After seeing Mrs. Ping off, Zhou Lian hummed a little tune and happily made her way to the study. The thought of luring Ping Jing into her trap delighted her; she truly hadn't expected him to fall for it so easily.
Mrs. Ping's lingering resentment, the Eldest Young Madam's disdain, Liu Shengnan's disbelief, and Ping Jing looking like he wanted to die—it all gave Zhou Lian a rare thrill. 'So they're only human after all.' Because of her past life, Zhou Lian had always kept the people in this circle at a respectful distance. Even when fate brought them together, she always harbored an unconscious fear of them. Their power to turn tides with a flip of a hand had terrified her. 'But now,' she thought, 'it seems they're not so scary!'
The thought that Li Xiu could finally climb out of this pit filled Zhou Lian with joy. She just wasn't sure if Li Xiu would like how she did it. 'But he should,' she reasoned, 'after all, none of this was what he wanted in the first place.'
