My Promotion Story Through Time Travel

Chapter 98 The Rabbit Grieves for the Fox

As dusk approached, and thinking about having to carry bricks again tomorrow, Lin Ziping flipped directly to the last page.

It only said one sentence: June 28th, I'm going to kill them!

This...this is Dai Qin?!

After many years, Lin Ziping suddenly felt the same way he used to stay up all night reading novels. He finished reading all the notebooks in one go, rubbed his temples, and slowly put the notebooks down.

Just then, the sound of the night watchman's drum came from the street, indicating that it was midnight. Having come to this era, Lin Ziping had developed the good habit of going to bed early and getting up early, but after reading the journals, he felt a sense of loss. At first, he had indeed only regarded these seven journals as a story and was mentally prepared that what was recorded inside might be a tragedy, but after reading them, he could not let go of the feeling for a long time.

The last book was indeed written by Dai Qin. The story originated from the protagonist of the first six books—Dai Yining, who was the girl Dai Qin had mentioned who disguised herself as a man to do business. She was the daughter of the wealthy Dai family in Zezhou. She was intelligent from a young age. Although she did not go to school, her twin brother Dai Yiqing loved this sister very much. He not only taught Dai Yining everything he had learned in the academy, but also switched identities with her so that she could go to school.

In the eighth year of Shunhua, Dai Yiqing passed the examination in Zezhou Prefecture. In the ninth year of Shunhua, Dai Yiqing went out to study. At first, they still corresponded, but later he never returned and completely lost contact with his family. His family searched for him many times without success. As a result, Dai's father and mother were deeply affected and both fell ill. The family business also plummeted.

Although Dai Yining had once gone out as Dai Yiqing, she rarely appeared in public as a woman due to her mother's strict upbringing. So, after Dai Yiqing disappeared and the family fell into decline, Dai Yining disguised herself as a man and took over the struggling business of the Dai family as the second young master. After two years of hard work, the Dai family's business not only recovered but also grew bigger and bigger, and the second young master of the Dai family became famous throughout Zezhou City.

Dai Yining and Dai Qin met at Chunhua Tower. At that time, Dai Qin was not yet called Dai Qin. Chunhua Tower named her Qin'er. After she was sold into Chunhua Tower, although her appearance was not outstanding, she was diligent and eager to learn, and gradually stood out among the crowd.

Despite being trapped in the mire of Chunhua Tower, it did not prevent the struggle between people. The managers of Chunhua Tower even used life and death as bait to indulge and encourage this struggle, and imperceptibly, some people would do anything to survive.

Qin'er's outstanding qualities brought her trouble, and she was saved by Dai Yining after narrowly escaping death. The two became friends and she refused Dai Yining's offer to redeem her from her servitude. She relied on herself to climb the social ladder and gradually became the confidante of the manager of Chunhua Tower in Zezhou.

Later, Dai Yining told her about her cross-dressing as a man and named her Dai Qin, teaching her to read and write. She not only helped Dai Yining cover up her cross-dressing, but also inquired in various ways to find ways for Dai Yining to impersonate a man.

Life was alright, but accidents always happen unexpectedly. Although the two tried their best to cover it up, for some reason, the fact that Dai Yining was disguised as a man still got out. People who had cooperated with the Dai family in the early stages used this as an excuse to not only withdraw from their cooperation with the Dai family, but also joined forces to try to devour and seize the Dai family's business.

Having no other choice, Dai Yining had to arrange a marriage with the Miao family, who had offered assistance to the Dai family at this time. In order to protect the Dai family, she chose to marry the least prominent third son of the Miao family. This was originally a temporary measure, but in the process of getting along with the third son of the Miao family, Dai Yining gradually became attracted to him and fell in love with him.

There's nothing inherently wrong with this; romantic love between men and women is a natural human emotion. However, the root of it all lies in a scheme.

After Dai Yining became pregnant, she handed over a portion of her business to the Third Young Master Miao. But how could a wolf be satisfied with just a piece of meat? When Dai Yining gave birth, the Miao family and the Third Young Master Miao bared their fangs, intending to burn everyone in the Dai family alive.

