He Feng stood with his back to her without answering.

Ji Tong moved to face him. “Are you the one giving me these dreams?”

“No.” It truly wasn’t He Feng. He also didn’t understand why Ji Tong kept dreaming about their past life.

“The person who always appears in my dreams is you, isn’t it?” Seeing him remain silent, she became somewhat agitated. “There must be a reason. In a previous life, or the life before that—were we relatives? Friends? Or some other relationship?”

“Dreams are just dreams. Don’t overthink it.” He Feng interrupted her words and looked directly at her. “You should focus on your studies, not constantly think about these things.”

Ji Tong let go of his cloak.

“The favor I asked you last time—did you find out about my father?”

“He has already been reincarnated.” Seeing her lowered eyelashes, He Feng softened again. “If you want to see him, I can tell you where he is.”

“No need.” Ji Tong paused. “I promised to burn paper money for you last time.”

“I don’t need it.”

“I promised. Burning the paper will also give me peace of mind.”

“Born in 1913, December 19th, died in August 1948. I can’t remember the exact day.”

“I’ll remember it. Thank you for helping me again today.” She turned around. “I’ve bothered you. I’m sorry.”

He Feng watched her retreating figure. “I’ll escort you back.”

“No need. I’ll go myself.” Ji Tong headed west.

“Ji Tong.” He suddenly called her name.

Ji Tong turned back hopefully and was instantly pulled by some force, disappearing before him.

When she woke up, she was back in her body. She sat up abruptly, looked at her hands and moved her feet, then lay back down and closed her eyes tightly, wanting to have another out-of-body experience, but she couldn’t get out again.

She opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling with melancholy.

But what would it matter even if she went out again?

…

The paper money promised to He Feng still had to be done.

In the evening, while Zhou Xin was working overtime and hadn’t returned, and grandmother was out buying groceries, she took the gold and silver treasures, carried an iron basin downstairs, found a secluded spot and secretly burned them.

He Feng stood not far away watching her. During all this time, he had been silently protecting her from where she couldn’t see.

Meng Yuan sighed beside him. “She’s been thinking about you for so long, finally got to see you once, and you’re still like this.”

“She’s different from ordinary people. I haven’t figured out what to do yet.”

“Why don’t you just go reincarnate? Maybe you could still catch up to pursue her—just over ten years.”

“Would she wait for me?”

“Hey, hey, hey, I was just joking. Don’t take it seriously. I can’t bear to part with you.” Meng Yuan saw his serious expression. “No way, you’re really considering this?”

He Feng continued gazing at Ji Tong in the distance. “Do you think the Eleventh Hall would let me reincarnate?”

Meng Yuan thought about it. “Right, you’ve committed so many sins.”

He Feng smiled bitterly. “Yes, I’m deeply sinful and hardly deserving of forgiveness.”

Meng Yuan felt she had said the wrong thing again. “What’s wrong with you today? You know I was just joking.”

“Mm.”

“Come on, don’t be like this. I’m not used to it.” Meng Yuan landed in front of him, stuck out her tongue and made faces. “Hit me twice, hit me twice.”

He Feng smiled and pushed her away. “Looking for trouble.”

Only then did Meng Yuan feel relieved.

…

Ji Tong made up her mind—after burning this paper money, she would never think about that urban management ghost again!

She would study hard, get into a good university, find a good job, and earn money to support Zhou Xin and grandmother.

She stared at the roaring flames when suddenly a familiar face flashed in her mind.

It was the young He Feng again.

Her resolve collapsed once more at this moment. She stared at the fire in a daze.

Suddenly her fingertips burned—the fire almost reached her hand. She quickly threw down the paper money and rubbed her ears.

[So hot]

[Who told you to get so close? Give it to me]

Ji Tong’s mind went blank for a moment.

Whose memory was this?

The sky suddenly darkened and wind picked up, blowing her loose long hair, the ginkgo leaves on the ground, and the half-burned paper money in the fire basin.

She fell backward, sitting on the ground, watching the flying flames in terror as memories seemed to split apart, inexplicably adding many fragmented scenes.

[I told you to run but you didn’t. I’m going to use force now]

[What? Do you have a lover at home?]

[If he dares to stop me, I’ll chop off his hands and feet. If you won’t marry, I’ll take you by force. Anyone who blocks the way, I’ll kill]

[A’Zhi]

[Wanzhi]

…

It started raining.

Ji Tong wandered around outside in a daze, her finger hooked through the iron basin that had been washed clean by the rain.

Her head was splitting with pain.

Ji Tong tripped on a protruding stone slab and fell forward. The iron basin clanged and rolled far away.

Her palm stung with numbness. She turned it over to look—the palm was scraped raw.

[Slow down, don’t fall to death]

[I won’t help collect your corpse]

It came again.

