Outside the window, cold rain drizzled, and chilly mist filled the air.

Yu Lingxi hadn’t slept well all night. Wrapped in fox fur, she reclined on her couch lost in thought, her half-scattered hair outlining her emerging graceful figure, displaying a delicate charm.

For two days, she still couldn’t make sense of what she had witnessed in the Immortal City of Desire.

The Ning Yin that Yu Lingxi knew had always been handsome and noble, looking down upon all beings.

He would lean on his jade-handled, gold-inlaid walking stick, and even when killing and stained with blood, his demeanor was extremely elegant, without a trace of dishevelment.

Seeing him kneeling at someone else’s feet, serving as a human stool, Yu Lingxi momentarily doubted the reality of the world.

In a state of extreme shock, one cannot feel the satisfaction of revenge.

She staggered backward, her body’s only reaction being to flee in panic.

She didn’t know what she was so frightened of.

She just thought incredulously: Could it be that the curses she had made after her death, sticking pins in effigies of Ning Yin, had come true? Had heaven forced Ning Yin to labor like an ox and a horse, to pay for his sins in her previous life?

“Young miss, the kitchen says the medicinal soup you ordered has been prepared. Should they bring it to you now?” Hu Tao entered to report, pulling Yu Lingxi’s thoughts back to reality.

The important matters should take priority.

Yu Lingxi had to suppress her concerns and said, “No need, I’ll go get it myself.”

With that, she patted her cheeks to wake herself up and went to the kitchen.

Last night, cold rain had fallen continuously. Yu Lingxi had deliberately chosen this suddenly cold weather.

This was her mother’s habit.

In the past, whenever autumn and winter brought cooler temperatures, her mother would order the kitchen to prepare a bowl of ginger soup to warm her husband and eldest son before they went out on business.

Yu Lingxi acted naturally, finding a reason to send the maid away: “This medicine is too bitter. Go to my room and bring some preserved fruits to offset the bitter taste.”

The maid, suspecting nothing, answered “Yes,” put down the palm-leaf fan, and left.

Having sent the maid away, Yu Lingxi quickly picked up her father and brother’s ginger soup, poured out half a bowl from each, then blended her prepared medicinal brew into their ginger soup, swirling it to mix evenly.

The two bowls were similar in color with no strange medicinal smell; it should be undetectable.

The maid soon returned with the preserved fruits. Yu Lingxi casually took one and placed it in her mouth, but still feeling uneasy, she told the maid: “You may go now. I’ll personally deliver these two bowls of ginger soup to my father and brother.”

In the study, General Yu and his son were sitting behind a desk, examining a map of the border region.

Yu Lingxi steadied herself, entered, and placed the ginger soup in front of her father and brother, striving to appear normal: “Father, Brother, Mother has prepared ginger soup for you.”

General Yu didn’t even look up, saying: “Good girl, just set it down.”

Yu Lingxi held the tray to her chest, hesitated, then softly reminded him: “If it gets cold, it won’t taste good.”

General Yu then picked up the ginger soup, bringing the bowl rim to his lips.

Yu Lingxi held her breath.

But before he took a sip, her brother Yu Huanchen pointed at a spot on the map and leaned over: “Father, this route is unsuitable.”

General Yu frowned and put down the ginger soup again.

Yu Lingxi’s gaze followed the porcelain bowl’s movement, then she glared at her interfering brother.

If they don’t drink it soon, complications might arise.

Thinking of something, Yu Lingxi turned her eyes and said: “Father, I just tasted the soup and found it somewhat bland. Would you like me to bring some pepper powder to make you sweat a little?”

As soon as she finished speaking, both her father’s and brother’s temples twitched simultaneously. They grabbed the ginger soup and drank it in one gulp, fearing that if they delayed, they would suffer the torture of pepper powder.

They had long experienced their daughter’s peculiar habits and couldn’t bear it.

Yu Lingxi had to struggle to suppress her laughter.

After drinking the ginger soup, the father and son changed clothes and went to the Ministry of War to discuss provisions for the expedition.

Yu Lingxi didn’t stop them.

The medicine needed an hour or so to take effect, and her father and brother visiting several places would help divert suspicion from her.

She patiently sat in her chamber, waiting for news.

By noon, her father and brother were indeed brought back with assistance.

Madam Yu was greatly alarmed. Upon questioning the attending guards, she learned that her husband and son had inexplicably contracted a chill, becoming dizzy and unable to stand, so they were sent home by carriage from the Ministry of War.

