Spring Rises in the Phoenix Pool Chapter 1

The moon sank in the west, and Xu Yinyin suddenly felt as if a mountain had crashed down on her.

A sharp pain tore through her chest—like a fish stranded on dry land, she gasped for air, then her eyes flew open wide.

What filled her vision was a distorted face, features rough and savage.

Ding Chengyong!

Xu Yinyin was struck with terror—this scene was all too familiar.

But how could it be?

Before she could think it through, a shrill voice rang out: “Play all you want, but don’t kill her!”

It was her foster mother, Li Xiuniang!

Xu Yinyin’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. Her entire body began to tremble.

She had been reborn—gone back thirteen years in time!

Back to when she had just learned that she was the eldest daughter of the Yongping Marquis’ household in the capital.

The Yongping Marquis’ household had sent someone to investigate and said they would come to take her home.

But that very night—something happened!

Li Xiuniang locked her in the woodshed and brought Ding Chengyong. Xu Yinyin fought with all her might and barely escaped being violated. But the next day, Li Xiuniang still framed her by setting her up to be “caught in the act.”

When the woodshed door was opened, her whole body was covered in bruises and welts—there was not a single spot of unharmed flesh.

And Ding Chengyong was right there.

No matter what she said, it didn’t matter anymore.

When the people from Yongping Marquis’ household came to fetch her, Ding Chengyong even deliberately set off firecrackers at the door.

He claimed that he had become the Marquis’ son-in-law too—and that it called for celebration.

He humiliated the people from the Marquis’ household until they left in shame and fury.

Though they still brought her back, they were full of disgust.

Her parents believed she really was raised in the countryside—loose and shameless.

Her siblings refused to acknowledge her as one of their own.

And even then, Li Xiuniang wouldn’t leave her alone! She kept sending Ding Chengyong to cause trouble at the Marquis’ residence—until they finally cast her out completely.

Li Xiuniang’s daughter, Qi Jin, who had stolen her identity, now stood loftily in front of her, personally watching as someone broke her legs, leaving her to cling to life in the streets!

And all of this started from tonight—the moment Ding Chengyong climbed into her bed.

That beast!

Ding Chengyong was already impatiently tearing at her clothes.

“Yinyin, you don’t yet know the taste of being deflowered. Let older brother teach you what it means to feel like you’re dying from pleasure.”

Without thinking, she instinctively bent her leg and fiercely thrust it upward, her knee landing squarely on Ding Chengyong’s manhood.

Ding Chengyong’s fleshy face twisted in agony as he trembled violently, rolling on the ground and howling in pain.

Seizing the chance, Xu Yinyin quickly got up and tidied her clothes, which had nearly been pushed up to her waist.

When she turned back to look at Ding Chengyong, still writhing on the ground, her eyes were brimming with murderous intent.

Clutching his crotch in unbearable pain, Ding Chengyong cursed furiously, “You little b*tch, I’m going to kill you!”

As he roared, he lunged at Xu Yinyin.

His fat head and large ears made Xu Yinyin feel sick. She turned her head as if to dodge, but quietly tightened her grip on the wooden hairpin she had just pulled from her hair.

As Ding Chengyong drew closer, her left hand suddenly shot forward, driving the wooden hairpin straight into his eye.

Ding Chengyong let out a scream that no longer sounded human.

With a quick step, Xu Yinyin tripped him, sending his pig-like body crashing to the ground.

Then, without hesitation, she grabbed a broken stool from nearby and smashed it down on Ding Chengyong’s head with all her strength.

Once. Again. Again.

Xu Yinyin used every ounce of her strength, not holding back in the slightest.

Very soon, she had bashed Ding Chengyong’s head into a pulp. At first, he could still scream, but eventually, not a sound came from him.

There were no lamps lit in the room. By the pale moonlight, Xu Yinyin could see Ding Chengyong’s mangled head.

She tugged the corner of her lips lightly, calmly wiping her hands clean.

The room’s furnishings were as familiar as ever—aside from a broken wooden bed frame and a few shabby bamboo chairs by the wall, there was nothing else.

She quickly walked to the bedside, climbed up, rummaged in a corner, and pulled out a cloth bundle. When she saw what was inside, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After thinking for a moment, she returned to the bed, grabbed a piece of clothing, and stuffed it into Ding Chengyong’s arms.

Then, she nimbly slipped out the window and disappeared.

Since childhood, she had followed Li Xiuniang everywhere, chopping firewood and catching fish. Her movements were as quick and agile as a cat.

As soon as she stepped onto the ground, she saw that the main house was still lit.

