Chapter 6

The Second Prince didn’t break his promise.

The sentences for the Lin and Ren families came down.

The male members of the Lin family over the age of twelve were to be executed by beheading. Those under twelve, along with the old, weak, women, and children, were exiled to the bitter cold borders.

The same applied to the Ren family.

Lin Shenyi said he wanted to see me.

I dressed up in my finest attire, applying rouge and lip color.

He was inside the cell, and I was outside.

He was no longer that bright and magnificent Lord Heir who had captivated me at first sight.

He was a lowly prisoner.

A hypocrite. The butcher who killed my son. A beast and a monster who betrayed justice and trust.

He looked at me for a moment before gently kneeling on the ground. “Ruiyi, I’m sorry.”

He must have discovered the truth.

But so what?

We could never go back.

My dead child could never return to this mortal world.

I didn’t want to ask who the man I had that one-night stand with was. There was no need.

Me and that person…

“Seeing you become a stray dog, seeing those in the Lin family who deserve to die be killed, and those who deserve execution be executed, the heavens truly have eyes.”

“The spirit of my son in heaven can finally rest in peace.”

Lin Shenyi suddenly looked up at me. “It was you. You colluded with the Second Prince…”

I sneered coldly.

How is that collusion? That is cooperation.

The Second Prince needed what I had in my hands, and I needed the Second Prince’s power for my revenge. We each took what we needed.

But why would I admit it?

Walls have ears, and that would truly not be worth the loss.

“On the road to the Yellow Springs, your whole family will have company, so it won’t be lonely. Lin Shenyi, even though you are heartless and unrighteous, I must say one thing at this moment. You weren’t ruthless enough. Back then, if you had just stabbed me with a knife—white blade in, red blade out—your family wouldn’t be destroyed today.”

“Look at how ruthless I am. Calculating every step, hitting the mark with one strike.”

“I absolutely will not give you a chance to turn things around.”

Looking at Lin Shenyi’s instantly bloodshot eyes.

I felt a sense of pride in my heart, but no joy.

Even if I got my revenge, so what? My child didn’t receive even a tiny bit of a mother’s love.

I didn’t even get the chance to hold him properly.

A suffocating lump blocked my chest.

“Ruiyi, I let you down. The child was an accident. If I had known earlier that you were the girl who saved me, I definitely wouldn’t have done anything to hurt you.”

I suddenly felt like crying.

But I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, tears sliding down my cheeks.

“A late apology is cheaper than grass. You don’t deserve to mention the life-saving grace from back then.”

“You don’t deserve it.”

These were the last words I said to Lin Shenyi.

He knelt there, tears rolling from his bloodshot eyes.

When I walked out of the prison, the blazing sun was warm.

I raised my hand to shield myself from the glaring sunlight.

I saw a young eunuch manager standing there, watching me.

He seemed to have a thousand words to say, starting to walk towards me several times.

In an instant, I guessed who he was.

I gave him a slight curtsy.

He dropped to his knees with a thud.

“…”

For a moment, I didn’t know if my fate was good or bitter.

Marrying the wrong person was bitter.

But the man with whom I shared a fleeting romance came just to look at me from afar.

How ridiculous and tragic.

We didn’t speak a single word. Looking at each other like this, acknowledging each other’s existence without making a public scene, was already preserving our dignity.

I looked at him, smiled, turned around, and left.

On the day the Lin family was executed, the rain poured down. Very few people came to watch. I stood in the rain holding an umbrella, the water soaking my shoes and the hem of my skirt.

The Lin family cursed me as a demoness, a plague.

I merely smiled coldly.

Once upon a time, I too was a gentle, kind, and virtuous woman.

To reach this point, not a single person in the Lin family was innocent.

Just like those in the Ren family.

The mastermind was Lin Shenyi, but they were the accomplices.

When I made eye contact with Lin Shenyi, I saw the resentment, anger, regret, and agony in his eyes.

“The hour has arrived. Carry out the execution!”

The executioner’s blade rose and fell, and his head was chopped off.

The spurting blood shot far away.

Mixing with the rainwater, it slowly snaked its way towards me.

I stood completely still.

It was a long time before I slowly turned around.

Trudging through the bloody water, my bloody footprints slowly faded from bright red to pale red…

On the day my father and brothers were beheaded, I no longer had the strength to watch the execution.

After my great vengeance was avenged, it felt as though all the strength and spirit had been drained from my body. Like a fully inflated skin that had been poked with countless holes, letting all the air out.

Like a silkworm spinning all its silk, like a candle burning to ash.

The countdown on my life had begun.

I leaned against the bed, watching Li Jinmu pace back and forth in the room, occasionally scolding me a couple of times.

I felt like laughing.

And crying.

I also wanted to see him more clearly, to remember his face.

If there is a next life, I will definitely keep my eyes peeled to see, to savor, and to recognize him properly.

Righteousness is often found in butchers and commoners, while ingratitude often lies with scholars.

“Li Jinmu.”

“What? Leaving your final words? You know I don’t want to hear them. Ren Ruiyi, you better live well for me! I didn’t bring you back from the brothel just so you could die. I… I…”

He tightly grasped my hand. “Ren Ruiyi, I regret it. I regret that I didn’t fight harder for you back then. I might be a scoundrel, but I never wanted you to die.”

I know.

I have always known.

I gave Li Jinmu all the medical books and poison formulas I had compiled over the past three years.

The gold and silver I gave to those who escorted me to the capital.

I had already chosen my burial site.