At first, father and son were feverish and weak but could still maintain consciousness.

By nightfall, they had fallen into unconsciousness.

The court’s chief eunuchs and imperial physicians came and went in several shifts, but none could explain why the Yu family father and son had suddenly fallen ill.

By the third day of unconsciousness, the breathing of the Yu family men gradually grew weak and prolonged. Even the best imperial physicians frowned in helplessness.

Seeing that this acute illness was not feigned, the chief eunuch shook his head, made a gesture to comfort the nearly collapsing Madam Yu, and returned to the palace to report.

The heart that Yu Lingxi had held in her throat finally landed safely.

Although changing the commander before an expedition was not good for army morale, Yu Lingxi, having lived a second life, knew that this plunder by the Rong tribe was not a major rebellion, but rather a poisoned bait set by someone deliberately targeting the Yu family. Even if another military general were sent north, it would not harm the nation’s fortunes.

She had no choice but to resort to this method.

However, it inevitably caused suffering to her mother.

Madam Yu had kept vigil at her husband and eldest son’s sickbeds for several days and nights, growing so thin that her sash had loosened. Yet when she saw her daughter, she still managed to force a fragile smile, saying with a slight choke: “Sui Sui, don’t worry. Mother is here. Your father and brother will be fine.”

Yu Lingxi, seeing her mother’s swollen eyes from crying, felt the slight guilt in her heart begin to waver.

She opened her mouth, and for a moment, she wanted to reveal all the truth.

But she couldn’t.

Who would believe in supernatural matters? Speaking out would only add to the sorrow.

Moreover, the Emperor who could produce a son as ruthless as Ning Yin was certainly not incompetent. This plan could only succeed if she first deceived her family, allowing the Emperor to completely dispel his doubts.

“Mother, please go to your room and rest.”

Yu Lingxi stepped forward softly and embraced her mother’s thin shoulders. “I’ll take care of them here.”

Madam Yu just shook her head. “You’re frail. Don’t catch the illness. If you also… Mother truly wouldn’t know how to go on living!”

“That won’t happen, Mother! In at most four days, Father and Brother will wake up.”

Yu Lingxi, as if having matured overnight, firmly said: “As a daughter, I should fulfill my filial duty at Father’s bedside.”

Madam Yu couldn’t dissuade her and had to agree.

On the bed, the Yu family father and son lay side by side, eyes tightly closed, their breathing almost imperceptible—just like her own symptoms had been.

In the dim candlelight, Yu Lingxi walked over and carefully tucked in the blankets for her father and brother.

Then she sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her father’s faint breathing, gradually reddening her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Father. Your daughter deceives you only this once.”

She held her father’s rough hand and rubbed it against her cheek, saying softly, “In this life, your daughter will protect you all… definitely!”

Yu Lingxi fulfilled her promise.

After four days, the Yu family father and son indeed woke up one after another.

The father and son got out of bed refreshed, only to learn that during the days of their sudden “grave illness,” the Da Wei Dynasty’s army had already departed for the northern expedition, with a Cloud Banner General who didn’t get along well with the Yu family as the commander.

This angered General Yu so much that he lost his appetite. The next day, he took his son to the palace to see the Emperor and apologize.

“Young miss, the General and the Young General have safely returned to the mansion.”

The guard Qing Xiao stood dutifully at the door, reporting to Yu Lingxi: “The Emperor not only didn’t blame the General but praised ‘Heaven blesses Da Wei, no fine general is lost,’ and bestowed two precious horses from the Western Regions, politely sending them home.”

Yu Lingxi curved her lips: “I understand.”

The Emperor still needed the Yu family’s service; such a reaction was within expectations.

At the General’s mansion, a night banquet was held.

“This illness came too suspiciously. Father and I have always been robust, how could we both fall ill at such a critical moment?”

Yu Huanchen absentmindedly poked at the rice in his bowl, unable to comprehend.

Supporting his chin in thought for a moment, he frowned and said: “Could someone have poisoned us?”

“Cough!” Yu Lingxi, who was drinking soup, felt a surge of unease.

She composed herself, wiping the corner of her mouth, and attempted to steer the conversation toward the “traitor” from her previous life.

“Could it be that political enemies at court, jealous of Father’s prestige, conspired with outsiders?”

Although the enemy’s scheme had been thwarted for now, with her father and brother in the open and the enemy hiding in the shadows, she needed to remind them to be vigilant.

“That’s not impossible.”

