On Sweet Water Lane, Wei Caiwei had finally fallen asleep near dawn, but was soon jolted awake by thunderous explosions.

She rushed out of bed barefoot, threw open the window, and saw red clouds billowing in the distance. She was immediately shocked: Hadn’t they already controlled the underground warehouse of Wanhuo Trading Company?

How did it still explode?

What happened to Wang Daxia and Lu Ying? Was Ding Wu at the scene?

Wei Caiwei was frantic with worry. She immediately shouldered her medicine bag, donned her bamboo hat and rain cape, mounted her horse, and galloped madly toward the direction of the red clouds.

Please don’t let anything happen to them!

The streets were filled with multiple roadblocks set up by the Northern City Military Commissioner, Shuntian Prefecture yamen, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, all in a state of high alert. Wei Caiwei produced Wang Qianhu’s calling card and her own imperial court female physician’s waist token, passing through the checkpoints one by one.

Because Wang Daxia and Lu Ying, her new and old lovers, had stepped forward to protect her, Wei Caiwei had now become a celebrity in the northern part of the city. Everyone “knew” about her relationship with both men. Combined with the miserable fate that had befallen Lu Renjia, Bu Yaolian, and Wu Lianchi – the three who had humiliated her last time – no one dared to obstruct her, fearing the combined retaliation of Lu Ying and Wang Daxia.

“It’s Red Sleeve Pavilion at Jishui Pond.” Following the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s directions, Wei Caiwei rushed straight to Jishui Pond, where fire clouds were rolling. Her mind was full of doubts.

In her previous life, there had been an explosion at Toutiao Hutong, but she had never heard anything about Red Sleeve Pavilion. Red Sleeve Pavilion had been forcibly closed by order of Shuntian Prefecture yamen at the end of that year.

The cause was that a high-ranking minister had died from overexertion at the Red Sleeve Pavilion brothel. At that time, Lu Bing had just died suddenly, and Emperor Jiajing was deeply grieved, bestowing sixteen vessels of sacrificial offerings and holding an elaborate funeral for Lu Bing. When the emperor shows preference for something, his subjects inevitably follow suit. All the ministers were wearing mournful expressions, yet this minister had dared to indulge in pleasure-seeking.

Emperor Jiajing was furious and directly stripped the minister of his official position. Shuntian Prefecture Magistrate Wang Niqiu, reading the signs, closed down Red Sleeve Pavilion and burned all eighteen flower houses to the ground to help vent the emperor’s anger.

Having offended important people, Red Sleeve Pavilion could no longer establish itself in the capital and disappeared from then on.

Why would Red Sleeve Pavilion explode in this lifetime?

Although Wei Caiwei was reborn, she didn’t know everything. She rode her horse to the lakeside and saw that the building that had exploded and caught fire was the small building in the middle of the eighteen flower houses. It was still burning in the torrential rain, and where the rainwater met the flames, it created green smoke and white steam.

Clients and courtesans came running out of the eighteen flower houses, all disheveled. Some weren’t even wearing clothes and ran naked toward the lakeside. To cover their shame, they simply broke off several lotus leaves as large as millstones to shield their bodies.

Lu Ying and Ding Wu were dragging Embroidered Uniform Guards from the water to the shore in the rain. Each one showed no external injuries, only some water in their lungs.

Wei Caiwei had no time to ask for the reason and directly inquired: “Where is Wang Daxia?”

“We haven’t seen him yet,” Lu Ying said, then dove headfirst back into the lake water to rescue more people.

Ding Wu was also very anxious, but still tried to comfort Wei Caiwei, saying: “Wang Daxia is an excellent swimmer. He must be fine.”

With Wang Daxia’s excellent swimming ability, why hadn’t he come ashore yet?

Could he have been pinned down by the collapsed building, unable to move?

Wei Caiwei couldn’t care that she couldn’t swim and rushed into the water, shouting loudly: “Daxia! Wang Daxia!”

Ding Wu also couldn’t swim. Seeing Wei Caiwei wading into the water with the lake already reaching her chest, he was frightened and quickly came over with a bamboo pole. Ding Wu forcefully thrust the bamboo pole into the underwater mud, “Hold onto the pole and absolutely don’t go any further forward.”

Wei Caiwei gripped the pole, took a deep breath, and squatted down underwater, opening her eyes beneath the surface.