It was a river outside the city. I wanted that after I died, I could join my child, follow the rivers and lakes, and merge into the vast sea, free and unfettered.

Perhaps our ashes would be eaten by fish and shrimp, but what did it matter?

It was my willing choice.

On the way there, I heard Li Jinmu say that the old, weak, and women of the Lin and Ren families were exiled together. From the moment they left the capital, they had been tearing at each other, fighting and blaming one another.

I just smiled.

I saw that eunuch again.

He walked toward me step by step and placed a beaded bracelet around my wrist.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”

I gently shook my head and hugged the urn in my arms tightly.

He reached out and stroked the urn, speaking in a gentle and loving voice, “Have a safe journey.”

It was to the child, and also to me.

“Those two families, I made some arrangements. I cannot let them live. That would be a disservice to you and the child. You won’t blame me, will you?”

My heart felt a bit bitter and uncomfortable, yet also relieved.

My child… he ultimately had a father who loved him.

Even though he didn’t know who his father was, what his name was, how old he was, or where he lived…

But what did it matter?

His father had loved him. That was enough.

“Let’s go.”

In my final moments, Li Jinmu broke his promise after all.

He didn’t turn me into ashes. Instead, he placed me on a wooden boat filled with fresh flowers, drifting along the currents…

Before I closed my eyes.

The only thing I left in this mortal world was a single sigh.

I wanted to say that this human world is too bitter. If there truly is a next life, I don’t want to come back again…

[Li Jinmu’s Extra]

In a person’s life, there are always many people who come and go, and there is always that one person who is carved into the heart like cinnabar, hanging like moonlight in the night sky.

Sought after, yet unobtainable.

“Old Prince, Old Prince.”

Li Jinmu snapped back to reality. He raised his hands; they were full of wrinkles and aged skin.

He was already very, very old.

His whole life, he had been young, frivolous, and idle.

Even when he found a girl he liked, he couldn’t persist initially.

It was anger from being rejected.

And the small bit of pride in a man’s heart.

Watching her get married, watching her be happy, and then watching her fall into a brothel…

In that moment, the pain tore his heart apart.

All that unwillingness and anger vanished the moment he saw her, the moment he learned of her suffering and that her days were numbered. All that was left was regret, heartache, and self-blame.

Though he was a playboy, he never wanted her to die.

He only wished he could endure that suffering for her and kill that beast Lin Shenyi.

Looking at the corpse of her young child, she collapsed into a walking corpse, leaving only a tiny sliver of her soul.

He held her and called her name over and over again, using revenge as an excuse to make her hold on.

Through all those near-death struggles, it only bought her three more years…

He originally didn’t want to get involved in the fight for the throne, preferring to be a leisurely prince.

But he couldn’t bear to see her unable to sleep, her black hair falling out strand by strand. He had to help her destroy the Lin and Ren families.

So he sought out the Second Prince.

He was afraid she would die with lingering grievances. He was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hold on once her revenge was complete…

As expected, watching the people of the Lin and Ren families die, it was as if all her remaining soul had been drawn out…

She wanted to be with her child, but he selfishly wanted to keep her by his side.

So he helplessly watched her take her last breath in his arms, promising him a next life on her deathbed…

Silly girl, when you miss it in this life, where is there a next life?

“Old Prince, Old Prince…”

“Bury me with the Princess.”

If we couldn’t hold hands day and night in life, let us share the same grave in death.

As he closed his eyes, Li Jinmu thought of his life.

When he was young, he dreamed of holding a woman in each arm, loving one today and doting on another tomorrow.

By the time he understood love, the one he loved was already gone.

He defied all opposition to marry a dead woman, never taking another concubine.

Just holding onto the delusional hope of having a next life with her.

“Lord Heir! Lord Heir, wake up! The Prince is coming with a bramble whip!”

When Li Jinmu was shaken awake, he blinked in shock.

Looking at the servant boy in front of him.

And then looking at his own hands.

He suddenly realized something. First shock, then uproarious laughter.

He flipped off the bed like a carp, didn’t even put on his shoes, grabbed his clothes, and vaulted over the wall.

He sprinted all the way to the Count’s estate.

He accurately found the courtyard where Ren Ruiyi lived, only to see her standing gracefully in the yard, smiling at him exquisitely.

“You… you… you…” Li Jinmu stuttered, unable to speak.

Ren Ruiyi reached out her hand to him, and then threw herself into his embrace without caring about anything else.

“I knew you would definitely come.”

Ren Ruiyi cried and laughed in his arms.

Seeing him like this, her heart ached endlessly. She pulled him into the room, had someone fetch water for him to wash, and brought him fitting clothes and shoes.

“Your family’s matters…” Li Jinmu asked.

“Handled long ago.”

Living a second time, how could she let anyone scheme against her?

Her mother was also a ruthless person.

Her father was critically ill, and who knows, might breathe his last any day.

Of course, she had a hand in it.

She had prepared a little medicine for him.

As for Lin Shenyi, the debts he owed, he would eventually have to pay back.

“When are you coming to propose?” Ren Ruiyi tilted her head and asked.

A maiden’s reserve had long been tossed aside.

“I’ll come tomorrow.”

“Have you prepared everything?”

Li Jinmu froze for a moment. “Then let me prepare. I’ll pick an auspicious day and come back.”

Ren Ruiyi smiled.

She knew that in her past life, Li Jinmu never married, living his whole life in solitude.

In this life, she would accompany him for a long, long time, until they were surrounded by children and grandchildren.

Even if mountains lose their peaks and heaven and earth merge, I will not part from you.

(End of Text)