An Jiu usually wore dark, tight-fitting clothes and was curious about these dresses. She casually pointed to a dark blue dress with silver trim and a budding magnolia embroidered on the hem.

“This one’s a bit old-fashioned,” Mei Jiu said. Knowing An Jiu wouldn’t change her mind, she only suggested handing over the dress.

An Jiu took the clothes behind the screen and struggled for a while, sweating profusely, before finally managing to put on the outfit.

When she came out, Mei Jiu’s eyes lit up. She came over to straighten the clothes while praising, “You look good in anything.”

An Jiu looked down at her. After giving birth, Mei Jiu had recovered well and was much fuller than before, with skin as smooth as a peach. “So that’s where you’ve gained weight—in your face.”

Mei Jiu remembered this used to be her own body. Praising An Jiu was like praising herself. She blushed. “It’s impossible to get along with you. Have you ever said anything nice in your life?”

“I only speak the truth. Don’t blame me if you can’t accept reality,” An Jiu said confidently.

“…”

Mei Jiu didn’t respond. After arranging the clothes, she stepped back to examine carefully, then nodded. “Very good. Now we just need to do your hair. Go sit over there.”

Mei Jiu, having weathered many storms and enjoyed years of comfort, was no longer the timid person she once was. Even facing An Jiu, she wasn’t as nervous as before.

An Jiu sat down at the dressing table as instructed, watching in the mirror as the elegantly dressed Mei Jiu personally did her hair.

Outside the window, plum blossoms bloomed brilliantly, reminiscent of their days in Meihua Village when they shared one body—so close yet so distant, still the same now. Mei Jiu had returned to a normal life, while An Jiu continued to struggle in the mire.

Regardless of circumstances, Mei Jiu’s marriage to the Hua family as a Controlling Crane Army spy was a near-death experience. Yet she had survived such a precarious situation and become a true Madam Hua. While luck played a part, Mei Jiu’s wisdom and efforts were indispensable.

In contrast, An Jiu’s situation allowed for advancement or retreat; only her heart was tightly bound.

When a person knows what they want and strives for it, life isn’t too bad. But if one is confused and directionless, one can only pray for heaven’s favor and rely on luck!

“You’re stronger than me,” An Jiu suddenly said.

Mei Jiu’s movements paused briefly, but she continued combing, her face still wearing a gentle smile. “How rare. I never thought I’d live to hear you praise me.”

“Ah!” An Jiu tapped her fingers on the dressing table, slightly melancholic. “If even someone like you can do it, I should try harder.”

“What do you mean by ‘even someone like me’?” Mei Jiu pretended to be upset.

“Was that inappropriate?” An Jiu thought for a moment, then raised an eyebrow, looking at Mei Jiu in the mirror. “The slow bird flies first?”

“I really can’t win with you!” Mei Jiu carefully braided An Jiu’s hair. “You’re a strange person. Arrogant, sharp-tongued, killing without mercy. Yet people always feel you’re not bad.”

An Jiu raised an eyebrow, tapping a hairpin against the jewelry box. “How could a white rabbit like you ever think anyone’s bad?”

“An Jiu, I’ve changed,” Mei Jiu said, using a comb dipped in osmanthus oil to smooth An Jiu’s hair. She leaned forward to check in the mirror if the hair was neat. “I’m no longer that fool who thought everyone in the world was good. I… I can kill now too.”

“Oh?” An Jiu said expressionlessly. “Tell me about it. Let me see how a rabbit bites.”

“Though I haven’t killed with my own hands, the lives I’ve plotted to take are not just one or two. In the middle of the night, I often feel these hands are very dirty,” Mei Jiu said, her hands holding the comb trembling slightly. “They wanted to harm me. It was either them or me. I didn’t want to die, so I had to strike first. But I still feel my hands are very dirty.”

Whenever she felt this way, Mei Jiu would imagine she was still sharing a body with An Jiu, as if that could bring some peace of mind.

An Jiu suddenly grabbed Mei Jiu’s trembling hand. “Killing will never stop in this world. It’s natural. People kill animals for food to survive. If you don’t eliminate your enemies, you’ll die. Why feel guilty?”

In the mirror, An Jiu’s black eyes were cold and steady. “You don’t need to kill anymore now. Forget it. Just think of those people as killed by me.”

Mei Jiu smiled, her eyes glistening. “You’re a good person.”

But An Jiu’s goodness was reserved for very few people.

Mei Jiu quickly composed herself and advised, “An Jiu, don’t do those things anymore. Live a good life. Didn’t you say you wanted to herd sheep?”

An Jiu lowered her head, silent for a moment. When she looked up again, her eyes were determined. “I could realize that dream now, but I can’t live that kind of life yet. If one day I can’t find release, even herding all the sheep in the world won’t make me happy.”

She held out her pale hands, looking at them. “I feel dirty too. Whenever there’s an uncontrollable desire to kill in my blood, I feel even filthier.”

An Jiu also understood why she used to dislike Mei Jiu so much. Besides being annoyed by her cowardice, she envied her cleanliness.

An Jiu wasn’t the type to want the whole world to fall just because she had fallen. Now that Mei Jiu said she had killed people, An Jiu wasn’t happy at all. Instead, she felt an indescribable heaviness in her heart.

“Alright, let’s not talk about these depressing things. Now that you’re awake and I’ve given birth to your godson, we have a long life ahead,” Mei Jiu said, quickly finishing the hairstyle and starting to select suitable accessories.

Mei Jiu liked dangling styles, feeling that such ornaments in the hair would make one look charming when walking.

But she had misjudged. An Jiu had only walked a few steps before getting annoyed. She reached up and pulled out all the hairpins. “Wearing a dress is inconvenient enough. Adding these things is just making trouble for yourself!”

“What’s wrong with enduring a bit for beauty?” Mei Jiu tried to insert the ornaments again.

“I couldn’t do anything to you before,” An Jiu turned to stare at her. “But now I can beat you up.”

Mei Jiu’s hand trembled, and she quickly put away the hair ornaments. Knowing An Jiu, she didn’t think this was a joke. An Jiu always meant it when she said she’d hit someone, regardless of whether they were an empress dowager or emperor!

“Fine, fine. If you don’t want to wear them, you don’t have to,” Mei Jiu sighed.

But thinking of Chu Dijiang’s expression when he saw An Jiu, Mei Jiu immediately became enthusiastic again. She draped a fox fur over An Jiu’s shoulders and urged, “Let’s go see a cousin.”

An Jiu didn’t object and followed her to that room.

Inside, medicinal herbs were piled up like haystacks. In the misty smoke, three men lay sprawled about.

As An Jiu pushed open the door, Chu Dijiang was the first to see her, and he couldn’t help but stare.