The burning small building was like a giant torch, illuminating the lake surface of the eighteen flower houses. She could see clusters of dark shadows struggling underwater, being pulled to shore by swimming companions.

It was impossible to make sounds underwater. Wei Caiwei’s breath was quickly exhausted, so she stood up to breathe, then gripped the pole and squatted down again to look carefully. Suddenly she spotted the shadow of a hand reaching out from the water grass on the left side.

Wei Caiwei pointed in that direction: “There’s someone calling for help over there! They seem to be tangled in water grass.”

Immediately, Embroidered Uniform Guards who could swim went to rescue the person. They did indeed save someone who was half-drowned, but looking at his face, it wasn’t Wang Daxia.

Ding Wu waded through the water, dragging this person to shore.

“Daxia! Wang Daxia!” Wei Caiwei stood in place and screamed several times, but still no one responded to her, so she squatted down again to search for people underwater.

But the bamboo pole was tilting and was no longer stable. A wave crashed over, pulling the bamboo pole from the mud, and Wei Caiwei fell with it. The lake water swirled and carried her into deep water.

At this time, Ding Wu had dragged the person to shore and immediately returned to check on Wei Caiwei.

But neither Wei Caiwei nor the bamboo pole could be seen!

“Banxia! Banxia!” Ding Wu’s mind immediately went blank, then he waded through the water to search for her.

“Banxia? What happened to Doctor Wei?” Someone came at the sound – it was Wang Daxia, alive and kicking, perfectly fine.

It turned out Wang Daxia had just been rescuing people on the other side, pushing brothers who couldn’t swim to shore. With thunder and lightning, strong winds and high waves, plus the screaming and crying of the eighteen houses’ clients and courtesans, the sounds had drowned out Wei Caiwei’s calls of his name.

Wang Daxia had been continuously rescuing people and had actually brushed past Lu Ying several times, but because it was too dark underwater, they could only see human shapes, not faces, and couldn’t make sounds, so they kept missing each other.

It wasn’t until Wang Daxia discovered his blue fluorite at the bottom of the water – which he had lost after jumping in – trapped in the mud with only a tiny spot of light showing like a firefly.

Wang Daxia dove down and retrieved the entire fluorite. The fluorite could glow even underwater. When Lu Ying saw the fluorescence, he quickly swam over and, by the fluorescent light, saw Wang Daxia’s face.

Lu Ying pulled him up, pointing in Wei Caiwei’s general direction, “Doctor Wei came looking everywhere for you. Go report that you’re safe.”

When Wang Daxia heard that Wei Caiwei had come, he quickly dropped everything to go see her.

He didn’t see Caiwei, but instead saw Ding Wu calling out “Banxia” in deep water that was nearly up to his neck.

Wang Daxia hurried over.

Ding Wu pointed at the lake water, “Banxia was swept away by a wave. Quickly go save her!”

Wang Daxia nearly went mad. He hung the blue fluorite on his waist and jumped into the water to search for Banxia.

At this time, Wei Caiwei in the lake water was trying her best to relax her body. Fortunately, the bamboo hat on her head, the rain cape on her body, and the long bamboo pole in her hands all provided some buoyancy.

Wei Caiwei bobbed up and down in the water. When she surfaced, she would take a deep breath wanting to call for help, but before she could speak, her body would sink down, so she had to close her mouth.

When she surfaced again, she still needed to breathe and couldn’t call out.

Wei Caiwei decided to take a gamble. The next time she surfaced, instead of taking time to breathe, she used what little breath she had left to shout: “Daxia!”

Her body sank again. Having used up her breath, Wei Caiwei began to choke on water, and her body could no longer relax. She sank deeper and deeper.

It was over. She had clearly wanted to shout “help,” so how did “Daxia” slip out instead?

Oh, I know now – it’s because I was able to be reborn for him!

Because of my reluctance to let him go and my longing for him, I was reborn. Born for love, this was how such an incredible thing as rebirth occurred.

Now Lu Ying and Ding Wu still haven’t found him after searching for so long. I called his name so many times, but he didn’t respond either. He must already be buried at the bottom of the lake.

If that’s the case, then my rebirth in this lifetime should also end here. I was reborn for him, and I die for him too. I suppose that… it’s a worthy death.

