“Because on the last night before he passed away, he told me.”

Yan Sanhe spoke word by word, softly: “If you take everything to heart, a person has no way to move forward. You must let go of what should be let go, otherwise you’re the one who suffers.”

Little old man!

Did you already know your coffin wouldn’t close?

Did you already know your obsession had become a heart demon?

Yan Sanhe showed Xie Daozhi an extremely faint, shallow smile.

“In this world, what father truly hates his own son? Xie Daozhi, he no longer hates you. But…”

Yan Sanhe’s voice suddenly turned cold: “He hates himself.”

Xie Daozhi’s eyes widened abruptly.

“This family letter he could never receive is his punishment for himself;

This punishment tormented him day and night. Heaven could see it, the gods could see it, the vast stars could see it—only we couldn’t see it.”

Yan Sanhe laughed bitterly.

“This—is his true heart demon!”

As the last word fell, the study held not even the sound of breathing.

Deathly silent.

Suddenly, Xie Daozhi clutched his chest in pain and coughed violently, each sound as if vomited from his heart.

“Father?”

Xie Zhifei quickly brought warm tea.

Xie Daozhi waved his hand, indicating he shouldn’t interfere.

After coughing several more times, he opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of slightly blackened bloody phlegm before the coughing stopped.

He wanted to stand up but had no strength at all.

Yan Sanhe walked before him, lowered her head, and for the first time her eyes brightened.

“Xie Daozhi, your son said once the coffin is sealed, the matter is concluded. My grandfather’s life had its ups and downs, joys and sorrows, like a great drama.

He personally struck the clappers and beat the gong to open the show, performed until the final act. Now please trouble yourself a bit and help him draw down this final curtain.”

After speaking, she smiled coldly.

“Same old rule—I’ll wait for you outside.”

“Yan Sanhe.”

Yan Sanhe’s steps paused, and she turned her head: “What other instructions does Third Master Xie have?”

Third Master looked at her steadily.

“I just wanted to remind you—wet clothes clinging to your body are uncomfortable. You should change them.”

“No need. There’s also a very high possibility that not a single word of what I just said is correct.”

Yan Sanhe sneered coldly: “These clothes are convenient for me to roll out of the capital overnight.”

Xie Zhifei: “…”

“Third Son.”

Xie Daozhi struggled to climb up from the ground, his voice utterly hollow. “You go out too!”

Xie Zhifei stood stunned for a long moment, then gently closed the door.

…

In the courtyard.

Raindrops beat against the rain cloth, making pat-pat-pat sounds.

Yan Sanhe stood with her hands clasped behind her back at the very edge of the rain cloth, looking at a tree beyond the high wall.

This tree stood alone. Its leaves had long since fallen, but its branches stretched upward, seeming to contain a kind of unyielding power.

Yan Sanhe’s heart stirred, and she strode out of the courtyard.

Drawing closer, by the dim lantern light she was startled.

The tree’s bark had severely peeled away, exposing ring after ring of growth rings. It was actually an old tree.

An umbrella moved over her head. Without looking back, she knew who it was.

“What are you doing here?”

“Can’t I come?”

Third Master Xie’s voice contained laughter.

Bitter laughter.

“Actually, I still have a question I want to ask you.”

“…”

“Aren’t you cold?”

Yan Sanhe hadn’t expected him to ask this and was momentarily stunned.

Xie Zhifei didn’t expect her to answer either.

In any case, this young woman was shrouded in mystery from head to toe, like a riddle.

“This tree was left by the previous owner of this residence. That person was originally a high official, but later got involved in a case. The men in his family were beheaded, and the women sent to the Instructional Bureau.”

He continued: “After we moved in, everyone said this tree was inauspicious and should be cut down. My father disagreed, saying it could serve as a reminder to him.”

Yan Sanhe turned her head to look at him.

Xie Zhifei raised an eyebrow and smiled: “My old man isn’t a bad person. When he treated you that way back then, it was also for the sake of the Xie household. Although my family’s old ancestor was skilled at scheming, she’s still a good person at heart.”

“What does any of this have to do with me?”

Xie Zhifei felt a rush of frustration in his chest.

Fine!

Consider me meddling!

“Third Master, Third Master!”

Seeing it was Steward Xie, Xie Zhifei’s expression suddenly darkened: “Is it the Old Madam’s side…”

“The Old Madam opened her eyes.”

“She opened her eyes?” Xie Zhifei immediately tensed.

“Imperial Physician Pei says it’s… it’s a final burst of energy before death.”

“Yan Sanhe!”

Xie Zhifei was so anxious his voice cracked. “What should we do?”

Yan Sanhe pointed at the old tree before them, her answer seemingly irrelevant.

“Don’t you think this tree resembles Yan Xing?”

Xie Zhifei: “…”

Steward Xie: “…”

“It experienced a change of masters and should have withered and died eight hundred years ago, yet it still lives.”

Neither servile nor overbearing, neither competing nor fighting—living more positively and upwardly than anyone.

Two sharp beams shot from Yan Sanhe’s eyes as she growled lowly, “Fate? Roll to the side!”

With that, she flicked her sleeves and walked into the courtyard.

Steward Xie was thoroughly confused. “Third Master, what is she saying?”

Third Master Xie: “She’s telling you to roll to the side!”

Steward Xie: “…”

What sins did I commit in my past life to encounter such an ancestral aunt in this one?

“By the way, Third Master, the Old Madam is calling for you!”

Xie Zhifei said nothing, raising his hand to press forcefully on his brow.

From Steward Xie’s angle, he could see his thin lips trembling incessantly.

“Third Master, go quickly, if you’re late then…”

“Tell the Old Madam to wait for me.”

Xie Zhifei released his hand, his eyes suddenly showing a fierce glint.

“She won’t leave that quickly. Didn’t you hear what Yan Sanhe said? Fate? Roll to the side!”

…

The study door pulled open from inside. Xie Daozhi walked out, his complexion pale as if he’d seen a ghost in broad daylight.

He looked at Yan Sanhe. “The incense?”

Yan Sanhe took out the incense from her bundle and handed it to him.

No one noticed that Xie Zhifei’s eyes on the side fell upon that stick of incense and narrowed slightly.

The entire bundle was soaked through, yet this incense remained dry.

How strange.

Xie Daozhi walked to the altar table, took a deep breath, and pulled out a white envelope from his bosom, placing it beside the incense burner.

An even stranger thing occurred.

The sky that had been windy and rainy one second suddenly became windless and rainless the next.

Between heaven and earth, it was extremely quiet—not a sound could be heard.

Xie Zhifei looked at Yan Sanhe with trembling heart and quaking courage, only to unexpectedly discover her body was swaying, as if she would collapse any second.

“Yan Sanhe, you…”

Dark, heavy eyes looked over. Xie Zhifei was frightened into swallowing his words.

At that moment, Xie Daozhi lifted his robe and knelt, solemnly kowtowing three times.

When he rose again, his back suddenly hunched over as if a thousand pounds of weight pressed down upon him all at once.

Yet he himself seemed completely unaware, showing no pain on his face.

Xie Zhifei’s heart nearly leapt from his throat, his palms layer upon layer of cold sweat.

Just then, Yan Sanhe shouted loudly: “Light the incense quickly!”

Hearing the shout, Xie Daozhi’s hand holding the incense paused, then slowly moved toward the candle flame.

His hand kept trembling.

One breath;

Two breaths;

Three breaths…

Time seemed completely frozen.