Hour of Yin.

The別 estate.

Normally in the center would be a coffin, with a row of floor bedding beside it.

Young Master Pei, sporting two enormous dark circles under his eyes, sat cross-legged, his eyes glancing sideways at Huang Qi, wanting nothing more than to smash the tea cup in his hand onto his forehead.

“I asked you to pour a cup of tea, and after half the day you bring this master a cup of cold tea?”

“I reminded you five or six times, but your soul wasn’t in your body. The tea sat for a long time, naturally it would…”

“What’s this? Now you dare to find fault with this master?”

Huang Qi felt wronged enough to cry, his gaze sweeping over his own master’s haggard face. He thought it better to hold back the tears.

The haggard Young Master Pei snorted and stood up, using his foot to kick the Ding Yi beside him.

“Sleep, sleep, sleep. All day long you only know how to sleep. You don’t even have a master in your heart. What a negligent slave!”

Ding Yi looked speechlessly at the heavens.

He hadn’t closed his eyes for eight hours, just lay down to rest for a moment—how did that make him a negligent slave?

“And you, the one surnamed Zhu!”

Young Master Pei’s finger nearly poked Zhu Qing’s nose.

“Your master—whether he’s alive or dead, you don’t even know, yet these past few days you still had the mind to go wandering around the Military Commissioner’s office. Wandering your mother’s wandering!”

Zhu Qing’s face turned alternately green and purple.

The master was in mourning, and a new commander had arrived at the Military Commissioner’s office. He went to handle the handover for his master!

Young Master Pei cursed and muttered, circling around the coffin once. When he reached Li Buyan’s side, Li Buyan patted the empty space beside her, indicating he should sit down.

Young Master Pei looked at her thin face and without a word, plopped down beside her.

The two made eye contact and simultaneously let out a long sigh.

“Young Master Pei?”

“What?”

“What’s with you grinding your teeth at night?”

“Hatred in my heart, obviously.”

“Hatred for whom?”

“Who else? That short-lived ghost.”

Ding Yi, who had his eyes closed, exploded at these words: “Young Master Pei, can’t you wish my master some good?”

“Good your sister!”

Pei Xiao’s anger, which had just subsided, surged up again.

“Ten years of his lifespan are gone! My not calling him a short-short-short-lived ghost is already because of our past brotherhood.”

Ding Yi fell backward, sticking up his rear to express his strong condemnation of Young Master Pei.

Pei Xiao tapped Li Buyan’s foot with his toe, his tone softening considerably. “What’s with you cursing people in your sleep talk at night?”

Li Buyan: “What did I curse?”

“Suckers!”

Pei Xiao: “Who were you cursing?”

Li Buyan turned her head to look at the row of large blisters at the corner of Pei Xiao’s mouth. “Who else could it be but the two of us?”

One—her good sister, she didn’t even know if she was human or ghost.

The other—obviously her best brother was hiding a whole pile of things from him.

When Pei Xiao heard this, the anger in his heart could have blown the roof off.

“That incense is about to go out. When that Xie fellow comes back, if this young master gives him even half a pleasant look, this young master will…”

He’d only gotten halfway through his words when a cold wind swept through the courtyard.

The incense extinguished.

A white light suddenly descended from the sky. The five people instinctively raised their hands to shield themselves, and the white light abruptly disappeared.

The five slowly opened their eyes—

By the coffin leaned Xie Zhifei, who had been completely missing for nearly six days.

This person’s face had not a trace of blood color. His pair of peach blossom eyes were tightly closed, tears continuously flowing from the corners of his eyes, falling onto his half-old clothing.

His large hands hung limply at his knees, the backs of his hands showing prominent veins beneath the exposed skin.

In the palm of his right hand, he still clutched a stick of incense—that incense was somewhat longer and thicker than ordinary incense.

Pei Xiao walked over step by step, crouched down, and looked at Xie Zhifei. His eyes hurt more than if they’d been stabbed with needles.

What was that white frost at this person’s temples?

Pei Xiao reached out with a trembling hand to touch it, rubbing it between his fingers, then raised his head as if awakening from a dream, choking out to Li Buyan:

“White hair. He’s actually grown white hair.”

