"A small matter?" I finally couldn't help but laugh, but it was chilling, like it came from an icy abyss, freezing any warmth. "In your eyes, pushing someone into a fire pit is a trivial matter? Watching someone being bullied and saying nothing, standing by and doing nothing, is considered a small matter? Lin Wanyue, you've probably forgotten. When my biological mother passed away, I was drowning in the grief of her loss, yet you harbored ulterior motives. Under the guise of 'for the good of the family,' you instigated my father to send me, the legitimate daughter, to the ancestral temple. Do you even know what that meant to a ten-year-old?" My voice rose, each word saturated with anger and pain. The pain, buried deep within my heart for years, now erupted like a volcanic eruption.

Lin Wanyue's face instantly turned pale as paper, as if all the blood had been drained from it. Her eyes betrayed a trace of fear and panic. That was when I was ten years old. She harbored ulterior motives, plotting to send me away so her illegitimate son could inherit the family business. If my maternal grandfather hadn't learned of the news and rushed to rescue me, I would have frozen to death in the cold and lonely Hanshan Temple, ending my short and tragic life in endless darkness and cold. That experience is a pain that will never be erased from my heart. Every time I recall it, it pierces my heart like a sharp knife.

"I... I did that for the peace of the mansion..." She was still stubborn, trying to find a far-fetched excuse for her evil deeds back then. However, her voice seemed so pale and weak, even she herself seemed to lack confidence in this reason.

"Peace?" I crouched down slowly, staring directly into her eyes, as if to see through her hypocrisy and cowardice. "When you thrust the marriage certificate from that addicted gambler from the Wang family into my arms, did you ever consider my peace in the slightest? When you watched me marry into the Wang family, tortured to the point of exhaustion, tormented beyond recognition, did you ever feel a shred of pity? Do you know what an inhuman life I've led in the Wang family?" My words were like a barrage of bullets, each one piercing Lin Wanyue's heart with precision, each one carrying with it years of accumulated pain and resentment.

My words, like sharp knives, pierced Lin Wanyue's heart. She felt as if her bones and muscles had been pulled out, and she slumped to the ground, her eyes hollow as she muttered to herself, "I thought... I thought the Wang family would treat you well... I really thought..." Her voice trailed off, as if she were denying herself, or perhaps trying to find some solace for her mistakes.

"Thought?" I slowly stood up and gently brushed off the non-existent dust on the hem of my skirt, my tone full of disdain, as if I was spitting on her ridiculous "thought". "Your one 'thought' caused me to die miserably in illness in my previous life. Until the moment of my death, I couldn't even drink a sip of hot soup. I struggled in illness and suffered in despair, but what about you? You turned a blind eye to my pain. Lin Wanyue, the most worthless thing in this world is your so-called 'thought', and the thing that should not be forgotten the most is the word 'retribution'. You have sown the cause, and now it's time to taste the corresponding fruit." I looked at her, my eyes full of indifference and determination. The pain of the past made it impossible for me to forgive her easily.

Jiang Yan silently handed me a handkerchief and whispered in my ear, "It's getting cold. Let's go back to the house. Don't hurt yourself over this kind of person." His voice was gentle and caring, like a spring breeze, trying to soothe the turmoil in my heart. He knew how deeply the past had hurt me, and now he only wanted me to be free from this pain.

I nodded slightly, not looking at the disheveled Lin Wanyue lying on the ground. As I turned and walked towards the moon-shaped door with determined steps, I suddenly heard her crying out at the top of her lungs behind me: "Su Jinli! Aren't you afraid of retribution?" The voice was sharp and piercing, like the wail of a wounded beast, filled with resentment and unwillingness.

I didn't stop, but replied lightly: "I have lived my life honestly and with a clear conscience, but you--" I paused, deliberately lowering my voice, but loud enough for her to hear clearly, "The box of my biological mother's jewelry that you secretly hid back then, is it still lying in the pawnshop now?" My words were like the last straw, pressing on Lin Wanyue's heart.

Lin Wanyue's sobs abruptly ceased, like a plucked string, and the entire garden fell into a dead silence. I knew she understood what I meant. In this world, some accounts cannot be easily erased. When the time comes, they will be settled. Those past grudges and hatreds will not fade with the passage of time. Instead, they are like seeds buried deep in the heart, suddenly breaking through the ground and revealing the truth. And she will eventually pay the price for her actions in the past.