“Smack—”

The crisp sound of a slap rang out in the room.

Xie Zhifei startled and rushed inside.

The woman’s trembling hand froze in midair. She herself seemed not to have anticipated that this slap had been delivered by her own hand.

The next instant, her hands grabbed the man’s lapels, shaking him forcefully.

“Zheng Huantang, you’re bullying me. Every single one of you bullies me.”

The madness in her eyes surged up all at once. “That’s my son, I gave birth to him, I raised him. Why can’t I go disturb him?”

On Zheng Huantang’s face, apart from the five finger marks, there was no expression whatsoever.

“Eight years ago, you people took away my daughter. Now you want to take away even my son… Dream on! Nobody should even think about it. I won’t agree. My son is mine, he’s mine, he’s mine!”

Zheng Huantang stood numbly in place, looking numbly at the woman before him who seemed to have gone mad. His lips moved several times, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately he said nothing at all.

He laughed self-deprecatingly, then flung away the woman’s hands and strode out of the side room.

Without support, the woman’s hands fell limply as she collapsed onto the bamboo couch, tears falling silently, drop by drop.

Xie Zhifei slowly crouched down, placing one hand on her knee and using the other to wipe the tears from the corner of her eyes.

Knowing full well she couldn’t sense it, he still wiped very carefully.

As he wiped, Xie Zhifei suddenly thought—if Lu Shi and Tang Zhiwei had become husband and wife, if they too had taken in the late Crown Prince’s orphan, if they too had been trapped in Haitang Courtyard…

Would they also have lived their days like this?

Would they too, step by step, have walked toward complete disintegration?

Xie Zhifei’s heart felt very heavy with sorrow.

And so, his tears also flowed down.

Outside the window, a full moon still hung in the tree.

The moonlight knew no right from wrong, shining palely on the solitary man in the courtyard, and also on the mother and son silently weeping in the side room.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, Zhao Qingyun suddenly shot up from the bamboo couch as if scalded by boiling water. She removed her outer garment, took off her shoes and socks, let down her hair, and arranged herself in the most alluring pose as she lay on the bed.

She would lie for a while, then look toward the door several times.

Then lie for another while, and look again several times.

As if in the next instant, the man would walk through that door, lie down beside her, embrace her, and whisper sweet words of love in her ear.

Every argument had ended this way.

Unfortunately, she waited until the hour of Zi without seeing even the slightest shadow of the man.

Madam Zhao suddenly sat up, her chest rising and falling as her back molars ground together with a grinding sound.

A moment later, the grinding sound came to an abrupt halt.

She stood up, walked to the door, pulled it open, and headed toward the back courtyard.

She wasn’t wearing shoes. Her pale white feet stepped one by one on the blue stone bricks. Xie Zhifei felt as if the top of his skull was being lifted off.

Mother, Mother, what are you going to do?

He hurriedly chased after her, stretching out his hand to block Madam Zhao’s path.

Madam Zhao’s body passed right through his, and as she pushed open the door, her steps turned and she entered Huaiyou’s room.

Xie Zhifei’s soul scattered in terror.

The room was very quiet.

Madam Zhao slowly walked over and lifted the bed curtains.

On the bed, Huaiyou lay obediently flat, her small hands placed on her chest, her right hand clutching a gray handkerchief in its palm.

The handkerchief belonged to Huaizuo, embroidered stitch by stitch with a pattern by Madam Zhao.

The moment Madam Zhao saw the handkerchief, her eyes revealed resentment and hatred.

Why?

Why should the handkerchief she embroidered stitch by stitch be used to coax this girl to sleep?

“It’s all because of you… If it weren’t for you… My Mingyue wouldn’t have gone to the nunnery. I am the proper Fifth Mistress of the Zheng family. Our marriage wouldn’t have grown distant…

Our family of four would have been so happy, so joyful… How others would have envied me… You should die… I want you dead… You deserve… no peaceful death!”

As the word “death” left her mouth, her scallion-like fingers closed around that slender neck, black hair cascading down like a waterfall.

