The candlestick that had been lit inside the room had already toppled over and been extinguished into darkness. Only the courtyard’s lamplight could dimly penetrate through the snow-white window paper, casting illumination into this room.

Jiang Xuening didn’t know how she had walked over.

Or what kind of strength was supporting her body, preventing her from collapsing midway.

There was blood on Dao Qin’s wounded face, and even his hands were covered in blood stains, as if he had just forcefully pressed down on someone’s wound.

The blood dripped down from his fingers.

As Jiang Xuening walked past him, this handsome and taciturn young man nearly choked with emotion: “I was too slow…”

But Jiang Xuening seemed unable to hear him.

She could only see the pool of blood spreading along the cracks between the floor tiles.

Inside the originally neat room, trunks, books, and account ledgers had nearly all been overturned in chaos. Several account books and a stack of rice paper were scattered everywhere. That young lady who had once been the concubine-born daughter of the Count of Qingyuan’s household, that girl who had endured so much suffering in the past, lay there barely breathing with drooping eyelids. Her powerless head leaned lightly against the base of the curio shelf, her delicate face already drained of color. The vicious wound at her abdomen, stabbed from behind, was covered by her fingers, yet the blood still flowed silently, bit by bit carrying away what little vitality remained in her.

How could this be?

This shouldn’t be happening.

Jiang Xuening still remembered that day when she attended the banquet at the Count of Qingyuan’s residence. Several fierce old women rushed over from that end of the corridor, frantically chasing her. She was both frightened and anxious, and bumped into her, soiling her fragrance sachet. That single teardrop had fallen from her large, clear eyes, reminiscent of dewdrops on grass tips.

Anxious, soft, clumsy.

But like that blade of grass—insignificant, yet possessing tenacious life.

Even when caught by those wicked people and forcefully pressed into the water, she still struggled with all her might, beating the lake surface, splashing ripples, disturbing the water’s waves until they became turbulent, wrinkling even the sky reflected within.

After she had saved her, she had once misunderstood her, thinking she had no aptitude and lacked ambition.

But she had given her a surprise.

On that day when she emerged from the palace, she had presented that box containing banknotes and the fragrance sachet with both hands before her, looking at her carefully yet full of hope, not knowing what waves she had stirred in her heart.

That moment was the true beginning of Jiang Xuening’s rebirth.

In the two years since leaving the capital, it had been You Fangyin who accompanied her nearly the entire time.

From Shu to Jiangnan.

In others’ eyes, she might be the unfavored concubine-born daughter of the count’s household, the gentle young mistress of the Ren family salt business, or even President You of the guild hall who conducted business with honesty and integrity. But in her eyes, she would forever be that single-minded silly girl who, once she recognized someone, would bare her heart and soul to them…

Jiang Xuening felt as if her body and heart had split into two halves at this moment, which instead gave her a strange kind of calm.

She came to her side and gently knelt in that pool of blood.

Then she reached out to help cover the wound where the blood flow had already slowed, her voice carrying a dream-like daze as she simply said, “Fangyin, Fangyin. I’m here now, everything’s fine. They’ve all gone to fetch the physician. Zhou Qihuang’s medical skills are so excellent, you’ll definitely be fine.”

You Fangyin’s eyelashes hung low. Upon hearing this voice, she finally slowly lifted them.

However, everything before her eyes was a blur.

Jiang Xuening knelt with her back to the doorway. Her vision was also dim and murky, as if half of her soul had already been seized away by the bottomless abyss and the soul-claiming underworld, unable to clearly see her appearance.

But she could distinguish her voice.

So at this moment, she actually produced an expression as ordinary as in the past, as if this weren’t a separation between life and death. She called out hoarsely, “Second Miss, you’ve come.”

Jiang Xuening said to her, “Don’t speak.”