Dai Yining did not know how she escaped from the fire, but her parents died in the fire. After asking someone to send her child to Dai Qin, she went back to take care of her parents' funeral without hesitation. After the funeral, she sold all of the Dai family's property.

Not long after, the Miao family's house caught fire for unknown reasons, and there were no survivors. Dai Yining also disappeared after that.

Dai Qin secretly raised Dai Yining's child and named him Dai Xincheng. Later, when the manager of Chunhualou discovered this, he took the child and fled from Chunhualou, hiding in various places until he settled in Pingding Village in the twentieth year of Shunhua.

The person who brought Dai Xincheng to Dai Qin was Hu Xinhua. Hu Xinhua was Dai Yining's servant when she disguised herself as a man to go out to do business. He helped Dai Yining with her daily chores. Dai Qin had seen Hu Xinhua a few times when Dai Yining came to Chunhua Tower to find Dai Qin.

When Hu Xinhua brought the child to Dai Qin, Dai Qin was still wary and initially wanted Hu Xinhua to leave. However, during the time Dai Qin had been secretly raising Dai Xincheng, Hu Xinhua had helped her a lot, even helping her escape from Chunhua Tower. Considering that she was raising the child alone, and that people would inevitably gossip, Dai Qin ultimately decided to let Hu Xinhua stay.

Over the years, Hu Xinhua gained Dai Qin's trust, and there was even an unspoken affection between them. Therefore, when others thought the three of them were a family, Dai Qin did not object.

But things don't always stay the same. Besides, Hu Xinhua was never a good person to begin with. Gradually, Hu Xinhua revealed his true colors, interrogating Dai Qin about the whereabouts of the Dai family's assets. During the argument, he broke her leg and repeatedly abused her until her leg could never heal.

Seeing that Dai Qin hadn't said anything, Xu Shi realized that he might genuinely be unaware of the situation. Hu Xinhua then began cultivating his persona, playing the role of a devoted husband to outsiders while threatening Dai Xincheng's life to his family. Dai Qin was powerless to resist and could only silently endure it.

It wasn't until Dai Qin saw Hu Xinhua reach out to Dai Xincheng in the dark room, and heard Hu Xinhua boasting about how he had ruined the once-famous second young master of the Dai family in Zezhou, causing his family to be destroyed and his people to die, how he had instigated the Miao family to seize the Dai family's property, and how he had manipulated Qin'er, the girl from Chunhua Tower in Zezhou, while Dai Xincheng flattered him and even felt jealous of Hu Xinhua's deep affection for Dai Qin, hoping to take Dai Qin's place.

The journal entry stopped abruptly after June 28th. If Hu Xinhua made Dai Qin hate him, then Dai Xincheng's words drove Dai Qin completely mad. On June 28th, she decided to kill them. On August 5th, Dai Qin killed them. Yes, she killed them: Hu Xinhua, Xincheng, and herself.

The seven notebooks are the lives of two women. The Hu family's threshold was very high, tripping her up twice, but it also tripped up Dai Qin's entire life. The seven notebooks are the joys and sorrows of a group of people, but there are only a few words about Dai Xincheng. From childhood, she was always hiding and living in fear. She finally settled down, but the good days didn't last long. It was the quarrels between the people she regarded as her relatives, her father breaking her mother's legs, and the covetousness of the person she regarded as her father. A threshold trapped Dai Xincheng for more than ten years.

For more than a month, Lin Ziping didn't know how Dai Qin planned it, whether he thought of Dai Yining along the way, whether he hesitated when he saw Dai Xincheng, or why Dai Xincheng helped Dai Qin buy arsenic... Now all of these things are buried under the yellow earth of the cemetery next to the mortuary with the departure of Dai Qin and Dai Xincheng.

Watching Dai Yining's handwriting change from childish to firm and powerful, Lin Ziping thought, "She's intelligent and decisive, so why did she end up like that?" Seeing her disguised as a man, Lin Ziping couldn't help but feel a sense of shared fate. If he were exposed one day, would he suffer the same fate? He was even worse off than Dai Yining; she had the Dai family, while he had nothing. Lin Ziping felt anxious. What should he do if that day ever came?