If you were cold and aloof in your past life, why are you crying in this one?

Winter of the thirteenth year of Yonghe

The cold wind swirled with snowflakes, pounding against the tightly closed windowpanes, making a mournful, whistling sound.

Tinglan Garden

Through the semi-transparent bed curtains, a slender figure could be vaguely seen lying on the bed.

The maid, Taozhi, was carrying a red lacquered tray with a celadon medicine bowl on it.

"Madam, it's time for your medicine."

The bed curtains were lifted, revealing a woman on the bed who was so ill that she was nothing but skin and bones. She looked to be no more than twenty years old, but her face was haggard and her lips were devoid of any color.

The person on the bed looked up and around, as if searching for something.

"Madam, the doctor said these two doses of medicine should be taken an hour apart. I've had them kept warm on the stove, and I'll bring them over when the time comes."

The woman didn't move, staring at the vine pattern on the tent ceiling. After a long while, she asked, "Has he been here?"

Taozhi paused for a moment, then pursed her lips and her eyes reddened. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at a guard-like figure outside.

"Your Majesty... is very busy with state affairs. He instructed his servants to take good care of you and that he would come to visit you after he had finished his duties."

Trivial tasks settled?

Xi Lingxian wanted to laugh at the absurdity, but before she could laugh, she started coughing.

A violent cough gripped her throat, and her thin shoulders bent into a fragile bow.

Taozhi reached out and patted her back, her voice trembling with tears, "Young lady, please don't be upset. Whether Lord Lingjun comes or not doesn't matter. Taking care of your health is the most important thing."

Counting the days, she has been sick for almost half a year, on and off, and has not gotten better.

Lingxian was pampered and loved by her father from a young age, which made her carefree but not foolish.

In just a few years, his health deteriorated rapidly. If it wasn't because he fell into the trap of thieves, what else could it be?

Since she lived in the Wang family's inner quarters, the fact that they could target her suggests that the Wang family is involved, and there might even be a mole within her ranks.

She had wanted to see Wang Jue for the past few years, and that was for this very reason.

But still, no one could be found.

The snow is getting heavier.

Lingxian leaned against the pillow, her eyelids so heavy she could barely lift them.

Perhaps this marriage really shouldn't have been forced.

Three years, more than a thousand days and nights, from full of expectation to utter despair.

When did they start to dislike each other?

After their marriage, his attitude towards her became increasingly impatient and cold, and he ignored every word she said.

Even after his marriage, he continued to have frequent and unreserved contact with his childhood sweetheart, Xie Wanyi; his mother and sister all sided with outsiders against her, and she had a hysterical argument with him about it...

They argue as soon as they meet. They are both polite and amiable people in public, but they say the most hurtful things to each other.

Resentful couple.

She didn't want to live like a resentful woman, constantly worrying about gains and losses.

But she was unwilling to accept it; once her heart was given away, everything became beyond her control.

The door was pushed open from the outside.

A strong scent of perfume wafted into her nose, and Taozhi fell silent upon seeing the newcomer, lifting the curtain.

Xi Yao, holding a handkerchief and dressed in a peach-colored cloak, looked charming and pitiful. "Sister, I heard you were very ill, so I came with Mother to see you."

"Wow, you've gotten so thin! I almost didn't recognize you."

Behind her, Madam Yu slowly unfastened her cloak and handed it to the maid behind her; she was in her early forties, but well-maintained and looked no more than thirty, with gentle features and dignified manners.

Yu walked slowly to the bedside, looking at the person on the bed, the tenderness in her eyes like a layer of peeling paint.

Xi Lingxian leaned back on the pillow, a smirk playing on her lips, her tone full of sarcasm.

"Aren't you tired of pretending for so many years?"

Yu's laughter stopped abruptly.

The room was quiet for a moment.

Then, Yu slowly bent down and moved closer to her, so close that Xi Lingxian could see the fine lines at the corners of her eyes that were covered by several layers of rouge.

"Tired?" Mrs. Yu said softly, "Why would I be tired? Do you think I'm faking it?"

She straightened up, took two steps back, and sat down at the tea table in front of the bed.

"Have I been bad to you? I feed you, clothe you, and even let you marry into the Langya Wang family in style. Tell me, where have I wronged you?"

Xi Lingxian gave a cold laugh and remained silent.

"Yes." Madam Yu nodded. "You married into this family, but your husband doesn't love you, your mother-in-law doesn't like you, and you're so sick that no one even comes to visit you. But that's because you're incompetent, unable to win a man's heart, and don't know how to please your elders. What does that have to do with me? Isn't this your own fate?"

Xi Yao chuckled softly beside her, her eyes filled with a smug, self-satisfied smile.

"Judging by the days, you won't live past today, so I might as well let you die knowing why."

Ms. Yu spoke slowly and leisurely, as if she were chatting casually.

"Don't you find it strange that your health is deteriorating day by day at such a young age? Also, your temper seems to be getting worse in recent years."

Xi Lingxian swallowed several times, her breath coming in short gasps, "You, it's you?"

"But the fact that you haven't noticed it for so many years means it couldn't be just me."

Lingxian had long suspected that someone had planted spies around her, so she wasn't surprised to hear her say this.

Madam Yu bent down and twirled a stray hair at her temple, her smile sarcastic. "Young lady, you're just too out of touch with reality. You've thought of everything, but you haven't thought of your good wet nurse."

Xi Lingxian's body stiffened, her eyes filled with astonishment. "What...what did you say?"

The person who was bribed to harm her was Granny Zhou, the person she had regarded as her own mother since childhood.

