While Su Mu is reminiscing about the past, Xie Yi, dressed all in white, has already walked up to her coffin. His face is pale and colorless, with red bloodshot eyes, looking as if he has been crying for a long time.
His hand gently caresses her coffin, his dry and bleeding lips murmuring softly.
Su Mu floats to his side, listening carefully to what he's saying.
Xie Yi's voice is thin and trembling: "Winter nights, summer days, after a hundred years return to this chamber."
Su Mu's eyes widen slightly in surprise. This was a phrase she had casually mentioned years ago when teaching him the Central Plains language.
She never expected that after so many years, he would still remember it.
Xie Yi's pale, almost translucent fingertips trail over her coffin. He pushes it open forcefully, revealing Su Mu's pale, lifeless body.
The corpse has been laying there for two days already. Although the weather isn't hot, it has already started to emit a foul odor. Even Su Mu herself finds it unpleasant and purses her lips, holding her breath.
But Xie Yi smiles. A tear rolls from his eye as he says: "Sister Mu, I can't wait a hundred years."
Su Mu is shocked, finally understanding what he intends to do. She calls out to stop him.
But he can't hear her, and she's too late.
Xie Yi takes out a small bottle from his robes and drinks it all in one gulp. The poison takes effect quickly. Xie Yi's expression becomes pained, but his reddened eyes reveal a hint of manic joy.
He supports himself as he lies down in her coffin, nestling into her embrace. A mouthful of deep red blood spills from his lips. Xie Yi smiles as he closes his eyes.
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"The young master is resting now. Young mistress, please return." Outside the tightly closed door, the servant Xiao Ping lifts his chin slightly, his eyes revealing undisguised disdain and a sense of superiority.
Su Mu's head aches a bit. Just now, when she tried to stop Xie Yi from taking poison, she was suddenly blinded by a dazzling white light.
When she opens her eyes again, Yan Jiyue's former personal attendant Xiao Ping is already standing in front of her.
Su Mu is a bit dazed.
Hadn't he been sold off to human traffickers by Yan Jiyue? Why is he still in the Yan residence?
Five years after Su Mu married into the Yan family, she had expanded the Yan family business, making them the wealthiest in Juancheng. She had also cleared out those parasitic relatives of the Yan family who only knew how to ask for money, consolidating a great deal of power.
And Su Mu's reputation in others' mouths had changed from "that freeloader son-in-law of the Yan family" to "Young Mistress Su Mu of the Yan family". In the end, those who once looked down on her would respectfully address her as "Madam Su" when they saw her.
Perhaps because she held more power now and associated with high officials in the city, there were also more men offering themselves to her bed.
This included Xiao Ping, though Su Mu naturally didn't touch him.
Xiao Ping's personality was cut from the same cloth as Yan Jiyue's, and he also threw his weight around. She found him annoying just looking at him and directly chased him away.
Later, Yan Jiyue somehow learned that Xiao Ping had tried to climb into her bed uninvited. He gave him a severe beating with a whip and contacted human traffickers to sell him off that very night.
In the five years since then, none of Yan Jiyue's personal attendants had been good-looking. On closer inspection, they were all a bit ugly.
No, that's not the issue to think about now. Su Mu comes back to her senses, looking at Xiao Ping, then at her own wrist.
In the first winter after marrying Yan Jiyue, Su Mu had been burned by hot coals while protecting Yan Jiyue. The scar hadn't faded for ten years.
But now her wrist is smooth and delicate. Could it be that she has been reborn?
Su Mu can hardly believe it.
At this moment, seeing that Su Mu is still standing in front of Yan Jiyue's door and refusing to leave, Xiao Ping thinks she's trying to cling to Yan Jiyue. He snorts disdainfully: "What's the matter, young mistress? It's only been half a month since your marriage and you've already forgotten the rules the young master taught you?"
Su Mu suddenly realizes - so she has been reborn to half a month after marrying into the family. Xiao Ping, you really are a qualified NPC.
"I remember, I remember. I'm leaving now." Su Mu's voice is full of joy as she leaves with light steps.
Xiao Ping watches Su Mu's retreating figure, feeling something is strange but unable to pinpoint exactly what. In any case, it just doesn't seem right.
"Has that woman left?" Yan Jiyue's voice comes faintly from inside the room.
Xiao Ping shakes his head, dismissing the random thoughts from his mind, and replies: "Young master, Su Mu has left. This time she didn't linger."
In front of Yan Jiyue, Su Mu cannot be referred to as "young mistress".