The Rusty Password

Lin Xi stood before the floor-to-ceiling window of the Lin family’s old home, watching the torrential rain batter the dead leaves of a century-old camphor tree into pieces. Her fingers absentmindedly brushed the pearl brooch at her throat. Her grandmother had pressed it into her hand on her deathbed, saying it had been made from a pearl unearthed beneath the foundation of the family home. The blurry initials “LY” engraved on the inside of the brooch exactly matched the letters inside the engagement ring Shen Yu had given her. Salty sea wind slipped in through the crack beneath the door, carrying the jasmine scent of her mother’s perfume from her memories.

“Miss, Young Master Shen is here.” There was a barely perceptible tremor in Old Chen the butler’s voice. Lin Xi turned and saw Shen Yu standing in the entryway. Rain dripped from his hair onto the Persian rug, leaving dark stains. His gaze fell on the brooch, and his pupils suddenly contracted, as if he had seen something terrifying. At that moment, Lin Xi caught a faint whiff of bitter almonds, exactly like the scent of her last embrace with her mother before she fell into the sea.

On a stormy night, Lin Xi eavesdropped outside her father’s hospital room. “Lin Xi must inherit the estate!” Shen Yu’s voice held a viciousness she had never heard before. “Otherwise, our plan...” Before he could finish, a violent coughing fit erupted inside the room. Through the crack in the door, Lin Xi saw a tiny, needle-like red mark on the back of her father’s neck, identical to the one she had noticed when Shen Yu came home the night before. The smell of disinfectant suddenly grew stronger, and she remembered Qian Rui once saying, “The smell of hospitals makes me want to throw up.”