I prevented him from castrating himself, but let him pay the price with his life, dying at only fourteen and sleeping forever at the bottom of the lake.

I was too greedy, having loved for one lifetime and still wanting to be together in the next. How could such good fortune exist?

If that’s the case, then I’ll accompany him in eternal sleep. I hope the lake water will wash us together.

Wei Caiwei sank to the bottom and saw the burning flames above, the floating wooden boards, yet her heart was incomparably peaceful. Her formal hair bun dissolved in the water, her long black hair spreading out like water grass at the bottom of the lake, swaying with the water waves. The white silk cloth that had bound her hair bun floated to the lake surface.

White was the most conspicuous color in the dark lake water.

A hand grabbed the white silk cloth, then dove fiercely into the lake water, heading straight for the lake bottom beneath the white silk.

It was Wang Daxia searching for her. He had seen the floating white headband and swam toward its direction.

Wang Daxia had a blue fluorite hanging at his waist that could glow even in the lake water, allowing him to see clearly the scene at the lake bottom.

Before Wei Caiwei lost consciousness, she saw a human form wrapped in blue fluorescent light swimming toward her.

It looked just like Wang Daxia.

Indeed, his soul had come to receive me. We’ll be together for lifetime after lifetime.

So his soul’s color is blue.

How beautiful.

Wei Caiwei used her last bit of strength to reach out both hands toward the blue Wang Daxia, then closed her eyes…

Wang Daxia grabbed her hands, dragged her up from the lake bottom, then treading water, the two of them spiraled upward…

When Wei Caiwei woke up, she was lying in her own bed. Her clothes and hair were dry, it was already light outside, and it was raining heavily.

Everything was exactly the same as before she had fallen asleep.

What was going on? I didn’t die? Could it be that the scene of me sinking into the lake was just a nightmare?

Wei Caiwei sat up. She felt weak and had a headache. It seemed this nightmare had really taxed her brain.

Wei Caiwei closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, feeling heavy eyelids, a bitter taste in her mouth, a rough tongue, and discomfort all over. Had she caught a cold last night?

She threw off the covers, got up to put on her shoes, planning to go downstairs to the pharmacy to prepare some medicine for herself. But when her feet stepped on the footstool beside the bed, she didn’t find her shoes, but instead stepped on something warm and soft.

Strange, I definitely don’t have a cat.

Wei Caiwei finally opened her eyes again and saw that her feet were stepping on someone’s abdomen.

Wang Daxia, whom she had sought in vain in her dream, was actually curled up asleep on the footstool of the canopy bed.

This was bad, bad – I’m still in the dream, a dream within a dream. This was a scene that only existed in my previous life, when Wang Gonggong, who had just graduated from the Inner Study Hall, lowered himself to live off a woman, maintaining a very humble attitude.

At the beginning, the two didn’t share a bed. Wang Gonggong, conscious of being a kept man, was very submissive. On the first night, he had proactively taken a quilt to sleep on the footstool, so he could conveniently serve Wei Caiwei at night.

However, Wei Caiwei hadn’t made him do this, telling him to move to the large kang by the window to sleep. It was a bit cold under the window at night, but in winter the kang had fire inside, making it a warm bed that was quite comfortable to sleep on.

In this lifetime, Wang Daxia was no longer castrating himself, so naturally he wouldn’t sleep on the footstool. So I’m still dreaming, mixing up the two lifetimes.

But the Wang Daxia under her feet first frowned, reaching out to try to remove the pressure from his abdomen, but instead touched two warm, soft and firm things.

Wang Daxia opened his eyes and saw the awakened Wei Caiwei sitting on the edge of the bed, her bare feet resting on his abdomen, her gaze languid and confused.

His hands were holding her bare feet.

Five toes lined up together. Her toes were very distinctively shaped – the big toe, second, third, and even fourth toes were almost equal in length, all the same size. Only the little toe was small and delicate, nestling against the fourth toe like a small bird.

The big toe pad was slightly raised, while the other four toe pads curved inward like four little cushions, stepping on his abdomen like a massage. It actually felt quite comfortable?

Wang Daxia immediately perked up.

Author’s Note: These past few chapters have been heart-pounding, so the author is quickly sprinkling lots of sugar to comfort everyone’s frightened little hearts~