Chapter 72 Rebirth I regret not going with you that year. So…

Danzhu gently closed the door, and the morning sunlight shone through the window, illuminating her profile in a half-light, half-shadow.

She was wearing an old dress that Li Shan had worn years ago. Although it had been taken out of a trunk, it was clean and neatly pressed.

However, she was too thin, and the clothes made her look somewhat emaciated. When the hem of her clothes fluttered slightly in the wind, she appeared somewhat frail and lonely.

Li Shan leaned against the headboard, quietly gazing at her.

The two women had never seen each other since their parting at the funeral years ago, and both were searching for each other's faces in their memories.

It was Li Shan who spoke first.

"Danzhu, I heard you killed him."

It wasn't a question, but a calm statement.

Danzhu's knuckles tightened slightly.

Li Shan is, after all, A Lian's older sister. Will she resent me?

She didn't know.

"Yes," Danzhu replied softly.

She never denied what she had done. Killing is killing; it was all the man's own fault.

She had assumed that Li Shan would sigh, be angry, and be in pain upon learning of the death of her only relative.

But none of what she had expected came to pass. After a long while, she heard Li Shan call her name.

"Danzhu...you should have killed him long ago."

Danzhu suddenly looked up.

Li Shan looked at her, her eyes already slightly red: "Ten years, how many decades does a person have in a lifetime?"

“He kidnapped you for his own selfish desires; you should have killed him on day one.”

"If you had just nodded back then, I would have risked my life to snatch you away from him."

Danzhu's fingertips clenched her sleeves tightly.

She thought that after so many years of torment, she would have run out of tears and her heart would have turned to stone.

But when she heard Li Shan's words, her heart still trembled uncontrollably, and a strange emotion seemed to be about to burst out.

“Back then, there were many things I didn’t understand,” she said softly. “I thought that even if I left him, I would have nowhere to go and could only drift aimlessly. Since that was the case, I might as well go with the flow and live a miserable life rather than die.”

"But I was wrong."

"Even if I die on the first day he takes me away, it's better than suffering torture by his side."

“Over the years, I have regretted countless times that I did not agree to go with you that day.” Danzhu rolled up her sleeve, revealing mottled old scars. “I tried many times, but I could not kill myself, but I killed that bastard.”

She didn't know why she was saying these things, but she vaguely understood that, apart from Li Shan, there was no one else in the world she could confide in.

“I bled a lot that night. He was afraid I would die, so he stayed up all night apologizing to me, saying he should have treated me better, and promised he would never treat me like that again, and that he would treat me well until our child came back.”

"I couldn't hold back, so I slapped him and told him to get lost."

"I thought he would get angry, but to my surprise, he held back and said happily, 'Danzhu, you haven't spoken in a long time, can you talk to me again? You look so beautiful right now.'"

Danzhu took a deep breath.

"It was at that moment that I realized—when you are too weak, even anger becomes a performance for others to watch."

“Only when I picked up the knife did they stop looking at me with those eyes, stop whistling, stop touching me in a seemingly casual way, and stop forcibly grabbing my wrist and dragging me into their arms.”

Li Shan's eyes were calm as water, yet a hint of relief had unconsciously crept in.

“Li Shan, I regret not going with you that year. So when the opportunity comes again, I will never let myself regret it a second time.”

Danzhu said, "So I killed him with his knife."

"Danzhu, come here." Li Shan raised her hand to her.

Danzhu followed his instructions and went to the bedside.

Li Shan took her hand and led her to sit down on the edge of the bed.

"These years have been painful, haven't they?"

Danzhu turned her head and met Li Shan's eyes.

Li Shan raised her hand and gently stroked her hair like a mother would: "From now on, this will never happen again."

"Danzhu, you are a brave woman, and he is not worthy to hold you back. You will leave this place and go to a better place in the future."

Danzhu hummed in response, only then realizing that her throat was choked with emotion.

Over the years, she has lived like a puppet with her five senses shut down, thinking that numbness would end the pain.

It wasn't until Li Shan stroked her hair like a mother that the puppet finally opened her eyes, which had been closed for many years.

A string of tears fell down.

Li Shan pulled her into her arms, letting Dan Zhu silently shed tears on her shoulder.

At this moment, there is no blood feud or power struggle.

The two women simply nestled together in the morning light.

----

Ayan finally got permission to see Lishan, but this time, Lishan specifically asked her to go in with everyone else.

After Danzhu came out of the room, she felt that Danzhu seemed to have unloaded some heavy burden. She walked much more lightly and even showed her a faint smile.

Ah Yan didn't know what had happened, but it must have been a good change.

A group of people rushed into the room. Li Shan leaned against the headboard and looked at them, her spirits much better than before.

The maid had just finished preparing her tonic, and a faint herbal scent still lingered in the air.

"Thanks all of you so much this time." She solemnly thanked everyone. "If it weren't for your timely help, Ah-Can and I would probably be in grave danger."

"Thank you all for turning the tide in this time of crisis and calming the turmoil in the village."

The doctors returned the greeting, saying, "No need for thanks, it was just a small favor."

Ayan quickly walked to her mother's bedside and whispered, "Mother, I've already talked to them. Once you're feeling better, I'll go to the academy to study."