That was Li Xiuniang and Butcher Xu’s room.

After a moment of silence, she crept along the base of the wall to the window beneath their room and heard voices from inside.

Butcher Xu was holding Li Xiuniang, repeatedly calling her his sweetheart. “Xiuniang, you truly are unbelievably clever. Back then, you were ruthless enough to switch the children, and now you’re ruthless enough to let her be ruined by that Ding b*stard. This way, our daughter won’t have to live in fear at the Marquis’s residence anymore!”

Inside, Li Xiuniang anxiously scolded Butcher Xu to shut his mouth.

“When will you ever learn to control that loose tongue of yours! Our daughter is doing so well—you mustn’t drag her down!”

Outside the window, Xu Yinyin’s eyes were bloodshot, her gaze about to split from rage.

So it really was a lie that the babies were accidentally switched!

They swapped identities to pave the way for Qi Jin, and after it was exposed, they destroyed her reputation.

Because of this vicious scheme, in her previous life, the Marquis’s household never acknowledged her publicly, while Qi Jin continued to be the young lady of the house.

Later, she even entered the palace and became the Crown Princess.

As for Butcher Xu and Li Xiuniang, they conveniently ‘saved’ the Crown Princess and were granted the title of Count, rising to power and status!

The whole family climbed up by stepping on her blood and bones!

What a fine “loving mother”!

But too bad—this time, she was reborn, and Li Xiuniang’s schemes would not succeed again!

Xu Yinyin’s face flushed purple with rage as she made up her mind.

She would make Butcher Xu and Li Xiuniang pay the price!

Butcher Xu muttered that he understood, then frowned and listened carefully to the movements in the next room: “It seems to have quieted down.”

Li Xiuniang continued, “He’s probably worn out by now. I’ll go find someone; you keep watch.”

They needed to catch the scene in the act and blow the matter up. When the people from the Marquis’s household arrived early tomorrow, they would have a ‘surprise’ waiting.

Hiding by the corner of the wall, Xu Yinyin watched Li Xiuniang leave. She glanced back at Butcher Xu inside the room, then suddenly let out a sharp scream and ran back to her own room.

Inside, Ding Chengyong’s corpse still lay on the floor.

But she wasn’t the least bit afraid. After all she had been through, she knew well that in this world, it wasn’t ghosts that were terrifying—it was the human heart.

Not long after she returned to her room, the door creaked open, and Butcher Xu’s voice tentatively called from outside, “Yinyin?”

In the dark, Xu Yinyin pulled up a mocking smile. She had known he would come.

These past years, Butcher Xu’s gaze towards her had grown more and more inappropriate. He often touched her, even spied on her when she bathed.

She had told Li Xiuniang before, but Li Xiuniang had scolded her for making trouble and trying to sow discord.

“Father,” Xu Yinyin called softly.

“Yes!” Butcher Xu’s shifty eyes gleamed with excitement.

She wasn’t his biological daughter anyway, and since Ding Chengyong had already used her, why couldn’t he also take advantage?

Thinking this, he swallowed hard and quickly slipped inside, groping his way towards the bed in the faint moonlight.

But before he could take a few steps, he tripped over something.

He cried out in pain, struggling to get up, but his hand landed in a pool of sticky liquid.

It was… blood?!

In the moonlight, Butcher Xu saw Ding Chengyong lying on the ground.

It had to be Ding Chengyong—the body shape and clothes matched—but… his head had been smashed so hard it had caved into the floor, now a mangled mess of flesh and blood!

“Ahhh!” Butcher Xu let out a bone-chilling scream and instinctively tried to scramble away.

But when he turned, he saw under the pale moonlight, Xu Yinyin coldly smiling at him. “Father, since you answered, let me see you off properly.”

Before Butcher Xu could shakily retreat, Xu Yinyin lunged forward and drove the wooden hairpin in her hand straight into his neck.

Butcher Xu desperately tried to cover his neck, but it was useless—blood gushed out like water.

He could no longer speak. His terrified eyes stared at Xu Yinyin.

He couldn’t understand—how did the obedient, soft little rabbit of a daughter suddenly become a vengeful ghost from h*ll?

Xu Yinyin didn’t waste another word with him. She dragged Butcher Xu by the leg, pulling him to Ding Chengyong’s corpse and flipping him to lie face down.

The wooden hairpin was still in his neck, but Butcher Xu’s life was already slipping away.

Xu Yinyin had no time to rest—this was not the moment for it. Li Xiuniang would soon return with others, and before that, she needed to ensure the deaths of these two men were neatly settled.

She opened the door and ran straight towards the village chief’s house.