Li Buyan had never seen Third Master in such a heartbroken and dejected state. She sniffed. “Sucker is sucker then. I accept it, and you’d better accept it too!”

Must accept!

Pei Xiao embraced the person before him, coaxing in a gentle, soft voice: “Ancestor, there’s no obstacle in this world that can’t be overcome. Don’t cry. At least you still have me, right?”

The person in his arms still kept his eyes closed, silently weeping.

Pei Xiao felt his heart was breaking into pieces.

What to do?

Coax him!

“These past few years as an official, I’ve secretly embezzled a bit of silver. Not much, just eighteen thousand taels. Don’t you like silver? I’ll give it all to you!”

“…”

“So… whatever you’re hiding from me, I won’t break ties with you. If you go east, I’ll never go west. If you say it’s fragrant, I’ll never say it stinks.”

“…”

Still no reaction?

Pei Xiao gritted his teeth and forced out a sentence from his throat.

“Be good. I still have five thousand taels of personal savings hidden under my bed. I’ll give them all to you too. Don’t cry, okay? Let’s not cry!”

“Amitabha!”

“Master, you’ve come at just the right time!”

Pei Xiao quickly released his grip and stepped aside. “Please look at him quickly. What’s wrong with him? He’s like he’s lost his soul.”

The old monk walked into the hall, and without a word, raised his palm and slapped it onto his head.

Xie Zhifei’s body trembled and he opened his eyes as if awakening from a dream. He stared blankly at the old monk for a long time, then suddenly his body lunged forward, collapsing at the old monk’s feet, crying out his grief.

That crying sound made the five people’s scalps tingle, and one by one they couldn’t help but shed tears as well.

“Child!”

The old monk crouched down, his hand touching his head, his eyes revealing compassion. “In this world, the key to all matters lies within oneself, within one’s own heart.”

Heart?

My heart has long been shattered into pieces, blood flowing like rivers.

My body is Xie Zhifei. My father harmed one hundred and eighty members of the Zheng family.

My soul is Zheng Huaiyou. My mother personally killed little Huaiyou.

Blood debts and deep sins, like maggots in the bone, would accompany him day and night from now on. Forget finding the key—even living would be difficult.

Xie Zhifei’s tears flowed even more fiercely.

“Child, she’s still waiting for you. There’s no time left.”

Right!

Huaiyou is still waiting for me!

Xie Zhifei raised his head, his voice hoarse: “Master, I’ve found her heart demon.”

As the words fell, a room full of gasps sounded.

The old monk: “Then light the incense!”

Incense?

Only then did Xie Zhifei see that in his hand he held a stick of incense. Surprised, he said: “Where did this incense come from?”

“Naturally it came from where it came.”

After the old monk finished speaking, his gaze turned to those five.

Zhu Qing reacted fastest: “I’ll go prepare the bathing water.”

Ding Yi: “I’ll get clean clothes.”

Huang Qi: “I’ll find the altar, prepare fruit and snacks.”

After the three left, Young Master Pei finally caught on, using his elbow to nudge Li Buyan beside him:

“Why is Xie Fifty lighting the incense?”

Li Buyan: Don’t know!

Young Master Pei: He and Yan Sanhe have no marriage agreement and aren’t married. By logic there should be no connection, right?

Li Buyan: Correct.

Young Master Pei: Could it be related to what he’s hiding from me?

Li Buyan: Possible!

Young Master Pei: Should I ask now, or wait until Xie Fifty recovers a bit?

Li Buyan: Let him recover. Third Master looks pitiful!

“Ahem… May I ask…”

The old monk, somehow, was now smiling at the two: “Are you two flirting?”

You’re the one flirting!

Young Master Pei glared at the old monk and turned his head to the left.

Your whole family is flirting!

Li Buyan glared at the old monk and turned her head to the right.

“Amitabha!”

The old monk pressed his palms together and looked down at Xie Zhifei.

“Child, you see, in this world where there is right, there is wrong; where there is sorrow, there is joy; where there is loyalty, there is treachery; where there is fortune, there is misfortune; where there is fragmentation…”

The old monk looked at those two, a gentle smile slowly blooming on his aged face.

“…There is also perfect happiness and reunion!”

—