Tears gradually accumulated in You Fangyin’s eyes: “Dao Qin didn’t lie to me. I told him to find you, but I was so afraid he wouldn’t listen, that he’d go find a physician instead and waste time, preventing me from seeing your face…”

Jiang Xuening’s voice had already taken on a tremor: “Don’t speak…”

But her tears suddenly rolled down, moistening her jet-black eyelashes, revealing an unprecedented sorrow: “He took the seal, Boss! He took our seal. Something must have gone wrong with the businesses in Shu and Jiangnan…”

“Stop talking!”

At this moment, the fragile calm and composure that Jiang Xuening had barely managed to construct was finally shattered by her clumsy stubbornness. She loudly interrupted her. Yet immediately after, her thin shoulders began to tremble, her voice seeming blocked by something, becoming hoarse.

She didn’t know if she was speaking to her or to herself.

She repeated over and over.

“You’ll be fine. How could anything happen to you? The salt business and the merchant association—so many people are waiting for you, there’s so much business to do. How could anything happen to you? Be good, don’t speak, don’t cry. Zhou Qihuang will be here soon…”

But as she spoke, her eyes reddened.

Tears fell without warning.

She desperately tilted her head back, wanting to hold them back, to prevent herself from appearing particularly weak at such a moment. However, the impermanence of sorrow was like waves on the shore, beating against her one after another. She wasn’t a stone on the beach, but an injured waterbird lying on the stone, constantly being pressed down by those fierce waves, completely submerged.

The world seemed to have lost its foundation.

She couldn’t grasp anything, couldn’t hold anything steady. In her repeated struggles with these surging waves, she had gained nothing, leaving only bloodstained feathers, broken claws, and those accumulated scars piled upon scars…

Jiang Xuening couldn’t control her mournful sobbing. She extended her arms and held You Fangyin tightly in her embrace, yet only felt the icy cold enveloping her, making her tremble: “Don’t cry, don’t cry, it will get better…”

You Fangyin smiled with curved lips.

Yet her tears were unprecedentedly scalding.

Clearly she was the one about to depart, yet she instead became the one offering comfort, trying to leave behind a little strength with her feeble words: “Fangyin was meant to die anyway. Back then, it was you, Miss, who saved me and pulled me back from the King of Hell’s hall. These years of living were all undeserved by Fangyin. Heaven took pity and allowed Fangyin to meet you. Miss, don’t cry…”

Jiang Xuening wept uncontrollably.

Yet You Fangyin seemed to be carried back to those years by her own words.

In her past of endless darkness, she had never seen such a bright and beautiful person, nor had she ever encountered such a brilliant and clear sky.

“I’m someone who has died once. That place below doesn’t seem so frightening—it’s just a bit dark, where you can’t see anything, not even the darkness itself…” You Fangyin struggled somewhat to lift her finger, as if wanting to trace something in the cold void, but it crumbled into shapelessness. “At that time, I seemed to see someone. She looked very much like me, always watching me. Later, when you pulled me out of the water, she suddenly disappeared. I never… saw her again…”

Her dark pupils reflected the halo of light on the window paper.

Slowly turning, her gaze fell upon Jiang Xuening’s face.

She seemed to become once again that helpless and clumsy girl from years ago, narrating in a gauze-like voice: “It’s all my fault for being too foolish. You clearly warned me to guard against him, but I thought, he had saved me…”

Jiang Xuening’s arms holding her tightened, gripping her shoulders forcefully, yet unable to suppress that sudden piercing pain that assaulted her heart.

Zhou Yinzhi!

If she hadn’t used Zhou Yinzhi, back then she would have had no way to rescue You Fangyin from her predicament and leave the capital. But precisely because she had saved Zhou Yinzhi, today’s You Fangyin would suffer this harm and encounter this disaster!

Fate had gone round and round, playing an enormous joke on her!

She choked with emotion: “No, no. How could you be foolish? You built such a large business, even came to Xinzhou and arranged for provisions. Even someone as formidable as Lu Zhaoyin had to suffer losses when encountering you. Young Master Ren also praised you endlessly… It’s not your fault, you did nothing wrong… No one is better than you…”

The previous pain actually gradually receded.