She sat on the ground facing the sky, not knowing how to accept these sudden memories that were both strange and familiar. She pounded her head forcefully, even beginning to doubt whether she could distinguish between dreams and reality.

Was she having a mental breakdown?

The rain suddenly stopped.

Ji Tong opened her eyes and saw a black umbrella floating above her head with no one holding it.

She vaguely felt that He Feng was nearby.

“Is that you?”

He Feng appeared outside the umbrella, rain passing through his body.

Ji Tong looked up at him, her hands falling down, suddenly feeling countless grievances in her heart that she wanted to tell him.

Among thousands of words, only one sentence emerged:

“You came.”

He looked at her with heartache. “Go back quickly.”

“He Feng, I think I remember.”

“I used to be called… Xie Wanzhi.”

…

…

Wanzhi was her courtesy name. Her birth name was Xie Chi, which sounded like a boy’s name. Because Zhang Yuwang took four full days to give birth to her, they used the character “chi” meaning “late.”

The Xie family had served in the palace painting academy for generations. By Xie Jiaxing’s generation, they had gradually declined and turned to commerce. Among the many younger generation, only Fourth Brother Xie Ti and Xie Chi were good at painting.

Xie Jiaxing’s legitimate wife was called Li Yuelan. Theirs was a marriage arranged by the older generation. Since they had no children after several years of marriage, Xie Jiaxing openly took two concubines, which made Li Yuelan so angry she fell ill.

Xie Chi was the seventh daughter of the Xie family. Zhang Yuwang was only sixteen when she gave birth to her and died without completing her confinement month.

Zhang Yuwang had originally been a student learning painting from Xie Chi’s grandfather, Xie Zhaoting. That winter night when snow was heavy and roads were difficult to travel, Xie Zhaoting let her stay overnight in the guest room. Unexpectedly, she was violated by Xie Jiaxing and became his third concubine.

In wealthy households, jealousy and rivalry were inevitable, though it didn’t reach life-or-death extremes. Xie Chi had a poor relationship with her father because Zhang Yuwang had given Xie Jiaxing no pleasant looks while alive. Xie Chi inherited her mother’s temperament—cool and distant, not likeable.

She had lived in seclusion in the mountains with her grandfather Xie Zhaoting since childhood. Later, when Xie Zhaoting grew old and his health deteriorated, he was brought back to the Xie family, and she followed.

Xie Jiaxing favored sons over daughters. He had three sons: second son Xie Hui, fourth son Xie Ti, and a newborn tenth son who hadn’t been named yet. Xie Hui was born to the second concubine, helped Xie Jiaxing with business, and was deeply favored. Once at a drinking party, Xie Jiaxing publicly announced he would pass the family business to him. Fourth son Xie Ti was born to Li Yuelan—the Xie family’s only legitimate son—but he inherited ancestral talent, loved calligraphy and painting, detested commerce, and didn’t compete. He spent his days composing poetry and painting, lost in romantic pursuits. Over time, Xie Jiaxing left him alone.

Xie Chi had no emotional attachment to the Xie family. She had gone into seclusion with her grandfather before age six, so naturally wasn’t close to her siblings. They never included her in good food or fun activities, sometimes even sarcastically calling her a wild girl from the mountains. Fortunately, with her grandfather’s protection, no one dared openly cause trouble.

Xie Ti particularly loved Zhao Mengfu’s “Autumn Colors on the Que and Hua Mountains” and had always wanted to see Mount Huabushan and Mount Que with his own eyes. With her grandfather’s permission, Xie Chi went with him.

In mid-August 1930, Xie Ti packed a cart full of calligraphy, paintings, paper, and ink, bringing Xie Chi and three servants on a grand journey to Jinan.

Halfway there, they discovered that Xie Ying had secretly followed. Xie Ying was ninth in birth order, had just turned thirteen, was Xie Chi’s youngest sister and daughter of the favored concubine Liu. Deeply loved by Xie Jiaxing who gave her whatever she wanted, she had developed a spoiled and willful temperament.

Unable to withstand her persistent pestering, Xie Ti took her along too.

They stayed at their great-uncle’s house in Jinan for two months. Xie Chi went sketching with Xie Ti every day, painted many pictures, and accumulated much artistic material.

Xie Ying had played through Jinan twice and was thoroughly bored, constantly clamoring to go home, making the great-uncle’s house restless.

So they returned half a month early. While passing through Yanzhou, they encountered bandits. Several servants couldn’t match the bandits’ ferocity—some were injured, others fled. Xie Ti was shot in the leg, not life-threatening, but fainted. Xie Chi and Xie Ying were taken up the mountain.

When Xie Chi woke up, she was bound and thrown in a small dark room where she couldn’t see anything. There were piles of wooden boxes beside her and a musty smell—it must be a long-uncleaned warehouse.

