dead end

When Yan Dan got up to wash and dress in the morning, she noticed that the orchid she had been given medicinal soup several times had withered. The once vibrant green leaves had turned yellow and were drooping weakly. Yan Dan couldn't help but chuckle softly; it was indeed true.

Perhaps because she hadn't drunk that kind of herbal soup much these past few times, her body recovered quickly, and she was able to stand up and walk around for a while without any external assistance.

After washing her face, Yan Dan asked calmly, "Is he in the house?"

This was the first time she had asked Zhao Huanqin on her own initiative. Although Mang Gui found it strange, she still answered honestly, "The master went out early this morning."

Yan Dan put down the face towel and said softly, "He's very busy, always running around. Even if I wanted to see him, I couldn't."

Mang Gui was startled and said repeatedly, "Madam, don't overthink it. Mr. Zhao is a very good person, he wouldn't—" Yan Dan wouldn't overthink it. Back in the End of the Earth, she had read many plays about mortals, and they were full of heartless, fickle men: "I was just saying it casually, why are you so nervous?" She raised her hand and pressed on the edge of the bed, pretending to want to stand up but unable to: "I want to go for a walk in the courtyard."

With Zhao Huanqin gone and her health almost fully recovered, when would be a better time to leave?

Mang Gui waved his hands repeatedly: "But, the master instructed me not to take the madam out..."

Yan Dan frowned slightly and said coldly, "I'm so bored in my room, can't I even walk around in my own yard?"

Mang Gui nervously supported her, stammering, "I... then I'll help you walk around outside, but you can't tell the master, or I'll get scolded..."

Yan Dan knew that she was timid and that her appearance must have frightened her, but she had no other choice.

The intense sunlight made her slightly uncomfortable, but thankfully the sun here wasn't too strong, so she didn't feel uncomfortable. Yan Dan slowly walked around the courtyard. The courtyard was actually quite small; even walking slowly, she could walk around it quickly. After considering her options, Yan Dan felt confident she could leave this awful place, so she casually pointed to a side door diagonally opposite the study: "Why is there a side door here?"

It seems that Madam Zhao is in poor health and has been unable to walk, so she is probably not very familiar with the layout of the house. It's not surprising that she pointed to the objects and asked what this was and what that was.

Mang Gui casually replied, "This side door was just opened before the New Year."

Yan Dan's heart skipped a beat. A side door? In other words, she could leave this small courtyard directly from here?

She was thoroughly tired of feigning weakness these past few days, and suddenly shook off Mang Gui's hand, striding towards the side door. Mang Gui, not expecting her to be able to walk on her own, and so steadily at that, rushed over to grab her: "Madam, you can't..."

Yan Dan hardened her heart, used her qi to push her away, and turned her head to say, "You've kept this from me for so many days, isn't that enough? I originally thought that I should be content after acting with you for so many days." She subconsciously used her magic and realized that even though her immortal power had disappeared, she was still able to control her qi.

She is now, after all, better off than ordinary mortals.

Mang Gui stared blankly at her, his eyes slowly reddening.

Yan Dan pushed open the door and was instantly startled by the scene outside. This was no ordinary mortal realm. Although she had never actually seen what the mortal realm looked like, she was certain that this was definitely not it. A beggar lay lazily on the street corner, idly detaching his head and turning it around. Outside the shop diagonally opposite, several severed limbs floated around, rolling up and down merrily.

This is still the underworld.

She never crossed the Bridge of Helplessness, nor was she reincarnated. So how did she get here from the River of Oblivion?

Yan Dan stepped out the door, and outside lay a new world. But where should she go? She had lost her immortal status, was neither immortal nor demon, and wandered outside the six realms. It seemed that there would be no more companions with her in this world.

If there were a way to leave the underworld...

As she turned the corner, she suddenly heard a slightly familiar voice behind her: "Isn't this Madam Zhao? Madam Zhao, what brings you out for a walk?" Yan Dan turned around and saw that the person standing behind her was the sister-in-law she had seen at the Zhao residence the day she woke up. She nodded slightly.

The man stepped forward, took her hand affectionately, and smiled broadly: "We're both uncultured people, we couldn't even read before. Mr. Zhao taught us for many days, but we can only write a few simple characters. Mr. Zhao is a good man, you are truly blessed, Madam..."

Yan Dan forced a smile: "Really? But where exactly is this place?"

The elder sister-in-law was taken aback and exclaimed in surprise, "This is a ghost town! You didn't know? We who live in the ghost town are those who cannot cross the Bridge of Helplessness to be reincarnated, so we have no choice but to stay here."

Yan Dan suddenly felt something was amiss. She was different from mortals; mortals couldn't be reincarnated at the Bridge of Helplessness because a wisp of their seven souls and six spirits was damaged. While her physical body was damaged, her primordial spirit was intact. She unconsciously looked up and saw a man in a simple, long robe, with a cold and aloof expression, walking briskly towards her. As he approached, he frowned slightly, his upturned eyes holding a hint of anger: "You're not fully recovered yet, and you've already traveled so far. What if something happens to you?"

Yan Dan clenched her fists and said coldly, "I'm afraid that if I continue to recuperate, I won't even have the strength to serve tea and meals."

Zhao Huanqin was taken aback: "What do you mean by that?"

"What do you mean? You don't know what you added to the herbal soup you brought over every other day?" Yan Dan knew that no one would believe her if she repeatedly explained that she wasn't Madam Zhao, so she might as well just say what she had solid evidence for. "I haven't drunk that herbal soup for the past few days, and now I finally have the strength to walk around. I poured the herbal soup into the orchid, and as a result, the orchid withered. What else do you have to say?"

