For the sake of the past, I'll let you go gracefully."
Bai Yan unwillingly had his eyelids closed by Bai Qing. After a few minutes, he slowly breathed his last, his body lying in the cave as if asleep, countless tiny insects crawling beneath him.