Yu Huanchen’s mind worked quickly, and he nodded, “The Cloud Banner General Li’s family and Director Liu of the Ministry of War have been opposing Father openly and secretly. And we visited the Ministry of War the day we fell ill…”

Hearing this, Yu Lingxi felt a warmth rising amidst her guilt.

Her brother was so intelligent, yet he had never suspected that the “poison” in their bodies was administered by her.

No need for explanations or lies—these two men would believe in her until death.

Yu Lingxi’s eyes sparkled with light, feeling it was all worth it.

At the hour of Hai, the water clock dripped steadily.

Yu Lingxi had drunk a few cups of wine, her cheeks flushed red as she walked along the moonlit stone path back to her chamber, feeling a lightness she had never experienced before.

After the serving maids who assisted with washing and grooming withdrew, she put on a robe and sat up, wetting her brush with ink at her desk.

With the northern expedition crisis resolved, the next thing to be clarified was…

She lowered her eyes in concentration and wrote the characters for “cause of death” on the paper.

Dying so inexplicably in her previous life was truly unjust. Without discovering the hidden hand behind it, a sharp thorn would remain in her heart, making her restless.

She had thought that her death might have been Ning Yin’s doing, but she quickly dismissed this answer.

After two years of being together day and night, Ning Yin had a thousand ways to kill her—why make her vomit black blood on her deathbed?

That wasn’t his style.

Moreover, in her final moment before dying from vomiting blood, the shock in Ning Yin’s eyes didn’t seem feigned.

She rested her chin on her hand, her curled eyelashes sprinkled with candlelight like gold dust.

The events of her previous life were like flowers in a mirror or the moon in water, creating ripples in Yu Lingxi’s calm, beautiful eyes.

Frowning, she added “Ning Yin” next to “cause of death,” her strokes carrying a teeth-grinding flavor.

Even if Ning Yin hadn’t ordered the killing, her death couldn’t be unrelated to him.

As the wine’s effect gradually made her drowsy, Yu Lingxi rested on the desk, staring at the paper for a long time. The more she looked, the more the character “Ning Yin” stung her eyes.

The cold, smiling handsome face in her memory overlapped with the young man trampled under someone’s foot, creating a contradiction that pulled at her thoughts…

Yu Lingxi simply crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it into the charcoal basin to burn.

She fell back onto her bed weakly, covered herself with the quilt, and fell into a deep sleep.

…

Outside the latticed window, the moon’s shadow tilted westward.

Yu Lingxi didn’t know how many times she had dreamed of Ning Yin.

In the dream, she was still that wandering soul without a grave or tomb, floating beside Ning Yin.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the current Ning Yin seemed even more insane than before.

His complexion was paler than a ghost’s, exuding a kind of sickly handsomeness.

Yu Lingxi watched him kill the Minister of War, kill the Grand Censor, raid Right Minister Xue’s family, and slaughter everyone he disliked and even those he liked, turning the entire city into a rain of blood.

Then, he kicked the young Emperor, still a child, off the dragon throne.

Before, though Ning Yin was cruel and unpredictable, his actions still showed some preferences. But now, Ning Yin’s eyes held only destruction.

Yet he still wasn’t happy.

Although his lips always curved in a gentle arc, seemingly interested in enjoying the splashing fresh blood before the Hall of Golden Bells, Yu Lingxi could tell that he wasn’t happy.

He went to the prison to torment Xue Cen, listening to Xue Cen’s curses with leisurely indifference.

There were so many people in the world who cursed him and wanted to kill him; one more Xue Cen didn’t matter.

But he wouldn’t kill Xue Cen. He said death was a simple thing and he wouldn’t let the Xue family off so easily.

“If Master Xue were to die, there would be no one in this world to remember…”

The words were only half spoken when Ning Yin tightly pressed his thin lips together.

He seemed to sense something, turning his gaze to pierce in the direction where Yu Lingxi’s spirit floated.

Though knowing he couldn’t see her, Yu Lingxi still trembled in fear.

Covered in a cold sweat, she woke from her dream.

Yu Lingxi opened her eyes, staring at the silver floral pattern on her bed canopy, the bloody scenes from her dream refusing to fade.

Her chest felt stuffed with cotton, making it hard to breathe. She felt ashamed of her momentary softness last night.

No matter how pitiful that person was now, it couldn’t offset the bloodshed he would cause in the future.

Pitying him—who would pity her lonely ghost from the previous life?

Thinking of all this, Yu Lingxi threw her pillow and turned over angrily.

No, she still couldn’t swallow this anger!