Pampered By All In Different Planes

Su Family.

Su Mingzhu had not slept all night.

She lay staring at the ceiling, her mind filled with the conversations between her father and Su Yaozu that day.

Numerous thoughts had raced through her mind, each one contemplating how to break free from her predicament.

But in the end, she realized she was completely out of options! Had she been kinder to Su Zhiruan earlier, maybe it would have helped, or if she had seen through her parents' true nature sooner, she might not have been so constrained.

She was filled with regret.

It was only now that Su Mingzhu realized she had been deceiving herself all these years.

In a family with three children, most people, including herself, naturally assumed that the middle daughter was the least favored. But it was the least favored Su Zhiruan who saw through their parents, cut ties cleanly, and knew to fend for herself. On the other hand, Su Yaozu, born after two daughters, obviously had a special status in the Su Family.

Yet, she had deluded herself into thinking she was more favored than Su Zhiruan, and together with Su Yaozu, they were the beloved children. But when disaster struck, she naturally became the sacrificial pawn to protect Su Yaozu.

She looked out the window, trying to open it, but it was futile; the window was sealed shut by the snow, blocking out the sunlight. Her phone had been smashed by her father, and Su Mingzhu didn't even know the time.

She stayed in the darkness, waiting for the impending doom that dawn would bring.

*

When Su Zhiruan woke up and reviewed the surveillance footage, she saw Su Yaozu sneaking into Su Mingzhu's room that morning and then assaulting her.

Even Su Zhiruan rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was still half asleep to see such a shocking scene.

Su Mingzhu hadn't eaten the day before and was now weak. Su Yaozu entered in the dark, covering her mouth, "Don't scream, even if you do, it's useless. If you wake Dad up, it won't just be me then."

"Su Yaozu! I'm your sister!" Su Mingzhu's eyes widened with rage as she struggled, "What are you doing?!"

"Since you have to go out to find food with mom today anyway, instead of letting those guys outside take advantage, it might as well be me." With a sleazy expression, Su Yaozu tore open Su Mingzhu's clothes, "Our lives are over anyway, who cares about familial relations."

What followed was a typical crime scene.

Su Zhiruan's mouth twitched as she moved the timeline backwards, after Su Yaozu finished, her father also sneaked into her room and repeated the act.

During the day, Su's mother, with a heart full of jealousy, dragged Su Mingzhu out to look for supplies.

With things having reached this point, Su Zhiruan turned off the surveillance.

In the original plot, they also forced the original protagonist to go out and find supplies, only now the person had changed to Su Mingzhu.

She just needed the right opportunity to completely break this family apart.

As usual, she put down her phone and got up to fold the blankets.

As she stepped out of her room, Wen Qingyu also came out of his.

"Ruanruan, good morning." He approached, "It's very cold today."

"Good morning," Su Zhiruan replied, tightening her clothes and glancing at the thermometer on the wall with a long sigh, "It's gotten colder."

The indoor temperature had reached a horrific minus forty-five degrees!

What did that number represent?

Possibly, before the apocalypse, the average temperatures at both poles were much higher than this.

This temperature could literally freeze someone to death.

With every word they uttered, it turned into a mist.

"I'll go check the doors and windows." Wen Qingyu walked toward the front door, predictably found them frozen and came back, "They are all frozen up."

"Let's just stay in today, I'll get a bottle of wine to warm us up," Su Zhiruan wrapped her clothes tightly around her but still felt the bone-chilling cold.

Wen Qingyu nodded, "Then I'll go prepare the ingredients."

Each took to their tasks.

An hour later—

Spicy and mushroom-scented hot pot was steaming on the dining table.

The steam billowed up, making it even difficult for Su Zhiruan and Wen Qingyu to see each other's faces from across the table.

The yin-yang hot pot bubbled on both sides, with the spicy broth sizzling from the heat of the red oils, just looking at it made one feel much warmer, reminiscent of the times one would eat hot pot until sweating profusely, a sense of hearty care-freeness ensued.

The mushroom broth was milky white with a tantalizing aroma, topped with thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms steaming vibrant greens like lettuce, Chinese cabbage, and other veggies, their fresh, delicious taste perfectly blended with the rich soup base, creating an unmistakable high-quality dish.

"Eating hot pot in this freezing cold," Su Zhiruan poured some white wine into their cups and smiled as she passed one to Wen Qingyu, "and accompanied with a bit of alcohol."