You Fangyin felt this moment was so wondrous, as if her entire being had regained vitality. So with a measure of hope she asked, “Even better than that person?”

Jiang Xuening looked at her.

A dream-like daze appeared in her eyes: “Sometimes, I feel that you’re not looking at me. Occasionally when you zone out, it’s as if you’re seeing some other person through me. I’m so afraid, so afraid, so afraid that person will appear and drive me away. I can’t keep accounts well, I’m not very literate, I don’t know how to do business, and I can’t manage those calculations. I’m so afraid I can’t help you, so afraid you won’t want me, so afraid I can’t compare to her…”

Jiang Xuening was finally stunned.

Then tears streamed down like rain.

In this life, apart from that time with Xie Wei, she had never mentioned anything about her previous life. Those were all secrets that should be buried in the past. She had never imagined that when she saw that face identical to the You Fangyin of her previous life and thought of the You Fangyin from her past life, someone would discover clues from her subtle expressions.

This unfortunate girl was so delicate and sensitive, yet she had silently hidden everything away.

She thought of that lit oil lamp in the prison.

She thought of the worn account books under the lamplight.

She thought of that timid girl who grew up in the count’s household’s back courtyard, who one day suddenly came to tell her that she wanted to enter into a contract marriage with Ren Weizhi in order to escape the capital, throw herself into the wider world, and do business.

…

Jiang Xuening trembled continuously.

Her blood-covered fingers lifted, trying to wipe away the tears on You Fangyin’s cheeks, but not only did she fail to wipe them clean, she instead left shocking bloody traces on that pallor.

For the first time, she was so helpless.

She tightly embraced this silly girl, and like a sinner, sobbed out her confession: “No, no. You are the best. You’re the one who let me know that I could help others, that I could gamble with fate. You’re the one who made all of this begin. I didn’t save you—you saved me. You are that most benevolent bodhisattva… Even if Heaven gave me another one, I wouldn’t want it. You are the world’s one and only Fangyin, the best Fangyin…”

You Fangyin smiled.

It was a smile nearly full of satisfaction and happiness.

In this dim and dismal darkness, there was actually a kind of radiant brilliance, illuminating like the blazing sun and bright moon. Yet in an instant it dimmed, as if this single smile had drained the remaining strength from her body, burning away the last embers.

At life’s end, she forcefully grasped her hand.

Just like she had struggled on that lake surface back then.

She cried: “Miss, I can’t bear it, I want so much to live…”

However, even this struggling strength, along with the dimming radiance on her face, weakened together.

The pooled blood stilled and grew cold.

Just like the wick of that overturned candlestick finally being extinguished, You Fangyin, who had once bloomed with brilliance in this world, also silently extinguished.

Zhou Qihuang arrived carrying his medicine box. Hearing the sounds inside, he didn’t dare enter.

Ren Weizhi’s hoarse shouting could be heard from afar.

Lu Xian walked toward the room’s entrance. When he saw clearly the scene inside, his body swayed, yet as if dizzy, he slowly retreated backward step by step.

Jiang Xuening was covered in blood, kneeling in the pool of blood, holding that gradually cooling body.

All around was silent darkness.

A wind blew in, as if a thousand, ten thousand demons were hiding in the gloom, cackling eerily, mocking the fate that mortals believed they could control but were actually manipulated by Heaven.

Yet so unwilling.

So unwilling!

Why!

Why manipulate me!

That torrential hatred, heart-wrenching and lung-tearing, sharply enveloped her. Jiang Xuening trembled from it. Her tear-reddened eyes stared directly at that oppressive darkness overhead. Hysterically, she questioned the void: “I was the one who saved her! What right do you have to take her back from me? Since you already spared her once, how dare you so coldly snatch her away? Are you trying to tell me that starting over means I can’t change anything? Let me tell you, you’re dreaming! Unless you kill me along with her, otherwise open your blind eyes wide and watch! In this life, I absolutely will not—will never kneel before you—”