Little Huaiyou, sensing something wrong in her sleep, struggled violently while her eyes snapped open.

“Brother, Brother…”

Instinctive survival desire made Huaiyou struggle more and more fiercely, her mouth letting out anguished cries with difficulty.

Madam Zhao was startled by this sound. She released her grip and abruptly pulled out the handkerchief from her hand.

As the black hair fell down, Madam Zhao’s entire body pressed down, her hand and the handkerchief simultaneously pressing over Huaiyou’s mouth and nose.

Ten thousand arrows piercing the heart.

Xie Zhifei rushed over, his hands desperately trying to pull Madam Zhao away, shouting with a voice torn from his soul:

“Mother, let go! Let go quickly… You can’t do this! Let go… Let go! You must let go for me…”

Humans and ghosts walk different paths.

Who could hear his shouts?

Madam Zhao’s hands pressed tighter and tighter, the savage expression on her face as if possessed by a ghost. She didn’t even hear the sounds of fighting coming from the front courtyard.

Just then, little Huaiyou suddenly stopped struggling.

Her clear eyes slowly widened, then widened more, staring blankly at the person pressing down on her, completely motionless.

Why aren’t you moving?

Little You, why aren’t you moving?

Little You, struggle! Move! I’m begging you to move… Hurry and move!

Zhang Tianxing will be back any moment!

Hurry and move, that’s the only way to survive!

Humans and ghosts walk different paths.

Who could hear his shouts?

Zheng Huaiyou quietly kept her eyes open, those pitch-black pupils holding a trace of confusion, a trace of realization, and also a trace of sadness.

Xie Zhifei waved his hands at the bedside like a madman.

Zheng Huaiyou, move for me!

Move!

I’m begging you to move!

Huaiyou still didn’t move. A tear slid from the corner of her eye, and at the same time, the light in her bright black pupils slowly scattered, bit by bit…

Finally dissolving into nothingness.

Xie Zhifei’s legs buckled and he knelt by the bedside, tremblingly extending his hand, his large palm wanting to grasp that thin, small hand.

He couldn’t grasp it.

No matter what, he couldn’t grasp it.

At this moment, a strand of Madam Zhao’s long hair slid down from Huaiyou’s face. Xie Zhifei’s pupils suddenly contracted.

“Brother, what’s that smell on you? Why is it so fragrant?”

“Mother just held me, and some of her hair oil rubbed off.”

“It’s osmanthus scent, it smells so good!”

“Good my ass, it’s suffocating.”

“Nonsense! It does smell good, it smells good!”

“Yes, yes, yes. Whatever you say is what it is.”

“When will Mother hold me too? Then… I’ll also have the osmanthus fragrance on me.”

“What’s so difficult about that? Later I’ll steal Mother’s hair oil for you and let you rub a little on yourself.”

“It’s not the same. That’s not the same.”

It wasn’t the same.

That was Mother’s unique scent!

Xie Zhifei’s tears fell like rain!

The thin little hand fell limply down, and the door was pushed open with a bang.

“Young Master!”

Zhang Tianxing threw the unconscious person from his shoulder onto the ground and rushed to the bedside like a madman, shoving Madam Zhao heavily aside.

He pressed his finger under Huaiyou’s nose, so shocked he staggered back half a step, then placed his hand on her pulse.

“Young Master—”

He gathered her into his arms in devastation, as if holding the most precious treasure in the world.

He embraced her for just a moment before releasing her, turning his face to look at Madam Zhao huddled in the corner.

Madam Zhao was scared witless by this suddenly appearing person.

“It wasn’t me who killed her, it wasn’t me… It wasn’t me… She forced me to do it…”

Zhang Tianxing’s hand rose and his palm fell.

Madam Zhao’s body went soft, slowly collapsing down.

Zhang Tianxing swiftly placed his young master on his shoulder, then positioned the two unconscious people by the bed, arranging them in sleeping postures. Then he grabbed the fire starter and lit a candle.

As he turned around, the candlestick fell…

—