"You're talking nonsense, that's impossible!" Her eyes were bloodshot as she retorted fiercely, before she could finish speaking, she was coughing violently again.

Madam Yu clicked her tongue. "Young lady, you've been high and mighty for too long. You don't know that money can make the devil turn the millstone. I arranged for your wet nurse's two sons to marry and have children. Tell me, she's loyal to me, so shouldn't she? As for poisoning you, her former master, it was just a show of her sincerity in surrendering."

Xi Lingxian was startled, her fingernails digging into her palm.

No wonder she's been feeling disoriented, forgetful, and never getting enough sleep these past year or two...

It turned out they had been poisoned.

Madam Yu smiled slightly, her smile as gentle and kind as ever, but her eyes held a venomous glint in them.

"I've put in a lot of effort to raise your own twin brother into this good-for-nothing wastrel, and then there's your older brother's legs..."

"It was his insistence on fighting someone right away that gave me the opportunity to strike."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Xi Lingxian leaned against the pillow, her breath faint.

Yu's words pierced my ears like ice picks, drawing blood from my heart.

Granny Zhou, eldest brother, younger brother...

All the things I couldn't understand over the years, all those vague feelings that something was off but I couldn't quite put my finger on, turned out to be...

She tried to sit up, but her arms were too weak to move, and she fell back down as soon as she lifted them.

The Yu mother and daughter looked at her with undisguised pleasure in their eyes.

"You—" Her voice was hoarse and strained, as if scraped from her throat, "You wicked woman!"

"Your father will not let you get away with this."

"Would I leave him any evidence?" Madam Yu bent down. "Blame you siblings for being so stupid! You stood in front of my child, actually believing that I would genuinely care about you."

A smug, almost ferocious smile spread across her face. "Just as stupid as your incompetent mother!"

Xi Yao then stepped forward, stood by the bed, and looked down at her.

The protective layer of innocence, naivety, fragility, and bonelessness on her face has been completely peeled away, revealing sharp and piercing eyes.

"Sister. You call yourself the legitimate daughter of the Xi family, and Father dotes on you so much, what a pity..."

She lowered her voice and whispered in Xi Lingxian's ear, "When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out; you'll be gone in no time."

Xi Lingxian suddenly looked up and stared straight at her.

Xi Yao was startled by that gaze and subconsciously shrank back, but quickly regained her composure. "Sister, don't glare at me. I'm just sad for you. After you die, I will take good care of your husband."

Xi Lingxian's lips moved, and her heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly.

His chest heaved violently, and a metallic, sweet taste kept rising in his throat.

Her blood seemed to rush through her veins at that moment. She clenched her teeth, her nails digging into her palms, forcing herself to endure the pain.

We can't fall down, we can't just give up like this.

Overwhelmed with grief, she reached out to Xi Yao.

She was so thin she was just skin and bones, and Xi Yao didn't take her seriously at all, her smugness growing even stronger.

"Is there anything else you want to say, sister? Are you begging me to save you?"

She laughed out loud, "Since you're about to die, just say it..."

Before she could finish speaking, a dagger was swung out from under the covers and plunged straight into her neck.

With her last ounce of strength, Xi Lingxian thrust her knife-wielding hand forward with all her might.

The blade pierced the flesh, and blood gushed out instantly.

It was warm, splashing onto her face and hands.

"I may be sick and dying, but that doesn't mean my temper has improved!"

They dare to provoke a dying person? This mother and daughter must have really gotten carried away.

Xi Yao's eyes widened in disbelief.

"you--"

"Yao'er!"

Yu screamed and rushed over, but Xi Yao was already lifeless.

Tears mixed with blood, smearing her face, and the venom in her eyes was like a poisoned knife.

"You bitch!"

She lunged at Lingxian, her hands poised to strangle her.

Looking at Yu's distorted, no-longer-smug face, Xi Lingxian's eyes were bloodshot, and she wished she could tear her to pieces.

His hand holding the dagger was still trembling.

Yu grabbed her by the neck and yelled at her to pay for Xi Yao's life.

Xi Lingxian collapsed by the bedside; the knife wound had exhausted her last bit of strength.

A feeling of suffocation washed over me, and my vision went black in waves.

She instinctively tried to struggle, but her hand fell limply down halfway up.

Yu's face was inches away, twisted and ferocious, spitting in her face as she cried out, "You killed my Yao'er, I'll make you pay with your life—"

Xi Lingxian's vision began to blur.

Well, since we're all going to die anyway, Xi Yao's life is worth it, and Yu Shi is in unbearable pain for losing her child. It's not a bad deal.

At that moment, the door was suddenly kicked open.

"Madam!" came Taozhi's exclamation.

It was Granny Zhou who barged in with her maids. The first thing they saw was Xi Yao lying in a pool of blood.

Before they could even feel fear, they saw Yu grab Xi Lingxian by the neck.

Taozhi cried out and rushed forward, just as a servant's voice came from outside the door, "The Lord has arrived."

The sound was like a thunderclap, striking into Xi Lingxian's gradually fading consciousness.

He's here?

Suddenly, something exploded in her mind.

if……

Xi Lingxian's lips moved slightly, opening as if she wanted to shout something, but only a faint breath escaped her lips.

As Taozhi backed towards the door, she cried out in a trembling voice, "Lord, help! Murder...murder—"

The footsteps were hurried and heavy, growing ever closer.

Lingxian slowly closed her eyes.

That hand, so thin it was just bones, was covered in blood.

The light in front of me gradually dimmed, and a figure appeared blurry, as if standing in front of a door, or as if standing far away.

It's getting blurrier and blurrier, farther and farther away.