“Er Lang, I’m so sorry. I never knew things would turn out like this.” Yu Sangning wept bitterly, tears streaming down her face. “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t harbored feelings for you, and if our families didn’t have their old grudges… Knowing my father wanted my elder sister to become a Prince Consort, I thought I could help ease his worries. I hoped that given how we helped him achieve his wish, he wouldn’t refuse when your father came to propose…”

Young Master Mu stood there awkwardly, looking at Yu Sangning with complicated emotions. While not extraordinarily clever, he wasn’t foolish either. At this point, he had his suspicions about whether Yu Sangning had used him, though he hadn’t expected her to come see him again.

Seeing her cry so sorrowfully, his heart softened. “Don’t cry. This has nothing to do with you. I was just careless.”

He hadn’t intended for the rumors to spread so intensely. Someone had been fanning the flames, though he never suspected that person might be Yu Sangning.

“How can you say it has nothing to do with me?” Yu Sangning expressed deep regret and self-reproach. “We were never meant to be together. I shouldn’t have forced it. If I had given up my foolish dreams earlier, how could I have ended up in such trouble? Now, Uncle Mu will never allow me to marry you.”

Young Master Mu’s eyes dimmed. She had come to bid farewell. When the wall falls, everyone pushes it; when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. In just one day, their former family friends had avoided them like the plague, giving him a thorough taste of society’s fickleness.

“I… I know, in the future you…”

“Er Lang!” Before he could finish, Yu Sangning threw herself into his arms, holding him tightly. “I love you, I can’t live without you, I don’t want to leave you. But now I’m a sinner, and even becoming a slave wouldn’t atone for my crimes. Er Lang, just thinking about being separated from you tears my heart apart. What should I do?”

Bu Shulin watched from afar as these heartfelt words carried on the wind to her ears, leaving her dumbfounded.

Had she not already learned Yu Sangning’s true nature from Shen Xihe, she might have believed the sincerity of Yu Sangning’s grief-stricken cries and passionate declarations.

Young Master Mu stumbled back half a step from her embrace, his hands steadying her shoulders. His heart was deeply moved – even now, she hadn’t thought of leaving him. Under the moonlight, the handsome young man’s eyes reddened with emotion.

“Aning, wait for me. After I earn my honors in the imperial examinations, I’ll come to marry you!” At that moment, Young Master Mu made his resolution to strive for success.

But Yu Sangning shook her head tearfully, choking back sobs before speaking: “I can’t wait. I’m about to come of age, and you’re only a provincial scholar now. It will take three years before you can take the provincial examinations, and even if you succeed in the spring examinations, it will be four years before you achieve an official rank. I could wait one or two years, but can I wait three? After three years, would my father still be willing to betroth me to you?”

Young Master Mu’s earlier passion deflated instantly, leaving him suddenly lost and powerless.

Noticing his change, a flash of cold mockery crossed Yu Sangning’s lips. She rested her head against his chest, her eyes cold while her voice remained gentle and pained: “Er Lang, I don’t want to be separated from you. We’re both sinners – we caused Uncle Mu to lose his position. What face do we have to live in this world? Let’s atone for our sins together, shall we?”

“Atone?” Young Master Mu didn’t quite understand.

Yu Sangning took out a medicine bottle from her sleeve, pouring out two identical pills. “Let’s stay together forever, never to part.”

Young Master Mu stared blankly, even stepping back in fear. Yu Sangning smiled disappointedly. The desolate moonlight illuminated her grief-stricken face, making her appear so lonely and sorrowful. A tear rolled down her cheek as she unhesitatingly took one pill and swallowed it.

“Aning—” Young Master Mu rushed forward to catch Yu Sangning as she fell, staring at her pale face.

Shock, astonishment, and fear mingled with an indescribable touch of being moved.

Yu Sangning looked down at the remaining pill in her hand: “I… I was wrong… You still have your father, your brother, and so many people tying you down. But I… I’m just an unwanted person in the Yu family. Without you… no one will cherish me… what reason do I have to live…”

These words cut into Young Master Mu’s heart like knives, making him hate his cowardice and regret his hesitation. He couldn’t even match a young woman’s courage – she was willing to die for love, and he was her everything.

He was a sinner who caused his father to lose his position. Even if he returned home with his father, he couldn’t face his brother and sister-in-law, having to depend on them for survival while enduring the blame of their clan. His father had his elder brother, but the person in his arms only had him.

His father’s angry, disappointed gaze; the clan’s resentful, condemning faces; his brother’s coldness and sister-in-law’s harshness – these imagined scenes swirled in his mind. He instantly lost his will to live, grabbed Yu Sangning’s wrist, and swallowed the poison.

Bu Shulin almost rushed out to stop them, but she hesitated, sensing another presence in the grove. This person was highly skilled and had been hiding for a long time, likely an assassin hired by Yu Sangning.

If she went out to stop them now, Yu Sangning might decide to finish her off too…

A man so easily manipulated by a woman that he’d throw away his life wasn’t worth risking herself to save.

But Yu Sangning’s methods truly terrified Bu Shulin. She watched as Young Master Mu and Yu Sangning collapsed together, and after about fifteen minutes, Yu Sangning got up again.

Bu Shulin’s guess wasn’t wrong – a dark figure followed Yu Sangning from afar in a protective stance. The person’s build and gait confirmed her suspicion that they were highly skilled in martial arts.

After they left, she approached Young Master Mu, who had already stopped breathing. The cold wind made Bu Shulin shiver.

Back at the inn, she couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning until she heard Shen Xihe stirring, then quickly ran over.

“Don’t disturb me while I’m washing up,” Shen Xihe preemptively stopped her as she was about to speak.

While Shen Xihe washed up, Bu Shulin also freshened herself. When Shen Xihe started doing her makeup, Bu Shulin tried to speak again, but a glance from Shen Xihe made her close her mouth obediently.

Only after Shen Xihe had finished preparing and ordered breakfast, sitting down in the private room to eat, did Bu Shulin finally burst out: “You don’t know what I witnessed last night! How can there be such a ruthless and vicious young lady in this world!”