Li Shan gently held her daughter's hand, her eyes filled with satisfaction: "Okay, Mom supports you."

"When you go to the academy, you should listen to the lectures carefully, get along well with your classmates, and stop being as willful as you are at home, making a fuss about not wanting to study."

Ayan blushed slightly: "Mother! That was so long ago!"

She threw herself into Li Shan's arms, and Li Shan patted her back with a smile: "Alright, Mom was just teasing you."

“There’s still some time before the academy starts its spring semester, so Miss Ayan can spend more time with her family at home,” Chen Miaozhi said with a smile.

Ayan nodded repeatedly and said, "How about we agree to meet in a month? I'll come down the mountain to find you then, and you must remember to save me a spot in the academy."

Everyone laughed and agreed.

At this moment, Wen Yu noticed that A Chao was standing quietly by the door, so she walked over and asked softly, "A Chao, would you like to come with your sister?"

"I won't go. I'll wait for my sister to learn the skills and then teach me." The girl shook her head gently, her hands behind her back like a little adult. "Mother always needs someone by her side, so let me do it."

Upon hearing this, Li Shan reached out her hand to her youngest daughter: "Achao, you've grown up. Your mother is very happy."

Ah Chao quickly stepped forward and nestled beside his mother.

----

After saying goodbye to Li Shan, A Yan led everyone on their journey home.

The group retrieved the horses that had been tied up in the shadows. Ayan looked at the colorful strips of cloth by the roadside with some surprise:

"Is this how you got in?"

"Now that the matter is over, should we clean it up?" Liang Shuyan asked. "I heard you are very worried about people from outside the mountains coming in."

Ah Yan shook her head and smiled, "No need."

“You are good people. If you come to the mountains again in the future, you can still find our village by following this path.”

On the other side, A-Chao insisted on seeing them off, silently following at the back of the group. Wen Yu and Wen Qingshi deliberately slowed down and walked side by side with A-Chao.

Wen Qingshi started a conversation: "Achao, I still don't know how you got to the village?"

Ah Chao's gaze drifted into the distance: "That year there was a famine, and my parents took my brother and me and fled to the mountains. Later, when they went out, they encountered wild wolves and never came back... leaving only my brother to struggle to survive with me."

"One day we went out to forage and encountered a pack of wolves. In the chaos, my brother pushed me in another direction, and we were separated from each other."

Wen Yu had heard this story once before, but this was the first time Wen Qingshi had heard it.

She couldn't help but ask, "Did you ever try to contact him again?"

A-Chao shook his head: "I ran away desperately and finally fainted by the roadside. It was my mother who found me and brought me back to the village, which is how I survived. I have never seen my brother since then."

“Everyone in the village thought that ‘Achao’ was the name my mother gave me, but actually, that’s what I was originally called. My mother said that the name had a good meaning, so she specially found a word with a similar meaning in the local dialect.”

A mountain breeze blew by, ruffling the wisps of hair on the girl's forehead.

She hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "If you ever meet someone who looks like my brother and he's still looking for me, please tell him that Ah Chao is doing well and that he shouldn't worry."

"What's your brother's name?" Wen Qingshi asked gently, intending to write it down.

Ah Chao smiled and turned his head: "His name is... Ah Yue."

Wen Yu and Wen Qingshi stopped in their tracks simultaneously and exchanged a surprised look.

Is there really such a coincidence in this world?

They remembered that Wen Yue had also said that she had a younger sister who had gotten separated from her and they had never seen each other again.

How did they end up meeting me under such circumstances?

Wen Yu pressed further: "Is it the 'yue' in 'cross over'?"

“Yes.” A-Chao nodded.

“Well, I do know someone like that.” Wen Yu carefully chose her words. “It’s quite a coincidence. About half a year ago, when I went into the mountains, I met a boy who was unconscious. He said his name was A Yue. He was injured while trying to escape a pack of wolves. If he hadn’t met me, he probably would have been in grave danger.”

Wen Qingshi continued, "He also seemed to have mentioned having a lost younger sister."

“I saw that his injuries were serious, so I took him down the mountain to get treatment.” Wen Yu looked at A Chao. “Now he lives in my house, he recognizes me as his older sister, and he is living a very good life.”

Ah Chao stood there, stunned, tears welling up in his eyes.

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Wen Yu crouched down to be at eye level with the girl: "Would you like to come back with us to see him?"

The girl lowered her head and remained silent for a long time, as if she had been struggling to think things through.

When she looked up again, although there were still tears in her eyes, her expression had calmed down.

“Now is not the time.” She shook her head. “My mother has just given birth, and the village has experienced this turmoil… As the clan chief’s daughter, I cannot leave at this time.”

She untied a red string from her wrist and carefully placed it in Wen Yu's palm.

The red string was worn and looked like it had been worn for many years.

"This was made up for me by my older brother when I was a child."

“Please give this to him.” A-Chao’s voice was very soft. “Tell him that A-Chao has a new home now and is doing well. We are all living well and have our own families... That’s enough.”

She gazed at the distant mountains, where the morning sun shone on the snow, gilding it with a brilliant golden light.

"As long as we are both safe and sound, we will meet again someday."

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Author's note: This week's rankings weren't leaked at all [crying emoji]