She had been knocked unconscious and carried up because she struggled too fiercely. The bandits found her annoying and knocked her out with a club.

Xie Chi’s head throbbed with pain.

“Ying Ying.”

“Ying Ying.”

No one answered.

Xie Chi rolled around on the ground to test the room’s size. Xie Ying wasn’t in the room. Seeing light through the door crack, she was about to roll toward the door when it opened. A black shadow jumped in, startling her.

From the figure, it was a stout man.

The man reeked of alcohol and sweat. He looked around, closed the door, and staggered toward her.

Xie Chi screamed several times but was muffled by the man’s hand. She bit him hard, tasting something salty and foul.

“Don’t scream.”

Men are men after all—Xie Chi couldn’t overpower him.

Just as he was about to reach for her waistband, she struggled desperately, kicking the wooden boxes beside her feet, making them rattle.

Help me.

Someone please save me.

BANG—

The door was kicked open directly.

He Feng was covered in blood, about to go to the stream to wash when he passed the storage room and heard a woman’s sobbing.

The drunk man was completely focused on finding Xie Chi’s belt and had no reaction to such loud noise.

He Feng grabbed the man’s collar, lifted him up, and kicked him three meters away.

The man rolled twice on the ground. Just as he was about to curse, seeing it was He Feng, he nearly wet himself in fear. “I… I… I…”

“What ‘I’?” This person didn’t seem to have a good temper. He had a knife and gun at his waist, wore black short boots with a black leather belt. “Drunk and dizzy? Quite bold.”

“Third Master, please spare me. I was wrong.”

He Feng waved dismissively, not wanting to see him. “Get lost. I’ll deal with you later.”

The man stumbled and crawled away.

Xie Chi’s hands were still bound. Seeing the man turn around, she was frightened and scooted backward twice until her back touched the wall. She glanced at him but couldn’t see his features clearly because he was backlit.

He Feng stepped forward, raised his long leg, and placed his black boot on a wooden box beside him, stirring up light dust.

He bent slightly at the waist, raised an eyebrow, and laughed frivolously. “So you’re the little wife they snatched for my big brother?”

“Look up.”

Seeing she didn’t answer, He Feng drew the knife from behind him, spun it in his hand, and used the blade tip to tidy her disheveled hair.

Xie Chi didn’t move, afraid one wrong move would end her life.

He Feng held the knife and wiped the blade tip on her clothes several times. “How did they lock you up here? Shouldn’t you have been sent to big brother’s room?”

There was a whip mark on her wrist.

“Did they hit you?”

Xie Chi said nothing.

He Feng found it boring, sheathed his knife, put his leg down, and was about to leave.

Just as he turned around, Xie Chi lunged forward and hit his leg. He Feng looked down at the person kneeling before him. “What’s wrong?”

“Save me.” She looked at him pleadingly. “Let me go.”

This time it was He Feng who remained silent.

“And my sister, who was captured with me.” Her bound hands gripped his pants and tugged. “My family has money. You can have as much as you want.”

He Feng crossed his arms and looked at her. “I want a thousand rifles. Does your family have them?”

Xie Chi was stunned, then nodded repeatedly. “Yes, we do.”

He Feng found her lying expression amusing and deliberately played along: “They captured another wealthy young lady too.”

He bent down, picked up the rope from the ground, and walked out holding it. Xie Chi remained kneeling on the ground, her hands suspended in midair due to the rope’s pull.

He Feng looked back at her and tugged the rope. “Coming or not?”

Xie Chi used his strength to stand up and was pulled outside by him.

He Feng was tall with long legs—each of his steps equaled about two of hers. Xie Chi had to almost jog to keep up.

She observed this person. He seemed quite young with lots of blood on him. Seeing how afraid that drunk man was of him, could he be a bandit leader?

He Feng led her to the riverside. He threw down the rope and removed his blood-stained jacket. Seeing this, Xie Chi turned to run, but He Feng stepped on the rope.

Her body ran forward but her hands were held in place, causing her to fall sideways. Her forehead hit a hard rock and immediately started bleeding.

He Feng laughed at her while removing his boots. “Why are you running?”

Xie Chi sat up, her head aching terribly.

“You’d better behave and not run around. These mountains are full of our people.” He casually threw his boots aside and began unbuckling his belt, finally stripping down to only white boxer shorts. “They’re not as easy to talk to as I am.”

Xie Chi couldn’t bear to look and turned her face away.

“There are also many traps. Only this river is safe.”

“If you die in some corner, you’ll be eaten clean by wild animals in one night.”

She only heard a splash as the man jumped into the water.

Xie Chi stood up and looked into the water—he had already disappeared from sight.

…