The woman was stunned, and looked at Zhao Huanqin tremblingly: "Mr. Zhao, you..."

“Sister-in-law Wang, when I came out just now, Brother Wang was looking for you.” Zhao Huanqin turned his head slightly away and looked to the side.

Yan Dan thought to herself that she must have left the other party speechless, forcing them to change the subject and find something to distract them. She pressed her advantage, saying, "We've known each other for a while, so why don't we just lay it all out? Or is it that you simply have nothing to say?"

Zhao Huanqin raised his hand to rub his temples and smiled bitterly: "Actually, I originally..." He paused and said frankly: "There was indeed something else in that medicine."

Yan Dan was stunned. She had been thinking about how Zhao Huanqin would deny it, and how she would refute him. But now that he admitted it so frankly and openly, all her carefully prepared words were completely wasted.

“I’ve always wanted to stop you from going out, Madam, but I was afraid… you couldn’t handle it. This is the underworld, a ghost town. Our lifespans have ended, and we can hardly be considered human anymore. I didn’t dare tell you this before, so I had to use drugs. This is my fault.”

Yan Dan opened her mouth, but swallowed the words she wanted to say in rebuttal. She had just asked Wang Sao where this place was, and Zhao Huanqin's move had truly left her speechless.

“Because of your long-term illness, my lady, you are missing one of your seven souls and six spirits, making it impossible for you to be reborn as a human. I was worried about you, so I stayed in Ghost Town to accompany you, but I didn’t expect that it would cause you to misunderstand me…” Zhao Huanqin sighed, his voice weary. “You didn’t know that we had arrived in the underworld, so I thought I would keep it a secret. But just now I heard you asking your sister-in-law about it. Although I did keep it a secret, I did not mean to hurt you, my lady.”

These words were spoken with heartfelt sincerity, and Wang Sao's round face was full of sympathy, but her gaze towards Yan Dan even carried a hint of dissatisfaction.

Yan Dan almost couldn't catch her breath, she was so angry that she was practically bursting with rage, but she was speechless and unable to refute: "You, you, you... fine, you win!"

Looking at Yan Dan, Wang Sao couldn't help but ask, "Are you trying to say that you are not Mrs. Zhao, and Mr. Zhao is not your husband?"

Yan Dan nodded with a pale face, feeling a little better. But how did she know that's what she was thinking?

Aunt Wang looked at him with sympathy: "Madam Zhao, you used to say this when you had an attack. This is really too much of a burden for Mr. Zhao."

Yan Dan clenched her fists, feeling a vein throbbing violently on her temple. She closed her eyes tightly, took two deep breaths, and turned firmly to Zhao Huanqin: "Listen carefully now, even if we had a predestined relationship before, it ends today. You don't need to bother writing the divorce papers. We're going our separate ways."

She didn't know if Zhao Huanqin had lost his mind; she only knew that if she stayed with him any longer, she would definitely go crazy first.

"Wait a minute. Even if you don't want to see me now, where are you going to stay? Besides, once you enter the Ghost Town, you can't leave until your soul is fully restored, and it will take at least another five hundred years for your soul to recover. Or, do you want to get into a fight with the ghost messengers outside?" Zhao Huanqin stretched out his arm to block her, revealing a sinister smile without making a sound.

However, as it turned out, the sinister smile on Zhao Huanqin's face was entirely Yan Dan's imagination. Because, behind her, Aunt Wang murmured, "Mr. Zhao is truly a good man, so deeply affectionate… Alas!"

Yan Dan's face was tense, and she almost squeezed out the words through clenched teeth: "Fine, I'll go back with you right now..."

After circling around outside, they ended up back where they started. Yan Dan was extremely frustrated and stomped hard on the threshold: "Zhao Huanqin, let's not beat around the bush. Let's be frank. You already know that I am not your wife."

Zhao Huanqin paused, a slight smile appearing at the corners of his upturned eyes: "Madam, why do you always have to be angry with me?" His appearance was actually quite cold, but now, with his affectionate expression, he seemed to have some tenderness: "Since you don't want to drink that kind of medicine, then don't drink it starting tomorrow. Just don't be stubborn anymore. Manggui was really frightened by you today."

His face was pale, and smoke seemed to rise from his seven orifices.

Zhao Huanqin paused, then said, "You've always loved making a fuss over these trivial matters, only to become the laughingstock of the neighborhood. Why bother?"

Yan Dan finally couldn't hold back any longer. She suddenly turned around and punched him. She was so angry that she gathered all her strength. If it were an ordinary mortal's soul, it would definitely not be able to withstand this blow.

To everyone's surprise, Zhao Huanqin didn't even blink, casually grabbing her wrist in his hand: "Anger injures the spleen, and anger injures the liver. Madam, you've only recently recovered, so please don't get angry again."

Yan Dan withdrew her hand, covered her head, and walked back to the room she had stayed in before, slamming the door shut with a deafening bang.

If she doesn't vent, she'll really go crazy.

The bronze mirror in front of the dressing table reflected her current appearance. Seeing this completely unfamiliar face only added to her frustration. Yan Dan grabbed the mirror and threw it on the ground, then stomped on it twice, still not satisfied. She turned around and destroyed everything she could throw before collapsing to the ground, exhausted.

After a moment, Mang Gui said worriedly from outside the door, "Is it really alright for Madam to be so angry?"

Zhao Huanqin's voice was cold and indifferent: "Once she gets tired of throwing them away, everything will be fine."

Yan Dan held her head in her hands, deep in thought. Since she was still in the Netherworld, it couldn't be a case of reincarnation. Why had her appearance changed? Why had she become the so-called Madam Zhao?

There must be something else she hadn't considered.